How many applications can I run simultanesouly?

[drury]

I just bought a new MacBook Air after owning a white Macbook for the last four years. I used to push that pretty hard, but I feel I'm still habituated towards quitting applications when I'm done with them, rather than keeping everything open.

With the new MacBook I have two user accounts that I'm constantly switching back and forth between, and I run something like ten apps in each. Mail, iChat, Reeder, Safari, iWork, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, Grapher, and software called TestGen which I use to make worksheets and tests for my students is in my user account for work, and Mail, Ichat, Reeder, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, and Safari in my personal account. On the Macbook I used to quit out of the account before logging into another one, but so far the Air seems to handle both being logged in at the same time. Is this level of usage fairly normal?

If most of the apps are in the background most of the time and none of them are particularly processor heavy, will this level of usage have a drastic negative effect on battery life?

 

[GGJstudios]

I just bought a new MacBook Air after owning a white Macbook for the last four years. I used to push that pretty hard, but I feel I'm still habituated towards quitting applications when I'm done with them, rather than keeping everything open.

With the new MacBook I have two user accounts that I'm constantly switching back and forth between, and I run something like ten apps in each. Mail, iChat, Reeder, Safari, iWork, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, Grapher, and software called TestGen which I use to make worksheets and tests for my students is in my user account for work, and Mail, Ichat, Reeder, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, and Safari in my personal account. On the Macbook I used to quit out of the account before logging into another one, but so far the Air seems to handle both being logged in at the same time. Is this level of usage fairly normal?

If most of the apps are in the background most of the time and none of them are particularly processor heavy, will this level of usage have a drastic negative effect on battery life?

The number of apps you run isn't as important as what system resources the running apps require. Safari, Skype and iTunes all are fairly demanding on resources. There are many factors that impact battery life, including screen brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[vitzr]

Another factor that governs how many you can run is the amount of ram memory you have installed.

 

[tom vilsack]

287 to 292

www.287-292_air-open-apps.com

 

[GGJstudios]

287 to 292

www.287-292_air-open-apps.com

Bad link.

 

[416049]

I just bought a new MacBook Air after owning a white Macbook for the last four years. I used to push that pretty hard, but I feel I'm still habituated towards quitting applications when I'm done with them, rather than keeping everything open.

With the new MacBook I have two user accounts that I'm constantly switching back and forth between, and I run something like ten apps in each. Mail, iChat, Reeder, Safari, iWork, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, Grapher, and software called TestGen which I use to make worksheets and tests for my students is in my user account for work, and Mail, Ichat, Reeder, Skype, Twitter, iCal, iTunes, and Safari in my personal account. On the Macbook I used to quit out of the account before logging into another one, but so far the Air seems to handle both being logged in at the same time. Is this level of usage fairly normal?

If most of the apps are in the background most of the time and none of them are particularly processor heavy, will this level of usage have a drastic negative effect on battery life?

Yes especially cuz skype is pretty processorheavy and safari is a ram-hog in some situations especially in connection with flash.

 

[jdavtz]

The comments about Skype and Safari being processor-heavy totally depend on what they're doing. A list of Skype contacts and some text chat windows, and a bunch of static web pages in Safari really won't stress your processor (I'm guessing usage of 2-3% at most).

 

[GGJstudios]

The comments about Skype and Safari being processor-heavy totally depend on what they're doing. A list of Skype contacts and some text chat windows, and a bunch of static web pages in Safari really won't stress your processor (I'm guessing usage of 2-3% at most).

This is Skype with zero windows open, no chats or calls in progress:

​

While I agree the activity in Safari and Skype will determine how much resources are used, both apps, by nature, are resource hogs.

 

[TheJing]

For me Skype is using 0.1% with a window open, not chats or calls.

 

[GGJstudios]

For me Skype is using 0.1% with a window open, not chats or calls.

Of course it depends on what OS, what hardware and what version of Skype is involved. I just completed a Skype call and here's what it showed during the call:

​

 

[jdavtz]

Skype here is using 0.1% with just the contact window open, logged in.

I'm using Skype 2.8.0.866 on OS X 10.7.2 on a 2008 iMac.

Maybe along with the UI disaster, version 5 is also a CPU hogging disaster.

 

[GGJstudios]

Skype here is using 0.1% with just the contact window open, logged in.

I'm using Skype 2.8.0.866 on OS X 10.7.2 on a 2008 iMac.

Maybe along with the UI disaster, version 5 is also a CPU hogging disaster.

I'm using the same Skype version on 10.5.8 on a 2008 MBP. I specifically avoided 5.0 because the interface is terrible.

 

[Nioxic]

Doesn't it really depend on what application youre running?

i mean, i bet mine could run a couple of hundred chrome windows.

but i highly doubt it would run a couple of hundred world of warcraft (or some other game) windows...?

 

[wickoo]

With this pretty demanding set of apps and browser tabs I do feel a few hiccups, like when I'm opening a new tab in Chrome, but hey - I'm running Coda, Parallels with Windows XP, Xcode, MonoDevelop, iOS simulator, Skype, Mail, Chrome, Safari, iTunes, MindNote and a bunch of other apps. I am constantly amazed by my MBA 11's performance.