MacBook Pro 2GB RAM pageouts

[netb0y]

I have a MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM. The system seems to use up all 2gb of ram pretty easily. Is this common? Also, am I having too many pageouts?

> uptime
20:42  up 4 days, 10:54, 2 users, load averages: 0.39 0.37 0.43
> top -l 1
Processes:  58 total, 2 running, 56 sleeping... 217 threads            20:42:02
Load Avg:  0.39, 0.37, 0.43     CPU usage:  5.6% user, 50.0% sys, 44.4% idle
SharedLibs: num =  223, resident = 55.4M code, 6.43M data, 16.0M LinkEdit
MemRegions: num = 16006, resident =  455M + 20.4M private,  137M shared
PhysMem:   165M wired,  698M active,  648M inactive, 1.48G used,  532M free
VM: 9.65G +  139M   92097(0) pageins, 7709(0) pageouts

  PID COMMAND      %CPU   TIME   #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT  RSHRD  RSIZE  VSIZE 
 1928 top          0.0%  0:00.09   1    17    19   284K   728K   736K  26.9M 
 1926 bash         0.0%  0:00.00   1     8    16    68K  1.25M   296K  27.1M 
 1883 bash         0.0%  0:00.04   1    14    16    48K  1.25M   776K  27.1M 
 1882 login        0.0%  0:00.01   1    16    40   172K   816K   612K  26.9M 
 1880 Terminal     0.0%  0:02.29   5   151   187  2.59M  13.4M  9.02M   363M 
 1824 mdimport     0.0%  0:00.25   4    62    47   904K  3.64M  2.61M  39.4M 
 1809 iChat        0.0%  3:55.29  11   342   542  23.9M  45.1M  36.1M   440M 
 1795 lookupd      0.0%  0:01.37   2    34    39   740K  1.26M  1.49M  28.5M 
 1750 VLC          0.0% 11:57.49  12   174   551  30.7M  32.4M  41.4M   452M 
 1694 Safari       0.0% 22:35.89  22   942  1730   242M  51.6M   259M   873M 
 1635 Preview      0.0%  0:02.80   1    72   208  3.42M  17.9M  11.2M   366M 
 1554 Mail         0.0%  1:39.07   7   175   388  21.2M  22.5M  29.8M   388M 
 1533 Address Bo   0.0%  0:09.58   1   102   200  4.54M  13.9M  24.5M   359M 
 1399 QuickTime    0.0%  0:12.29   3   155   255  6.15M  23.5M  12.9M   379M 
  815 iChatAgent   0.0%  0:05.04   4    72   311  3.70M  5.73M  7.32M   299M 
  228 pmTool       0.0% 21:47.83   1    23    28   468K  2.48M  1.34M  37.4M 
  227 Activity M   0.0% 17:47.63   3    99   180  5.00M  19.9M  10.8M   379M 
  220 cupsd        0.0%  0:00.99   2    29    25   684K  1.15M  1.78M  27.9M 
  215 AppleSpell   0.0%  0:01.03   1    58    34   700K  3.04M  2.24M  37.8M 
  210 translated   0.0%  0:02.39   1    11    46  42.1M   648K   428K   132M 
  208 LCCDaemon    0.0%  0:00.43   1    62    96  1.11M  6.63M  3.29M   348M 
  204 Stickies     0.0%  0:01.05   1    69   137  2.64M  14.2M  5.61M   356M 
  203 iTunesHelp   0.0%  0:00.17   1    55    86   528K  5.06M  1.79M   338M 
  199 Finder       0.0%  0:17.99   5   224   328  9.43M  32.5M  23.3M   400M 
  198 SystemUISe   0.0%  1:02.40   6   256   303  7.97M  15.4M  13.2M   411M 
  197 Dock         0.0%  0:12.41   2   117   203  2.40M  12.8M  5.59M   358M 
  192 pbs          0.0%  0:00.23   2    55    42   612K  3.83M  2.01M  54.3M 
  187 automount    0.0%  0:00.03   3    41    30   304K  1.14M  1.07M  28.7M 
  183 automount    0.0%  0:02.79   5    76    43   496K  1.20M  1.32M  29.8M 
  180 rpc.lockd    0.0%  0:00.00   1    10    16    96K   672K   188K  26.7M 
  171 nfsiod       0.0%  0:00.00   5    30    24   124K   644K   184K  28.6M 
  162 ntpd         0.0%  0:00.33   1     8    18    64K   896K   232K  27.1M 
  156 ntpd         0.0%  0:09.45   1    11    18    76K   896K   384K  27.1M 
  135 prl_dhcpd    0.0%  0:10.03   1    13    23  2.39M  1.44M  3.00M  31.0M 
  117 mds          0.0%  2:40.33   8   101   120  5.68M  5.41M  9.71M  48.8M 
   89 crashrepor   0.0%  0:00.00   1    33    19   124K   648K   224K  27.1M 
   73 loginwindo   0.0%  0:19.56   4   257   167  2.44M  8.73M  6.93M   357M 
   72 ATSServer    0.0%  0:13.14   2    90   128  4.02M  14.2M  7.89M  83.1M 
   69 coreservic   0.0%  0:20.77   3   114   262  4.54M  23.0M  17.9M  52.4M 
   68 blued        0.0%  0:00.47   1    74    35   596K  2.57M  2.01M  37.1M 
   66 WindowServ   0.0% 43:09.92   3   392  5750  8.12M  43.2M  44.4M   417M 
   50 DirectoryS   0.0%  0:08.07   3    82    50  1.09M  2.02M  3.10M  30.3M 
   48 update       0.0%  3:03.52   1    12    17   128K   648K   220K  26.6M 
   47 distnoted    0.0%  0:01.52   1    48    19   404K   992K   956K  27.0M 
   43 notifyd      0.0%  0:01.06   2    67    21   204K   676K   468K  27.2M 
   41 securityd    0.0%  0:02.61   1   128    26   616K  1.74M  2.29M  28.7M 
   40 memberd      0.0%  0:00.04   3    22    23   256K   680K   652K  27.6M 
   39 diskarbitr   0.0%  0:00.96   1   107    22   528K  1.06M  1.17M  27.1M 
   38 coreaudiod   0.0%  0:07.19   1   149    85  2.16M  2.83M  3.82M  34.7M 
   37 configd      0.0%  0:54.21   3   214    76  1.00M  1.74M  2.46M  29.5M 
   35 syslogd      0.0%  0:00.63   1    15    19   168K   676K   428K  26.6M 
   34 netinfod     0.0%  0:03.45   1    14    22   208K   760K   576K  26.9M 
   33 mDNSRespon   0.0%  0:04.49   4    64    41   464K  1.18M  1.23M  31.9M 
   32 KernelEven   0.0%  0:00.02   2    21    22   248K   668K   628K  27.2M 
   27 kextd        0.0%  0:01.31   2    18    21   680K  1012K   924K  27.5M 
   23 dynamic_pa   0.0%  0:00.00   1    12    18   100K   648K   176K  26.6M 
    1 launchd      0.0%  0:01.41   3   298    22   284K   704K   548K  27.7M 
    0 kernel_tas   0.0% 51:03.65  46     2  2792  23.3M     0K   102M  1.19G

 

[DannySmurf]

In my experience, with a normal program load (which you appear to have), OSX will leave approximately 25-33% of your RAM free, which is what you have. So yes, it's normal.

But don't worry. That 648MB of inactive RAM you've got is RAM that was in use at some point, but isn't now, and the OS can reclaim it any time if it needs more memory. Add that to your free RAM and you've got over half of your memory available to the OS for new tasks.

I don't know if your pageout number is high or not. On my 1GB MBP, I've got zero. But then, your machine had been running for four days when you took that snapshot, so I don't know.

 

[Sun Baked]

Don't know, probably not -- the uptime distorts the number.

Need to restart and run a normal cycle to see.

Loading a bunch of apps and swapping apps like a rabid monkey, will also distort the number -- since the background apps "may" be spun out to the HD.

A second or two delay to bring an app to the front isn't a problem, as long as you aren't getting hammered while using that app.

 

[topgunn]

Do you put your computer to sleep at all? That adds quite a few page outs. Try it out. Check your page outs, put the computer to sleep, wake it up, and check your page outs again.

 

[netb0y]

Do you put your computer to sleep at all? That adds quite a few page outs. Try it out. Check your page outs, put the computer to sleep, wake it up, and check your page outs again.

I put it to sleep all the time! I guess I just got worried when I openned Activity Monitor and so little of my pie graph was green.

 

[Sun Baked]

I put it to sleep all the time! I guess I just got worried when I openned Activity Monitor and so little of my pie graph was green.

Don't even worry about how the OS allocates memory, since it is likely to do a better job at it than you.

You can probably mess with the settings, but you might be reloading the OS if you do.

If you see a lot of spinning balls while in an app, or a bunch of pageouts during a single session -- worry.

But since it is a notebook 2GB of memory is about it, until the new 965GM chipset arrives -- next year. Then you may be able to bump the 965 machines to 4GB or 8GB.

If you need more, buy a Mac Pro which has a 32GB limit right now.