Memory Issues

[jessica.]

I am running Tiger 10.4.1 on a PowerBook 1.67gHz with 512 MB ram. I have 128mb video.

The programs that are running right now are: MS Word, iTunes, Safari with 5 open tabs, and iChat. In my menu bar I am running Sticky Windows and Synergy.

I won’t even say this didn’t happen in Panther because I never cared to check. But now, I am consistently showing that I have 69M Wired Memory 289M Active 130M Inactive and 23M Free. I found this using the dashboard widget called Dash Monitor. My question is, is this bad? I assume another 512 stick at least would fix it. I need it for photoshop anyway, but I was trying to make sure the 512 would even be useful.
I know in windows more memory is useful and I am assuming that is the case here for me. But are those stats above bad? Should I be worried?

Thanks!

[yellow]

Bad? No. 4 out of the 5 listed apps suck up a lot of RAM.

Plus, Inactive & Free memory should both be counted as "free" RAM.

Use /Applications/Utilites/Activty Monitor to monitor your RAM usage for a little while. Click on the "Real Memory" tab to get a good idea what apps are eating what RAM. Besides, if the OS runs out of RAM, it will start swapping (copying RAM to the hard drive space in /var/vm/, think "virtual memory"). Swapping will slow down what you are doing, as the hard drive is significantly slower read/write then RAM, but it won't hurt you. 512MB is a good starting number. If you find that you run a lot of apps that really suck up a lot of RAM, get more RAM. Because yes, more is always better..

[yellow]

Plus, you should also note that widgets/dashboard uses RAM, any background apps like Little Snitch or Snapz Pro all use RAM too.. So RAM used is not solely relegated to your "regular" (Docked) apps.