6GB ram used with nothing running on new MBP retina

[bniaulin]

Hi,

I finally received my Macbook Pro Retina 15' with 16GB ram and I LOVE IT!
Can't believe I waited so long to make the switch.

I do have a small question, I recently downloaded VMWARE Fusion because I need to run a VM of Windows Server 2012 with something called SharePoint on it for my work.

When I suspend the machine, I look at the activity monitor and it seems it is not releasing any of the ram. Mind you I am not noticing any performance issues.

So what I did is completely shut down the VM, I am ok with doing that every time I will not be using the VM since the boot speed is a joke. However my activity monitor is still saying there is 6GB used. This is with no apps running and yes I have done Command Q to close all.

So I guess I have 2 questions:
Is Suspending a VM using Fusion OK. Does it release all the RAM as soon as it is suspended?
Is it normal that my new Macbook Pro is saying it is using 6GB of ram when nothing is running?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

What do you mean by used? Where are you getting that number from?

Is that Wired + Active + Inactive? How much of that is Inactive? Inactive memory is basically the same thing as Free memory except it's still holding onto old data. The idea is if you decide to open back up whatever it is you closed, it's mostly still in memory and so can start up faster. In the event your computer runs out of Free memory, it'll begin repurposing Inactive Memory as if it were Free.

 

[bniaulin]

Under the Activity Monitor, in System memory there is one called "Used".

Thanks for the description, I just switched from PC to MAC (wish I had done it before) and I am not used to these behaviours.

Steam and VMWare Fusion are the biggest programs I have that even when closed seem to stay in memory.

I am not sure what happens when "Suspending" a VM though in Fusion.
I use Clean Memory app but when I suspend a VM it doesn't do anything, if I shut down the VM the memory clean app is able to free up 6-8 GB