Cuando mi MacBook Pro (13 "2010, Intel C2D 2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM 1067 MHz DDR3, ejecutando Snow Leopard) se queda sin memoria libre, en lugar de liberar memoria inactiva (que es principalmente alrededor de 500 - 1000 MB), comienza a escribir en el disco (generando salidas de página).
Aquí hay procesos que se ejecutan en mi macbook:
Active Memory: 1.64 GB
Free Memory: 1.04 GB
Wired Memory: 724.7 MB
Used Memory: 2.96 GB
Inactive Memory: 627.7 MB
Total VM: 176.36 GB
Number of processes: 82
PID Process Name User CPU Real Mem Virtual Mem
0 kernel_task root 7.4 278.0 MB 2.56 GB
1 launchd root 0.0 724 KB 2.34 GB
10 kextd root 0.0 1.5 MB 2.34 GB
11 DirectoryService root 0.0 4.0 MB 2.34 GB
12 notifyd root 0.0 564 KB 2.33 GB
13 syslogd root 0.0 548 KB 2.34 GB
14 configd root 0.0 2.6 MB 2.36 GB
15 diskarbitrationd root 0.0 748 KB 2.33 GB
17 mDNSResponder _mdnsrespo 0.0 1.5 MB 2.35 GB
18 distnoted daemon 0.0 1.3 MB 2.33 GB
21 securityd root 0.0 2.3 MB 2.35 GB
22 blued root 0.0 2.6 MB 2.35 GB
25 ntpd root 0.0 724 KB 2.32 GB
26 cupsd root 0.0 1.1 MB 2.34 GB
27 krb5kdc root 0.0 1.0 MB 2.33 GB
30 usbmuxd _usbmuxd 0.0 2.2 MB 2.35 GB
35 mds root 0.0 29.8 MB 2.59 GB
36 loginwindow mihal 0.0 5.9 MB 2.61 GB
37 KernelEventAgent root 0.0 528 KB 2.33 GB
39 hidd root 2.5 996 KB 2.33 GB
40 fseventsd root 0.0 1.7 MB 2.34 GB
42 dynamic_pager root 0.0 428 KB 2.32 GB
48 autofsd root 0.0 536 KB 2.33 GB
55 coreservicesd root 0.3 9.0 MB 2.37 GB
69 WindowServer _windowser 4.5 112.2 MB 2.81 GB
74 cvmsServ root 0.0 508 KB 2.33 GB
86 coreaudiod _coreaudio 0.0 3.1 MB 2.34 GB
89 launchd mihal 0.0 1.3 MB 2.34 GB
93 pboard mihal 0.0 372 KB 2.32 GB
94 Dock mihal 0.0 29.6 MB 2.70 GB
95 SystemUIServer mihal 0.0 11.2 MB 2.70 GB
96 Finder mihal 0.0 18.5 MB 2.73 GB
105 fontd mihal 0.0 2.8 MB 2.38 GB
112 UserEventAgent mihal 0.0 4.1 MB 2.60 GB
119 AirPort Base Station Agen mihal 0.0 3.9 MB 2.62 GB
120 PenTabletDriver mihal 0.0 5.3 MB 2.66 GB
125 Folder Actions Dispatcher mihal 0.0 4.0 MB 2.62 GB
129 Adium mihal 0.0 32.3 MB 1.08 GB
131 Mail mihal 0.2 64.3 MB 3.75 GB
132 TransmitMenu mihal 0.0 6.6 MB 2.63 GB
142 ConsumerTouchDriver mihal 0.0 3.6 MB 2.62 GB
143 TabletDriver mihal 0.0 3.6 MB 2.61 GB
160 DashboardClient mihal 0.0 12.7 MB 947.3 MB
161 DashboardClient mihal 0.0 31.4 MB 3.70 GB
167 Activity Monitor mihal 7.7 48.4 MB 2.77 GB
169 activitymonitord root 0.4 1.7 MB 2.33 GB
188 iTunes mihal 0.3 111.0 MB 1.33 GB
195 iTunes Helper mihal 0.0 2.9 MB 2.60 GB
197 applepushserviced root 0.0 4.4 MB 2.35 GB
199 AppleSpell.service mihal 0.0 6.3 MB 2.35 GB
671 Xcode mihal 0.0 166.5 MB 11.94 GB
827 Interface Builder Cocoa T mihal 0.0 5.3 MB 908.5 MB
828 Interface Builder Cocoa T mihal 0.0 5.0 MB 775.6 MB
830 Interface Builder Cocoa T mihal 0.0 3.5 MB 777.1 MB
1100 appleprofilepolicyd root 0.0 360 KB 2.32 GB
1114 DTActivityServer root 0.0 952 KB 2.35 GB
1882 Instruments mihal 0.0 397.8 MB 3.32 GB
2273 AAM Updates Notifier mihal 0.0 4.9 MB 930.3 MB
2497 iOS Simulator mihal 0.0 15.0 MB 1,001.7 MB
2501 ubd mihal 0.0 5.7 MB 630.6 MB
2503 mediaremoted mihal 0.0 6.0 MB 663.9 MB
2504 locationd mihal 0.0 8.6 MB 675.3 MB
2506 BTServer mihal 0.0 5.4 MB 642.0 MB
2508 aggregated mihal 0.0 3.3 MB 621.9 MB
2509 SimulatorBridge mihal 0.0 8.6 MB 766.1 MB
2510 apsd mihal 0.0 3.7 MB 640.5 MB
2514 SpringBoard mihal 0.0 33.3 MB 851.1 MB
2804 Google Chrome mihal 0.0 154.6 MB 1.28 GB
2886 Google Chrome Helper mihal 0.0 7.2 MB 972.1 MB
3541 Google Chrome Renderer mihal 0.0 35.8 MB 1.01 GB
3944 PTPCamera mihal 0.0 6.1 MB 2.63 GB
3945 ath mihal 0.0 2.6 MB 2.35 GB
3946 AppleMobileDeviceHelper mihal 0.0 7.1 MB 2.35 GB
3948 Image Capture Extension mihal 0.0 6.5 MB 2.62 GB
4048 VLC mihal 0.4 41.9 MB 2.73 GB
4185 Google Chrome Renderer mihal 0.0 40.4 MB 1.02 GB
4187 Shockwave Flash (Chrome P mihal 0.2 27.0 MB 1.01 GB
4192 Google Chrome Renderer mihal 0.0 64.1 MB 1.05 GB
4198 Google Chrome Renderer mihal 0.0 32.5 MB 1.01 GB
4200 Google Chrome Renderer mihal 0.1 35.9 MB 1.01 GB
4205 mdworker mihal 0.0 10.0 MB 2.36 GB
4216 SFLIconTool mihal 0.0 252 KB 2.31 GB