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What is eating up my RAM?

fel10

fel10

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 2, 2010
2,340
3,944
Woodstock, GA USA
I have a 4gb RAM in my Macbook Pro. I use iStat to check how my computer is running. I went to check the memory, and this is what I got. It says I'm using 1.37GB and only have 1.01GB free. Now, if you add that, that's not even 3GB. The only programs I have open are Safari, Last.FM and Finder. Am I missing something here????

 
Does the System Memory tab in activity monitor show the same numbers?

What does it say under memory in about this mac and System profiler?
 
Thank u for the help. I found it. Here are my results:

free: 842.1 MB
Wired: 768.5 MB
Active: 1.03 GB
Inactive: 1.39 GB
Used: 3.17 GB

Still don't get how I only have 842.1 MB free
 
fel10 said:
Thank u for the help. I found it. Here are my results:

free: 842.1 MB
Wired: 768.5 MB
Active: 1.03 GB
Inactive: 1.39 GB
Used: 3.17 GB

Still don't get how I only have 842.1 MB free
Click to expand...

You don't - you have up to 842.1MB plus 1.39GB Inactive "free" (2.232GB). "Inactive" works like a cache for previously launched apps, but is also available for other apps to use, if there isn't any Free available.
 
gr8tfly said:
You don't - you have up to 842.1MB plus 1.39GB "free" (2.232GB). "Inactive" works like a cache for previously launched apps, but is also available for other apps to use, if there isn't any Free available.
Click to expand...

Oh I get it now. Thanks a lot. I'm just a total noob when it comes to RAM, CPU and all that.
 
fel10 said:
Oh I get it now. Thanks a lot. I'm just a total noob when it comes to RAM, CPU and all that.
Click to expand...

You can Google "OS-X Memory Management" (or the like) to get the gory details, but the best advice is to look the other way and let the OS handle RAM allocation. It does a very good job at it. ;)
 
I've found that Inactive memory is often swapped to disk when more than 4gb is needed, which doesn't make sense. I would run VMWare, and I had to wait as the inactive memory was swapped to the disk, which beachbaled the computer for 30 seconds or more. I upgraded to 6gb and haven't had a problem since, but I shouldn't have to have 6gb when the programs I was running only needed 3gb.
 
How long has your computer been running for? The longer it runs, the more it eats up the "free" space and it becomes "inactive" space. Restarting the computer will clear all the caches, but you don't really need to do that.

Generally, I only restart when I start eating up a lot of swap space (2+ GB).
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
How long has your computer been running for? The longer it runs, the more it eats up the "free" space and it becomes "inactive" space. Restarting the computer will clear all the caches, but you don't really need to do that.

Generally, I only restart when I start eating up a lot of swap space (2+ GB).
Click to expand...

I've been using my comp for 2 hours now. And I rarely shut it off. I always put on sleep mode when I'm not using it.
 
fel10 said:
I've been using my comp for 2 hours now. And I rarely shut it off. I always put on sleep mode when I'm not using it.
Click to expand...

Wait... huh? You've been running it for only 2 hours but rarely shut it off? Did you just buy it? Sleep doesn't count, the computer is still running. How long have you been running it since the last restart? iStat Pro will tell you this.

Or did you just have one of your rare reboots? ;)
 
Tip:

Instead of posing a full screenshot of your dashboard, use the same shortcuts that are normally used to take a screenshot of your widgets.
 

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