How can I make my machine run faster? The heaviest applications I have outside of the usual ones it comes with is MS Office. I've got smaller things but nothing huge like Ableton, Photoshop, etc.

You're not giving us much to work with.

How about some system specs?

You're not giving us much to work with.

How about some system specs?
HARDWARE:
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB

MEMORY:
Size: 512 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: 667 MHz

Is this enough?

How much free space on the hard drive?

Needs more RAM

How much free space on the hard drive?

about 60GB free out of about 150GB

Needs more RAM

How much more and what's the cheapest way to buy it?

I'd boost the MacBook up to 4GB of RAM if it were me. Should be around $60 to 75 depending on what shops you have locally and could be done cheaper online.

You would need 2 sticks of 2GB.
Your machine needs:
200-pin PC2-5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM

The max apple says it can take is 4GB (2 sticks of 2GB) but it apparently can 6GB ( 1 stick of 2GB, 1 stick of 4GB) however that can be difficult since 4 GB sticks are hard to come by for what you need.


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Hard disk free space looks OK.

More RAM is always better. Check out canadaram.com (http://canadaram.com/).

This advice from another thread about essentially the same problem has been shown to help many folk (http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-troubleshooting/100186-white-macbook-4-1-sluggishness-when-browsing.html#post1193155)
I note that you do not mention running OnyX on your machine. I run it every few weeks to keep mine in tune. Download the proper version of OnyX for your OS here:

Titanium's Software Download (http://www.titanium.free.fr/download.php)

Launch it and allow it to run the two disk checks that open automatically when the app launches, the select "Automation" with the small green hammer icon and run the default set of checks. It will very likely improve the performance of your laptop.

A nuke and pave clean install of a fresh copy of the OS and all application has been shown to refresh a system.

As suggested, 1 GB RAM is really almost the basic suggested minimum for running Leopard 10.5.x and the absolute minimum just for a basic SL 10.6.x install.

In the interim, try shutting down your Mac, wait 30 seconds of so and boot up using Safe Boot Mode by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear wheel.

Then run Disk Utility and repair permissions and verify disk.

If you get pages and pages of repair permissions, do the repair permissions maybe at leat two or thre moormr time.

It may take a while depending on various stuff, and then finally just restart normally and see if things have improved.

Then order and get at least 4GB RAM installed, but that Mac can use 6 GB RAM if you want.

For full specs see: Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com (http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=MacBook3,1)


Edit: check out the canadaram site and check his note:
"Macintosh intel MacBook Core2Duo 1.83, 2.0 and 2.16 GHz - MacBook2,1 black and white
Two sockets, can take 1 x 1 Gb + 1 x 2 Gb for 3 Gb total. With 2 x 2 Gb, 3.0 Gb is usable by the OS but you get Dual Channel memory access for a 6% - 8% speed improvement"
Canada RAM sells memory in Canada - Apple MacBook Intel CoreDuo and Core2Duo SantaRosa and Penryn (http://www.canadaram.com/apple_macbook.htm)

As suggested, 1 GB RAM is really almost the basic suggested minimum for running Leopard 10.5.x and the absolute minimum just for a basic SL 10.6.x install.

In the interim, try shutting down your Mac, wait 30 seconds of so and boot up using Safe Boot Mode by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear wheel.

Then run Disk Utility and repair permissions and verify disk.

If you get pages and pages of repair permissions, do the repair permissions maybe at leat two or thre moormr time.

It may take a while depending on various stuff, and then finally just restart normally and see if things have improved.

Then order and get at least 4GB RAM installed, but that Mac can use 6 GB RAM if you want.

For full specs see: Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com (http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=MacBook3,1)


Edit: check out the canadaram site and check his note:
"Macintosh intel MacBook Core2Duo 1.83, 2.0 and 2.16 GHz - MacBook2,1 black and white
Two sockets, can take 1 x 1 Gb + 1 x 2 Gb for 3 Gb total. With 2 x 2 Gb, 3.0 Gb is usable by the OS but you get Dual Channel memory access for a 6% - 8% speed improvement"
Canada RAM sells memory in Canada - Apple MacBook Intel CoreDuo and Core2Duo SantaRosa and Penryn (http://www.canadaram.com/apple_macbook.htm)
My Mac shop recommended 4GB RAM and upgrading to Snow Leopard for only $39.

The large issue is my internet speed where I live is about 8 Mbps AT BEST, so is it really worth it considering I'm mostly using Chrome, iTunes, Word simultaneously? Or get a new Mac that's all around faster, LOL.

My Mac shop recommended 4GB RAM and upgrading to Snow Leopard for only $39.

The large issue is my internet speed where I live is about 8 Mbps AT BEST, so is it really worth it considering I'm mostly using Chrome, iTunes, Word simultaneously? Or get a new Mac that's all around faster, LOL.

I don't understand the relationship between internet speed and application usage.

Another thing that people here have overlooked is that as hard drives age, they become slower.

A cheap remedy for this is to erase and reinstall the OS, but the better solution is to pick up a new drive (cheap, these days), and switch to that. For many light users, that will provide a more noticeable speed increase than upgrading from 2GB to 4GB of RAM will.

I don't understand the relationship between internet speed and application usage.

Another thing that people here have overlooked is that as hard drives age, they become slower.

A cheap remedy for this is to erase and reinstall the OS, but the better solution is to pick up a new drive (cheap, these days), and switch to that. For many light users, that will provide a more noticeable speed increase than upgrading from 2GB to 4GB of RAM will.

I don't quite know if there's a relationship between RAM and internet speed so that's why I've asked.

HOw much would a hard drive cost approx?

I don't quite know if there's a relationship between RAM and internet speed so that's why I've asked.

HOw much would a hard drive cost approx?

There is no relationship between RAM and internet speed. Akin to saying there's a relationship the speed of a car and the colour of the windshield wiper fluid.

New hard drive would cost anywhere from $50 to $200+, depending on the size/speed you want.

Canada Computers | Notebook Hard Drive, Laptop Hard Drive, Hard Drive & Hard Disk (http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?cPath=15_1086_215_217)

There is no relationship between RAM and internet speed. Akin to saying there's a relationship the speed of a car and the colour of the windshield wiper fluid.

New hard drive would cost anywhere from $50 to $200+, depending on the size/speed you want.

Canada Computers | Notebook Hard Drive, Laptop Hard Drive, Hard Drive & Hard Disk (http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?cPath=15_1086_215_217)

LOL, nice analogy though I find it hard to believe a 10 year old computer's performance over the internet would equate a new one.

LOL, nice analogy though I find it hard to believe a 10 year old computer's performance over the internet would equate a new one.

Oh, it doesn't. But there's no relationship between internet speed and computer speed. That's all.

The issues you'll run into are Flash programs, and newer HTML5 sites that require more CPU than your MacBook can deliver.