Does more ram use more battery power?

[GoCubsGo]

I added another 512 today and it seems like I am not getting as much time on my Powerbook without having to recharge.

I was just curious. It could be me.

 

[jsw]

It usually uses less, because you do less disk swapping. I can't think of a real-world case where it would use enough more to be noticeable.

 

[Miguel0019]

It usually uses less, because you do less disk swapping. I can't think of a real-world case where it would use enough more to be noticeable.

You're right.

 

[Super Macho Man]

It usually uses less, because you do less disk swapping. I can't think of a real-world case where it would use enough more to be noticeable.

Unless you weren't swapping that much to begin with... RAM uses power just like anything else does. I wouldn't be surprised if adding an extra stick drained 5 extra minutes of battery. That's just a wild approximation though.

 

[motulist]

Unless you weren't swapping that much to begin with... RAM uses power just like anything else does. I wouldn't be surprised if adding an extra stick drained 5 extra minutes of battery. That's just a wild approximation though.

Writing the same amount of data to disk takes a lot more juice than writing it to solid state memory. So in the real world adding ram will reduce overall battery consumption in all except the most unusual of circumstances.

 

[Super Macho Man]

Writing the same amount of data to disk takes a lot more juice than writing it to solid state memory. So in the real world adding ram will reduce overall battery consumption in all except the most unusual of circumstances.

The RAM is using constant juice whether it's being accessed or not. If neither the RAM nor the HD are being accessed (HD spun down) then the RAM is probably using more energy than the HD. If you are using nothing but Safari and TextEdit on your Mac and you have 512MB and never swap, then an extra 512MB of memory might reduce overall battery life by a bit. It's probably not enough to even worry about discussing though.