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Do I Need More RAM?
- Thread starter DAPWNER
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Do not use Safari (or other WebKit-based web browsers) as a web browser, if you have only 4 GB RAM. The other thing is, that you should disable all plugins within web browsers such as Firefox and Safari. As you see, the Flash Player (and other plugins) "love" your RAM. Enable the plugins only, if you need them.
Regarding the upgrade:
Yes, upgrade to 8 GB or 16 GB (if possible).
Thanks for the reply
Now if only i could find a place in Canada to get 8GB for ~$50 :roll eyes:
OSX Lion will use more RAM based on the amount available, correct?
Either way it seems to be paging (going to disk instead of memory) a fair bit :/
Thanks for the reply
Now if only i could find a place in Canada to get 8GB for ~$50 :roll eyes:
OSX Lion will use more RAM based on the amount available, correct?
Either way it seems to be paging (going to disk instead of memory) a fair bit :/
OSX Lion does usually use up more RAM then it needs, but its 'inactive' so its reserved for when applications need to use it. Your page-outs are fairly high too, might be worth going to 8GB.
Thanks for the reply
Now if only i could find a place in Canada to get 8GB for ~$50 :roll eyes:
:/
Not that hard or close to it... Newegg has it for $44, + tax, + 9.99 shipping. If you have a Canada Computers where you live, you should be able to get it for about the same price, without the shipping.
It would make more sense if inactive memory was more accessible so that it wouldn't have to go to disk so much :/ A lot of times it seems like the app I have open would benefit from more memory, when there is a lot in the inactive bin.
In fact, I do have a Canada Computers close to me! (Never thought very highly of it) Does it have the correct kind of RAM and is it reputable?
It usually is accessible, but OSX limits the amount of RAM each application is permitted to use, the 'inactive' RAM will eventually be used, try closing unused applications and focussing on the most RAM hungry application, your 'inactive' RAM should decrease. Not that this is very productive of course, haha.
Inactive ram is essentially cache.
There's no point in flushing it, in case it needs to be accessed again. If OS X does run out of RAM and needs some, it will go for ram from "Free" and then "Inactive" if there is no free RAM. Inactive ram is essentially "free" it is just being used for caching whilst there is other totally unused RAM that apps could grab instead.
I agree with the upgrade to 8 or 16gb.
For the price you can get 16gb for these days, I think its a no brainer (assuming your machine is upgradable to 16, if it's not definitely get 8). If you're going to crack open the machine and install ram you may as well get double the amount for not a lot more money.
(unfortunately, as is my luck, i upgraded to 8gb about 3 months before 16gb dropped from $1000 to about $150)
There's no point in flushing it, in case it needs to be accessed again. If OS X does run out of RAM and needs some, it will go for ram from "Free" and then "Inactive" if there is no free RAM. Inactive ram is essentially "free" it is just being used for caching whilst there is other totally unused RAM that apps could grab instead.
I agree with the upgrade to 8 or 16gb.
For the price you can get 16gb for these days, I think its a no brainer (assuming your machine is upgradable to 16, if it's not definitely get 8). If you're going to crack open the machine and install ram you may as well get double the amount for not a lot more money.
(unfortunately, as is my luck, i upgraded to 8gb about 3 months before 16gb dropped from $1000 to about $150)
Their website has a section for Apple RAM, and you can check here for recommendations for brand and type. It's not the kind of thing I can keep straight in my head, so I follow the advice of the experts here, but I *think* this is what you want, assuming a recent model Mac Mini, MacBook Pro or iMac.
G.SKILL SQ Series for Apple DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 8GB (2x4GB) SODIMM Memory (FA-10666CL9D-8GBSQ)
You're buying a sealed-package product - doesn't really matter who sells it to you.
Yeah a bit difficult:Thanks for the reply
Now if only i could find a place in Canada to get 8GB for ~$50 :roll eyes:
http://www.pricebat.ca/kta-mb1333k2-8g-kingston-8gb-kit-2x4gb-1333mhz-for-apple/
(I use this KIT in my Early-2011 17" MBP)
Yes, you can buy the Mac-version of Corsair memory, but i cannot recommend this brand.
RAM sticks come in pair. You have to chose now, do you want 8gb or 16gb. from there you get either 2x4gb or 2x8gb. You can always start out with 8gb and if you feel it is really necessary get 16gb and sell the older RAM.
You can definitely buy single RAM sticks. 2x4GB might perform a bit better than 1x8GB because it's then dual channel, but 1x8GB should work just fine.
It wasn't one month, it was about 3 months.
3 months prior to that 16gb was about $1500.
As to how?
Manufacturing process gets refined/more reliable and the supply of 8gb chips (paired for 16gb) goes up. I believe what happened is that they started making 16gb chips, the 8gb process was perfected and then they started punching out heaps of them (thus sudden price drop).