Activity monitor help needed please.

[stevo8]

I have a MBP thats running real slow when Im editing photos on CS4 and Lightroom and I am looking to upgrade to a newer Imac shortly but I wanted to know what my issue is first.

As for what the activity monitor says:

free in green is usually around 20-40mb
Inactive in blue is usually around 400-600mb
active in yellow around 1.00-1.40GB
Wired in red around 200-250mb

As I type this with my usual programs running in the back but not actually doing anything the VM size is 11.25GB and page ins/outs 504485/73153.....

I get a whole lot of the spinning wheel and the watch ticking when Im editing and it gets real frustrating. My MBP is already maxed out at 2gig ram(core duo) so Im wondering what should be my main focus when looking for a new computer? TIA for the help.

 

[BlueRevolution]

How many programs are running? What you have should be plenty.

 

[madog]

Photoshop and Lightroom?

Both of those apps are memory hogs. The late 2008 Macbooks/Pros to the new ones they all support 4GB or more.

I'm not sure about all that page in/out and wired stuff, but seeing as you have 1.4gbs active, and only the 20-40mbs that are free that haven't been accessed in any way, that might be the case.

 

[stevo8]

How many programs are running? What you have should be plenty.

AIM, safari, Itunes, CS4, LR and the activity monitor. AIM doesnt seem to effect it much as well as Itunes since its just playing out of my library. Its basically just CS4 and Lightroom which I need to have both running at the same time.

So whats up with the blue inactive? Will anything with 4gig let me run what I have seamlessly or is it becoming a processor issue as well?(2.0GHz right now)

 

[stevo8]

can anyone else shed some light on this?

 

[BlueRevolution]

AIM, safari, Itunes, CS4, LR and the activity monitor. AIM doesnt seem to effect it much as well as Itunes since its just playing out of my library. Its basically just CS4 and Lightroom which I need to have both running at the same time.

So whats up with the blue inactive? Will anything with 4gig let me run what I have seamlessly or is it becoming a processor issue as well?(2.0GHz right now)

If you want to run both at a time it's likely that you will experience slowdowns. Both are fairly memory-hungry applications.

Your processor is not an issue. Just upgrade the memory. Why would you need a new computer?

 

[stevo8]

If you want to run both at a time it's likely that you will experience slowdowns. Both are fairly memory-hungry applications.

Your processor is not an issue. Just upgrade the memory. Why would you need a new computer?

Upgrade what memory? Im maxed out. The core duo MBP will only support 2gig RAM.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Oh, okay. Wanna give it to me, then?

 

[stevo8]

lol Ill pass for now. Its been a GREAT computer and outside of photo editing stuff it has done anything and everything I have asked of it with absolutely zero problems over the last few years. Ill most likely be holding onto it for school work and as a backup for whatever else I get(imac)