Z61m constantly using 50 -59% of RAM

So I installed Vista business and now I have the constant information about RAM and processor usage. My RAM indicator is showing that I'm using between 53 and 59% with only Internet Explorer open with two tabs. Task manager is showing me that I. explorer, desktop manager, windows explorer and sidebar are the memory hogs. Still, after adding up the Memory (private working set) I seem to be using less than 200mb and I have 1gb installed.

At first I thought it may be Thinkvantage tools (even though many do not work with vista) but task manager is indicating that these tools aren't eating much memory.

Is over 50% usage at all times normal?
Am I correct in looking at task manager to see what is using my memory?
Am I missing anything?


Thanks for any advice you may have to offer.

 

it can't be help i guess....

i'm using windows xp pro. here are some of the programs running
- firefox with two tabs - 68.5MB
- yahoo messenger - 48MB
- explorer - 22.5MB
- svchost (what's this?) - 22MB + many more...
- avast! - 30+ MB ?
- thinkvantage softwares - all preloaded on start, so many...

half of my 1GB ram is eaten. so i guess it's just normal to have that ram usage. it will not be normal if your system slows down and 3/4 or more of your ram is used.

sooner or later we will need computers with a minimum of 2GB RAM installed. such advances in technology...

 

vista and xp are programmed to use certain amount of ram for performance. If you only have 512mb installed, it will try conserve ram for other programs that you want to run. and will only use around 50-59%, or a bit more. But when you have alot of ram it will try to use as much as possible depending how many programs there are. if you have 128mb ram it won't use 100% of all your ram when idling.

so if you have 512 mb it will use around 50-59+, with 1gb, still 50-59, but if you have 2gb it probably just use only 30% as it could be the max needed for best performance of all the programs you have installed and running.

50-59 seems to be normal range since mininum ram required for vista is 512 mb ram. if you fall in a range of 80% means you are in need of more ram.

 

It has something to do with SUper Fetch that Windows run. It use part of the RAM to store some dlls and system files so the frequently used program can load faster when they're calling. If Windows need more RAM to run a program then it simply reside the prefetch allocation and then repeat the process again when the program is done.
In a sense, Windows introduce Ready Boost to increase system performance with a limited RAM by using USB Flash Disk. However some sites report that the Ready Boost does not give significant performance increase with the system that have more than 1 GB RAM. It will run effectively in the system with 512 MB - 1GB RAM.
http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/02/08/analysis_vista_ready_boost/index.html

We can conclude that Vista will consume RAM no matter how much that you add. It using it for prefetch the files. Personally i think it is better to have the RAM fully utilized by the system than having a big one but frequently only using just a small of it. The down side of this is if you have arbitrary pattern and habit of using programs then you will find your harddisk running frequently from time to time to adjust which program that have to prefetch and which that dont have to. You will have more significant increase in preformance when using harddisk with faster rpm or, you just wait for Ready Drive.

But for daily usage, with microsoft Office 2007 and internet pattern, i think 1 GB is more than enough. With core duo, 1 GB RAM and 5400 rpm harddisk everything is just as fast as XP. I am using Business though. Some articles stated that Ultimate need at least 2 GB to work comfortably.

 

The memory consumption is quite normal. I have a Z61m with 2GB RAM and Vista uses 51% RAM with IE running.

Vista is designed to monitor your usage of the computer, the various programs that you typically launch. It then pre-loads these into RAM so that when its time for you to actually use the program, it will launch faster by eliminating the disk read. This caching (called SuperFetch) is done in the background by a low priority process. Vista will try to fill up available RAM with these programs fetched by SuperFetch. If a program makes request for more memory while it is running, Vista allocates this by removing something from SuperFetch cache.

Therefore, there is nothing to be concerned about with the 50-60% RAM consumption. Your performance of the machine should not suffer. The major causes of slow performance is media access (hard disk/cd-rom).

Hope this helps...

 

Hey guys, thanks so much for the education on this matter. I'm still amazed at how many people are willing to type paragraphs of information in order to benefit others on the forum.
I'm pleased to hear that this RAM consumption is normal considering my configuration. I bought this notebook 8 months ago and i love it just as much as the day i received it. This thing still feels solid as a brick and its performance has never left me wanting.

Thanks again

 

Knowledge and love are the two things that actually increase the more you distribute them

 

i like this one