For those who upgraded your MB to 4gb of Ram..

[Chrisblaze]

Can tell the difference between 2gb of Ram and 4gb of Ram?

 

[Flyer729]

Can tell the difference between 2gb of Ram and 4gb of Ram?

I upgraded yesterday from 1 to 4gb. So far I have noticed a slight increase in performance doing everyday things like web surfing, playing music and email. Now, using parallels is a different story. The session of win xp is way faster than it was before. I just got th upgrade because it was so cheap, I don't think I'll use all of it any time soon.

Hope this helps...

 

[cwa107]

Can tell the difference between 2gb of Ram and 4gb of Ram?

You can tell if you need more memory by doing the following:

1. Open your most commonly used applications simultaneously.
2. Open Activity Monitor (Applications => Utilities)
3. Click the System Memory tab:

There is a common misconception among some computer users that adding more memory always adds more speed. This is simply not true. Adding more memory when your needs exceed your physical amount of memory can add performance - otherwise, it's just a waste of money and energy.

 

[tmorgan1689]

Haha I have 27mb free, I need to get another stick.

 

[cwa107]

Haha I have 27mb free, I need to get another stick.

What about inactive (blue)?

Also note that new Macs have dual channel support, so you want to install the modules in matched pairs for best performance.

 

[kgeier82]

going from 2-4gb most people wont use the extra.

i do, for my VM, so yes, i can tell a difference. But again, most people will simply not need more than 2GB for another year or two.

 

[built b16a]

i dont' have EVERYTHING open, but i have my normal applications running that i use.

am i a good candidate for another GB or 2?

 

[D3v1L80Y]

i dont' have EVERYTHING open, but i have my normal applications running that i use.

am i a good candidate for another GB or 2?

Based on what you have posted, no.
You still have almost 30% of your physical RAM free, plus over 700 MB of Inactive RAM.
When added together, you have over half of your total system RAM unused.

Adding more won't make much of a difference and would be a waste.

 

[cwa107]

Based on what you have posted, no.
You still have almost 30% of your physical RAM free, plus over 700 MB of Inactive RAM.
When added together, you have over half of your total system RAM unused.

Adding more won't make much of a difference and would be a waste.

Agreed. I tried to make it simple by saying that if there is a lot of "green", everything is OK. This assumes that you've rebooted your machine since you fired up all of your programs to assess your usage. Inactive memory is memory that had been allocated previously, but would be made available if necessary. After a reboot, there should be little or no memory tagged "inactive".

 

[D3v1L80Y]

This article on Apple's site should help clear things up for some.

 

[MACGIRL34]

How about me? Do I need more than 1 GB? I have a brand new 2GB stick that came with my macbook yesterday. Can I use that?http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff79/macgirl34/Picture1-3.png

 

[cwa107]

How about me? Do I need more than 1 GB? I have a brand new 2GB stick that came with my macbook yesterday. Can I use that?[/IMG]

Much of that memory is inactive, yielding about 411MB total available. It's certainly not a desperate situation. But if you already have the extra memory, it wouldn't hurt to install it either.

 

[MACGIRL34]

I was told only to use equal sticks of ram. I only have the one stick of 2gb. Would that be ok?

 

[kenbrinkman]

Yeah, I think I went a little overboard... but 2X2GB dual channel was only $79 bucks on newegg.com! Couldn't resist.

And what's virtual memory, I never fully understood it.

 

[MACGIRL34]

Someone on here said that you really only use 3GB of the 4GB as far as seeing any difference that is...not sure if it's true or not.

 

[kenbrinkman]

Someone on here said that you really only use 3GB of the 4GB as far as seeing any difference that is...not sure if it's true or not.

I know previous versions of the macbook couldn't handle 4gb fully. But the new "late 2007" or Santa Rosa macbooks can utilize all 4gb. Earlier versions would display you have 4gb in the system profiler and such but if you actually added up the free and used ram in the activity monitor, you'd see that you're only using 3.3 or something. So if you add up mine, I'm pretty sure you'd get all 4.

 

[built b16a]

i previously posted the 1st pic on the last page.. the 2nd snapshot was after a restart.. my settings were drastically reset... 2gb now looks overkill. lol

 

[cwa107]

I was told only to use equal sticks of ram. I only have the one stick of 2gb. Would that be ok?

You can use modules of unequal size. What you're probably referring to is matched pairs of modules (which are not only matched by size, but also by configuration - number of chips, type, etc). To get the best possible performance, matching the modules identically will allow your memory to run in "dual channel" mode.

 

[cwa107]

Someone on here said that you really only use 3GB of the 4GB as far as seeing any difference that is...not sure if it's true or not.

A 32-bit OS can only address a certain amount of memory - so, if you were running one and you had 4GB installed, I think it would only actually "see" 3GB. But in Leopard that won't be a problem as it's 64-bit inside and out.

As far as noticing a difference - let me explain where the difference comes from.

It's important to understand what memory actually is. People often confuse memory with disk storage, and they are not the same thing. Memory is the space that programs are loaded into in order for the processor to process them. When a program is no longer running, the memory space is again available for loading other programs. Additionally, when a computer is rebooted, the memory is completely purged (as it is when you turn the computer off).

Disk storage is where your programs, documents and settings are permanently stored. It does not purge when you reboot.

OK, now with that out of the way, let's explain why adding memory can sometimes make a difference and sometimes not:

Back in days of old, computers had a fixed amount of memory. When you ran out of memory during an active session, you'd get an 'out of memory' error and you couldn't do anything until you shut down some programs or rebooted.

So, some genius came up with the concept of "virtual memory". Virtual memory is a space allocated on your hard disk that the computer "pretends" is real, physical memory. It's great because you never run out of memory and have to stop working or close some programs, but you have to realize that your hard disk is several orders of magnitude slower than real, physical memory. It's like the difference between going somewhere on a bicycle and flying somewhere on a plane.

This is where the performance issues come into play. If you don't have an adequate amount of physical memory, given the OS needs and the programs you routinely run, your computer will constantly be dipping into virtual memory. It will shuffle certain things in and out of VM, trying desperately to maintain optimal performance.

So, when you add memory to a machine that is using virtual memory on a regular basis, PRESTO, life gets better for your computer and it seems to operate faster. But if you add memory to a computer that already has adequate memory given what you run, you will see no difference in performance. Additionally, your computer becomes no faster than it was the day you removed it from the box, it's just that it's able to operate more efficiently, so in essence, it "feels" faster.

Does that make sense?

 

[kfordham281]

I noticed the biggest difference between 2GB and 4GB when I'm running Fusion along with other programs. I also saw less beachballs and shorter beachball sessions. With 4GB, I can tell Fusion to use 2GB and still have OS X running on 2GB.