iSlayer, makers of the istat widgets we're all such a fan of, has just announced 7 new Dashboard system monitoring widgets, as well as a full iStat application (call me crazy, but I think these guys like keeping an eye on their systems). The new widgets more or less cover the same ground their iStat nano and iStat pro widgets do - they just take on the individual tasks of monitoring everything from CPU, memory, wireless, battery and even temperature performance.
The standalone iStat app offers a bit more customization options, as well as the ability to make it float above other applications or even stay at desktop level, so it can't get in the way of anything else you're doing. It also features a more standard Mac OS X preferences window, including a pane which states that Growl support is coming soon (for Growl cliffnotes: it's a system-wide monitoring utility through which 3rd party apps like Transmit, Quicksilver and - soon - iStat can display notifications of things like completed tasks).
All of these widgets and the new app are, surprisingly, donationware, and available now from iSlayer's website.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-12-2006 @ 5:09PM
Jonathan said...
How reliable is this information? I've noticed that temps don't seem to change at all during the course of the day, and do not seem to match up with the feel of my powerbook. Are sensors the same?
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10-12-2006 @ 5:31PM
Scott F said...
JEEBUS! When will you get rid of that awful GM ad with the jumping ditz? NOW wouldn't be soon enough!
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10-12-2006 @ 5:50PM
Jon Niola said...
As appealing as this widget is to me, I am afraid it will be a resource hog.
Anyone using it have any feedback as to it's resource consumption?
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10-13-2006 @ 12:44AM
Mark D. said...
Jon:
Well, when in Dashboard the widget pulls in about 1 to 1.8 CPU load, with 10mb memory. When not in Dashboard there's no load, memory stays the same. I use it mostly to get a rough idea of what's happening on my MBP, it actually uses about the same amount of resources as the Activity Monitor, maybe a touch less processor usage.
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10-14-2006 @ 4:57AM
Marc Edwards said...
#3 :: We've done all we can to keep it as efficient as possible. We've generally improved every aspect of the memory and CPU footprint for our widgets as the versions numbers have grown.
The iStat application is more efficient than the widget though (cpu-wise), so maybe that's worth considering too. They're all free, so you can always delete then if you decide they're not for you ;)
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