Apple OS X versus Vista, RAM division

Interesting note comparing RAM useage on OS X and Vista

"As I noted earlier this week, I’ve begun using a MacBook (the basic white model) and keeping a log of my experiences.


Now that I have this system up and running on a full-sized screen, I’m ready to make some head-to-head comparisons with Windows. Because this system has a mere 1GB of RAM, I was curious to get a sense of how thrifty OS X Leopard is when it comes to memory usage. I was especially curious to see how Leopard compares to Vista, which as been slammed by critics as a resource hog.
To get started I opened Safari and opened a single web page, then began playing an MP3 track in iTunes. With those tasks running, I checked the results from Activity Monitor:

As you can see, the OS reports that 581MB is in use, with 430MB free.
Next, I launched a similar set of tasks on a system running Windows Vista Ultimate. To make the comparison fair, I used the System Configuration utility to disable all but 1024MB of memory in the system, which has 4GB of RAM. This system is using the full Aero interface (disabling it had no significant impact on the RAM footprint). I opened Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, began playing the same MP3 tune and browsed to the same page that was open on the Macbook. Here’s what Task Manager showed for memory usage:

For those keeping score, the Vista machine is using 594MB of RAM, which is roughly 2% more than its Mac counterpart running the same set of tasks.
Vista gets a bad rap for lots of things, including its reputedly voracious appetite for memory. As you can see, Vista compares favorably to OS X in this regard and doesn’t deserve that reputation."


OS X versus Vista, RAM division | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

 

[rasmasyean]

• Applications stay OPEN when you close the window.

I would have thought that was a flaw. When I close an app, it's because I WANT it to close. Otherwise I would just minimize it

He's misinterpreting the way it works by the visual effect of OSX.

What happens is when you "exit", it DOES remove it from memory and has to launch again later when you want to use it.

When you do the equivalent of "minimize", there is no "Taskbar" where you can see that it's still running. You either re-open it from the "dock", or you go through the OSX top menu system to find it.

 

[dmex]

• Applications stay OPEN when you close the window.

I would have thought that was a flaw. When I close an app, it's because I WANT it to close. Otherwise I would just minimize it

He's misinterpreting the way it works by the visual effect of OSX.

What happens is when you "exit", it DOES remove it from memory and has to launch again later when you want to use it.

When you do the equivalent of "minimize", there is no "Taskbar" where you can see that it's still running. You either re-open it from the "dock", or you go through the OSX top menu system to find it.

Clicking the close button on any running application in OSX just minimizes it to the dock (evedent by the glowing blue line below the application) I just loaded OSX for the first time in months on my macbook pro and checked

 

[rasmasyean]

I would have thought that was a flaw. When I close an app, it's because I WANT it to close. Otherwise I would just minimize it

He's misinterpreting the way it works by the visual effect of OSX.

What happens is when you "exit", it DOES remove it from memory and has to launch again later when you want to use it.

When you do the equivalent of "minimize", there is no "Taskbar" where you can see that it's still running. You either re-open it from the "dock", or you go through the OSX top menu system to find it.

Clicking the close button on any running application in OSX just minimizes it to the dock (evedent by the glowing blue line below the application) I just loaded OSX for the first time in months on my macbook pro and checked

Damn, you can barely notice that thing!
How does it handle multiple instances?

 

[Adamd]

He's misinterpreting the way it works by the visual effect of OSX.

What happens is when you "exit", it DOES remove it from memory and has to launch again later when you want to use it.

When you do the equivalent of "minimize", there is no "Taskbar" where you can see that it's still running. You either re-open it from the "dock", or you go through the OSX top menu system to find it.

Clicking the close button on any running application in OSX just minimizes it to the dock (evedent by the glowing blue line below the application) I just loaded OSX for the first time in months on my macbook pro and checked

Damn, you can barely notice that thing!
How does it handle multiple instances?

You can only launch something once. Once it's open it will bring back what you were doing with that program before you clicked the close button...

If they would have a setting to close the program 100% when you push the close button it would make that OS way better.

 

[rasmasyean]

Clicking the close button on any running application in OSX just minimizes it to the dock (evedent by the glowing blue line below the application) I just loaded OSX for the first time in months on my macbook pro and checked

Damn, you can barely notice that thing!
How does it handle multiple instances?

You can only launch something once. Once it's open it will bring back what you were doing with that program before you clicked the close button...

If they would have a setting to close the program 100% when you push the close button it would make that OS way better.

And you can't open like 2 Safaris and 3 Word Documents?

 

[Adamd]

I am not 100% sure on that...

Just put it this way it's harder than clicking on the Windows icon of the program you want twice lol.

From my post above I meant that lets say you have firefox open and you hit the close button it minimizes to the bottom of the dock and if you were to click on the firefox icon again it will bring back what you had open before you closed the program in the first place...

 

[SgtBaxter]

Are you sure you were comparing "equivalent" Dells? I know they sometimes have Core 2 Extreme Quads or something that costs a lot more than ones with standard processors.

The Mac Pro uses Xeon procs and ECC memory. The Dells I compared it to were workstation class machines with Quadro video cards and ECC memory, not a cheap desktop PC with a gaming card.

From my post above I meant that lets say you have firefox open and you hit the close button it minimizes to the bottom of the dock

Really? Because when I hit the close button on a window in OS X it actually closes the window. When I hit the minimize button it sucks into the dock just like it's supposed to. :P

Besides, what's the point of opening and closing an application dozens of times? Seems rather inefficient to me.

You can only launch something once.

This is untrue, OS X can launch multiple instances of most applications, just like any other UNIX on the planet. There are applications specifically coded so you cannot open multiple instances (Firefox is one for example), but that's the developers doing, not the OS.

However, having multiple instances of programs running isn't really as efficient as having one instance of the program, the trade off of course is if the program crashes.

I also think you fellas are confused about "minimize". You minimize document windows, not applications. OS X is application centric, windows is.. well window centric. Closing a document in OS X closes the document, the application stays open. That's what pisses me off most if working in Windows, I always end up closing the application when what I really want to do is simply close the document.

 

[rasmasyean]

From my post above I meant that lets say you have firefox open and you hit the close button it minimizes to the bottom of the dock

Really? Because when I hit the close button on a window in OS X it actually closes the window. When I hit the minimize button it sucks into the dock just like it's supposed to. :P

Besides, what's the point of opening and closing an application dozens of times? Seems rather inefficient to me.

Uh...give more memory available to another application?

 

[SgtBaxter]

And you can't open like 2 Safaris and 3 Word Documents?

I'll see your 2 Safaris and raise you one safari, and two previews:

And yes, you can open as many Word documents as your heart desires, and you don't have to open the program more than once to do it.

 

[rasmasyean]

You can only launch something once.

This is untrue, OS X can launch multiple instances of most applications, just like any other UNIX on the planet. There are applications specifically coded so you cannot open multiple instances (Firefox is one for example), but that's the developers doing, not the OS.

However, having multiple instances of programs running isn't really as efficient as having one instance of the program, the trade off of course is if the program crashes.

Well, how do you select the right "instance" to switch to? If I have a browser on "shopping" and another one on "forums", what do I do to make sure I pick the right one? Like if I have 10 PDFs?

I also think you fellas are confused about "minimize". You minimize document windows, not applications. OS X is application centric, windows is.. well window centric. Closing a document in OS X closes the document, the application stays open. That's what pisses me off most if working in Windows, I always end up closing the application when what I really want to do is simply close the document.

You mean like if you have MS Word with nothing in it because you closed the last doc file but didn't hit the "X" in the far corner? Like closing all the workbooks in Excel and you see a "blank" window? Are you talking about a MDI (Multiple Document Interface)? This would be a function of the developer as well and not the OS.

 

[SgtBaxter]

Uh...give more memory available to another application?

I've got 8 gigs of RAM in my Vista box, and 16 in my Mac Pro. I could really give two craps about freeing memory for another application.

Of course if you do need to free up memory, just quit the application you need to quit.

Well, how do you select the right "instance" to switch to? If I have a browser on "shopping" and another one on "forums", what do I do to make sure I pick the right one? Like if I have 10 PDFs?

I don't really see a reason to have multiple instances of a browser running as that would be a huge memory hog. If you've got several firefox windows open simply choose what one you want in the window menu. Or use Expose, see every window you have and click which one you want. Simple, really.

You mean like if you have MS Word with nothing in it because you closed the last doc file but didn't hit the "X" in the far corner?

That would be how it works in OS X, yes. Specifically I'm talking about in Windows and programs like Illustrator or Photoshop. Normally I close documents with the close keyboard command. But, every so often I click 'em closed. In windows you have two menu bars, one for the application and one for the document in such programs. I'm always hitting the wrong one because the document close isn't very clear, plus it's a waste of vertical space.

 

[rasmasyean]

And yes, you can open as many Word documents as your heart desires, and you don't have to open the program more than once to do it.

You mean like if you launch Word a yellow box shows up in the middle of the screen and then the App comes up?
If you do it 3 times, the box doesn't come up 3 times (only once).
And if you open a doc file afterward, the box doesn't show either.

But it does however have 3 things in the taskbar. I think that's a UI feature because it makes it easier for business users to switch documents when working with a lot. Maybe people didn't like that windows-within-one-big-window thing.

There are programs that would come up with a "box" 3 times though. But I guess it's like you say that it's a developer preference.

 

[SgtBaxter]

But it does however have 3 things in the taskbar. I think that's a UI feature because it makes it easier for business users to switch documents when working with a lot. Maybe people didn't like that windows-within-one-big-window thing.

I dunno what the hell we're talking about anymore

But yes, I suppose we're talking about the same thing. Open word, and a few documents and you get 3 things in the taskbar, then they eventually consolidate - but you're still running only one instance of the program.

In OS X the documents don't show up in the Dock like they do in the taskbar, but if you have several documents you can right click the application icon and the full list of documents appears in a pop up menu.

As for programs launching multiple instances, I do suppose it's a developer issue on Windows. As you mention, word only launches once. Other programs launch the program again, it can be inconsistent. OS X by default won't launch multiple instances but you can do it, just not through the dock.

 

[rasmasyean]

I don't really see a reason to have multiple instances of a browser running as that would be a huge memory hog. If you've got several firefox windows open simply choose what one you want in the window menu. Or use Expose, see every window you have and click which one you want. Simple, really.

Well, if you're like doing online banking or something private, you can close the browser and you don't have to worry about someone stumbling into it while using the same browser instance.

 

[rasmasyean]

Now, my personal PC is better than an iMac spec/performance wise and I paid less. Does it outrun my PowerMac as far as the graphics work I do? No it doesn't. Will it kick it's ass in games? Hell yeah.

Hey, just wondering what your thoughts are on Adobe CS4 64-bit?

 

[SgtBaxter]

I don't have it yet, but it should be a huge boon seeing as I work on very large images. I work on store displays and it's not uncommon for flat unlayered files to be a few gigs in size, and tens of gigs in size for layered files.