16gb RAM, is it normal to constantly have 1-2gb swap file?

[Kafka]

So I recently returned two 14" base MBPs because of weird behavior of the trackpad. I now think it's a software issue that will get fixed but what's done is done.

But now before buying again I'm having second thoughts about the RAM and wonder if I should get 32gb. I don't feel limited by the 16gb of my current M1 MBA, and I know that the system will always use as much RAM as is available, but I notice I'm constantly having some swap, sometimes 2gb.

Honestly I'm not sure I would notice it if I didn't look at the Activity Monitor, everything is smooth, but 2 things are bugging me:

- future proofing: if I'm in the yellow now or close to it, what will it be in 3-5 years?

- Safari keeps giving me that annoying warning at the top the screen, about web pages using too much memory and that I should close them. Seriously, just show the damn page and shut up.


My typical use is very non demanding. I'm using an external 4k 27" along with the laptop's display. Maybe 10-15 tabs spread out between Safari and Firefox (AdGuard and uBlock Origin are installed). Generally charting on Tradingview with Music + Numbers + Discord open too. All this on distinct Spaces, constantly switching between them (that's one of the reasons I want to upgrade, I want to connect a second external display).

The price of the RAM upgrade is hard to swallow, but given the price of the machine itself I might as well do it properly and make sure I don't regret anything in 2 or 3 years... What do you guys think?

 

[ASX]

Do you have slow downs?

 

[zarathu]

No.....

You, like me and almost everyone who uses Monterey,. has the dreaded memory leak bug. Apple will fix it eventually.

Before then there is a simple temporary solution. Presumably you have several desktops on your mac. I have 11 at the moment. Go to one you don’t use often and open up Activity Monitor(its in your applications and on every mac). Leave it open all the time. Click on the column that tells you the use of memory by system processes and apps. Highlight(click on) any that look completely out of control, and then click on the little icon with the x in the middle of a circle. Choose force quit. If its an app it will quit and you will have to restart it. If its a process(weird names mostly) then it will quit but come back almost instantly in the small size it's supposed to be. For me about 15 minutes ago I noticed that the most common culprit, Control Center(which normally uses about 26 mb of memory) was slowly sucking more and was up to 144mb. Earlier this week I found it at 14 GB.

You can keep these little buggers from stealing memory by just keeping an eye on them. Be advised: if WindowServer is up at 1gb then its probably doing it too, and if you force quit that one, your screen will go black for about 5 seconds while the OS puts it back, and then you will have to type in your machine password again.



Hope this helps.

 

[wilberforce]

I also have a base 14" with 16GB. I tried stressing it and opening lots of concurrent apps, to see if I wanted to return it for a 32GB one. It seemed to handle it fine, so I kept it.
The one app I had some doubt was Lightroom, which sucks up about half the RAM for its GPU acceleration. So I think for people that do graphical intensive work on large files, 32GB might be beneficial, considering the RAM is shared with the GPU.
Otherwise, I think $400 is a lot to spend if the only benefit is seeing a lower swap number.

The Monterey memory leak results in people even with 64GB running out of memory. The memory leak needs to get fixed: more RAM does not solve it.

Here is a video that might help you feel more comfortable about 16GB:

Here is a video showing some benefits of 32GB:

I think both are intelligent and well-reasoned videos, but from different viewpoints

 

[Sanpete]

Looks fine. Your usage doesn't call for more memory. If you had a significant memory leak, you'd see that in the Activity Monitor. (The annoying Safari warnings have no relation to the amount of RAM you have.)

When are you in the yellow?

 

[Kafka]

Looks fine. Your usage doesn't call for more memory. If you had a significant memory leak, you'd see that in the Activity Monitor. (The annoying Safari warnings have no relation to the amount of RAM you have.)

When are you in the yellow?

I was while I was typing my post, just before I took my screenshot. A web page in Safari was apparently using 6gb (a video I had started watching earlier). I clicked on the tab and the page reloaded by itself... Then I was back in the green.
Yeah I'll get 16gb.

 

[fa8362]

I also have a base 14" with 16GB. I tried stressing it and opening lots of concurrent apps, to see if I wanted to return it for a 32GB one. It seemed to handle it fine, so I kept it.
The one app I had some doubt was Lightroom, which sucks up about half the RAM for its GPU acceleration. So I think for people that do graphical intensive work on large files, 32GB might be beneficial, considering the RAM is shared with the GPU.
Otherwise, I think $400 is a lot to spend if the only benefit is seeing a lower swap number.

The Monterey memory leak results in people even with 64GB running out of memory. The memory leak needs to get fixed: more RAM does not solve it.

Here is a video that might help you feel more comfortable about 16GB:

Here is a video showing some benefits of 32GB:

I think both are intelligent and well-reasoned videos, but from different viewpoints

A better solution would be to stop using Lightroom.

 

[wilberforce]

A better solution would be to stop using Lightroom.

Well, that's a topic for another day/thread/forum, if enough has not been said already.
Like it or not, Lightroom is a mainstream app for photo work. But if one never plans to use Lightroom, it would be advisable to research the memory requirements for one's preferred alternative(s).

 

[Goodrich]

More memory is better but, of course, it eats battery. Either Lightroom or MacOS seems to use only 3 quarters of available memory before resorting to setting up a swap file. (And it starts compressing memory before it gets there.).

12.3.1 seemed to address an obvious WindowsServer memory leak. That helps, but doesn't solve, the Lightroom behaviour. The Adobe Could system seems to spawn a multitude of memory hogging processes, that seem to be more in Adobe's interest -- ensuring that you are properly licensed, etc, than in yours.

Nevertheless, each useful process seems to take tens of megabytes, even if it doesn't do much. This is unsustainable in a world where you can't add / get extra memory.

 

[Sanpete]

More memory is better but, of course, it eats battery.

Very little unless it's in use.

 

[gradi]

mac). Leave it open all the time. Click on the column that tells you the use of memory by system processes and apps. Highlight(click on) any that look completely out of control, and then click on the little icon with the x in the middle of a circle. Choose force quit.

Where is this icon with the x in the middle of a circle? I am looking at the Activity Monitor and have highlighted a process in the memory view. Do you mean the red circle icon at the top of the window?

 

[darngooddesign]

So I recently returned two 14" base MBPs because of weird behavior of the trackpad. I now think it's a software issue that will get fixed but what's done is done.

But now before buying again I'm having second thoughts about the RAM and wonder if I should get 32gb. I don't feel limited by the 16gb of my current M1 MBA, and I know that the system will always use as much RAM as is available, but I notice I'm constantly having some swap, sometimes 2gb.

Honestly I'm not sure I would notice it if I didn't look at the Activity Monitor, everything is smooth, but 2 things are bugging me:

- future proofing: if I'm in the yellow now or close to it, what will it be in 3-5 years?

- Safari keeps giving me that annoying warning at the top the screen, about web pages using too much memory and that I should close them. Seriously, just show the damn page and shut up.


My typical use is very non demanding. I'm using an external 4k 27" along with the laptop's display. Maybe 10-15 tabs spread out between Safari and Firefox (AdGuard and uBlock Origin are installed). Generally charting on Tradingview with Music + Numbers + Discord open too. All this on distinct Spaces, constantly switching between them (that's one of the reasons I want to upgrade, I want to connect a second external display).

The price of the RAM upgrade is hard to swallow, but given the price of the machine itself I might as well do it properly and make sure I don't regret anything in 2 or 3 years... What do you guys think?

If your memory pressure in Activity Monitor is constantly yellow, you should get 32GB.

 

[DeltaMac]

Where is this icon with the x in the middle of a circle? I am looking at the Activity Monitor and have highlighted a process in the memory view. Do you mean the red circle icon at the top of the window?

No, the black circle (which might look like an octagon) icon with an X across it (next to the "I" button). It is NOT the red icon (which closes any window). It is the icon to press when you want to force a process to quit. If you stop your mouse on that icon, it will tell you what it does. Monterey, for example, says it is "Stop". Select your process, click the stop

 

[gradi]

Ahh, I see what you mean now. Sorry.

 

[gradi]

I suggest that you read through this recent thread:

To choose memory amount, # of cores - know yourself​

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/to-choose-memory-amount-of-cores-know-yourself.2338561/

How much memory one needs depends on what one is doing. Of course, it doesn't hurt to get more than you need if you don't mind doing that and spending the money. Many people though prefer to buy what they need and not over buy, particularly since Apple charges such a high price for memory upgrades.