[tavilach]

I currently have 512 MB of RAM, and my system has felt very slow. I'm an extreme power user, and I usually have at least five programs and twenty Safari tabs open (and this is normal, every-day usage...not power usage). The little spinning wheel keeps coming up with everything...even when I try to close a Safari tab, it spins for 10 seconds, and then the tab finally closes. Scrolling is also very slow in Safari, and typing can also be slow...but I hear that the typing is an animated GIF issue.

I'm wondering how much more RAM I need. I installed MenuMeters to check my memory status, and whenever I open or close a tab, or anything, the paging (I have six page files) goes up to like 400 (actually, I tried one tab just now, and it only went to 2...but on another tab, it went to 800). When I open FireWorks, it immediately goes to 1k+. Even when I do something superfluous, it sometimes goes to 1k+! All I have open now is lots and lots of Safari tabs, Adium, Mail, iTunes, iSync, Launchbar, and that's about it. It's those damn Safari tabs!

Even when I don't have lots of Safari tabs open, things get very slow after Mail, iCal, iSync, iTunes, and Launchbar are all open, and I try to open something else.

On my Windows computer, I used to have about 10 applications open at once, and at least 15 IE windows. How much more RAM do I need to make my system fast enough? I also want to be able to have Word, FireWorks, DreamWeaver, 20 Safari tabs, iTunes, iCal, iSyc, etc. all open at once. I could do that on my Windows machine without a flinch...that would be minimal usage!

I'm worried that 1 GB of RAM won't be enough (even though my Windows machine only had 512 MB...but it was 2.53 GHz vs. my 1.5 GHz, and Windows seems to use less RAM)...

Would 1.5 GB be enough? That's a lot more expensive than 1 GB, though. I could also go for 2 GB, but that's just outrageously expensive. I want reliable RAM, not cheap Outpost.com RAM that I can't rely on.

Also, my CPU goes to 100% a lot, but I'm thinking that this is a result of paging. It's not that my CPU is too slow, is it? I think the RAM is really the isuse. Correct me if I'm wrong?

Lastly, will more RAM affect Safari's speed? I know that Safari has animated GIF issues...it scrolls horribly slow many times, and typing is also crazy slow (to the point that I'm limited to like 30 WPM, and backspacing is painful). Would these problems be minimized by more RAM (I know they'd still exist, but this is a question of extent)? Tabbing is very slow, too, because the site has to be partially loaded before it wants to switch...would tab switching be made speedier with more RAM? I'm thinking that it will, as my tab switching makes the paging activity go as high as 1k+...which seems to mean that with more RAM, this wait would be diminished, because paging would be minimzed, and paging seems to be the issue. Also, would the image rendering speed be boosted? These are important factors in the amount of RAM that I need/get.

I have brought this up in other posts of mine, but I wanted to explicitely ask this question in its own thread.

[tavilach]

Update:

Berkeley makes me run an Anti-Virus program (they scan computers, apparently), and they gave me NAV for free...

I started to think...maybe the Auto-Scan feature is a huge memory hog.

I turned it off, and so far, with 15 tabs open, everything is so fast!

Edit: Oh my gosh! This isn't an illusion! Word opens quickly, everything opens quickly! My swap files went from 6 to 2 files! My swap space went from 1500 MB to 128 MB! I love my Mac, now! Wow! This is a totally new experience! I wonder if I should still dish out $100 for another stick of 512, so that I don't have to wait as long for programs to load up, and so I can easily run lots of programs at once...

[Randman]

If you can afford an extra 512, it'll smooth things out, especially using multiple apps.
Safari can be a resource hog. Do you use pithhelmet to manage animated gifs? That helps considerably. Deactivating the cache permanently and either deleting the icon cache or locking the plist for it so it can't be saved also helps minimize the number of beach balls you get on Safari.
And finally, there's autofill. If you have it set for others, it can bog down. Go in and deactivate it or edit it down to a manageable size (as well as the other autofill forms) and that will also help speed Safari up.

[tavilach]

Originally posted by Randman:
If you can afford an extra 512, it'll smooth things out, especially using multiple apps.
Safari can be a resource hog. Do you use pithhelmet to manage animated gifs? That helps considerably. Deactivating the cache permanently and either deleting the icon cache or locking the plist for it so it can't be saved also helps minimize the number of beach balls you get on Safari.
And finally, there's autofill. If you have it set for others, it can bog down. Go in and deactivate it or edit it down to a manageable size (as well as the other autofill forms) and that will also help speed Safari up.

I can definitely afford an extra 512, but I'm worried that it won't be enough...

My swap space randomly went up from 256 to 512, and then to 1024, and the files went up to 5 files. The CPU is always at about 60% or higher (probably because it keeps going into swap).

Is this normal? Does it mean that I need an extra 1 GB of RAM? I mean, that seems odd, as I don't do processor intensive tasks (just lots and lots of Safari tabs...at least ten, usually twenty).

Would 1 GB be necessary for my machine to actually be blazing fast? I don't want to dish out all that money, but if it's necessary to full experience the power of my machine, and to stop having annoying beachballs whenever I switch Safari tabs, then I mean...

[Keiretsu]

Originally posted by tavilach:
I can definitely afford an extra 512, but I'm worried that it won't be enough...

My swap space randomly went up from 256 to 512, and then to 1024, and the files went up to 5 files. The CPU is always at about 60% or higher (probably because it keeps going into swap).

Is this normal? Does it mean that I need an extra 1 GB of RAM? I mean, that seems odd, as I don't do processor intensive tasks (just lots and lots of Safari tabs...at least ten, usually twenty).

Would 1 GB be necessary for my machine to actually be blazing fast? I don't want to dish out all that money, but if it's necessary to full experience the power of my machine, and to stop having annoying beachballs whenever I switch Safari tabs, then I mean...

IMHO 1GB is something like the sweet spot right now for the amount of RAM to use in a Mac. 1GB is affordable and gives you optimum performance except in cases where you use really memory hungry programs such as: Motion, FCP, Photoshop ...

Go for 1GB and you'll be fine!

[Randman]

Safari is very good at hogging resources, so even with more ram, you're going to get some beachballs with that many tabs. As stated elsewhere, I've found turning autofill > others does a world of good. Keeping the other autofill items pared down also helps.
You can also use third-party apps to deactivate your cache and you could lock the plist file for icons so they never save and are purged everytime you quit Safari.
Pithhelmet is a mixed bag. I love it for its ad-blocking, gif-controlling functions, but it can slow things down a bit. Finally, you can adjust the time that Safari loads pages (search previous threads on it) and that helps reduce beachball sightings as well.
I'd agree that it sounds as if you don't need more than a gig of ram. If you find later that you really are becoming a power user (which is sounds as if you're a normal user), you can always upgrade the ram again and sell off what you already have.
Finally, check out macosxhints. You'll find plenty of good stuff there.

[tavilach]

Originally posted by Randman:
Safari is very good at hogging resources, so even with more ram, you're going to get some beachballs with that many tabs. As stated elsewhere, I've found turning autofill > others does a world of good. Keeping the other autofill items pared down also helps.
You can also use third-party apps to deactivate your cache and you could lock the plist file for icons so they never save and are purged everytime you quit Safari.
Pithhelmet is a mixed bag. I love it for its ad-blocking, gif-controlling functions, but it can slow things down a bit. Finally, you can adjust the time that Safari loads pages (search previous threads on it) and that helps reduce beachball sightings as well.
I'd agree that it sounds as if you don't need more than a gig of ram. If you find later that you really are becoming a power user (which is sounds as if you're a normal user), you can always upgrade the ram again and sell off what you already have.
Finally, check out macosxhints. You'll find plenty of good stuff there.

If you consider having Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Xcode, Launchbar, iTunes, Finder, Mail, iCal, and 20 Safari Tabs open being power using, then yes, I am a power user. If not, then I'm not .

Anyway, I'll try your autofill hint. As for "you can also use third-party apps to deactivate your cache and you could lock the plist file for icons so they never save and are purged everytime you quit Safari"...that confuses me.

Pithhelmet scares me, now that you made me aware that it slows Safari down.

I just checked out macosxhints, and it seems like a cool site, but I don't see any way to easily navigate it.

Thanks for the tips!

[siflippant]

Originally posted by tavilach:
If you consider having Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Xcode, Launchbar, iTunes, Finder, Mail, iCal, and 20 Safari Tabs open being power using, then yes, I am a power user. If not, then I'm not .

Mmmmmm, with the exception of Xcode, I use all of those... and I'm NO power user... but I guess some people prefer to see themselves as such even if others do not...

It's funny how you look at stuff and what life throws at you when you're past 30, as opposed to being in your late teens...

[mgehman]

The answer to this question is quite simple. Look in your bank account...buy that much.