[Eckslusive]

Hey I have 512 MB of Ram in my Powerbook 500. How I'm thinking of adding another 256 or 512. I was just wondering if it would make a big speed difference or just a bit?

[Finrock]

If you use a lot of apps at a time, it will probably make a significant speed difference. A good way to tell is to open the terminal and look at how many times your system pages out (writes memory to disk - virtual memory). I recommend doing this when you have your normal applications open. For me this includes Camino, Word, the terminal and iTunes.

First, check your uptime. You can do this by the command "uptime". Mine said:

4:44PM up 2 days, 9:45, 3 users, load averages: 0.37, 0.68, 0.48

Next, check how many pageouts you have had since your last restart. You can do this by the command "vm_stat". You should see something like this:

[Computername:~] username% vm_stat
Mach Virtual Memory Statistics: (page size of 4096 bytes)
Pages free: 3810.
Pages active: 51295.
Pages inactive: 59780.
Pages wired down: 16187.
"Translation faults": 36435336.
Pages copy-on-write: 200270.
Pages zero filled: 19137599.
Pages reactivated: 1400441.
Pageins: 57975.
Pageouts: 69011.
Object cache: 67026 hits of 314607 lookups (21% hit rate)

This is after two days of use for me. The pageouts, 69011, are significant. I only have 512 MB of memory. With 1024 MB and about the same usage, I rarely had pageouts. Then, check to see how many pages you currently have written out. You can do this by running the "top" command. At the top you should see this:

VM: 2.99G + 69.4M 57989(0) pageins, 69011(0) pageouts

This shows me that I don't currently have any pageouts (0). Of course, your mileage may vary.

Extra memory will most likely make OS X run faster. However, it won't make your 500 feel like an 800.

-Finrock

[Eckslusive]

Would it at least make it feel like a bare 600?

[ae86_16v]

How come when I type "uptime" or "vm_stat" in Terminal it said "Command not found."?

[SubGeniux]

I've just done a similar upgrade, I'm using a Pismo 400 whic had 320mb ram and a 10 gig HD, I've just upgraded the memory to 768mb and a 40gig HD, the speed increase was amazing, X feels like a whole new OS, things zip along now, the OS is much more responsive, I coudln't believe the difference the ram and hard drive made to it. X just loves the more you fling at it. I'd go for the upgrade.
Also, applications like Photoshop ar emuch more usable, big difference in speed there. I might be blowing it out of proportion, but it feels like os 9 in speed terms.
Wonder what it mustbelike to have a G4 system.

[Finrock]

Yeah, when I put a Travelstar 40GB/8MB cache 5400 RPM drive in my Ti/500 it felt a whole lot faster. Much faster than bumping it from 512 MB to 1GB.

As far as feeling like a 600... well, it depends. The thing I notice most about my newest PowerBook is that Quartz Extreme makes everything THAT much more smooth.

ae86_16v - make sure you dont use the quotes when you type those commands.

-Finney

[Eckslusive]

Is the ram for the powerbook the same as for a normal laptop (the recent ones(2001+), not the old ones)

[Eckslusive]

Also. does the PB500 support 266MHz DDR SODIMMS?

[SubGeniux]

I got a 512mb 144pin SO-DIMM, sdram pc133 chip for my pb, which was one of the last Pismo's before the Tibook came out. Have a look at www.crucial.com which is where I get my ram from, they have a great system to match memory to your exact powerbook model.

[Eckslusive]

i got a stick for 76 + 6 bucks shipping..I think thats a great deal.


Looking for more

[PBG4 User]

Originally posted by ae86_16v:
How come when I type "uptime" or "vm_stat" in Terminal it said "Command not found."?

Did you install the BSD subsystem when you installed OS X? If not, then these (and many other) UNIX commands won't be available to you (i.e. they weren't installed so how can you run them?).