[X4U] Re: RAM/MacBook Pro question

[Robert MacLeay]

On 6/21/06 2:21 PM, "eleventhvolume " <colin at eleventhvolume.com> wrote:

> I own a 15" MacBook Pro with 1GB RAM, latest OS version. I'm mainly running
> the following universal binaries:
> - Firefox (quite a lot of open tabs e.g. 10 or 12)
> - iTunes
> And the following Rosetta apps:
> - Entourage
> - Word
> 
> I'm finding the whole machine sluggish at times, lots of spinning beachballs
> - I realise this has quite a bit to do with running Rosetta apps, but should
> Firefox be taking forever at times to respond? And is 1GB enough or will
> maxing the RAM help particularly with these relatively low system
> requirements?

I have read that that apps running under Rosetta require as much as three
times(!) the RAM they would on a PPC Mac. You are probably right about
needing to max out your RAM.

Also, I don't know what Mac you are coming from, but laptop drives are
always a lot slower than those in desktop computers.  This intensifies the
effect of thrashing.

Monitoring your memory allocation using Activity Monitor will give you a
good picture of what is happening.