[eyes on me]

i have 256 mb when i bought this ibook but when i check it on activity monitor its only half of it? and the other half is being use? If i download a movie that had 256 MB will that mean my disk is full? and i keep getting this low system memory dont know how to fix it. Thank u

[cryon]

Isn't it your RAM which is 256mb? your hdd is undoubtly bigger. The size of your hdd is most likely measured in gb (gigabyte = 1024mb) instead of mb.

[gigglebyte]

correct...the RAM (measured in MB) is where your applications are actually running after being launched but your HD (measured in GB) is where the applications and data are stored...think of it like a home office...your RAM is the office where you work and your HD is your house where you store all your stuff

[SupahCoolX]

A better metaphor: The hard drive is like your file cabinet (long term file storage), and RAM is like your desktop (where you put the things you're currently working on). Having more hard drive space allows you to store more applications, documents, pictures, movies, music, etc. Having more RAM allows you to work with more of it at once.

To check available hard drive space: Open a Finder window. The info should be displayed near the top or bottom of the window (depending on your view settings). Also, you can click on a hard disk's icon and choose Get Info from the File menu (or press Command-i on the keyboard).

To check how much RAM is physically installed on your computer, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu.

Also, you may want to look at the System Profiler in your Applications/Utilities folder for detailed info about everything installed on your computer.