[P1] Portable Heat

[Brian Pearce]

> Interesting - I didn't know that RAM can take some of the workload off 
> the drive.

OS X uses a Virtual Memory scheme by default, writing to disc when the 
physical RAM is full. (It's similar to the configurable option in OS 9, 
but more efficient, and you can't turn it off.) The less RAM you have 
installed, the slower the computer responds under OS X, since accessing 
memory is much faster than reading from the disc.

I'm still not convinced it'd make an appreciable difference in the heat 
generated by the drive, but it depends on what you're using the 
computer for, I suppose.

BRIAN/bpearce at cloud9.net