Spaces and performance questions

[ks-man]

I use Spaces all the time when running my mac. I like applications having a dedicated space so I can leave many open at once without losing screen real estate.

I just discovered that in the Preferences you can increase from the default 4 spaces to any number you want. If I increase this number will I start noticing performance decreases? I realize if I leave too many apps open I may notice it, but assuming I have the same number of apps running, will I see the same performance if I have 6 or 9 (or more) spaces open as if I only had the default 4?

Thanks.

 

[spinnerlys]

I run twelve Spaces on all my Macs (MacBook C2D 2.GHz, Alu iMac C2D 2.0GHz, 17" MBP C2D 2.8GHz, all with 4GB RAM) and have almost always up to 15 applications open (in their dedicated Spaces) and the only performance issue I run into is the rendering of graphics when activating Spaces (+Exposé some times) on my MacBook with its GMA graphics adapter.

Otherwise I don't encounter any performance issues.

I run 10.6.2 on all of those Macs.

 

[puzzlebobble]

I'd second that.

I always have 16; it allows you to cluster programs that work with each other. It's surprisingly quickly how your brain learns what program goes where.

Even when I connect my MBP to two 26" monitors (with the main screen on as well) it works fine. Opening spaces isn't quite as smooth but then there are 54 screens worth for it to think about!

 

[ks-man]

I'd second that.

I always have 16; it allows you to cluster programs that work with each other. It's surprisingly quickly how your brain learns what program goes where.

Even when I connect my MBP to two 26" monitors (with the main screen on as well) it works fine. Opening spaces isn't quite as smooth but then there are 54 screens worth for it to think about!

Is there a keyboard shortcut to open up the Spaces App? I typically use Control + Number to switch between spaces but with more than 4 I have a hard time quickly doing it. How do you guys quickly switch between spaces/apps?

 

[spinnerlys]

I set the upper left corner to activate Spaces and also a mouse button (number 4, can be pressed by my thumb).