Memory of MAC computers

How to find out the amount of RAM on a Macintosh

  1. Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left corner of your Macintosh's screen.

  2. Select "About This Computer."

  3. In the window that appears, look for "Available Built In Memory." This is the number of megabytes (MB) of physical memory (RAM) your Macintosh has. Depending on what version of the Mac OS your Macintosh has, there will be another memory number listed. It will be either "Total Memory" or "Virtual Memory."

What is virtual memory?

"Virtual memory" is space on your Macintosh's hard drive that it is used as RAM. Like built-in RAM, having more virtual memory allows your Mac to open more and larger programs and files, but it is not as fast as built-in RAM.  "Total memory" is the amount of built-in memory your Macintosh has plus the amount of virtual memory selected in the Memory control panel.  

How to increase virtual memory?

  1. Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left corner of your Macintosh's screen. 

  2. Go to the Control Panels folder.

  3. Select the Memory control panel. 

  4. In the section labeled Virtual memory, on the right side, increase the number in the white box to 128M and close the Memory control panel. If it is already at 128M or higher, close the Memory control panel without making any changes.

  5. To have your changes to your Macintosh's memory settings take effect, go to the Special menu and select Restart.