Memory Usage?

I know there are threads about this, but I did not see one that answered my questions. I have 1GB of RAM, and it seems at least half is always consumed. Right now, while running Firefox, 700MB are being used. I went to terminal and typed "top" to see what is using what, but the numbers don't seem to add up. I just bought this mac used (although it seems to have been restored to original) and will be using some memory hungry programs (creative suite and macromedia studio), so if I'm using 3/4 of available memory just to start up and run a web browser, will it be able to handle other things? If this topic was covered before, I apologize. By the way, I love my mac!!! Thanks in advance.

Well, that's what the memory is there for, isn't it?

Ha ha. Well, I'm not going back to windows. As I said, I love the mac. Just wondering if this is normal or not and what is taking up all the memory. I don't know how to repair permissions or reset the PRAM. Can you tell me what that means? Not putting down mac, always been a fan, always hated windows. If it is normal for a mac to use that much memory with no apps running, then I can accept that, but if it's not, I'd like to fix it. Thanks.

Fisrt of all, are you sure that other things aren't running? If you look at the dock and there are little arrows under a program, that means that it is stil running. It seems like all of the major browsers seem to be RAM hogs. if you are going to be doing something that is intense, make suer to completely close out Firefox or Safari and anything else that eats RAM.

Yes, I'm sure. As soon as I startup, before running any additional apps, I go to terminal and type "top" to see what's going on. There are generally 450MB being used right from the start. I stopped startup processes that I don't use (mainly some remote server stuff). The only things in the dock that are running at that point (or at least have an arrow under them) are terminal, finder and dashboard. I downloaded a widget to stop dashboard (not that I even open it at that point). It just seems that the computer using half of available memory right from the start is a little excessive. Does anyone agree, or am I crazy?

I'm really glad to read htis post as I'm in exactly the same siutation - it just doesn't add up! I'm the same: a gig of RAM and hardly any applications running and I'm well over half memory. If I look at the processes they add up to a lot less than what it's saying it's using.

I have 656Mb free after startup, with 1Gig in the machine.

Seems normal to me - all the time OS X takes to start up it's putting stuff into memory. If you consider OS X is itself a huge application, it's not surprising a lot of memory gets used up.

It's nothing to worry about.

Thanks Alexis. That's all I wanted to hear. My mind is at ease.

Thanks Alexis. That's all I wanted to hear. My mind is at ease.
Although, DrQuincy has a point. Why don't all the processess show up when you check the mem usage? What else is using that memory and is there a way to find out? I have slight OCD. Sorry.

The system will handle other things fine. The thing about these modern operating systems is they them selfs need a great deal of space to run well. Which Mac do you have? If you can increase the memory, that is advisible for _best_ performance, if you require or want it.

Rather than using top, go to the Utilities folder and look alphabetically near the top of the list of programs. There is a GUI alternative that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. I think it starts with the letter A. I'm at work on a Win box right now. Anyway you can start that right after starting you system and keep an eye on the memory usage.

The system will swap out to disk, application memory that hasn't been accessed recently when it needs real memory for other purposes. This will cause a slower system, but is works well. This allows more appications to run with the the limit memory you have by sharing out the same space.

where do you go to check the terminal at?

Thanks for your responses. My mac is a 1.5ghz mini single-core 1gb ram. I'd love to increase the memory and plan to, but I would still like to solve this problem (if it is a problem).

To check terminal, I go to applications>utilities>terminal in the finder.

It just seems strange to me, if the computer didn't have the 512 upgrade to the memory, the machine would be maxed out at start up. I'm not running anything out of the ordinary.

I've been trying to find articles about how mac manages memory, but have found nothing to indicate such a high memory consumption from the start.

When I do the "top" comand in terminal, the running applications and processes don't add up to the total memory it says is being used. Where can I go to see what else is using the mem? If os is really taking up that much memory just to run, why doesn't it list it in terminal? Thanks again everyone.

LoveSupreme said:

Thanks for your responses. My mac is a 1.5ghz mini single-core 1gb ram.

Click to expand...

lol, I'm having the same problems on a Core Duo Macbook Pro. Maybe it is just the nature of the operating system. I really should have gone up to 2 gig . . .

Yeah. 2GB would be nice. I can't really say that I'm having problems. Everything is smooth, except adobe stuff, but I'm assuming it's because its not fully compatible with intel. Other than that, it's pretty quick. I'd alway like it to be faster, though.

DrQuincy, I may have found out something that will help.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918
Basically it says don't worry about it. Hope that helps you, it has helped me.

I also have around 650mb at startup

Looks like memory is going to be an issue. Tonight is the first time I did some real work on this thing (web design). Had to restart. It gave me a good run, though. Memory upgrade for Christmas, perhaps?

2GB! Nice to have a little extra anyway, especially when most programs we use now are generally memory-hungry.

My old G4 ran Tiger well with 640Mb of RAM. I don't know if it used up 450Mb at the start, but OS X is probably cleverer than to use up all that on a machine with little RAM. I suspect it loads up certain non-vital things into memory if it has the spare capacity to. I think the minimum memory to run 10.4 it is 256mb.

LoveSupreme said:

DrQuincy, I may have found out something that will help.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918
Basically it says don't worry about it. Hope that helps you, it has helped me.

Click to expand...

Very useful link - thanks very much!