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Does opening too many Apps slow down things down

N

novetan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 3, 2010
404
12
At any one time, normally I'd have about 6 to 7 Applications open (white dot beside the icon) but not really using it. These are:

Mail, Safari, Neo Office, Microsoft Excel, Preview, Adobe Bride, Adobe pdf

Sometimes when I'm in using photoshop CS5, it is rather slow to react. Is it because too many Applications are using the ram? Would it helps to speed up the photoshop if I close some?

I'm using MBP 2.53 Ghz, 4 GB, Core i5.

Thanks
 
If you're not using an app, but it's simply open, its RAM usage will be minimal. You can check Activity Monitor to see what apps are using the most RAM. Also, you can check the System Memory tab a the bottom. Look at Page outs and Swap used. If, under normal use, they're high, you likely need more RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
 
novetan said:
If I were to close 2 or 3 Applications that used up the most ram, which would you recommend? Photoshop and Bridge must remain open.
Click to expand...

I'd close Excel for sure, MS Office apps are kinda RAM hogs. Also, if you've had Safari open for a while (lots of tabs, windows, etc) then it might be taking up quite a bit of RAM, I know that happens when I've had Chrome open for a while (like 2-3 weeks).

As GGJstudios said though, check Activity Monitor to see in detail what's going on.
 
Hey, sorry to bother again. Where can I locate Activity Monitor. I thought its in the System Preference but can't locate it.

Thanks
 
novetan said:
Hey, sorry to bother again. Where can I locate Activity Monitor. I thought its in the System Preference but can't locate it.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It's in your applications/utilities folder. Easiest way is through spotlight. Do "command + space" and start typing "activity" it will show up.
 
novetan said:
Thanks.

If I were to close 2 or 3 Applications that used up the most ram, which would you recommend? Photoshop and Bridge must remain open.
Click to expand...

Open the Activity Monitor Application located in the utilities folder on you Mac, it tells you which apps are using the most ram, then close those because you may close many but if you don't close those which clutter your ram you're not doing anything
 
ssdeg7 said:
Open the Activity Monitor Application located in the utilities folder on you Mac, it tells you which apps are using the most ram, then close those because you may close many but if you don't close those which clutter your ram you're not doing anything
Click to expand...
Thanks, and I'm now able to see which program eat up the most.

I realised Neo office as well as Safari (although running on one tab) eat up the most. Surprisingly, Excel not much.
 
Hi guys,

Just want to check with you guys the real need to upgrade to 8 RAM. I normally have about 6 apps on standby so that I can recall it without the waiting time to boot especially Neo Office which takes ages. With av. 6 apps opened, the free ram left is about 100 mb and inactive about 1000 mb.

Question:
Occassionally I worked on photoshop CS5 and at times I experienced some lag. Most of the time its quite fast but just only on occassion its slower than usual. I'd say its bearable, not like waiting for ages.

Does the remaining ram good enough for me to continue working on CS5 or justify an upgrade to 8 ram?

Thanks for further advise

i-CN6z6S7.png
 
You have a large enough number of page outs to be worth looking into the RAM upgrade.

jW
 
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