Ram gets used up fast before restarting.

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Ok so here's the deal. I usually never restart my macbook pro i5 8gb of ram. Every now and then I open a big application like Eclipse, Minecraft, etc. After I'm done I close it. This goes on for a long time. Then one day I find my self opening Minecraft or any other application and im bottlenecking like crazy!! After restarting my ram is back to normal and I have plenty to use.
 

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Ok so here's the deal. I usually never restart my macbook pro i5 8gb of ram. Every now and then I open a big application like Eclipse, Minecraft, etc. After I'm done I close it. This goes on for a long time. Then one day I find my self opening Minecraft or any other application and im bottlenecking like crazy!! After restarting my ram is back to normal and I have plenty to use.

Yes...I totally agree with everything you said...and restarting the computer is definitely a way to fix/improve things.

Was this a "helpful hint" for everyone?:)...or was there a question?;)

- Nick
 
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Yes...I totally agree with everything you said...and restarting the computer is definitely a way to fix/improve things.

Was this a "helpful hint" for everyone?:)...or was there a question?;)

- Nick
We'll kinda both haha, I wanted to know how to stop these programs from taking up ram when I'm not using them. Or the reason why it does this.
 

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I wanted to know how to stop these programs from taking up ram when I'm not using them.

The easy solution is (if you're not using the program) is quit the program...and relaunch it when necessary.

Even with 8gig of ram...if you have too many programs open at once...the ram will get "used up"...and thus slow things down.

- Nick
 
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The easy solution is (if you're not using the program) is quit the program...and relaunch it when necessary.

Even with 8gig of ram...if you have too many programs open at once...the ram will get "used up"...and thus slow things down.

- Nick
The thing is, i do quit the programs...
 

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The thing is, i do quit the programs...

Then restarting the computer is a solution. Not really that big of a deal...considering that you don't have to do it that often.

What's a whole 2-3 minutes of your life every couple days or once/week (maybe even longer)!;)

Just restart the computer...then go to the bathroom, get something to eat, or just stand up, walk around, and do some stretching!!:)

- Nick
 
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Then restarting the computer is a solution. Not really that big of a deal...considering that you don't have to do it that often.

What's a whole 2-3 minutes of your life every couple days or once/week (maybe even longer)!;)

Just restart the computer...then go to the bathroom, get something to eat, or just stand up, walk around, and do some stretching!!:)

- Nick
ya i think the reason things pile up in my activity monitor is because I am executing tons of things in terminal like using gcc and stuff.
 

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Are you running Lion by chance?
 

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Interesting as I never really had that issue with SL, just Lion and especially if a lot of Flash is used for Videos and Games.
 
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Interesting as I never really had that issue with SL, just Lion and especially if a lot of Flash is used for Videos and Games.

We'll ya SL definitely uses tons of flash in Google Chrome. But, that may just be Google Chrome's fault. Anyway when I restart the computer i notice a lot less things running in activity monitor. The ram probably builds up as I use the computer and uses things that I don't even know about.
 

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We'll ya SL definitely uses tons of flash in Google Chrome. But, that may just be Google Chrome's fault. Anyway when I restart the computer i notice a lot less things running in activity monitor. The ram probably builds up as I use the computer and uses things that I don't even know about.

What I am saying is in SL the Ram releases faster here and things go back to normal.

Can you make a list of the processes that build up over time and post it here? Maybe there is something that should not be!
 

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I usually never restart my macbook pro i5 8gb of ram.

After restarting my ram is back to normal and I have plenty to use.

I think that it would help everyone understand your usage patterns if you tell us how often you restart/reboot your computer.

You said that "I usually never restart my MacBook Pro...". "Never" can be a VERY long time;)...so when you do the rare restart...how much time are we talking between restarts (days, weeks, months)?

Thanks,

- Nick
 
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I think that it would help everyone understand your usage patterns if you tell us how often you restart/reboot your computer.

You said that "I usually never restart my MacBook Pro...". "Never" can be a VERY long time;)...so when you do the rare restart...how much time are we talking between restarts (days, weeks, months)?

Thanks,

- Nick
We'll like i said I rarely restart. The only reason I would restart is my macbook pro is bottlenecking or i am updating it. No other reasons to restart really.
 

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We'll like i said I rarely restart. The only reason I would restart is my macbook pro is bottlenecking or i am updating it. No other reasons to restart really.

So how long are we talking?...just a guestimate is ok.

Let me give you my example. I have a 17" MacBook Pro with 4 gig of ram...and I restart it at least 2x/week. My swap file size & page-outs just get too high, things slow down too much, and I sometimes get frequent "beach-balls".

Right now my:

- page-outs are at 646.1 megabytes
- swap file size is 1.33 gigabyte
- free ram (the green wedge) is only 14.1 megabytes (barely see any "green" on the Activity Monitor pie chart)

With more ram...you don't need to restart as often. For example...with a Mac Pro that I used to have (with 12gig of ram)...I hardly ever had to restart/reboot.

- Nick

p.s. I'm running OS 10.6.8.
 
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So how long are we talking?...just a guestimate is ok.

Let me give you my example. I have a 17" MacBook Pro with 4 gig of ram...and I restart it at least 2x/week. My swap file size & page-outs just get too high, things slow down too much, and I sometimes get frequent "beach-balls".

Right now my:

- page-outs are at 646.1 megabytes
- swap file size is 1.33 gigabyte
- free ram (the green wedge) is only 14.1 megabytes (barely see any "green" on the Activity Monitor pie chart)

With more ram...you don't need to restart as often. For example...with a Mac Pro that I used to have (with 12gig of ram)...I hardly ever had to restart/reboot.

- Nick

p.s. I'm running OS 10.6.8.
ya i've been thinking about upgrading my ram to 16 or 12 gigs but I am not 100% sure i can with my early 2011 macbook pro. Anyway I probably restart it once a month sometimes longer.
 
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So how long are we talking?...just a guestimate is ok.

Let me give you my example. I have a 17" MacBook Pro with 4 gig of ram...and I restart it at least 2x/week. My swap file size & page-outs just get too high, things slow down too much, and I sometimes get frequent "beach-balls".

Right now my:

- page-outs are at 646.1 megabytes
- swap file size is 1.33 gigabyte
- free ram (the green wedge) is only 14.1 megabytes (barely see any "green" on the Activity Monitor pie chart)

With more ram...you don't need to restart as often. For example...with a Mac Pro that I used to have (with 12gig of ram)...I hardly ever had to restart/reboot.

- Nick

p.s. I'm running OS 10.6.8.

hello,

what else did you try to fix ur issues related to RAM and please help us with ur system configuration

apple icon>about this mac>more info

OR

you can contact me at [email protected]
 
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hello,

what else did you try to fix ur issues related to RAM and please help us with ur system configuration

apple icon>about this mac>more info

OR

you can contact me at [email protected]

I'm using an early 2011 Macbook pro with an i5 processor and 8 gigabytes of ram. I am on version 10.6.8 of Snow Leopard.
 

pigoo3

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ya i've been thinking about upgrading my ram to 16 or 12 gigs but I am not 100% sure i can with my early 2011 macbook pro. Anyway I probably restart it once a month sometimes longer.

Honestly...even if your early 2011 MBP can be upgraded to 16 gig (which I believe it can)...with the 8gig you have...you should be fine. You just need to reboot more often than once/month. Restarting really is not a big deal (as I mentioned in an earlier post).:)

- Nick
 
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Honestly...even if your early 2011 MBP can be upgraded to 16 gig (which I believe it can)...with the 8gig you have...you should be fine. You just need to reboot more often than once/month. Restarting really is not a big deal (as I mentioned in an earlier post).:)

- Nick

Oh. well i never thought that you were supposed to have to reboot your mac. Plus I thought this would be the difference between using a Mac and Windows PC.
 

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