On Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at 11:24 PM, Anne Keller-Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > My 13 y.o. wants to use this to speed up his Mac. > Is it kosher? It was going to defrag and my understanding > is that Macs don't need defragging.
Have you looked at the reasons apple and MS say not to defrag? Power outage ? Come on really? Do you live in a town on the edge of nowhere? Do you get jittery around machinery and might kick the plug out or run a heavy power saw while defragging? 250 GB is not big by todays standards BUT it is 250 GB that still needs to be searched and sorted when a file is accessed. And depending on the speed of the drive in rpms and seek time for the arms it can add up. If you add or delete files often and have cramped partitions you might well benefit from a defrag. HOWEVER Online games are not that dependent on system files. Look into where setup files are stored for game elements. On the drive or online? Look into your connection. And consider system security factors . Those can slow things too. But they should remain in place. Familiarize yourself with the settings. > > He also wants admin privileges for his Mac. I say no cuz > I want to vet any software he gets it into his head to install. A good choice probably. If he is old enough to buy his own machine then he can take the risks. if the whole family depends on one machine why risk it? But what he probably wants is the flexibility to tweak the system for the game. Tread lightly here. Working with him on it can give him guidance on computer management and build responsible attitudes. There is a chance for emotionalism to overshadow real concerns. So shutting down and authoritarian attitudes can be bad for relationships. Personal experience here. And it is not always easy. > > I looked at his HD and About My Mac to do the fatiguing > exercise of ascertaining why the computer has lags from time > to time while he plays Minecraft online. > > I didn't buy the computer for online gaming, and our cable > connection is only 1mbps. In addition <whine>I need to reduce > expenses, not add to them, so it's not likely to go up.</whine> > I would say depending on the game this cable speed is a killer on the deal. Is this one of those educational games recommended by schools for low bandwidth general use? That might work. But if you are talking about a modern game , well thour mileage may vary widely. Or not at all. Old XBoxes don't cost much. > Anybody a gamer and can give some insight into what types > of things slow down a computer? He says it's a Java game. That can complicate it. Having the right update is important. Yet some updates break older systems. So "right" may mean an old version. Good Luck. -- Adrian D'Alessio aka; Fluxstringer [email protected] http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluxstreamcommunication/ http://www.facebook.com/FluxStringer http://www.linkedin.com/in/fluxstreamcommunications http://flux-influx.blogspot.com/ http://fluxdreams.designbinder.com/ Akron University Winter Class of '75 That and three bucks gets me a cup of coffee most anywhere. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
