Help. Question about Activity Monitor and CPU usage

[VideoNewbie]

im currently running a few programs one of which is virtualbox .

on the activity monitor under "%cpu" i see that it is jumping back and forth from 30-80 %

on the bottom left of the activity monitor though it says %user 2 %system 10

which number should i be concerned about? why is the %cpu for virtualbox so high yet my system % is only 10

does this mean my computer could handle 10 x whatever its doing on virtualbox?

 

[benwiggy]

You don't say what Mac you have. Bear in mind that the % CPU figure for each process is PER CORE. So you may find a process running at 110%!

The System % the bottom is the entire value of your whole CPU.

Generally, my advice is not to spend your time monitoring your system unless you have a problem. If you are getting spinning wheels and slowdowns, then yes, look at Activity Monitor.