MacBook Pro Available Ram Gets Lower and Lower as Time Goes By.

[macuser1232]

First I will start off by saying I have a 13inch Macbook Pro i5 processor 8gb of ram. I noticed that as time goes by I will be using the same applications(Google Chrome, Skype, Mail, Activity Monitor) and slowly I will have around 4gb of free ram when I used to have a about 5gb. I have noticed that everytime I reboot that it will refresh everything and I will have more Ram available, but I'm not sure that it is normal for me to keep rebooting after a certain amount of time.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

RAM* is there to be used. One does not need to restart a Mac just because it uses its available RAM, unless you have memory leaks. I have 8 GB RAM and often use a lot of applications at the same time, thus my FREE RAM gets smaller and my INACTIVE RAM sometimes gets bigger.
Again, what good is 8 GB RAM if you don't use it, 4 GB free RAM is not a requisite? All is good unless you see GBs of Page Outs.

* Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor​

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage​

 

[macuser1232]

RAM* is there to be used. One does not need to restart a Mac just because it uses its available RAM, unless you have memory leaks. I have 8 GB RAM and often use a lot of applications at the same time, thus my FREE RAM gets smaller and my INACTIVE RAM sometimes gets bigger.
Again, what good is 8 GB RAM if you don't use it, 4 GB free RAM is not a requisite? All is good unless you see GBs of Page Outs.

* Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor​

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage​

I totally agree with you and I also run many applications at the same time. Also I've noticed that every since I installed Mountain Lion my Inactive Memory stays VERY small. Not sure why. And yeah my only concern was that a whole bunch of little processes(that I don't need) are taking up ram.

 

[Mal]

I totally agree with you and I also run many applications at the same time. Also I've noticed that every since I installed Mountain Lion my Inactive Memory stays VERY small. Not sure why. And yeah my only concern was that a whole bunch of little processes(that I don't need) are taking up ram.

How do you know you don't need them, and why is it a problem if you still have free RAM? Unless you're getting page outs, don't worry about it.

jW

 

[simsaladimbamba]

And yeah my only concern was that a whole bunch of little processes(that I don't need*) are taking up ram.

Open Activity Monitor and select All Processes and then sort by Real Mem to show you the process(es) using up your RAM.

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage​

* before quitting or force quitting any such processes, better use a www search engine to see, what that process does, like this for example, as I have seen people quitting and deleting processes they don't know and rendering their OS useless with such action

 

[Dangerous Theory]

First I will start off by saying I have a 13inch Macbook Pro i5 processor 8gb of ram. I noticed that as time goes by I will be using the same applications(Google Chrome, Skype, Mail, Activity Monitor) and slowly I will have around 4gb of free ram when I used to have a about 5gb. I have noticed that everytime I reboot that it will refresh everything and I will have more Ram available, but I'm not sure that it is normal for me to keep rebooting after a certain amount of time.

Don't want to sound like a dick but don't you know what RAM is/does at all? And the fact that you've still got half of it free after long use shouldn't worry you. Freedom is a good thing.

 

[macuser1232]

Open Activity Monitor and select All Processes and then sort by Real Mem to show you the process(es) using up your RAM.

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage​

* before quitting or force quitting any such processes, better use a www search engine to see, what that process does, like this for example, as I have seen people quitting and deleting processes they don't know and rendering their OS useless with such action

Yup both of the things you said I have done. Also even if you did quit an important process couldn't you just reboot and it would be back to normal?

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Don't want to sound like a dick but don't you know what RAM is/does at all? And the fact that you've still got half of it free after long use shouldn't worry you. Freedom is a good thing.

I know haha. I'm just really paranoid with things about my Mac. I love it to death!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Yup both of the things you said I have done. Also even if you did quit an important process couldn't you just reboot and it would be back to normal?

Normally it should, but seeing this thread made me think otherwise, but since the OP hasn't returned yet, I don't know.

 

[sammyvine]

How do you find out how much ram you have used up?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

How do you find out how much ram you have used up?

Open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory* tab and look for Page Outs and Swap used and report back.

Using Activity Monitor to show you CPU and RAM usage​

* Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor​

 

[Interstella5555]

I totally agree with you and I also run many applications at the same time. Also I've noticed that every since I installed Mountain Lion my Inactive Memory stays VERY small. Not sure why. And yeah my only concern was that a whole bunch of little processes(that I don't need) are taking up ram.

I don't usually say this, but based on your responses here it's really nothing you need to worry about. This is how computers (and RAM) function. You don't need to continually restart to free up RAM, and I can't imagine anything you're using your computer for is too taxing. Side note - there are dozens of processes that are small that your machine needs to function.

 

[macuser1232]

I don't usually say this, but based on your responses here it's really nothing you need to worry about. This is how computers (and RAM) function. You don't need to continually restart to free up RAM, and I can't imagine anything you're using your computer for is too taxing. Side note - there are dozens of processes that are small that your machine needs to function.

True. But then there are also dozens of small processes that you don't need.

 

[ducatiti]

Does the command "purge" work when used in terminal?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Does the command "purge" work when used in terminal?

Yes, but only if the developers tools are installed: Using purge to free inactive memory on Mac OS X

 

[sweetbrat]

True. But then there are also dozens of small processes that you don't need.

Maybe. But if you don't know exactly which are needed and which aren't, trying to free up RAM is going to do more harm than good. You have plenty of RAM available. If you love your Mac as much as you say you do, why not just let it run the way it's intended to? I could see being worried if the way it's handling RAM was causing problems for you, but it's not...