Memory management...enough Ram?

Question

Coming off a thread below, I have 1 gig memory installed. Right now I am wondering if I have enough memory or is some process taking up memory? Going off this article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918 , It say if the combination of free and inactive memory is very low you might need more memory. My free is 14.08mb My inactive is 296.44mb. Is this low?
I am only web surfing. I don't have any other programs open except Activity Monitor. I do have quite a few processes running but I don't know what is normal?

Answer 1

I'm not in front of my computer now so can't give you similar stats. But...
I originally had 1GB in my machine (the stock configuration). I have three accounts active through fast user switching (me plus wife and daughter). My daughter goes to websites that require obscure plugins so has to run Safari in Rosetta. This actually adds up to a lot of memory usage even though it is only web-browsing. As a result, I upgraded to 2GB. I wouldn't say that the difference was huge; I think of it as merely broviding a bit more breathing room and providing marginal improvements. (And, of course, I don't know if I've done anything since the upgrade that would have hit me badly if I only had 1GB of RAM. I have gone up to almost 1.5GB active memory occasionally though when I was editing a movie using iMovie and had iDVD and iPhoto plus the usual Mail, iChat, iTunes and Safari also open.)
The thing that gives me pause looking at your stats is the high number of pageouts - particularly as it is over your pageins. That suggests you might benefit (if only marginally) from more memory.
Some other questions: Do you find yourself closing programs a lot after you use them to free up memory? Do you not open them in the first place? Do you ever experience unexplained sluggish performance from your computer? Finally, can you spare $100-$200?