Maybe 8GB is enough after all - if you kill IPv6?

[notmyemail]

We had been frustrated for a long time with our 8GB M2 MacBook Air 15-inch. It seemed buggy and just not coping. Then, when desperately trying again to fix MS Teams jitters, Claude encouraged me to turn of IPv6 on my home router. The transformation of our home internet was astounding everywhere, and the M2 8GB machine in particular finally felt like a perfectly normal modern Mac.

This gives me hope for the Neo - but I genuinely suspect that a lot of workplaces and schools might need to turn off IPv6. (P.S. My MBP M4Pro's Safari hates the Macrumors infinite scroll. It just clogs. On macrumors, I have to use Chrome.)

[EDIT: A number of readers have misinterpreted what I intended. I'm not saying IPv6 affects RAM usage. I'm saying I was wrongly blaming low RAM for Mac behaviour problems that were IPv6-caused. MS Teams for Mac in particular is often accused of RAM issues, which could be true despite recent changes, but what it definitely has is an IPv6 problem. One commenter below says IPv6 performance depends on the ISP. Thanks for explaining that - but I use a leading ISP, so even if it's right (and I believe you), the problems are obviously widespread.)

 

[4sallypat]

We had been frustrated for a long time with our 8GB M2 MacBook Air 15-inch. It seemed buggy and just not coping. Then, when desperately trying again to fix MS Teams jitters, Claude encouraged me to turn of IPv6 on my home router. The transformation of our home internet was astounding everywhere, and the M2 8GB machine in particular finally felt like a perfectly normal modern Mac.

This gives me hope for the Neo - but I genuinely suspect that a lot of workplaces and schools might need to turn off IPv6. (P.S. My MBP M4Pro's Safari hates the Macrumors infinite scroll. It just clogs. On macrumors, I have to use Chrome.)

Yes, our work has them turned off IPv6 by default, controlled by the MDM policy on all wireless Apple devices.

The only exception is our desktop PCs that are hardwired into the 10Gbps network.

BTW: I love my M2 15" MBA at work - it's my "desktop" computer with 32" external display.

 

[darkmatter343]

How much did this help? I never would have thought IPv6 would have made any difference to RAM or even Router's performance.

 

[theluggage]

Sounds like IPv6 was causing networking problems which is quite possible, but nothing to do with RAM. The issue could be your home router or ISP rather than anything specific to Mac.

If Safari has a memory leak problem with infinite scrolling (spit) then it will eventually use up whatever RAM you throw at it.

 

[notmyemail]

Sounds like IPv6 was causing networking problems which is quite possible, but nothing to do with RAM. The issue could be your home router or ISP rather than anything specific to Mac.

If Safari has a memory leak problem with infinite scrolling (spit) then it will eventually use up whatever RAM you throw at it.

Yes, I wasn't saying that IPv6 chews RAM. But PIv6's impact on a Mac's performance is quite astonishing. And so naturally with an 8GB Mac I thought for a long time the machine was simply underpowered. In reality, my more powerful Macs were merely making the subtle but constant networking glitches unobvious. (Also, it was only the 8GB Mac that was used for MS Teams - and Teams is the litmus. The others likely would have had similar problems, but I didn't get to see that.)

 

[notmyemail]

How much did this help? I never would have thought IPv6 would have made any difference to RAM or even Router's performance.

See my reply to The Luggage. Turning off my synology router's IPv6 has radically changed our experience. Google it - or talk to a big AI model about it, for an in-depth discussion. Mention Teams for Mac in particular.

 

[throAU]

We had been frustrated for a long time with our 8GB M2 MacBook Air 15-inch. It seemed buggy and just not coping. Then, when desperately trying again to fix MS Teams jitters, Claude encouraged me to turn of IPv6 on my home router. The transformation of our home internet was astounding everywhere, and the M2 8GB machine in particular finally felt like a perfectly normal modern Mac.

This gives me hope for the Neo - but I genuinely suspect that a lot of workplaces and schools might need to turn off IPv6. (P.S. My MBP M4Pro's Safari hates the Macrumors infinite scroll. It just clogs. On macrumors, I have to use Chrome.)

This is nothing to do with ipv6 vs. 8 GB, and more to do with ipv6 vs. your crappy ISP.

If you have an ISP that isn’t a complete incompetent with ipv6, you won’t have problems with ipv6.

source: been running ipv6 since like… 2012 with an ipv6 pioneer ISP

 

[maflynn]

That makes no sense but in the name of science I did it, and on my studio, there wasn't even a blip or any change i memory used.