Computers and Memory

You’ll seldom find an old-timer in the computer industry with a computer wanting for memory. However, that’s exactly the predicament I’m in. Allow me to explain, and then offer a quick lesson to the less computer savvy. Until yesterday my PowerBook had 1GB of RAM, and life was good. A friend need to run Windows on her iBook for a class she’s taking. I installed Virtual PC and Windows 98 but she had only 256MB of RAM. That is adequate for running Mac OS X, but not a “heavy” application like Virtual PC. After Virtual PC drug her her iBook to it’s knees, I pulled a 512MB chip out of my PowerBook and installed it in her iBook. Voila, one problem solved.

Today, while using my PowerBook, it was quite sluggish when working in iPhoto. A simple operation that should take 10 seconds would take two minutes. Since Greek has my brain running on overload, it took a while before I remembered that I only have 512MB of RAM now. The major clue was that my hard drive was very busy during that “long pause.” That’s a symptom of “swapping” and a huge clue that you need more RAM. With 2,900 photos in my library, 512MB of RAM is inadequate for the task.

When a computer runs out of memory, it starts using hard drive space as “virtual memory.” This is called swapping. It’s a reasonable solution, but hard drive space is at a few orders of magnitude slower than RAM. The only way to get the best performance from your computer is to make sure you have enough memory that it never swaps. For a few people, 512MB is sufficient. For anyone that uses the media features on a modern OS (Mac OS X, Windows XP), you need at least 768MB.

So, I ordered myself a 1GB module. When it arrives, my PowerBook will be back to it’s speedy little self. For reference, the Apple Store wants $500 for a 1GB memory module. I paid $130. I also purchased four extra 512MB laptop SO-DIMMS for $50 each. If you have an Apple laptop that’s running short on memory, come see me and I’ll even install the RAM for you.

7 thoughts on “Computers and Memory”

  1. Too bad I can’t just update RAM in my brain. Unfortunately, during my younger days I imbibed way too much liquid substance (not H20) and the capability of my one 1G RAM brain went to 512 MG. Add two children on top of that and I run pretty slow, hence my “long pauses.” LOL

    There’s no “swapping” for this girl! My only hope is to send stuff to the trash that isn’t being used and then maybe the hard drive won’t have so much trouble working with the limited space available!

  2. I have a 300 MHz G3 chipped to a 500 MHz G4 with 860+ Meg of memory.
    And guess what? It is SLOW. No! Make that S…L…O…W…!
    So I bought a twin 1.8 GHz G5 and WOWZER!
    Things that used to take minutes now take seconds!
    Point being…Memory ain’t everything.

  3. Correct, RAM isn’t everything, but all else being equal, it’s the difference between your system operating at the speed it should versus operating much more slowly. If I remember correctly, the first thing you did after buying that dual G5 is add more RAM, for exactly the reason I cited.

    If you really want to make that G5 seem fast, take 512MB of RAM out of the G4 and use it for a bit. Then you’ll know what S…L…O…W really is. 😉

    I thought of another compelling reason to have lots of RAM. When your system is swapping, that’s a lot of hard drive activity. That cannot be beneficial to your hard drives longevity.

  4. Not that I have a clue as to what I’m talking about, but the hard drive spinning (and taking up space, and creating noise, and sucking up power) makes me think of an article I read recently (on AppleMatters.com, I believe) speculating on the likelihood of a flash-memory-drive-based laptop. Flash drives are upwards of 16 GB now, I think they said, and can be paired to create a 32 GB drive. The smallest iBook has a 40 GB drive (as does the Mini). Can you imagine how small, light, and quiet a flash-based laptop might be?

    Neat thought.

  6. I read the article. It’s a nice thought, but it’s not realistic. I’m not going to say that it won’t ever happen, but it’ll be a long time (5+ years). Samsung won’t even be making the chips until late 2006 (if then).

    How much will those chips cost when they arrive? Today a 4GB flash drive costs $300. A 40GB laptop hard drive costs $100. It’ll be 2-3 years after they arrive that the 16GB drives become affordable. You’ll need a handful of them to replace the 200GB hard drive shipping in the iBook and Mini’s that we’ll have by then. Are you willing to spend $1,200 for a 100GB flash based drive instead of $100 for a normal hard drive? By then you’ll need half of that just for MS Office!

    The other barrier to the use of flash instead of hard drives is write limits. You can only write to flash 1e5 times before it fails. Your flash will be worn out long before a cheaper, faster, and more spacious hard drive. For details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory.

Comments are closed.