Crucial NZ reveals how to see if you’re approaching your memory cliff at work
AUCKLAND, 26 October 2017 – Doing multiple things at once when using your work computer should be painless, but it often leads to slowdowns,
freezing, crashing and lots of needless frustration. If you don’t have enough memory to handle everything you’re doing –
every word you’re typing anywhere, every spreadsheet you’re editing, every web conference call you join – your system
will slow to a crawl.
Most people can relate to the anxious feeling that comes from waiting on slow technology, and when you’re on a deadline
this can be even more excruciating. A recent study bycrucial.com found that the average person’s patience with slow technology lasts 60 seconds before we start to get irritated. Among
the top things that cause people most grief are computers that are frozen (47%) or slow (40%). While there is no one
single reason cited for a PC freezing, almost half (46%) of respondents said that opening web pages caused their PC to
freeze. Other causes include opening programmes/apps (27%), opening files (21%), loading videos (17%) and saving an
important file (12%).*
This shows that even some of the most common workplace tasks you do on a computer consumes a lot of memory. The more
complex or detailed the app, the more memory it takes to run. However, each computer, user and the tasks you do will
differ, so it’s important to know what is affecting you. PCs and Mac® systems have ways to see exactly how much memory
your computer is using and what’s eating away your available memory. It pays to quickly see how much memory you’re using
and how much room you have left to do other things.
For Windows® users, press CTRL + Shift + Esc at the same time to open Task Manager, or hit CTRL + ALT + DEL and then
select Task Manager. For Mac users, in the Finder app, click Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.
Once you’ve opened Task Manager or Activity Monitor, you’ll see the type of information shown below, and this will tell
you what you need to do to improve your multitasking and work faster.
What you see may appear slightly different depending on your operating system, but you’ll get the same key information.
There’s more information in the Performance tab too, which will detail the amount of memory in GB you are using, and
installed in the system.
Depending on your system and the apps you’ve opened, when you’re using about 70% or more of your memory, your computer
is in danger of significantly slowing down, freezing, or crashing (if it hasn’t done so already). This threshold is even
more pronounced with smaller memory capacities, as each MB of memory represents a greater percentage of your total
memory capacity. This is why there are different danger zones for different capacities.
Computer manufacturers often limit the amount of preinstalled memory in new computers to lower the price. PCs that ship
with as little as 2GB and 4GB installed may often find themselves approaching their memory cliff quite quickly, compared
to an upgraded machine with 8GB of memory installed.
When a desktop or laptop at work is slowing down or having performance issues, 50% of businesses will upgrade the system
with new components, whilst just 19% will buy new systems to replace slower computers. Extending a system’s lifecycle
without losing performance and increasing efficiency is an important job to keep a you productive at work, which is why
businesses must weigh up buying new versus upgrading.
If you’re consistently using more than 70% offrustrating slowdowns.
*Respondents could select more than one option.
ENDS
About Crucial
Crucial is a global brand of Micron Technology, Inc. and Crucial’s Australian office is in North Sydney. Crucial
products include award-winning solid state drives (SSDs) and DRAM for more than 50,000 desktops, laptops, servers,
workstations, and other systems. Crucial products are available worldwide at leading retail and e-tail stores,
commercial resellers, and system integrators. For more information or support, visit www.crucial.com
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About Micron
Micron Technology, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its
worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory, as well as other
innovative memory technologies, packaging solutions and semiconductor systems for use in leading-edge computing,
consumer, networking, embedded and mobile products. Micron's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the MU symbol.
To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit www.micron.com.