Mac OS X's memory management is pissing me off!

[nyzwerewolf]

Ok, here is the issue. I have a MacBook Pro 15 inch 2.4 Core 2 Duo (late 2007 model) with 6GB of RAM (DDR2 667). I don't know how to explain this because I am so pissed! Ok so let me try. Take a look at this screenshot.



It says Used 5.97GB and Inactive 2.07GB. WTF? why cant it release that 2.07GB? I cant open other apps because there is only 28.6MB of memory FREE.. I know the Inactive Memory is there so it helps the frequently opened apps to start faster.. but what if I want to open apps that I don't frequently open?

WTF do I do? Is there something screwed up in my OS or is this how OS X manage memory?

Sorry for expressing my frustration..

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Inactive memory

This information in memory is not actively being used, but was recently used.

For example, if you've been using Mail and then quit it, the RAM that Mail was using is marked as Inactive memory. This Inactive memory is available for use by another application, just like Free memory. However, if you open Mail before its Inactive memory is used by a different application, Mail will open quicker because its Inactive memory is converted to Active memory, instead of loading Mail from the slower hard disk.

from Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

In other words: Your Mac is fine.

 

[nyzwerewolf]

20 Mins later.

20 minutes later...

 

[iLog.Genius]

What simba posted. There's nothing wrong with your RAM or how OS X is managing it. If you're concerned about the 5 GB being "used", don't be because 2.01 GB is inactive so it's "free". Your Mac is only using 3 out of 6 GB or RAM.

 

[darkplanets]

You ARE getting some swap and page outs though, which will slow things down. It's not an issue right now, but if those numbers start getting too large it means you're writing too much to the drive (and reading) and that WILL slow your ass way down.

Might I ask what you were using? 6GB should be plenty of RAM.

 

[dynamitee]

purge

Hey, if you really want to get rid of inactive memory, type "purge" in the terminal.

Dyna

 

[Damo01]

Your problem may have something to with your virtual Machine your using according to screenshots, which probably using up all your 3 GB installed RAM. Look as though your mac is just using 3 GB RAM instead of 6 GB RAM.

 

[gnasher729]

Ok, here is the issue. I have a MacBook Pro 15 inch 2.4 Core 2 Duo (late 2007 model) with 6GB of RAM (DDR2 667). I don't know how to explain this because I am so pissed! Ok so let me try. Take a look at this screenshot.

In proper English (the one spoken in Britain), pissed = drunk out of your head, pissed off = annoyed. I assume you are annoyed because you have just enough knowledge to get all heated up under your collar, but not enough knowledge to actually understand things.

Unused memory is useless. You bought 6 GB of RAM to use it. Freeing up the inactive memory just wastes it. What you want to do is like renting a huge storage space and paying lots of money for it, filling it with your stuff, and then complaining that you don't have any empty storage space left. That's the point of it, to be used.

I cant open other apps because there is only 28.6MB of memory FREE..

You _think_ you can't open other apps. If you had tried it, you would have seen that the application is started just fine, and the "inactive" memory gets instantly turned into "used" memory for the next application. And if you have neither unused nor inactive memory, you can still start more applications. The operating system will then automatically use the hard drive instead of RAM, which is slower but still works.