strange RAM behavior

the ram is almost always at 50%?! That's nuts, I am upgrading to 8GB but still...

 

What do you have running? Steam takes 100MB's, internet browser can use hundreds of MB's.

 

Screenshot of processes and usage, please.

 

How do I post a screen shot? I have it I just don't know how...

 

Using ram is a good thing. If it wasn't being used, it would be wasted. Moreover, if you're always at 50% capacity, increasing your ram amount will provide no benefit.

 

50% doing almost nothing, surfing the web and using pages, so when I actually start using some stuff, music, web surfing, whatever, the ram gets taxed very easy. Ive seen it shoot to 80% just surfing the web!

 

I wouldn't worry, as one said, if it's utilizing the ram, it's a good thing! You always want your computer to use as much ram as possible without needing to use hard drive space cache which is much slower.

 

Again, just because it is being used is no reason to worry. The only alternative is not using it, which is a complete waste. It's probably mostly cached data that could be easily and quickly released if something else needed it.

Let the operating system do the work of the operating system. As a user, you shouldn't need to worry about memory management. If you start to get unexpected behavior, then re-investigate.

Pro-tip: computer issues are rarely related to memory. Very often they are related to the hard drive.

 

I would say that 4gb of ram should be more than enough for any current operating system as well as for most games. The only exception are games running at very high resolutions, which use the ram for their textures. WoW might be a good example. I noticed an increase of loading times and fps with every 1gb I added, starting from 1gb some years ago until the 4gb I now have.

 

I worry because 4g of ram SHOULD be more than enough, for web surfing and such, however it was always at 50% min to %79 max! That is simply way to much, and I am also super frustrated at the fact that my wires 2008 macbook pro is faster than my i5 2011.... is lion that sluggish? I upgraded to 8G of ram on the 2011, and now the ram sits at around 30% to 40%, it doesn't make any sense to me...

However, for now at least, the computer is smooth so I can wait for an update or what not... I was really looking at the Asus G53, it's a monster laptop with awesome cooling and great for gaming (I don't game much on my PC) but its cool that it has that option. I just hope they patch lion up soon, they updated safari the other day which helped a lot, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the slowness or "bugs" are coming from safari...

gtg

 

2011 13" Macbook pro

I had 4g of ram and most of the time was around 50-60% use. So upgraded to 8GB and it stills sits at 50% RAM use, that means it would have been at 100% use at 4GB, I am at a lost....

lol any explanation? This is just for fun as the computer is running well, so not big deal just kind of a head scratcher..

 

try to google how lion handles ram usage, wasted ram is the one that is free

 

are you just not reading what we're saying?

 

I'm not sure what your referring to, but if your pointing at the typos, I was typing on my phone still am... lol

 

No he's meaning that you don't seem to read that when we say that used ram is good ram, free ram is wasted ram.

Therefor more ram being used is a good thing, still. That's just how it works with any software, you want as much as possible loaded into the ram = quicker.

 

No I understand that, I just don't understand why the machine was only using 4GB of ram at 50% and then 8GB at 50%, meaning should or would have used the 4GB of ram at 100%.. Thats all, I mean really the computer is running fine, I was just wondering is all..

 

It's good to be curious. This has been answered multiple times in this thread, though, so pay attention:

You're computer is caching data to try to make use of the extra memory. This is normal. If it doesn't do this, the operating system may be forced to pull data off of the hard drive more frequently, which will slow down the computer.