MBA 8gb swapping so quickly

[antiprotest]

That's just the MBA hard at work making it feel like you have 16GB.

 

[arcite]

OSX uses the ram that is available to it. That’s just the way it works. What is the point in having extra RAM sitting there doing nothing? Ergo…..8gigs is actually perfectly fine for more people, and SWAP is nothing to fear. Save your $400 —— Apple makes HUGE markup profits by selling people upgrades they don’t really need.

 

[bellflyer14]

OSX uses the ram that is available to it. That’s just the way it works. What is the point in having extra RAM sitting there doing nothing? Ergo…..8gigs is actually perfectly fine for more people, and SWAP is nothing to fear. Save your $400 —— Apple makes HUGE markup profits by selling people upgrades they don’t really need.

Agreed on the huge profits for upgrades, especially at regular retail price. Only reason I considered the upgrade was because it was on sale. The 15" MBA 16/512 at retail price of $1699 is pretty steep for a MBA considering the Pro 14" is only $300 more expensive, but is also regularly on sale. Definitely apples strategic price ladder.

 

[bellflyer14]

Honestly thinking about picking up a 13" M2 from Best Buy for $799 for myself. I would take it to work and use it for taking to meetings, trainings, and such. Save me from having to lug my big and heavy work issued Dell laptop places. Because that thing is no fun at at all

 

[Random_Matt]

I would buy 16gb personally, my M3 pro uses 10gb with just one safari tab.

 

[bellflyer14]

I would buy 16gb personally, my M3 pro uses 10gb with just one safari tab.

Well that part is normal, MacOS will try to load as much as it can into ram....unused ram is wasted ram. If I open one safari tab I may be at 6 or 7 gigs on an 8gb machine, but its still running good.

 

[Random_Matt]

Well that part is normal, MacOS will try to load as much as it can into ram....unused ram is wasted ram. If I open one safari tab I may be at 6 or 7 gigs on an 8gb machine, but its still running good.

Fair enough.

 

[Isamilis]

Don't look at your memory pressure then. For the vast majority of people obsessing about what color their memory pressure is hypocondria.

When I upgraded to an M1 MBP Pro, I intentionally only got the 16GB model. I just needed to see for myself if being constantly in yellow memory pressure was as much of a disaster as everyone said it was.

I've now been living in constant yellow pressure for almost 3 years compiling software, running VMs, loading dev utilities, viewing in multiple browsers at the same time, and using professional photo programs. I rarely notice anything amiss.

If you run VM, you definitely need more RAM. Other than that, for low-medium workload the 8gb will be more than fine.

 

[krspkbl]

It's working as intended. Yes 8GB is a pitiful amount of RAM in such expensive machines but for a lot of people it's enough for them.

Don't worry about it. If it really bugs you then get 16GB but let me tell you...that will SWAP too. I have 16GB model and I've seen it and I basically only use Safari/Spotify/Excel. Every computer out there uses SWAP to some extent. My 64GB RAM on my PC uses it lol. The size of your SSD also matters. A 256GB will degrade faster than say 512GB or 1TB.

Yes it can put extra wear on your SSD but with modern SSDs you'll not notice any real difference unless you keep it for about 10+ years.

It's not a direct comparison but my 6 year old 256GB SSD on my PC still works perfectly fine and has 97% health.

 

[hans1972]

Bought my wife the M3 MBA 8/256 because she is a casual user. She opened up activity monitor and it was using swap with just having one browser open watching streaming tv on YouTube tv. Kind of surprised it was swapping already on one browser with no other apps running. It was around 430mb swapped. Is that something that is hard on the SSD or is that normal, small amount of swapping?

Aggressive swapping is a new feature of macOS on Apple Silicon. I call it "pre-emptive swapping". macOS will start swapping very early so it doesn't need to swap later.

Before Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS runs out of RAM
4. Swapping occurs and you might notice the delay
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

With Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS swaps in the background even if there is plenty room available
4. The OS runs out of RAM and frees RAM, there is NO DELAY since no swapping occurs
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

As long as memory pressure isn't red very often, I wouldn't pay extra for RAM for a simple usage.

 

[hans1972]

So is it your opinion that 8gb should be enough for a casual use person

Yes.

Those people who says 8Gb isn't enough has 1) never tried it or 2) using one or two memory hungry applications like Adobe Lightroom or some extremely memory hungry website.

Example:
Scenario 1: 2+1+1+0,7+0,6+0,5+0,5+0,5+0,5+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,4+0,3+0,3+0,1 = 12
Scenario 2: 6+3+1+0,5+0,5+0,4+0,4+0,2 = 12

Each number above represent the memory usage of an application or process.

Even though both scenarios has the same need for memory, #1 will usually be fine on a 8Gb Mac because it avails itself to swapping. This is a typical usage when you have lots of browser windows open.

Scenario #2 will often run into problem because you have an application or two which really needs a lot of memory to be constantly in RAM.

Causal users will almost always be in scenario #1.

 

[hans1972]

They will care when they get the spinning beach ball or when they get "out of memory" alerts. Something I've had happen REGULARLY on 8GB of RAM M1 Macs. And mind you, I'm only running 10-20 tabs in Safari, Mail, Messages, and Facebook Messenger. Hardly the kind of stuff that SHOULD prompt those things.

Yes, some (I anticipate many) may get lucky and not experience these things. I don't know about you; but the cost of a base model Air is a bit much to gamble having my rather basic use cases incur such errors and such experiences. But hey, you do you.

Then you're using some extremely memory hungre websites.

I can run Windows 11 in a virtual machine together with the Office programs + Teams + Safari on 8Gb of RAM without noticing any slowdowns.

 

[hans1972]

If you run VM, you definitely need more RAM. Other than that, for low-medium workload the 8gb will be more than fine.

Depends on the VM. I have run Windows 11 in Parallels on M1 Mac with 8Gb RAM. The VM only got 2Gb of RAM. Some horrible websites use more RAM.

I also was able to run TWO Windows VMs at the sometime on a MacBook Air 11" with 4Gb of RAM, although this was Windows XP and Windows 7.

 

[smirking]

I can run Windows 11 in a virtual machine together with the Office programs + Teams + Safari on 8Gb of RAM without noticing any slowdowns.

It was running Windows on ARM over Parallels and also using Capture One Pro at the same time on an 8GB M1 with a bunch of usual miscellaneous apps all at the same time that convinced me that 8GB was actually quite fine for everyday computing use.

Windows didn't run so great as I only allocated 2GB to it and it was an early beta, but the Mac side seemed to just keep chugging along.

 

[bellflyer14]

Aggressive swapping is a new feature of macOS on Apple Silicon. I call it "pre-emptive swapping". macOS will start swapping very early so it doesn't need to swap later.

Before Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS runs out of RAM
4. Swapping occurs and you might notice the delay
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

With Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS swaps in the background even if there is plenty room available
4. The OS runs out of RAM and frees RAM, there is NO DELAY since no swapping occurs
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

As long as memory pressure isn't red very often, I wouldn't pay extra for RAM for a simple usage.

Makes great sense. I don't think I've ever seen the MacBook go to red memory pressure. My anxiety would get bad when it went to yellow hahahah

 

[Isamilis]

Depends on the VM. I have run Windows 11 in Parallels on M1 Mac with 8Gb RAM. The VM only got 2Gb of RAM. Some horrible websites use more RAM.

I also was able to run TWO Windows VMs at the sometime on a MacBook Air 11" with 4Gb of RAM, although this was Windows XP and Windows 7.

Agree. I refer to normal usage of windows which needs 8gb RAM.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Then you're using some extremely memory hungre websites.

I can run Windows 11 in a virtual machine together with the Office programs + Teams + Safari on 8Gb of RAM without noticing any slowdowns.

Whether you notice it or not isn't important. You could be using a computer with a failing component and never notice it until it fails. Incidentally, even for an ARM64 based one, running a Windows VM within an 8GB of RAM machine is far from ideal.

 

[Surfsalot]

16 only. 8 is a dog on my 3 year old 24” M1 iMac.

 

[roadkill401]

So, the OS is large and uses up a lot of RAM on its own. 8GB on an M1, M2, or M3 won't cause you noticeable sluggishness. But, as you've discovered, it doesn't take much for it to fill up its RAM and use swap. Is it a bad thing? It's not great or at all ideal. But it's still perfectly workable. It will wear out your drive. But it's arguable as to whether that will happen before it's time to get a new Mac anyway.

ive got a 16gb MBA and have at times had the Mac use swap even when the memory is 9.5gb used and the memory pressure is at below 40%. the OS decided what is best and why. likely its swapped a chunk or ram out from a streaming app.

 

[Yebubbleman]

ive got a 16gb MBA and have at times had the Mac use swap even when the memory is 9.5gb used and the memory pressure is at below 40%. the OS decided what is best and why. likely its swapped a chunk or ram out from a streaming app.

SOME swap use is inevitable and fine. Excessive and repeated memory pressure is not because that will bring with it excessive swap which ultimately is suboptimal.

 

[Yebubbleman]

If your system is stalling on that workload, something else is wrong because other people regularly run far heavier workloads without any issue.

Other people don't necessarily feel high memory pressure. AGAIN, just because you don't hear the tree fall in the middle of the forest doesn't mean it still isn't falling. Apple Silicon does a pretty good job of still feeling snappy despite low amounts of free RAM, but that doesn't mean you still won't be running low on RAM. Just get more RAM.

If everyone on this site spent what their time is worth on getting more RAM instead of writing comments defending there only being 8GB on Apple Silicon Macs in 2024, everyone on the planet could afford to buy Macs with 16GB of RAM or higher. Why is this still even a debate topic. Put it to bed already.

Not really true. You need to brush up on swap if you still think swap is when you run out of memory. Linux and Mac OSX have evolved a lot from the good ole days of swap is when you run out of memory. Cough cough!

First off, swap hasn't changed THAT much. It's still an extension of physical RAM.

Second off THAT'S ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT TO MY POINT. Also needlessly pedantic. RAM is still RAM. Running low on it sucks. Macs cost enough that buying one with what is arguably a paltry amount of it (especially when aftermarket upgrades are impossible) is being frugal for frugality's sake. Why blow $1100 on a computer and only get the lowest possible amount of un-upgradeable RAM? Just so I can spend that same amount of money three years later? Screw that. Makes WAY more financial sense to spend the extra $200-400 to have my machine age more gracefully and last me that much longer.

 

[smirking]

If everyone on this site spent what their time is worth on getting more RAM instead of writing comments defending there only being 8GB on Apple Silicon Macs in 2024, everyone on the planet could afford to buy Macs with 16GB of RAM or higher. Why is this still even a debate topic. Put it to bed already.

Um yeah. Let's put it to bed already because the question here wasn't "Is more RAM useful?"

The OP's question here was that his wife does basic things and sees a surprising amount of swap on an 8GB laptop. Does he need to spend more money (that he's hoping to avoid spending) because that machine is DOA? There wasn't even any mention of it not being able to do anything it needs to do or it being slow.

So without any hesitation, the response from people who've never encountered a problem that can't be solved by buying more RAM is... OMG streaming videos and basic usage... spend more money immediately.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Um yeah. Let's put it to bed already because the question here wasn't "Is more RAM useful?"

That's entirely wrong. The question that starts all of these debates is ALWAYS "Is more RAM useful?"

The OP's question here was that his wife does basic things and sees a surprising amount of swap on an 8GB laptop. Does he need to spend more money (that he's hoping to avoid spending) because that machine is DOA?

DOA? No.

Should the OP spend more money on more RAM? Abso-freakin'-lutely. I'm typing this on a base model M1 Air. Most of my RAM (even with compression) is used. I only have Safari, Mail, Activity Monitor, and Finder open. Just those apps. This IS a basic use case. What more do I need to say? "I don't feel it, therefore it doesn't impact me"? Come on, man!

There wasn't even any mention of it not being able to do anything it needs to do or it being slow.

So without any hesitation, the response from people who've never encountered a problem that can't be solved by buying more RAM is... OMG streaming videos and basic usage... spend more money immediately.

What are you talking about? Most people advocating for more RAM HAVE experienced problems that are solved by having more RAM. Hell, I AM ONE OF THESE PEOPLE! I own M1 Macs with both 8GB and 16GB of RAM. For basic tasks and use cases, the latter is ALWAYS more comfortable!

If you don't use a web browser and limit your tasks to one or two non-browser apps at a time, 8GB will perfectly suffice. Unfortunately, a browser is sort of a must-include element of modern day computing on any platform. So, this is entirely moot.

 

[Ries]

Aggressive swapping is a new feature of macOS on Apple Silicon. I call it "pre-emptive swapping". macOS will start swapping very early so it doesn't need to swap later.

Before Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS runs out of RAM
4. Swapping occurs and you might notice the delay
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

With Apple Silicon:
1. You launch applications
2. Those applications fill up memory
3. The OS swaps in the background even if there is plenty room available
4. The OS runs out of RAM and frees RAM, there is NO DELAY since no swapping occurs
5. Data is loaded into newly available RAM

As long as memory pressure isn't red very often, I wouldn't pay extra for RAM for a simple usage.

Are you just making this up? Because with apple silicon, you'll notice the delay when ever the process that had data swapped out needs it. Secondly, why would that require apple silicon at all?

 

[Yebubbleman]

Are you just making this up? Because with apple silicon, you'll notice the delay when ever the process that had data swapped out needs it. Secondly, why would that require apple silicon at all?

I'm gonna second this hard here. Apple Silicon only changes the efficiency at which various other components get access to the data stored in RAM. It doesn't compensate for the fact that 12GB (or whatever larger number) of data is not enough to fit on 8GB of RAM.