What's eating my RAM?

[Sled208]

I've been suspect of my phone slowing down a little lately and so I went and got an app to help me find the source of the problem. I downloaded "Android System Info" by ElectricSheep and noticed that it says I have a Maximum of 476 (I assume MB) of ram and I only have 144 of those free so I have 30% RAM available. I can run the task killer and get it up as high as 41% but I'm thinking I should be rolling with 60%+ at all times!

Here's what I have downloaded for Apps:

Google Earth
Android System Info
Snowflakes Live Wallpaper
Mobile Banking
CamCard Lite
QRky Barcode Scanner
Shazam
Gesture Search
Gesture Search Bar
MotoTorch LED
Bubble
Pandora Radio
eBay
USA Today
TV.com
Jorte
Advanced Task Killer
Weatherbug
Weatherbug Locator
Google Maps
V Cast Media Manager
Google Goggles
ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner
Ringdroid
Google Sky Map
Classic Ringtones
Loan Analyzer
FreeCaddie Golf GPS

Is this just simply too much for the phone to handle? I would assume that if it was it would have the greatest effect on the internal memory and I have 93% free on that. Maybe this is a normal level of RAM?

[BayouFlyFisher]

I did not write this. It came from Google Devs:

Android was designed from the ground up as an operating system (OS) for mobile devices. Its built-in application and memory-management systems were engineered with battery life as one of the most critical concerns.
The Android OS does not work like a desktop operating system. On a desktop OS, like Windows, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux, the user is responsible for closing programs in order to keep a reasonable amount of memory available. On Android, this is not the case. The OS itself automatically removes programs from memory as memory is needed. The OS may also preload applications into memory which it thinks might soon be needed.
Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible.
As such, using a task manager/killer to constantly clear memory by killing apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly.

[Backnblack]

As such, using a task manager/killer to constantly clear memory by killing apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly.

I re-quoted the important part....Get rid of the Task Killer..

[Sled208]

That is funny you mention that because I was most suspect of the task killer but it seems like such a popular item that I didn't wanna get flamed by the droid population by saying that. I'll give that a try.

[Sled208]

Well, I never would have believed it but my droid seems HAPPIER with 10% available RAM than with 41% RAM.