How much RAM should be in use while not running anything?

Just for the heck of it, I checked the Activity Monitor with nothing else open to see how much RAM was being used. Much to my surprise, nearly 900MB of my 2GB was being used with literally every application closed except for Activity Monitor. This can't be normal...

My Macbook Pro is also using about 1.3GB RAM with virtually everything shut down (mail, safari, ical, itunes, etc). Yet, my husbands uses only about 400-500MB with the nearly identical applications left running.
I have 4GB, he has 2GB.
We compared the running applications one-by-one, and mine uses nearly double his for the exact same application.
Does a laptop use more memory if it has more memory to use?
This really bothers me. There does not seem to be any reason for mine to be consuming more RAM when running the same small applications as his does yet I can't figure out why?
Ahhhhh!

Similar Messages

How much RAM should I install for new iMAC ?

Hi,
How much RAM should I install for new iMAC* running Logic Studio? It comes with 4 GB - is that enough? (can you run in 64 bit mode..)
*(The 21.5" 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo)
Also, I was planning to get the stock 1 TB Hard Drive & save projects to an external drive.
Does that sound reasonable?
Any other recommendations?
Thanks,
Wm Heart

Unless you plan on running huge projects with enormous sampled instruments, 4 GB will do (very) fine. And your disk plan is sound. Choose an external Firewire drive, rather than USB. FW is easier on the CPU and can handle more tracks than USB.
What you should get, instead of more memory, is a (24 bit) external audio interface, if you want to do serious recording and playback.
What type of audio interface you'ld need, depends on what you want to do with it and of course your budget. From decent to brilliant costs from roughly 100 to several 1,000's of europounddollars. Avoid the 16 bit ones, they're worse than the inbuilt audio chip of your iMac. You can recognize 16 bit Audio Interfaces (in webshops) by their prize (often under 100€£$) and the lack of mention of their bitrate.
HTH
Regards, Erik.

How much RAM should I add to my 2008 iMac?

Hi everybody,
I currently own an 20-inch Early 2008 iMac, and I was wondering what would be the best RAM upgrade for what I use the computer for. At the moment, I have 2GB of RAM and I'm running Mavericks, and I can tell that it isn't as fast as Snow Leopard. I use the computer for mostly video editing on Final Cut and sometimes iMovie, and also a little Photoshop here and there.
My question is: How much RAM should I buy (and from who) in order to speed up my iMac so that it can handle these programs without being painfully slow.
Thank you!

Your machine came with two 1GB RAM modules. The most it can take is a total of 6GB, by buying one 2GB and one 4GB module. Don't be tempted to buy these on the cheap, go with Crucial, OWC (macsales) or Ramjet. This will cost about $140. You will see an improvement if you only buy two 2GB ($65) and go to a total of 4GB, but I think you will see a significant additional boost by going to 6GB. The apps you are using can REALLY make use of all the RAM they have access to.

How much RAM should I get my new MacBook installed with?

How much RAM should I get my new MacBook installed with? I'm planning on getting a new Macbook sometime this fall. I'll probably be a light user, mostly internet, email, and your occasional Letter/Envelope.
Are their any other options that I'll want to make sure that I get?
Oh, and this will also be my very first Mac.
Thanks,
Jeff

In the link Alvin Ray posted it shows the different configurations that can be used in RAM. Officially Apple states that the MacBook supports 2 GB Ram. It can hold 4 GB but only uses 3 GB. The 4 GB would only benefit the matched pair use for optimum graphics. Unless you do a lot of very graphic intensive work 3 GB should be fine.

How much RAM do tab groups use (on average)? Do I need to watch out for how many groups I create?

I may have gone overboard in the creation of Tab Groups. I say this because now my system is beginning to act a bit sluggish. I created 7 groups, two of which have 9 or 10 tabs. Should I pull back on the number of groups I create (as well as how many tab are located within each group). That is: How much RAM do tab groups use. How can I calibrate or understand the trade off between these markers and the amount of RAM they use?

You can see the memory usage on the about:memory page.
You can open about: pages via the location bar like you open a website.

How much Ram can my Macbook use? What Hard drive should I upgrade to?

Hi Everyone.
I have a 2008 ish macBook with 4gb of Ram. I use vmware Fusion to run Windows every day and I also use Aperture on a regular basis.
I'm looking to breath some life into this old machine and want to know how much ram the motherboard will support. Here are the machine's specs.
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:          MacBook
Model Identifier:          MacBook4,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          3 MB
Memory:          4 GB
Bus Speed:          800 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          MB41.00C1.B00
How muck Ram will the machine support?
My Hard drive is also nearly full and I would like to upgrade to a 500gb drive. Any suggestions on which drive to choose?
Thanks!!

You can install up to 6 GBs of RAM. There are any number of good choices for a hard drive replacement. I suggest visiting OWC for information on pricing, makes, and models. They also provide video tutorials on how to replace a drive in MacBooks.
To prepare for the upcoming release of Lion I also suggest spending $29 to buy a Snow Leopard DVD and upgrade your OS.

How much RAM should I upgrade too?

I recently purchased a 13" MacBook Pro. It is a mid-2012 model. It currently has 4 GB. I connect it to an external monitor which makes it easier for me to use while editing. I always have the application sit and load with the spinning ball icon. I use FCPX, Photoshop, and After Effects on a daily basis. I was wondering if the RAM increase would help me create my videos more efficently. Thanks for all the comments and help ahead of time!

You should benefit from adding more RAM. How much is hard to say but at least to 8 GBs. You might know more if you observed your memory usage in Activity Monitor.
About OS X Memory Management and Usage
Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory & determine how much RAM is used
Memory Management in Mac OS X
Performance Guidelines- Memory Management in Mac OS X
A detailed look at memory usage in OS X
Understanding top output in the Terminal
The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.
Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently. It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster. What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent. It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.

How much RAM should my system utilise?

Hello,
Sounds like an odd question and maybe it is, so apologies i am utterly Newbie here.
I am running a i7 5930 with 64 gig's of DDR4, typically i am using 70% CPU but the RAM is seldom reaching over 30% usage? Is this odd, am i not applying the software setting correctly?
Any advise is very welcome
Simon Brumby

I've been searching for and reading web pages and white papers put out by Adobe all afternoon and can't find anything suggesting that large amounts of RAM specifically benefits Premiere users.
System requirements | Adobe Premiere Pro
4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
How much Ram do I need? (getting a new laptop, help me please!)
Todd Kopriva, Adobe staff, says "16GB is plenty" for Premiere.
http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/aftereffects/cc/pdfs/Configuring_Your_S ystem_20140312.pdf
It reads: "If you plan to use Adobe Premiere Pro, 4 or 6 GB of RAM is minimum, while 8 or 12 GB is suggested for most users. SpeedGrade is the least RAM-dependent of the applications discussed here; 4GB is the minimum recommended amount, with 8 GB preferred. Although Photoshop’s Minimum System Requirements states only 1 GB is needed, you should consider allocating 4 GB, with 8 GB allowing you to work on very large documents. Remember that each of these numbers are for the software running alone (along with the operating system); add at least their minimum requirements together if you plan on having them open at the same time."
From what I can gather, Premiere performance is dependent on processor speed, storage speed, and GPU mainly - RAM is not a major player as long as you have "enough" - adding a bunch more does not speed things up any more. The OP was not asking how to build a system, or if he should upgrade RAM, just wanted to know why Premiere was not using all the RAM he has installed. I think the answer is that the software architecture is not written to utilize RAM beyond a certain point. Maybe this is incorrect, then please show me the specs from Adobe.
I agree that more RAM never hurts - certainly will help if running multiple Adobe apps (or other software) at the same time, as I often do. I mentioned this in my first post, did not say 16GB was total anyone ever needs. After Effects can use gobs of memory!
Thanks
Jeff

OK, So How Much RAM Does Photoshop CS5 Use?

ANSWER: All you give it, lol!
I posted this for those buying or building a PC and are deciding "how much RAM do I need?"
I built a fairly powerful rig for Photoshop and editing in Premiere Pro, and without all the tech specs, I have 24GB of ram, mostly for encoding HiDef video. Surely Photoshop wouldn't eat THAT much, right? Dead wrong. I have Photoshop set to utilize 75% of my available ram which would be near 19GB. I just worked on a fairly large image, where I took 23 vertical shots with my 5D Mark II (5616x3744 resolution files, pretty big) and did a large photomerge which ended up at about 60,000 x 5,500 after the crop. Granted, large image, nearly 3½GB .PSB file. So while the merging and aligning was taking place, I watched my Ram Gadget soar, right up to 19GB within 4 minutes of processing:
Yowza. I expected that from Media Encoder processing 1080p HD video into a Blu-Ray disc format, but not a Photoshop file. So, the point of all this: ram is lower in cost than it's been in many months, a 12GB Mushkin kit (3x4GB) is down to $169 on Newegg. Don't skimp in that arena, fill 'er up as best as you can. Future versions aren't going to use less ram, let's face it, the software has to process a lot of pixels! Try to go a minimum of 6GB, but definitely 8-12GB if you can. Of course this means bye-bye FINALLY to 32-bit operating systems, but once you have a large playground of memory, you and Photoshop will be happy campers.

I purposely waited to respond so I wouldn't write things I'd regret later:
"Nice system."
Huh? I didn't list my system on purpose. The point wasn't showing off gear, it was PS's use of RAM.
"With regard to RAM and Photoshop, people often say more is better without qualification, and you have just confirmed that advice."
You actually have no evidence of my qualifications. I'll send you a link to my Microsoft transcript if you'd like, there are 16 certifications you can peruse.
"Personally, with 24 GB of RAM I'd suggest settting Photoshop's limit even higher - e.g., to 95% (which is what I use for 8 GB) ... The OS doesn't need much on that scale."
24GB x 95% = 22.,8GB... that leaves 1.2GB of RAM for everything else including Windows 7 64 bit. I'm sorry, that's an extremely unwise choice. Noel, maybe you need to remove the "unqualified" beam from your own eye before you point it out in others.
If anyone is reading this please PLEASE don't set your Photoshop limit to 95% of your available ram. Your system will mostly likely crash within minutes of starting Photoshop. The proven setting is 75%, set it there and move on. Thanks.

How much RAM can PS CS4e use in Mac OS 10.5.x?

I've tried to track this down from a number of places, but can't get an answer. I'm assuming the same as CS3e, which is a little over 3 GB.
I'm getting ready to build a new MacPro and I need to decide how much RAM to add initially. I'm a Mac tech, so pretty good at building kick-but systems, but I don't have CS4e yet, so can't figure this one out for myself. I usually max out my systems, but I don't think I can really utilize a full 32 GB of RAM with CS4 suite, but perhaps CS5. No sense in getting more RAM at this point in time, when I could use those dollars for good glass to take more pictures with! ;-)
And FYI, real PS performance comes from using 10K rpm drives for startup/apps and a second one for Scratch.

Jerry,
That's a very important Tech Note. Thank you for pointing it out.
EXCERPT:
Allocating Memory with 64-bit Processors
Photoshop can directly access 3.5 GB of RAM when run on Mac OS (10.4.11 or later). If you have additional RAM on your computer, the RAM above 4 GB is used by the operating system as a cache for the Photoshop scratch disk data. Data that previously was written directly to the hard disk by Photoshop is now cached in this high RAM before being written to the hard disk by the operating system. If you are working with files large enough to take advantage of these extra 2 GB of RAM, the RAM cache can increase performance of Photoshop.
When you run Photoshop CS4 on a 64-bit operating system Photoshop can access up to 8 GB of RAM. You can see the actual amount of RAM Photoshop can use in the Let Photoshop Use number when you set the Let Photoshop Use slider in the Performance preference to 100%. The RAM above the 100% used by Photoshop, which is from approximately 3 GB to 3.7 GB, can be used directly by Photoshop plug-ins (some plug-ins need large chunks of contiguous RAM), filters, and actions. If you have more than 4 GB (to 8 GB), the RAM above 4 GB is used by the operating system as a cache for the Photoshop scratch disk data. Data that previously was written directly to the hard disk by Photoshop is now cached in this high RAM before being written to the hard disk by the operating system. If you are working with files large enough to take advantage of that extra RAM, the RAM cache can increase performance of Photoshop.

For a new imac how much ram should i get?

If I buy a new iMac, I see that one can get it with 16GB or even 32GB RAM. dMy 2007 iMac has 4 GB now after I upgraded? What would the difference be?

My 10 cents worth:
The minimum configurable amount of memory of a new iMac is 8Gb But...
If you are looking at a new upgradable iMac, absolute do NOT buy the Apple RAM upgrades at the time of purchase. It is grossly overpriced, and although good quality and reliable (I've been led to believe) you can buy just as good, if not better for a lot less. I wouldn't look further than OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/) or Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/). Both offer matched pairs and kits that are guaranteed to work with your iMac and as you will see, cost a lot less than Apple. Don't be fooled by the price, they supply good quality, fast memory.
Secondly, in terms of how much RAM, the question is, what is your budget? I always believe that if you can afford it (and memory nowadays isn't that expensive) max out your system and then forget about it because:
a) There's a fair chance that you'll be upgrading it again at some point if you don't max it out.
b) You are releasing the maximum potential of your iMac (in terms of memory performance, although the jump from 16Gb to 32Gb will not be as significant as the jump from 8Gb to 16Gb))
c) If you sell it, the extra RAM will be an attractive option for any buyer.

How much ram should i put in my mac mini mid-2011?

Hello, so i have a mid-2011 mac mini intel i5 2.3GHz with 2gb of ram and sometimes its kind of slow.. I've searched on OWC for ram and found 4gb (2x2gb) for about 58$ and 8gb (2x4gb) for 105$. I am an high school student that does a lot of pages documents, garageband and imovie projects, iphoto editing and i sometimes use xcode. Should 4gb of ram be sufficient or it would be better if i had 8gb? Well, i know that more ram is always better, but would 4gb make a lot of difference from my 2gb?

You can get a 120GB Samsung SSD on Amazon for $90. Put your movies and music on an external drive since it doesn't matter how fast you read/write those. You can take your current internal drive and put it in an external enclosure for $15.
For the money, this will give you the biggest performance improvement.
But, if you still want to upgrade your RAM, you can go to the Activity Monitor app, Memory tab, and look at "Swap used" in the lower left corner. That will tell you how much data *would* be stored in memory if you upgraded. Check this number next time your computer is running slow. If it's 2GB or less, then you wouldn't benefit at all from > 4GB total memory. Currently I "only" have 4GB of memory in my Mac Mini and I'm running a bunch of stuff and I'm using zero swap, so I would get literally no benefit from more RAM.

How much RAM should I get in my FIRST Macbook Pro?

Finally ready to pick up my first Macbook. I've been a Windows junkie until now. I have iPads, iPhones, iPods, etc and now it's time to go all in. My question is RAM. I've already decided to go with the Macbook Pro with the Retina display but I'm still undecided on which one. If I'm going to invest thousands I want to make sure it will last and not be obsolete after a few years. So far, I've nailed down the processor (i7) and the hard drive (512GB SSD). Should I bite the bullet at go with the 16gb of RAM or is that overkill? Bare minimum I would go with 8GB of RAM.
My planned usage is as follows:
-Word and spreadsheet processing
-Develop presentations
-Web surfing
-movie watching
-photo editing (I'm a novice now but would like the step it up a notch)
I may also get into minor HD video editing at some point in the future.
I want the ability to grow in the future and not be limited by my laptop while not breaking the bank!
Thanks for you help and recommendations!

As they are no-longer user upgrade able, I would advise getting the most you can reasonably afford to future proof your machine. 8Gb is fine with Mavericks today with all bit very heavy video editing work. In most cases heavy video editors probably have a desktop pro for that anyway. Mine is probably over spec'ed with 16Gb currently, but I've never had a machine that I have not needed up maxing out the Ram in its later life.
I've already read posts of people selling their Retina laptops to get another as they only went with the standard amount of Ram.

How much RAM should I dedicate?

Somewhere I read, the rule of thumb to assign RAM for SGA is 30% of server RAM
In the enviroment where a server is dedicated only for oracle server, nothing else, not even file sharing, is it safe to increase the rule of thumb of 30%for the SGA?
Using 30% ROT :
512 MB server à SGA will be around 150 MB, 1 GB -> 300 MB,
2 GB -> 600 MB which in this case 1.4 GB left for the OS which I think is too much.
If I wish to dedicate as much as possible memory for Oracle, what will be the optimal SGA for (oracle only) server with:
- 1 GB
- 2 GB or more
Thanks

We mostly run OLTP and generally find for a single Oracle database environment that 25% of the real memory is more than adequate. The Program Global Areas (using dedicated sessions) generally require more total memory than Oracle itself. But these numbers really depend on your application, user load, and how the users/application interact with the database and the total amount of resources: cpu, memory, and disk available.
You may only need 10% of available memory for a small system on an oversized machine or you might need 75% for the SGA depending on load. Many sites allocate more memory to the Oracle buffer pool and shared pool than they can "effectively" use. Hardware vendors love this and I have found they tend to error to selling more hardware than is necessary.
Better to have unused horse power than not enough. I have lived in the not enough world and take my word for it, you do not want to have to work there.
Good luck. Sizing is a guessing game in most cases. If you have a current system you make judgements using it. If you do not have a current system to serve as a baseline then you are just left to guess, hope, and pray.
IMHO -- Mark D Powell --

How much ram should Lumia 900 have?

I have had my Lumia 900 for almost a week, and I am very happy with the build quality and design. However, I found my device can only be detected up to 358 MB total ram, which is not consistent with what Nokia claims it should have 512MB. Can anyone clarify this confusion for me? Thanks!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

How are you checking the memory? Sure you're not seeing "Available Free Memory"?
Keep in mind that the OS and any background tasks are going to use memory. You'll never see 512k of available memory as the OS alone is going to use memory. It can also cache into memory so if you see a very low number it's not a big deal as I find WP7 handles/releases memory to apps very well.

How much RAM should be in use while not running anything?

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