Daft question about RAM usage

[parlem]

Hi! Could someone please confirm that when I took this screenshot my MacBook Pro was using just over 11Gb of RAM (of a total of 16Gb available)?

I'm pretty sure that's the case, but I'd love to have confirmation from someone more knowledgeable.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

It is using 11gb, however that means very little most of that is just cacheing things for quick access that aren't actually being used, so that 4.38gb is fully available for use and is just cacheing for quick access.

The only important part of that screen is the memory pressure graph as long as that stays green or yellow you are fine for ram, trying to understand the numbers is confusing and only gives a partial understanding of ram pressure.

OS X will use as much ram as it can, unused ram is wasted ram.

 

[parlem]

It is using 11gb, however that means very little most of that is just cacheing things for quick access that aren't actually being used, so that 4.38gb is fully available for use and is just cacheing for quick access.

The only important part of that screen is the memory pressure graph as long as that stays green or yellow you are fine for ram, trying to understand the numbers is confusing and only gives a partial understanding of ram pressure.

OS X will use as much ram as it can, unused ram is wasted ram.

Thank you very much, Samuel!