Is there an optimal amount of HD space you should have free for Virtual memory?

WillMak said:

I have the new 128GB MB air. I love it so far but I am already down to 58.35 GB without any music or media files! I remember with my old 2006 macbook that having at least 15 GB free made the computer run much more faster due to freeing up more space for Virtual memory. Is this a concern with the air? How are you 128 GB users holding out so far on the space use?

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Rule of thumb used to be two times memory, so 8 gigs. But that is probably a very dated rule. When you only had 256megs of memory, you were guaranteed to use virtual memory...

More importantly then the virtual memory, you ought to consider how much you might need in a pinch. For example, what if you wanted to rip a dvd or 6 for a plane ride? You don't want to have to delete a bunch of stuff for that.

I have the 128G, and try to leave 50 free (but I do fill it up for trips).

WillMak said:

I was wondering whether having a SSD makes having enough VM a thing of the past since the SSD swaps information at a much faster pace. Any thoughts on that?

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SSDs are certainly faster then hard drives, but still pale in comparison to RAM.

RAM has a transfer rate in the range of 2-20GB/s. SSDs have a transfer rate of 200MB/s or so.