from Apple website: 'Minimum graphics memory usage is 256MB'?

[Mic'sBook]

Take a look at this:
http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

It says:
Graphics and video support
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3

At the bottom (for the superscript 3):
Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs. Minimum graphics memory usage is 256MB

==========

Should it be 'maximum' instead of 'minimum'?

I don't quite understand what that means, if someone could clarify on that, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Hellhammer]

It says the same in Finnish site as well (it's in Finnish so not worth linking).

I think it's right because it's the same in 13" MBP as well

Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs. Minimum graphics memory usage is 256MB.

 

[Eidorian]

Shared video RAM increases with the total system RAM you have and the demand for VRAM. The minimum allocated is 256 MB.

 

[pricej636]

Does that mean that you have 256MB of VRAM and 256MB of system RAM? That would rather change the RAM picture, wouldn't it?

There is no dedicated vram. What it means is that 256MB of system RAM is dedicated to video, regardless of whether you using it or not. This 256MB is not available for the OS to use at all. Which is one reason the macbooks respond so well to RAM upgrades. If you are using the stock 2GB of RAM, 1/8th of it is unavailable to the OS. I cant recall the last time i used any kind of computer with less than 2GB of RAM.

 

[pricej636]

I guess I should clarify, the graphics chip doesnt have onboard RAM. In reality there is 256MB of dedicated VRAM, but it lives on the same chip as the system RAM. Thus the term "shared" VRAM.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Activity monitor is always out of 1.75 GBs (2 GBs installed) for me, so I think it's generally a fixed amount of RAM (256 MB). Well it seems to be that way on my MBP.

 

[pricej636]

Activity monitor is always out of 1.75 GBs (2 GBs installed) for me, so I think it's generally a fixed amount of RAM (256 MB). Well it seems to be that way on my MBP.

I think thats what the apple quote means. There is a minimum of 256MB allocated to video, always. It implies that you could pull more VRAM if you need it, and if you have enough system RAM spare.

 

[Mic'sBook]

I guess I should clarify, the graphics chip doesnt have onboard RAM. In reality there is 256MB of dedicated VRAM, but it lives on the same chip as the system RAM. Thus the term "shared" VRAM.

Activity monitor is always out of 1.75 GBs (2 GBs installed) for me, so I think it's generally a fixed amount of RAM (256 MB). Well it seems to be that way on my MBP.

I think thats what the apple quote means. There is a minimum of 256MB allocated to video, always. It implies that you could pull more VRAM if you need it, and if you have enough system RAM spare.

Thank you pricej636, BlizzardBomb and the rest of the replies!
It seems that I interpret what they are saying wrong, as I thought the maximum video RAM that NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor can get is 256MB shared RAM from the system RAM.

 

[iMacmatician]

There is no dedicated vram. What it means is that 256MB of system RAM is dedicated to video, regardless of whether you using it or not. This 256MB is not available for the OS to use at all. Which is one reason the macbooks respond so well to RAM upgrades. If you are using the stock 2GB of RAM, 1/8th of it is unavailable to the OS. I cant recall the last time i used any kind of computer with less than 2GB of RAM.

I'm using the 9400M in my MBP and I added up all the Real Mem usages of the top 29 processes (one page) in Activity Monitor (smallest RAM use out of those processes is 1.8 MB) and got ~1414 MB. My Activity Monitor shows up as 1.75 GB so where did the extra ~378 MB go? To the VRAM?

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I'm using the 9400M in my MBP and I added up all the Real Mem usages of the top 29 processes (one page) in Activity Monitor (smallest RAM use out of those processes is 1.8 MB) and got ~1414 MB. My Activity Monitor shows up as 1.75 GB so where did the extra ~378 MB go? To the VRAM?

Not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that your MBP has no free RAM left but adding up all the processes doesn't make it up to 1.75 GBs? If so, recently quit applications will still be held in "Inactive" RAM.

 

[iMacmatician]

Not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that your MBP has no free RAM left but adding up all the processes doesn't make it up to 1.75 GBs? If so, recently quit applications will still be held in "Inactive" RAM.

There's 1.97 GB of Used RAM. I think that explanation makes sense, my Inactive RAM is ~403 MB which isn't far from ~378 MB + ~30 MB for the other processes that use really tiny amounts of RAM.

 

[EuroBrit]

I cant recall the last time i used any kind of computer with less than 2GB of RAM.

I use one on a daily basis.