M1 16GB RAM - Need help!

[iClutch]

Hey guys,

I'm new to Apple products in general, I'm a law student and changed from Windows to the M1 16GB 256GB about a week and half ago.
I was very excited as the reviews seemed that it held up very well and I've been wanting a more profissional and lighter computer for a while.
Unfortunately I've been having some issues with the RAM, I don't use any RAM intensive apps, games or whatsoever, all I do is browse safari, use word and native apps (Reminders, Notes, etc etc). First, I was always very confused why my RAM usage was very high but that didn't bother me, RAM laying around doesn't do much anyway and the cache makes things smoother throughout the time (im guessing) but every time I try to watch a movie I always get that message that "this tab is using too much memory" or something like that and it keeps reloading, even if it's the only thing open.

The only programs I installed were basic known ones (Alfred, spectacles, microsoft 365), nothing shady.
Does anyone have a clue of whats going on or how I could fix this?

Thank you so much
EGC

 

[Wando64]

...but every time I try to watch a movie I always get that message that "this tab is using too much memory" or something like that and it keeps reloading, even if it's the only thing open.

What you are describing is not normal, so do you mind clarifying a couple of things so that you can get the right advice?

When you say “every time” do you mean it, or do you mean often, or even from time to time?
This is important because if it really happens “every time” anyone with the same Mac as yours should be able to repeat the problem easily.

The message you receive, what does it say exactly? Safari has a warning when a page is using too many resources, but that has not necessarily anything to do with memory. Everybody gets that message from time to time with certain websites (in my case, Facebook), but it doesn‘t mean there is a problem and it doesn’t cause a “reload” as you are suggesting.

Finally, from what you are describing, you are watching movies using Safari (or another web browser?), if so, can you tell us from which website?

 

[crevalic]

Hey guys,

I'm new to Apple products in general, I'm a law student and changed from Windows to the M1 16GB 256GB about a week and half ago.
I was very excited as the reviews seemed that it held up very well and I've been wanting a more profissional and lighter computer for a while.
Unfortunately I've been having some issues with the RAM, I don't use any RAM intensive apps, games or whatsoever, all I do is browse safari, use word and native apps (Reminders, Notes, etc etc). First, I was always very confused why my RAM usage was very high but that didn't bother me, RAM laying around doesn't do much anyway and the cache makes things smoother throughout the time (im guessing) but every time I try to watch a movie I always get that message that "this tab is using too much memory" or something like that and it keeps reloading, even if it's the only thing open.

The only programs I installed were basic known ones (Alfred, spectacles, microsoft 365), nothing shady.
Does anyone have a clue of whats going on or how I could fix this?

Thank you so much
EGC

I get this warning on streaming websites, Netflix, trading websites, etc. Another warning you might see on heavier websites is "this websites is using significant energy". What's infuriating is that there is no way to turn these warnings off and Safari will slow down the tab and then refresh it even though I KNOW the website is heavy and I'm there for a reason. The warnings usually don't mean that your computer is running out of RAM or computing power, they simply mean that a tab is using more resources than some completely arbitrary limit hardcoded into Safari. It is possible to get an error saying that your system ran out of memory and the program has to close (and many 8GB M1 users know it quite well), which tend to appear when doing something heavy, like using Adobe apps, but that's completely different from what you are seeing.

My solution is to use Chrome (or Edge, or any other browser you might like) most of the time, especially when connected to my external monitor. No issues there.

 

[iClutch]

Hey! Thanks for the quick answer.

I just restarted and it seemed to help out but after sometime it comes back and it seems that the longer my computer runs the more frequent
The message says "This webpage is using significant memory. Closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac" and then it auto refreshes and says something like "This webpage was refreshed because it was using significant memory"

Im watching movies in Safari in the official NOS.PT website, which is a Portuguese internet provider and has its own tv streaming service for browsers.

Thank you for the help!

Edit: 4 Minutes into the movie after restart and the message / force reload is back again.
I will try another browser from now on, shame.

What you are describing is not normal, so do you mind clarifying a couple of things so that you can get the right advice?

When you say “every time” do you mean it, or do you mean often, or even from time to time?
This is important because if it really happens “every time” anyone with the same Mac as yours should be able to repeat the problem easily.

The message you receive, what does it say exactly? Safari has a warning when a page is using too many resources, but that has not necessarily anything to do with memory. Everybody gets that message from time to time with certain websites (in my case, Facebook), but it doesn‘t mean there is a problem and it doesn’t cause a “reload” as you are suggesting.

Finally, from what you are describing, you are watching movies using Safari (or another web browser?), if so, can you tell us from which website?

 

[iClutch]

I get this warning on streaming websites, Netflix, trading websites, etc. Another warning you might see on heavier websites is "this websites is using significant energy". What's infuriating is that there is no way to turn these warnings off and Safari will slow down the tab and then refresh it even though I KNOW the website is heavy and I'm there for a reason. The warnings usually don't mean that your computer is running out of RAM or computing power, they simply mean that a tab is using more resources than some completely arbitrary limit hardcoded into Safari. It is possible to get an error saying that your system ran out of memory and the program has to close (and many 8GB M1 users know it quite well), which tend to appear when doing something heavy, like using Adobe apps, but that's completely different from what you are seeing.

My solution is to use Chrome (or Edge, or any other browser you might like) most of the time, especially when connected to my external monitor. No issues there.

Thats really annoying! Thank you for answering my thread and letting me know im not alone with this issue!
I'll have to give it a try with another browser, its a shame because I've been enjoying Safari so far!
I hope that apple fixes this issue and allows more usage of RAM/Power from Safari, specially if its the only program opened!

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Wando64]

Hey! Thanks for the quick answer.

I just restarted and it seemed to help out but after sometime it comes back and it seems that the longer my computer runs the more frequent
The message says "This webpage is using significant memory. Closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac" and then it auto refreshes and says something like "This webpage was refreshed because it was using significant memory"

Im watching movies in Safari in the official NOS.PT website, which is a Portuguese internet provider and has its own tv streaming service for browsers.

Thank you for the help!

Edit: 4 Minutes into the movie after restart and the message / force reload is back again.
I will try another browser from now on, shame.

Well, this is strange.
I've never had anything reloading on me and I also have 16gb.
Granted, my mbp is an Intel machine, but in theory that should make things even worse.

Could this be a Big Sur own issue? (I run Catalina)

 

[Juicy Box]

It is probably a bug related to the website you are streaming from. Maybe Safari is not handling it well.

Maybe try some other web browsers and see if things improve.

 

[xraydoc]

Thats really annoying! Thank you for answering my thread and letting me know im not alone with this issue!
I'll have to give it a try with another browser, its a shame because I've been enjoying Safari so far!
I hope that apple fixes this issue and allows more usage of RAM/Power from Safari, specially if its the only program opened!

Thank you so much for the help!

Must be something specific with that particular website or perhaps an extension you've got loaded. While annoying, it's not indicative of Safari's performance in general which I find to be very good. I've got a relatively high-powered Windows desktop and Safari on my M1 MacBook Air performs easily as well or better than Chrome on my desktop beast.

 

[Lemon Olive]

There is no problem with "the RAM".

Safari has just become an utter POS browser. Use Chrome.

 

[theSeb]

Not a great idea to recommend the most resource hungry browser instead with an intrusive resource hungry update mechanism. Safari is a decent browser, especially compared to chrome.

@iClutch , have you tried Microsoft‘s edge browser on the Mac with this website? Based on what you describe it sounds like this website is not happy with running on safari for whatever reason. Usually it’s the website’s problem.

 

[iClutch]

Not a great idea to recommend the most resource hungry browser instead with an intrusive resource hungry update mechanism. Safari is a decent browser, especially compared to chrome.

@iClutch , have you tried Microsoft‘s edge browser on the Mac with this website? Based on what you describe it sounds like this website is not happy with running on safari for whatever reason. Usually it’s the website’s problem.

Hey!

I've been using Opera and its been running nicely, although if I leave any Drive / Email open it auto refreshes anyway with the same message, I've been able to see movies smoothly though.
I guess I'm just overall confused how Safari can't handle that with 16GB RAM, since all my life I've been using 8GB RAM Windows Laptops and I've never had problems with watching videos while playing videogames and having a bunch of tabs open, I'll have to push my Mac M1 some day to see if it can handle it nicely or else I'll have a chat with Apple Support I guess since no one else I know has any problem with the memory usage on their M1.

 

[Juicy Box]

guess I'm just overall confused how Safari can't handle that with 16GB RAM

As many have mentioned already, it is probably just bug with the website.

It is not uncommon for a particular website to have issues with a particular web browser.

I'll have to push my Mac M1 some day to see if it can handle it nicely or else I'll have a chat with Apple Support I guess since no one else I know has any problem with the memory usage on their M1.

This isn't a bad idea, just to be sure. Try some other streaming sites and see if you can have the same experience.

The M1 Macs are first gen products with a brand new OS, so issues are not uncommon.

The early adopters are basically beta testers.

That said, I have pushed my M1 Mac Mini pretty hard and memory hasn't been an issue at all.

I have seen messages saying that a particular website is using excessive energy, but this hasn't affected the RAM at all. Being on a desktop, I just ignore the excessive energy consumption messages.

 

[Quackers]

Hey guys,

I'm new to Apple products in general, I'm a law student and changed from Windows to the M1 16GB 256GB about a week and half ago.
I was very excited as the reviews seemed that it held up very well and I've been wanting a more profissional and lighter computer for a while.
Unfortunately I've been having some issues with the RAM, I don't use any RAM intensive apps, games or whatsoever, all I do is browse safari, use word and native apps (Reminders, Notes, etc etc). First, I was always very confused why my RAM usage was very high but that didn't bother me, RAM laying around doesn't do much anyway and the cache makes things smoother throughout the time (im guessing) but every time I try to watch a movie I always get that message that "this tab is using too much memory" or something like that and it keeps reloading, even if it's the only thing open.

The only programs I installed were basic known ones (Alfred, spectacles, microsoft 365), nothing shady.
Does anyone have a clue of whats going on or how I could fix this?

Thank you so much
EGC

Are these movies on Disney?
Are you using Wipr?
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...3-problem-excessive-use-of-ram-intel.2287100/

 

[iClutch]

Are these movies on Disney?
Are you using Wipr?
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...3-problem-excessive-use-of-ram-intel.2287100/

Hey! No I'm not using Disney nor Wipr! But thanks for the info !

 

[Runs For Fun]

That seems to be a memory leak in Safari. Every so often certain sites don't play nice with Safari and cause it to eat up memory. It could also be caused by a Safari extension you may be using. I know there was an issue with extensions that would cause Safari to leak memory. It's not necessarily that Safari is using all of you memory but it's using a lot more than it should be.