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Merkyworks

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
375
37
So I got the new MB and this is my first mac and im loving it. one thing that im missing from my old laptop was a program that I had for windows that put a little gauge of the cpu usage in the toolbar. Is there a program similar to this, one that auto starts and always run in the background?
 
can you not simply use activity monitor and show cpu useage in the dock? That's what I do. You could add it to your login items too.
 
I just dont see what the point of those apps are, except for in an instance where you're troubleshooting a rogue process.

If you're so worried about getting maximum performance, then just eliminate as many unnecessary tasks/processes as you can. And a CPU monitor is a huge one. Its constantly having to poll the hardware for status updates. It's like an app with an unquenchable thirst for attention.

Besides, CPU usage isn't really the same as like a tach on a car. There are much bigger bottlenecks in your system (disk I/O, etc) than your CPU.

//developer's $.02
 
I just dont see what the point of those apps are, except for in an instance where you're troubleshooting a rogue process.
iStat Pro is a great tool for monitoring many things on a Mac, including CPU, Memory, Disks, Network, Battery, Load & Uptime, Temperatures, Fans, Processes, etc. It's not just for troubleshooting.
If you're so worried about getting maximum performance, then just eliminate as many unnecessary tasks/processes as you can. And a CPU monitor is a huge one. Its constantly having to poll the hardware for status updates. It's like an app with an unquenchable thirst for attention.
Not true at all. iStat Pro's CPU usage is so negligible as to be almost non-existant.
 

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So I got the new MB and this is my first mac and im loving it. one thing that im missing from my old laptop was a program that I had for windows that put a little gauge of the cpu usage in the toolbar. Is there a program similar to this, one that auto starts and always run in the background?

As already mentioned your mac already has this built in, open "Activity Monitor" and then right (control) click it and change "dock icon" to cpu usage
 
A nice thing about iStat is you can put it in your menu bar at the top. It's out of the way, but you have quick access to information: temperatures, fan speeds, network, memory, cpu, hard drive usage...all at a glance, or more detail with a drop down. Its use of resources is minimal.
 
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