Why Macbook Pro 2018 consuming so much RAM?

[Orgildinho]

Hi, how should I run my MacBook pro smoothly? I used to have Mid 2011 Macbook pro, lately, that Mac got very slow when I work on Lightroom (especially when was using the adjustment brushes). So I just updated it to Macbook Pro 2018, I see it fast but not what I expected. I don't understand why 40% of my ram is working when the Macbook pro is only running the Safari. Even when it is idle still consumes 30% of my ram.

 

[keysofanxiety]

The more RAM you have, the more MacOS will use to improve performance. As long as the memory pressure isn’t high and the system isn’t paging to disk, that’s fine.

 

[1096bimu]

Hi, how should I run my MacBook pro smoothly? I used to have Mid 2011 Macbook pro, lately, that Mac got very slow when I work on Lightroom (especially when was using the adjustment brushes). So I just updated it to Macbook Pro 2018, I see it fast but not what I expected. I don't understand why 40% of my ram is working when the Macbook pro is only running the Safari. Even when it is idle still consumes 30% of my ram.

Because empty RAM just sitting there does not benefit you in any way.
Monitoring your RAM usages is just senseless, you can't really draw any conclusions from such information.
Also adjustment brush isn't helped at all by RAM.

 

[leman]

As already said above, just looking at RAM usage is pointless. What is more relevant to use as the user is the memory pressure graph. If its green or occasionally yellow, you are fine. If it starts getting red, thats when you know you have not enough RAM.

 

[Tommy c]

Yea, I learned this as well. Memory pressure.

 

[Trebuin]

At least Apple does that right. Microsoft messed that up royally with Vista. Their script would run during the boot & the boot process wouldn't complete until the ram was filled. :|

 

[RobbieTT]

The more RAM you have, the more MacOS will use to improve performance. As long as the memory pressure isn’t high and the system isn’t paging to disk, that’s fine.

You probably meant this but to be clear, a small amount of paging to disk is also fine. MacOS is very good at maximising memory performance and space when using 'unused' RAM for caching purposes it can hold the data that it may need quickly in RAM, whilst paging-out the associated/subsequent data that would not benefit from the speed. In that way the OS can optimise the performance of the 'unused' RAM in a similar fashion to the in-use memory.

Most of us were introduced to the necessary evil of page-outs in the days of anemic RAM capacities, dubious multitasking and slow HDDs. With even closed applications making use of the purgable RAM cache on a just-in-case basis and multi-gigabit SSD speeds becoming more common, the humble page-out is not what it was.

 

[pshufd]

At least Apple does that right. Microsoft messed that up royally with Vista. Their script would run during the boot & the boot process wouldn't complete until the ram was filled. :|

I remember that. They did eventually fix it.

 

[OriginalClone]

At least Apple does that right. Microsoft messed that up royally with Vista. Their script would run during the boot & the boot process wouldn't complete until the ram was filled. :|

What does Vista have to do with Microsoft’s current OS or the current Mac OS?

 

[AustinIllini]

What does Vista have to do with Microsoft’s current OS or the current Mac OS?

Vista and macOS both use/used RAM in an unexpected way for those accustomed to Windows 7-10. Of course, macOS is doing it purposefully and Vista was just broken.

 

[Trebuin]

Vista and macOS both use/used RAM in an unexpected way for those accustomed to Windows 7-10. Of course, macOS is doing it purposefully and Vista was just broken.

It’s was actually intentional for Microsoft...they just didn’t understand the impact it would have on higher end systems.