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horyzen1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 24, 2024
1
0
Hi, I have really high ram usage on my M1 iMac which has 8 gigabytes of ram. When I close all the apps on my Mac, the ram usage shows that 50% of the ram has been taken up. Is there any fix to this or is this normal, this doesn't seem normal to me.
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,445
9,316
That's normal. The operating system is designed to use RAM in the most efficient manner, even though it's not always obvious to users like us. Some of that use you see is cached data. When you quit an app, if the memory it used isn't needed right away there is no reason to clear it, so that data might remain for awhile. Suppose you quit the app and then decide you weren't done with it. It will open quicker if some of the data is retained. But if that memory is needed for something else, the operating system will free it. I'm sure there are other things going on at the same time.

Bottom line...don't second guess the operating system. Just let it work for you.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,917
2,168
Redondo Beach, California
Hi, I have really high ram usage on my M1 iMac which has 8 gigabytes of ram. When I close all the apps on my Mac, the ram usage shows that 50% of the ram has been taken up. Is there any fix to this or is this normal, this doesn't seem normal to me.
The OS always tries to take advantage of whatever RAM you might have. In this case it is using RAM as a file cache. It costs nothing to keep the data in RAM, just in case it is needed again.

No matter how much RAM you have, the OS will try its best to put it to productive use. So the usage will always seem "high". This is a good thing.
 
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Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,223
13,292
"I have really high ram usage on my M1 iMac which has 8 gigabytes of ram"

This is why (with the m-series Macs)
16gb is "the new 8" ...
 
Last edited:

Andrey84

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2020
335
256
Greater London, United Kingdom
Hi, I have really high ram usage on my M1 iMac which has 8 gigabytes of ram. When I close all the apps on my Mac, the ram usage shows that 50% of the ram has been taken up. Is there any fix to this or is this normal, this doesn't seem normal to me.
Is the iMac actually slow? Do you feel any lags?
Keep an eye on the Memory Pressure graph, rather than the numbers, as they don't represent the real picture. If your Memory Pressure is green or yellow, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
 

Jorbanead

macrumors 65816
Aug 31, 2018
1,209
1,438
Don’t look at memory useage, look at the memory pressure. It’s a better metric for how much your computer is actually using that RAM.

If you want, I created a video talking more about RAM on Mac’s:
 

picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
1,239
1,832
Don’t look at memory useage, look at the memory pressure. It’s a better metric for how much your computer is actually using that RAM.

If you want, I created a video talking more about RAM on Mac’s:
Apple never said or implied that their RAM was like magical Pixie dust.
 
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picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
1,239
1,832
Don’t look at memory useage, look at the memory pressure. It’s a better metric for how much your computer is actually using that RAM.

If you want, I created a video talking more about RAM on Mac’s:
You also did the classic "content creator" bit of ignoring so much of the real world out there.

It's not just Apple that sells entry machines with 8GB. Lenovo, Microsoft, etc. all do it too.

It's because, unlike what you imply in your video, a great many people won't need more than 8GB.

You, like many commenters here, are not the typical user worldwide.
 

Jorbanead

macrumors 65816
Aug 31, 2018
1,209
1,438
You also did the classic "content creator" bit of ignoring so much of the real world out there.

It's not just Apple that sells entry machines with 8GB. Lenovo, Microsoft, etc. all do it too.

It's because, unlike what you imply in your video, a great many people won't need more than 8GB.

You, like many commenters here, are not the typical user worldwide.
I appreciate your comments. Apple is a premium brand and charge high prices for their machines. This is why I think they should move away from 8GB as base.

In my video I also give users a way to see exactly what their needs are - using activity monitor. If they find that 8GB holds well for them, then I agree they will be fine with 8. However like I mention in the video, users may also want to future-proof their Mac’s due to apps utilizing more ram. What may work on 8 now may benefit from more later.

I thank you for the feedback though and I’m sorry you didn’t find the video useful. I try to aim the videos at all levels of users, which include casual all the way to heavy users. Again that’s why I suggest using activity monitor as it’s a way that scaled based on workflow.
 
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picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
1,239
1,832
Apple is a premium brand and charge high prices for their machines.
I can pull up examples from Lenovo, HP, and Dell that show equivalent pricing to Apple's, for laptops especially but also desktops.

I get that you want to make YouTube an income for yourself, and I think it is great that people want to be entrepreneurs. But if you really want to set yourself apart from the masses of YouTube "content creators", then jumping on a well-worn bandwagon may get you a few extra hits (because YouTube will feed similar videos to people who have watched a video on a specific top, and many YouTubers have done the 8GB-thing), but those few extra views will not make you the next Brownlee.

Plow new ground.
 
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