Page in/Page out ratio - is 2GB RAM enough?

[zub3qin]

On my 2GB RAM macbook, with normal use, it seems I get about a 4:1 ratio - page ins/page outs.

Are ANY pageouts bad, or is there a certain ratio to look at? If my page-outs are 25% of Page ins, does it suggest I am OK with my existing RAM?

I think this is the best way to determine the RAM needs for your future MBA, no?

 

[Scott6666]

Since an ssd is practically ram maybe swapping is not that big a deal to performance.

 

[zub3qin]

Since an ssd is practically ram maybe swapping is not that big a deal to performance.

This is true in the short term, but my understanding is that these SSD drives slow down dramatically the more they are "written" to- as would happen with swapping.

 

[fyrefly]

Since an ssd is practically ram maybe swapping is not that big a deal to performance.

Not true. Tests have shown that the RAM is 20x faster than the SSD (even the speedy SSD in the new 2010 MBA). The SSD reads/writes around 200mb/s but the RAM read/writes at 4000mb/s.

SOURCE: http://barefeats.com/mbpp27.html

 

[SidBala]

Since an ssd is practically ram maybe swapping is not that big a deal to performance.

Haha. No.

 

[Flynnstone]

Ideal situation is 0 (zero) page outs.

I jut upgraded my iMac to 8G. Haven't paged out yet. Once it started to page out with 4G, the system was kind of a dog.

 

[SidBala]

Not true. Tests have shown that the RAM is 20x faster than the SSD (even the speedy SSD in the new 2010 MBA). The SSD reads/writes around 200mb/s but the RAM read/writes at 4000mb/s.

SOURCE: http://barefeats.com/mbpp27.html

Actually, RAM is even faster than that depending on the configuration. The fastest DDR3 in tripple channel mode can hit over 16000MB/s

I suspect that the MBA might use dual channel memory. Still, it is like comparing a horse to a jet airplane in terms of speed.