More Ram?

Discussion in 'MacBook' started by freddelar, Jun 28, 2009.

Most Liked Posts
  1. freddelar, Jun 28, 2009

    freddelar macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2009
    #1
    Hi! I have a macbook unibody ( 2.4 ghz 2 gb ram). I have felt that it is getting kinda slow when I have many programs running. A friend of mine told me the solution for my problem would be to upgrade the ram from 2 to 4 gb of ram. i checked my activity monitor for ram and it said

    free: 17 mb
    wired: 182 mb
    active 1 gb
    inactive: 567

    I don't really understand what the numbers mean so I wonder if you guys to tell me if a 4 gb upgrade would make a big difference and what the ram activity monitor would look on a "snappy" computer?

    Thanks!
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  2. celticpride678, Jun 28, 2009

    celticpride678 Guest

    celticpride678

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2009
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    #2
    17 MB is a very low amount of free memory. What are you running?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  3. freddelar, Jun 28, 2009

    freddelar thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2009
    #3
    Safari, itunes, mail, some finder windows and Vuze.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  4. Stachelsk, Jun 28, 2009

    Stachelsk macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    #4
    Completely normal. OS X has an intelligent memory manager... it caches programs after you open them up, so that if you open them again, it's already in memory, and doesn't have to go to the hard drive to load it again. Thus, you have only a little bit of "free, completely unused" memory, but you have a lot of "inactive, but previously used, or cached" memory.

    Wired means its in use by the kernel or programs or something. Not sure what active means... probably userspace memory, but all that you need to know is that you don't have anything to worry about.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  5. freddelar, Jun 28, 2009

    freddelar thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2009
    #5
    But would it make a difference if I upgraded the ram?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  6. Stachelsk, Jun 28, 2009

    Stachelsk macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    #6
    Nope. Very little, if at all. 2GB is all you need for everyday things, by today's standard. Unless you use Parallels, VMware Fusion, or Photoshop, there is no reason to get more memory. I'd invest in a new hard drive ... or SSD if you have the cash .. you will see a noticeable difference from that.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  7. SpeedFleX, Jun 28, 2009

    SpeedFleX macrumors 6502

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2009
    Location:
    Interwebz
    #7
    I have VMWare Fusion and my macbook starts lagging, its completly useless, so if I were to upgrade to 4gb would it run smooth again or would it still be bottlenecked by other hardware components?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  8. Stachelsk, Jun 28, 2009

    Stachelsk macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2008
    #8
    Smooth as butter.

    Also, make sure you installed the latest update for VMware. It decreases processor usage for idle VMs.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  9. RDM3, Jun 28, 2009

    RDM3 macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2009
    Location:
    Concordville PA
    #9
    I would bump it to 4GB either way, it is a cheap upgrade, check out newegg.com
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  10. will0407, Jun 29, 2009

    will0407 macrumors 6502a

    Joined:
    May 20, 2006
    #10
    Check how much RAM you have assigned to VMWare when it stars
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  11. J&JPolangin, Jun 29, 2009

    J&JPolangin macrumors 68030

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2008
    Location:
    Thule GL @ the TOW
    #11
    ....it seems like its a good idea to have 2 GB going to VM/win(xx) and 2 GB RAM to OS X...
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  12. Stiss, Jun 29, 2009

    Stiss macrumors 6502a

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2009
    Location:
    England
    #12
    I have the 2.4ghz and i bumped it upto 4GB Ram.

    It does make a noticable difference, especially when multitasking, and playing WoW:rolleyes:
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page