Widgets and CPU usage

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Level 1

15 points

Widgets and CPU usage

Sorry if this is a common question but I could not find the answer using my search criteria.

When I have the widgets I want to use installed and running, I have noticed, (with the iStat Pro widget), that my idle CPU usage is at 41%. That is only with the dashboard running and the widgets doing their stuff. Although probably not necessary, I like to keep tabs on items such as Memory, Fans, Temps, Hard Drive Space and CPU usage.

Thinking that maybe the widgets are only using the processor when the dashboard is activated, I checked Activity Monitor when the Dashboard was not up. Unfortunately Activity Monitor showed the same amount of CPU usage when Dashboard was not up.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that if idle CPU usage is 41% just running widgets, I am wasting CPU resources just monitoring it.

Is there some error to my thinking?

Thanks for your input.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Sep 10, 2007 11:21 PM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Sep 11, 2007 3:49 AM in response to micahblue

micahblue wrote:
Is there some error to my thinking?

No, no error at all. Widgets do use CPU and the more Widgets the more CPU and "Real memory". Restart and do not launch Dashboard and you'll see the difference. Once you launch Dashboard, the Widgets are always running in the background.

But you can probably afford the cpu usage for the fun of having the Widgets. If you really can't afford the resources, don't launch Dashboard. Or keep less Widgets on it.

-mj
macjack@gmail.com

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Answer 2

Sep 11, 2007 7:37 AM in response to micahblue

Yes, something is wrong with your system. Widgets are designed to stop all CPU processing when the Dashboard is not up. If you have not added widgets to your desktop (via various tricks) then all CPU activity by processes that begin with "DashboardClient" should drop to 0% on a normal system when the Dashboard is dismissed.

Now, some widgets are poorly designed (e.g. not following Apple's guidelines), and do in fact continue to use CPU when not visible. However, those widgets are few and far between. If all your widgets are still consuming CPU then something is wrong system-wide. If it is only a few, third-party widgets, then removing those widgets from the Dashboard is your only solution.

Note that widgets do in fact use memory, even when hidden, but this memory is "paged" out to disk when Dashboard is not visible, so it will not affect your other applications, nor take away any valuble physical memory from your system.

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Answer 3

micahblue Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 11, 2007 12:09 PM in response to micahblue

Thanks for the input folks.
It appears that you both had valid points. As suggested I restarted and checked Activity Monitor before showing the dashboard. CPU had minimal usage. Next, I brought up the Dashboard and CPU usage increased, but stayed up after the dashboard was hidden.
I deleted one suspect Widget and tried again. This time CPU usage was back to minimal when the dashboard was hidden.
Thanks again!

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