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RAM issues? (Late 2008 MB (aluminum))

M

maclaw21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 26, 2009
266
228
My late 2008 MB (aluminum) runs a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Due and has 4GB of RAM (it came with 2 GB; I upgraded to 4 GB about a year into ownership).

I run a free program called Memory Clean, which monitors the amount of free memory available. (The app is available in the App Store if you'd like to take a closer look.) Within the past few months I've noticed that I'm burning up 4 GB of memory and need to "clean" it for a boost. When my memory gets low, performance starts to suffer/become sluggish.

Is this a common issue? Is there something I should be doing differently? I was always under the impression that RAM was not a significant consideration for Macs vis-a-vis Windows PCs. My recent experience seems to contradict this.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
 
wintercs said:
My late 2008 MB (aluminum) runs a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Due and has 4GB of RAM (it came with 2 GB; I upgraded to 4 GB about a year into ownership).

I run a free program called Memory Clean, which monitors the amount of free memory available. (The app is available in the App Store if you'd like to take a closer look.) Within the past few months I've noticed that I'm burning up 4 GB of memory and need to "clean" it for a boost. When my memory gets low, performance starts to suffer/become sluggish.

Is this a common issue? Is there something I should be doing differently? I was always under the impression that RAM was not a significant consideration for Macs vis-a-vis Windows PCs. My recent experience seems to contradict this.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
Click to expand...

Which version of OS X are you running? I would recommend installing iStat Pro (free) and looking at what it says for memory usage. I would also look into putting 8GB RAM in it.
 
I'm running mavericks. This issue reared its head well before I upgraded.

I'm not sure I can upgrade to 8gb. Am I wrong?
 
You can put 8GB in it, that's what I'm running right now. No issues. I'm on Mavericks, too. Do you have an SSD or the stock HDD? There might be a problem there if it's slow sometimes.
 
HIMAN1998 said:
You can put 8GB in it, that's what I'm running right now. No issues. I'm on Mavericks, too. Do you have an SSD or the stock HDD? There might be a problem there if it's slow sometimes.
Click to expand...

I'm running a HDD. I will look into upgrading the RAM. Anything from a software side?
 
Mavericks handles memory differently from previous versions of OS X. It will use whatever free memory is available but it will also free it up when apps need it. As long as you do not have a high number of Page Outs, you don't really need to add more RAM.

Also, in Mavericks, there is really no reason to run apps like Memory Clean anymore.
 
I have never run that type of application, my friend swears by it on his iMac (i3 w/ 4GB RAM running Mountain Lion), but he doesn't know his password for the Apple ID used (his uncle's) so he can't go Mavericks. I'm thinking about giving him the installer on a flash drive.
 
pastrychef said:
Mavericks handles memory differently from previous versions of OS X. It will use whatever free memory is available but it will also free it up when apps need it. As long as you do not have a high number of Page Outs, you don't really need to add more RAM.

Also, in Mavericks, there is really no reason to run apps like Memory Clean anymore.
Click to expand...

How do I determine the number of page outs I have? And what is considered high?

Thank you.
 
Personally, I use iStat Menu to keep track of a number of things in my system, including memory usage. Activity Monitor comes with every version of OS X and will also tell you how many page outs you have. I'm sure there are tons of apps that have this functionality.

Ideally, you want page outs to stay at zero. If you regularly see page outs, it's a sign that more RAM might be a good idea.
 
pastrychef said:
Personally, I use iStat Menu to keep track of a number of things in my system, including memory usage. Activity Monitor comes with every version of OS X and will also tell you how many page outs you have. I'm sure there are tons of apps that have this functionality.

Ideally, you want page outs to stay at zero. If you regularly see page outs, it's a sign that more RAM might be a good idea.
Click to expand...

Activity Monitor in Mavericks does not contain a Page Out statistics, but my Swap Used is 0 bytes. So I take it I needn't worry?

Thanks.
 
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