How do you know if you need additional Ram

**alvinbai** · 09-30-2004, 01:32 PM

Is the Activity Monitor application under Utilities a good program to determine if you need additional memory? After using my mac for two days, I checked the system memory tab and it indicated that I have only 40mb free memory out of the 512mb installed.

Is this enough indication that I should upgrade my Ram? TIA

**Sponsor** · 09-30-2004 01:32 PM

**elbert** · 09-30-2004, 02:19 PM

There's a saying that goes "one can never have too much RAM".

But 512MB is a lot already. For typical usage (Office, e-mail, Safari, etc.), that is more than sufficient. It's when you start using processor and memory intensive applications (like photo and video editing) that you might need more.

To answer your question: trust me, you'll know. It doesn't take a utility to tell you.

[Edited on 9-30-2004 by elbertc]

**scooter** · 09-30-2004, 05:22 PM

i dunno if this is an accurate test but there's no harm trying it...

play music from itunes while doing your regular stuffs in your mac... when the music skips, ahhhh.. you need more RAM hahaha

:P

anyway, i think you need more RAM when your apps take a while to open / launch... :2cents:

**stitch** · 09-30-2004, 06:14 PM

I use my PB for lots of photoshop work. So when several apps are open, it kinda slows down, and yeah, my iTunes skips some... so I need more RAM. But I've maxed out at 768MB. Time to get a G5 maybe

**maryannemoll** · 09-30-2004, 06:49 PM

ok. i apparently need more RAM. Right now my 12" albook just has the standard 256. but i hear people complaining about how the albook has just one RAM slot. what does this mean? that i can't get more RAM?

sorry i'm really not a techie.

**quicksilver** · 09-30-2004, 07:05 PM

Originally posted by stitch
I use my PB for lots of photoshop work. So when several apps are open, it kinda slows down, and yeah, my iTunes skips some... so I need more RAM. But I've maxed out at 768MB. Time to get a G5 maybe

I could be wrong, but I think you still have the option to replace your 512MB RAM with 1GB, boosting your RAM to 1.256GB.

**danieldy** · 09-30-2004, 07:17 PM

Originally posted by maryannemoll
ok. i apparently need more RAM. Right now my 12" albook just has the standard 256. but i hear people complaining about how the albook has just one RAM slot. what does this mean? that i can't get more RAM?

sorry i'm really not a techie.

Hi Maryanne,

The 12" Albook only has one free RAM slot. This means you can add one more RAM stick in additional to the standard 256MB. I would suggest buying a 256MB stick for normal use, and a 512MB stick for intensive work (like photoshop and the like).

Hope this helps.

**mark_17** · 09-30-2004, 07:46 PM

well, sometimes adding more ram doesn't solve the problem... maybe it's not the RAM that is the bottleneck in your system... you might need to upgrade to a faster processor or faster harddrive.