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What's more RAM efficient?
- Thread starter Huerz
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I wouldn't worry about it, as you don't have to watch RAM that closely. How much RAM do you have?
This should help: How much RAM do I need in my Mac?
I'm conscious of my ram usage because I constantly push the 4gig I have. I need a means of reducing my ram usage without comprising my work flow.
A better approach would be to add RAM, if you need it and it can be added. Is your Activity Monitor memory pressure gauge consistently amber or red during normal use?
It is quite normal for all of your memory to be in use by OS X. It does not mean that you are running out of memory or that it is maxed out. OS X will manage all available memory, making it available to apps on an as-needed basis. Refer to the following Apple support article for more information on how to understand your Activity Monitor readings.
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More ram/ a brand new Mac would be great but not currently an option for me.
The reading shows Amber with the bar a bit less than a quarter from the ceiling. My performance is what drove the question. Switching to and from apps has become really sluggish.
I understand the ram use is likely marginal between mail and chrome but I'm keen to maximise performance.
The difference is not only marginal, but difficult to ascertain accurately, as it also depends on the content viewed. I doubt there is a definitive answer to that particular question other than "it depends". If you give specs for your Mac, it would help. Year? Model? HDD/SSD? OS X version?
If you're having performance issues, this may help:
Thank you for the link and your help.
I'm currently using a late 2011 2.4ghz 13" mbp running Yosemite. I have a 500gig hdd.
Your model can support up to 16GB of RAM. Bumping to 8GB would likely make a big difference. You'd also see a remarkable performance boost from replacing your HDD with a SSD. It's like getting a new computer!
I'm not sure this falls within the scope of my question. To reiterate: Does Mail consume more ram than a tab open in Google Chrome?
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Yes, that would be nice.
I mention this in my OP but perhaps I wasn't clear; one chrome tab with Google Mail open vs the apple mail app with my Google mail inbox there. The content would be the same.
That depends on the contents of your mailbox and chrome window. An empty mailbox and a 100,000 rows by 100,000 columns table with heavy formatting will give diffent numbers than a mailbox with a million messages and a simple 'hello world'-html document.
Your question is unanswerable. I run a 4GB MBA with 4 user accounts, it runs fine, happy to share how and why it runs fine but as you are fixated on this question...good luck.
Naturally I'm 'fixated' on this question, that's why I started the thread. Telling me it's unanswerable is an answer, thank you.
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But if they are displaying the same content I.e it's the same email open, from the same inbox, wouldn't you be able to compare the two (even roughly)?
The thing is for Chrome the RAM use is relatively constant regardless how big your inbox is and how many old e-mails you keep saved. Because the data is handled on googles servers and only the list of 30 or so things that are currently displayed a sent to you.
The Mail app on the other hand will probably need less RAM if you always clear out everything and delete all stuff. If you got lots of Mail and use filters and smart searches it will use up a lot more RAM than one Chrome tab.
My Mail sits at 250MB but half of it is compressed.
Chrome also depends on how much is open. If you have only one tab open for mail it uses quite a bit of RAM (not sure how much exactly because that also depends on how many extensions you have enabled) but if you have a couple different tabs open anyway and now just the mail tab on top it is probably only 50-90MB. There are a bunch of Chrome threads that are shared and only need to be started once.
One way or another 200 MB more or less makes little difference. Kill of all sorts of updateing services from apps and also keep in mind if you RAM fills up but only stuff you don't use much anyway (like updateing processes) are pushed out it does not show in any performance problems.
With 4GB a Mail app makes little difference. Show people your memory pressure, if it ain't red or orange stopp worrying.
The Mail app on the other hand will probably need less RAM if you always clear out everything and delete all stuff. If you got lots of Mail and use filters and smart searches it will use up a lot more RAM than one Chrome tab.
My Mail sits at 250MB but half of it is compressed.
Chrome also depends on how much is open. If you have only one tab open for mail it uses quite a bit of RAM (not sure how much exactly because that also depends on how many extensions you have enabled) but if you have a couple different tabs open anyway and now just the mail tab on top it is probably only 50-90MB. There are a bunch of Chrome threads that are shared and only need to be started once.
One way or another 200 MB more or less makes little difference. Kill of all sorts of updateing services from apps and also keep in mind if you RAM fills up but only stuff you don't use much anyway (like updateing processes) are pushed out it does not show in any performance problems.
With 4GB a Mail app makes little difference. Show people your memory pressure, if it ain't red or orange stopp worrying.
The sluggishness is likely because you do not have enough ram for your current usage and the Mac is borrowing space from your hard drive to fill in the deficit. More ram would fix this, but a SSD just makes your Mac faster overall.
You can close chrome and reopen it to see if the ram pressure has moved from orange, or just restart and see if anything has changed. Your usage after a restart should be low and then you can check what is eating all your ram.
Chrome uses a lot of ram, by design. You might have to switch to something lighter. Safari is the recommended choice but Firefox would still be good.
You could try and disable the transparency on everything. Might help a bit. A really drastic option would be to go back to Mavericks as some people say it is lighter on resource usage.
You can close chrome and reopen it to see if the ram pressure has moved from orange, or just restart and see if anything has changed. Your usage after a restart should be low and then you can check what is eating all your ram.
Chrome uses a lot of ram, by design. You might have to switch to something lighter. Safari is the recommended choice but Firefox would still be good.
You could try and disable the transparency on everything. Might help a bit. A really drastic option would be to go back to Mavericks as some people say it is lighter on resource usage.
Your question is akin to a non-driver asking "does this car turn more easily left or right?", when they really want to know "what is the best route from A to B?".
Lots of experience here on getting from A to B on a 4GB machine, perhaps widen your question or accept the discussion going that way and you might find an answer to your problem.
I would open "Activity Monitor" in Utilities, and look at it, probably it will give you more info, than anyone else
