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FreAk6767

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
64
17
Hello,

Am I the only one noticing that since updating to 12.2, macOS is eating way more RAM for everything that it did on 12.1?
Illustrator, Safari, WindowServer (as soon as plugged to the Ultrafine, this one grows on the 14'M1Pro, more than on 12.1!) etc

The pressure on RAM used to be around 25 - 30 % and now easily above 40-45% with the app opened above.

I can't really feel any impact on the Performance (yet) other than being intrigued by the numbers shown in iStat that I check way too often!!! (guilty!)
 
Yes… it’s unclear if it’s a memory leak. Have you tried a reinstall?
 
I haven't noticed any RAM issues, but my MB Pro has a 745% kernel task that kicks in the fans every single time coming out of sleep mode. That didn't happen before 12.2. 2018 MB Pro.
 
MacBook Pro 14 Mpro Monterey 12.2 : memory leaks :-/ Only with few apps and very light work
 
Yes… it’s unclear if it’s a memory leak. Have you tried a reinstall?
Hi, sincerely don't have the time to do a reinstall of the OS right now unfortunately :(
(or reinstall Adobe softwares?)

I also noticed that using the MBP14 with my Ultrafine 4K does definitely increase the ram usage on all apps compared to just using the MBP14 on his own.

Hope macOS 12.3 and any Adobe updates will improve these issues (as I can't really say it affects the workflow, but still worrying to see this increased usage as macOS are pushed out every now and then!)
 
I've noticed that any Adobe app I run that needs Rosetta 2 seems to use more memory with 12.2. Perhaps Rosetta 2 is the problem? The Adobe apps that have been ported to Apple Silicon run great with a small memory footprint.
 
Monterey is just a HUGE MESS. I'm running 12.3 Bata. And I can tell they added some built in Digital rights management which was not there in 12.2. My ANY VIDEO CONVERTER launches but will not download any YouTube videos for offline viewing.

Safari still has HUGE memory leak issues.

Every reboot of my Mac causes extremely LONG boot up and long in times. for some reason my files are all being scanned or re indexed. I would not be surprised if APPLE has activated CLIENT SIDE SCANNING which is built into macOS and IOS devices but may or may not be activated.

Seriously thinking of going back to BIG SUR or even Catalina.


 
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14” MBP Max … memory leak with Preview… big time! A couple of times I’ve gotten the “close apps, ram maxed out…” window and looking at it Preview was taking up 28 Gigs of Ram! Both Pages and Google Earth also eat up Ram… Safari is a given…

Looking forward to the next update to solve this… I’ve posted bug reports to the Mothership…

Coachingguy
 
Admittedly, I run into issues with RAM constantly when I am using browsers and at times certain art/graphic apps. Safari, Chrome, Brave and even Firefox all can eat up incredible amounts of RAM doing pretty much nothing. I have found that the worst (for me) used to be Safari but now is Chrome and Firefox way before was miserable and now it is a bit better than the rest. I am sure others will put these in a different order and based on their systems they would be correct. I am using an M1 Mac Mini 512/16. There should be no reason that 16 gigs is eaten up so quickly.
 
Interesting feedbacks (although they are all different, so, hard to pinpoint exactly what's going on other than Monterey is definitely acting different regarding RAM usage)

One thing for sure, working with the Ultrafine 4K plugged in or not has an impact on RAM usage.
Worked on some file in Illustrator (as everyday), safari tabs, mails, reeder on the MBP14 alone, and decided to let everything as it was to plug in the ultra fine, and the RAM usage went up immediately for everything (Illustrator, window server, safari, etc). So there's definitely something about driving an external monitor too.
(understand driving an external 4K display uses RAM, but this wasn't as bad in Big Sur for example)

Again, it might be that now macOS prefers to use the maximum RAM available without waiting, so everything runs smoothly. (at the end of the day, what's the point having XX% left of RAM unused, if things could be faster using more like macOS currently does? still confusing tho!)
 
Interesting feedbacks (although they are all different, so, hard to pinpoint exactly what's going on other than Monterey is definitely acting different regarding RAM usage)

One thing for sure, working with the Ultrafine 4K plugged in or not has an impact on RAM usage.
Worked on some file in Illustrator (as everyday), safari tabs, mails, reeder on the MBP14 alone, and decided to let everything as it was to plug in the ultra fine, and the RAM usage went up immediately for everything (Illustrator, window server, safari, etc). So there's definitely something about driving an external monitor too.
(understand driving an external 4K display uses RAM, but this wasn't as bad in Big Sur for example)

Again, it might be that now macOS prefers to use the maximum RAM available without waiting, so everything runs smoothly. (at the end of the day, what's the point having XX% left of RAM unused, if things could be faster using more like macOS currently does? still confusing tho!)
If you have an M1 based Mac, recall that the video "RAM" is really shared RAM with the rest of the system akin to the Intel on board video. Unified memory shares between CPU and graphics duties. I would see where driving a 4k display might be more overhead than a lower resolution display and also the level of ability of the monitor (colour space and refresh rates etc.). Let's add how is it connected - TB3/4 or USB-C or HDMI or Displayport etc.
 
14” MBP Max … memory leak with Preview… big time! A couple of times I’ve gotten the “close apps, ram maxed out…” window and looking at it Preview was taking up 28 Gigs of Ram! Both Pages and Google Earth also eat up Ram… Safari is a given…

Looking forward to the next update to solve this… I’ve posted bug reports to the Mothership…

Coachingguy
I didn't get any warnings on the M1 Pro but I usually read various papers using Preview and saw it going up to 3GB.. So it's definitely real.

Same for Messenger for Mac by Facebook look at this...

1644488455079.jpeg
 
I'm convinced electron apps and poorly optimised apps are not helping.
Deftinely just look at the following list

- Messenger FB
- What's App
- Microsoft Teams

These are the apps that ruin my memory.. As long as I use a PWA for these I don't have any sort of issue what so ever but I do need the native apps for unique features...
 
Safari, Chrome, Brave and even Firefox all can eat up incredible amounts of RAM doing pretty much nothing.
Enable the develop menu in Safari and periodically empty the caches. I gain 3 gbs instantly. YOu will need to dl emory Diag, so you can recycle memory with a right click on the item in your memory bar.
 
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We shouldn't not have to be doing this is the bottom line.

Still nearly over 18 months not the transition to Arm, software is letting it down. Apps that are clearly optimised barely use any RAM while apps that are not including electron just gobble up unceccesary large amounts of memory. What ever coder things a simple programme like WhatsApp consuming 3GB of ram is nuts and clearly some of the software is very leaky. YUK.

I saw Blender using half of what WhatsApp was doing the other day. Crazy.
 
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Anyones ever try reset Monterey after update to latest version ?

Maybe it able to solved memory leak.

 
Last edited:
I've just updated so I will keep an eye on it. Still think this is a combination of OS and bad coded/poorly optimised apps.
 
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Maybe it like phone sometimes after OS update there are some error occur but it fixed after reset it.

In this case, it’s a known bug in the operating system, or at least in apps that come with the operating system, so a reset won’t help.
 
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