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Michael Goff

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 5, 2012
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7,421
Is there some way to lower the amount of RAM that's used? I like the speed and all, but it isn't exactly friendly with resources.
 

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,382
201
Next question is why it's like that. I don't get it.
Free RAM is wasted RAM. RAM is there to be used. OS X will use as much RAM as possible. That's a Good Thing™.

You don't need to worry about freeing up precious RAM in order to anticipate launching more apps in the future. OS X is well aware that you might do this, and is prepared for it.

If you're running "SafariForWebkitDevelopment" in 10.8.4, then you're a developer running a test environment, so that software is probably not optimized for efficient use of resources.
 
Last edited:

Michael Goff

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Original poster
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,421
I believe the idea is to use memory if available to cache pages for faster access. As long as the system still has memory available, this is not a problem.

So ... the high use of RAM is -why- it's so fast? Not complaining, just making sure I'm understanding you right.

Free RAM is wasted RAM. RAM is there to be used. OS X will use as much RAM as possible. That's a Good Thing™.

You don't need to worry about freeing up precious RAM in order to anticipate launching more apps in the future. OS X is well aware that you might do this, and is prepared for it.

If you're running "SafariForWebkitDevelopment" in 10.8.4, then you're a developer running a test environment, so that software is probably not optimized for efficient use of resources.

So you think it will be more optimized as time goes on?

Also, I guess I'm still not completely out of the mindset of "watch my RAM". XD I'm going to change this, eventually.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,599
California
So ... the high use of RAM is -why- it's so fast? Not complaining, just making sure I'm understanding you right.

The idea is the cache saves pages you visited in memory, so if you go back to that page it will load faster since the page is cached locally and almost nothing needs to be redownloaded from the Internet.

You can see it yourself if you clear the cache then visit a page twice. The second time will be faster due to the cache.
 

JohnDoe98

macrumors 68020
May 1, 2009
2,488
99
The idea is the cache saves pages you visited in memory, so if you go back to that page it will load faster since the page is cached locally and almost nothing needs to be redownloaded from the Internet.

You can see it yourself if you clear the cache then visit a page twice. The second time will be faster due to the cache.

Ok but then why does safari reload tabs or pages when you swipe to go back, shouldnt those be in the cache ready for viewing, a la Chrome? I'm not trying to argue against your point. In theory it sounds good.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,599
California
Ok but then why does safari reload tabs or pages when you swipe to go back, shouldnt those be in the cache ready for viewing, a la Chrome? I'm not trying to argue against your point. In theory it sounds good.

Just from tinkering around a bit using both, it looks to me like they are both using the cache, but Safari renders the page again where Chrome does not. Why that is, I have no idea. :confused:
 
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