[Freeflyer]

OK, I know that you always need more ram, but my wife's got a 12" powerbook with 256Mb ram. Sometimes things get slow and I'm thinking it might be ram.

How would I check to see if it's using all the ram?

Thanks,

J.

[cambro]

Open terminal, type top and hit return.

On the last line of the header (before the columns), look at the part that says:

23432(0) pageins, 2343(0) pageouts

Your numbers will not be the same. Now, leave top running and do stuff on the computer.

If the numbers in the () are always changing, then that means that you are constantly swapping things from the disk into and out of active RAM. This causes slowdown.

Remember, it is the numbers IN the (). It is normal for the numbers to the left to be large as they represent the total numbers of pageins/pageouts since startup.

Hope this helps...256 is almost certainly the edge of what is really needed.

[RevEvs]

If theres more room in the computer then you need more memory

revs

[dwishbone]

Topic: How do you know if you need more memory?


when you keep forgetting things. hehe. sorry. was too easy.

that method should be ok. as a general rule though (in my experience) you need at least double what the system runs best at. Panther requires 128MB...but it really needs 256 optimumly from what ive seen. so i would recommend at least 512MB. thats what i tell anyone (mac or PC) to get now. if you have any less your system can and will get sluggish. if you are going to do anything like heavy audio or video...you of course would need more.

[Freeflyer]

Thanks all, that's exactly what we needed to know. It looks like she needs for memory as she likes to have a bunch of stuff running all the time.

Cheers,

J.