Windows vs MacOS vs iPadOS on RAM usage

[Bubble99]

Windows vs MacOS vs iPadOS on RAM usage

Windows 7 says says 2GB of RAM

Windows 7 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Windows 10 says 4GB of RM

Windows 10 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Windows 11 says 4GB of RM.

Apple does not say how much RAM iPadOS uses but looking at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21071311/how-much-memory-can-one-ios-app-use

test app that measures how much memory an app can allocate before it's killed. Here are the numbers:

• iPhone 5s (iOS 10, debug mode, 1GB memory): 600MB can be allocated
• iPad Air 2 (iOS 11.4, 2GB memory): 1.3GB can be allocated
• iPhone X (iOS 11.4, 3GB memory): 1.2GB can be allocated
• iPhone 7 Plus (iOS 12.1, 3GB memory): 1.8GB can be allocated
• iPad 13-inch (iOS 11.4, 4GB memory): 3GB can be allocated

Seems to point that the OS it self needs 1GB to run.

MacOS yes macOS point to high RAM usage

Big Sur: 3.57 GB.
Monterey: 3.24 GB.
Ventura: 3.39 GB.
Sonoma: 4.88 GB.

Sonoma RAM usage

Saw one test on YT, where guy tested different MacOS on M1 and here his results of ram usage after startup: Big Sur: 3.57 GB. Monterey: 3.24 GB. Ventura: 3.39 GB. Sonoma: 4.88 GB. This is weird on Sonoma, maybe something went wrong with his test. Want to check with users, who use Sonoma on a...

forums.macrumors.com

So it seems iPadOS is the best than Windows than MacOS.


I’m not going list Linux because we know it takes much less RAM usage as some distros can use 1GB of RAM some even 512 MB.

 

[gilby101]

Some thoughts:

Are you one of those people who see a virtue in unused memory? If so, you can disable some of it.

Personally, I am more than happy when all my memory is used. Differences between OSs come down to how well that memory is managed to ensure an appropriately responsive system whenever under load.

I don't see much value in comparing iPadOS and macOS unless you have the tools to make the same measurements on each.

Initial RAM use: macOS and auto-started processes do a lot of background work at startup - this consumes memory which will be released later when required. I don't find memory used (however that is measured) a sound way of comparing OSs or their versions.

Required RAM Windows vs macOS (from Wikipedia):
Windows 10 (released 2015) required 4 GB. Also 2015, OS X 10.11 (Catalina) required 2 GB.
Window 7 (released 2009) required 2 GB. Also 2009, OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) required 1 GB.
I can't find a specified figure for macOS 11 (Monterey) which is same date as Window 11.

At risk of starting a philosophical debate, I have (since Windows NT) always preferred Windows memory management (based on VMS from late 1970s) to that of OS X and macOS (based on Unix from early 1970s).

Linux: There are no Linux distributions that are anything like as rich in functionality as macOS. So you are right not to attempt a comparison between macOS and Linux.

 

[Bubble99]

Some thoughts:

Are you one of those people who see a virtue in unused memory? If so, you can disable some of it.

Personally, I am more than happy when all my memory is used. Differences between OSs come down to how well that memory is managed to ensure an appropriately responsive system whenever under load.

I don't see much value in comparing iPadOS and macOS unless you have the tools to make the same measurements on each.

Initial RAM use: macOS and auto-started processes do a lot of background work at startup - this consumes memory which will be released later when required. I don't find memory used (however that is measured) a sound way of comparing OSs or their versions.

Required RAM Windows vs macOS (from Wikipedia):
Windows 10 (released 2015) required 4 GB. Also 2015, OS X 10.11 (Catalina) required 2 GB.
Window 7 (released 2009) required 2 GB. Also 2009, OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) required 1 GB.
I can't find a specified figure for macOS 11 (Monterey) which is same date as Window 11.

At risk of starting a philosophical debate, I have (since Windows NT) always preferred Windows memory management (based on VMS from late 1970s) to that of OS X and macOS (based on Unix from early 1970s).

Linux: There are no Linux distributions that are anything like as rich in functionality as macOS. So you are right not to attempt a comparison between macOS and Linux.

What I was pointing out is MacOS now is more RAM hungry than Windows. Also Windows and MacOS is different than iPadOS that it uses part of the hard drive or SSD to offload non use running process where iPadOS just kills it when it runs out of RAM.

But iPadOS uses less RAM than Windows, Android or MacOS that more RAM hungry.

 

[gilby101]

What I was pointing out is MacOS now is more RAM hungry than Windows

And I don't see it that way. They are equally RAM hungry in the sense that they try to use all of it (except for a very small free list).

 

[Bubble99]

And I don't see it that way. They are equally RAM hungry in the sense that they try to use all of it (except for a very small free list).

Do you find Windows is getting better or worse with every update?

 

[gilby101]

Do you find Windows is getting better or worse with every update?

Sorry, in recent years I have not used Windows enough to follow the tweaks to their page management algorithms.