Macbook running out of memory? pic

Check which program is using so much RAM, just enable the column in Activity Monitor.

all this means is that you had other stuff open previously. Quitting a program doesn't clear that program's RAM cache.

The amount of memory being used by the processes is fairly typical, but a huge problem is your page in-page out ratio--it's all out of whack. You ideally should have at least a 5:1 in to out, 10:1 or greater is preferred. I've attached yours (orange) and mine (green) for comparison. What's happening is huge volumes of data are being sent to the hard drive then recovered because there's not enough free RAM to do it, hence all the slowdowns.

Also, you're displaying only your user processes, not all processes. There's a lot hidden in the current display.

I'd add more memory; it's too cheap not to these days. A reboot wouldn't hurt, either, to clear all that out.

mark88 said:

I just feels like my macbook is always struggling. I'm forever getting the beach ball, delays when pressing buttons etc. Doing the simplest thing can cause a freeze and give me the ball.

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If you use safari I would empty the cache. And if you want you could go and pick up 4gb of ram from newegg, unless you have an older macbook, then go for 2gb

mark88 said:

Also, isn't 2gb the max memory I can have in the first gen macbooks? crucial says so.

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You can try putting 4 GB in it. OS X will only recognize and utilize 3.3 though.

And yes, your macbook shouldn't be beachballing at all with 2 GB in it. Have you tried taking out a stick one at a time and see how it runs? It might be bad memory.

I've got a 2.16 with 4GB, and I just don't worry about the "missing" 700MB. 3.3 is better than 2 (which is what I had), and my page outs show it. The quantity and ratio of page outs are the OP's problems WRT the beachball & delays. Periodic reboots aren't a bad thing, more memory is always good, and not having too many resource hogs installed and/or running constantly is best.

EDIT: OK, a quick experiment. I just opened 29 apps, including all the iLife stuff, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Photoshop, GIMP, every processor- and memory-hungry app I could, and noodled around a little. Other than a increased fan and temp (6100 rpm, 157 F), it took it all, no complaints. And, interestingly enough, my remaining memory dropped to just over 500MB, indicating that I was taking up in one way or another a little over 3.5GB. So much for not addressing over 3.3. And, my page outs remained at zero. My recommendations stand.