I bought a 2023 14-inch Macbook Pro M2 Pro with 16GB RAM and 10-core CPU | 16-core GPU and these are the apps that I have running with 7GB free of RAM. I am worried I will be swapping to SSD in the future so would it be better to just upgrade to 32GB RAM... it's a $500 upgrade here in Canada...
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Is 7GB ram free a normal amount for these applications running?
- Thread starter ninjaiphone
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From my humble experience, the more RAM the better. In a frenzy day, you don’t have to contemplate whether opening a new app or window will severely overload you machine.
Deep breath. There's nothing wrong with using swap. I'm a dev and a photographer. I have a 16GB M1 Pro and I haven't once run into a single instance in over a year of ownership in which I noticed any performance issues that weren't software related.
And I'm running multiple virtual machines on top of a bunch of resource hungry programs. I hit swap space all the time. If it makes any difference, it's so tiny that I don't notice.
RAM memory are there to be used. If we don't use all the RAM, then what is the point of keeping 80% free of 16GB all the time?
These days, SSD will last longer than you can use your laptop with the high TBW. Why people panic over these things, it's not going to be worse has physical spinny disks after 10 years.
10 Years you will probably replace it with another laptop.
These days, SSD will last longer than you can use your laptop with the high TBW. Why people panic over these things, it's not going to be worse has physical spinny disks after 10 years.
10 Years you will probably replace it with another laptop.
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If you have 7GB free of 16GB, and zero swap and zero compressed, you are a lightweight user.
I have a 16GB M1 Pro and occasionally run up to 25GB of swap with no problem. In my case it might have have been worth it to get 32GB RAM
16GB is not much RAM nowadays.
However, OSX is very efficient with RAM compared to Windows. So if you’re a light user, it may be sufficient. Depends on your workload.
I have 64GB in my workstation (from 2015) and 32GB in my laptop (2022).
In the past decade, RAM demands by software have not increased significantly, hence new computers don’t have factors of ram more, like in the olden days.
However, OSX is very efficient with RAM compared to Windows. So if you’re a light user, it may be sufficient. Depends on your workload.
I have 64GB in my workstation (from 2015) and 32GB in my laptop (2022).
In the past decade, RAM demands by software have not increased significantly, hence new computers don’t have factors of ram more, like in the olden days.
Tracking swap space: is it wearing out your SSD?
In extreme cases, excessive use of swap space on an internal SSD could lead to its premature death, and the end of life for that Mac. How could you assess that?
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