[X4U] Having Windows open drain resources?

[David Ledger]

At 11:48 -0700 4/4/09, zapcat wrote:
>I hope this question doesn't sound silly..does it put a drain on CPU 
>or RAM resources, or even VM to have several windows constantly open?
>
>I'm trying to improve my work efficiency by changing some of my work 
>habits, and I find it helps to have 3 or 4 or more windows always 
>open, since I end up opening them anyway...I have a habit of always 
>closing out all windows..which is dumb bcs I always open them back 
>up!
>
>I think this behavior might be a hold over from something I heard or 
>read advising closing windows as soon as you're done with them.

Every open window has to have its content and display information 
stored somewhere, so it will use memory. In some programs it will 
keep an extra process thread going, which will use memory, and 
possibly a few cpu cycles. As each window is an extra entry in a 
list, the longer it will take to traverse the list when looking for 
the right one.

If it's a window with large data behind it, like a photo in a Preview 
window, or a view of some large data, then it will use more memory of 
course.

If it's a web browser showing an animated advert it will use memory 
and cpu. I've had an advert in a web page bring the fans on in my G4 
17" Pb.

In the first case, it probably has little importance these days. An 
open Finder window will use about as much memory now as when our 
systems has 1/100th of then memory they have now. Similarly the extra 
cpu used to scan a larger window list is irrelevant. As long as you 
don't go to extremes. If you've ever opened up 100 or 1000 jpgs by 
mistake in Preview, you'll get a feel for the effect compared to 
accidentally opening the same number of Finder windows.

David


-- 
David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
HP-UX specialist of hpUG technical user group (www.hpug.org.uk)
david.ledger at ivdcs.co.uk
www.ivdcs.co.uk