Safari just eating RAM?

[SimonUK5]

I've got 16Gb of 1600Mhz RAM in my Macbook Pro, more than enough for most things.

But the only app that i'm having a problem with is Safari, it seems to be, regardless of what i have open or what i'm doing, eating RAM.

I had a MacRumours Tab and an Engadget Tab open, and the Youtube Homepage open. Apprently Safari needs 2GB+ of RAM?

Is anyone else having this issue? Its making Safari crash/hang fairly often, annoying when your trying to type a 450 page document and referring to websites frequently.

 

[benwiggy]

Does quitting and relaunching fix it? What about rebooting?

 

[SimonUK5]

Does quitting and relaunching fix it? What about rebooting?

Neither really, As soon as safari starts again it just takes it again.

 

[MLinneer]

I've been noticing the same thing and this was before 6.0.5 came out. Safari seems to behave itself on my 2006 iMac with 2Gb but the virtual memory swap will get over 700Mb. On my 2011 Mac Book Air with 4Gb, Safari can quickly eat up to a Gig of RAM and virtual each. It doesn't appear to be a memory leak though. I've loaded up a static page and let it sit for hours without so much as a kilobyte of change. But the more I browse, the more it eats. Like it's not purging it's cache. I've even let it run up and then try to load Photoshop... no problem and Safari will release *some* memory to the system. I haven't had an actual crash yet but I have experienced short hangs and slow-downs.

Chrome 27 and Firefox 21 don't exhibit the same behavior. They will increase RAM as needed and release it when closing tabs or browsing to a simple text page.

 

[ColdCase]

Pages that contain flash video or images seem to be a problem for Safari. I disabled automatic flash display and safari seems to be better behaved, at least for me.

 

[flyguy451]

I'm definitely having some of the same issues. Safari just grabs a little more memory with every page I browse until I have something like 1.5GB of inactive! I haven't been able to really narrow down the cause - pretty much given up and am using Firefox as my goto browser. I did disable adblock and this slowed down the effect but didn't resolve it.

 

[katewes]

Given Safari's reputation for being a RAM-hog, I removed the Safari icon from the dock, so that I am not drawn into using Safari at all. Chrome is my standard browser, and occasionally need Firefox for those applications that require Firefox. I was draw to use Chrome as my standard browser simply because of the superior user experience. I am guessing that's why Chrome is doing so well in terms of marketshare.

 

[sick z33]

My Safari is also a memory hog on my Macs. Blocking Flash helps a ton.

 

[ColdCase]

I am guessing that's why Chrome is doing so well in terms of marketshare.

Chrome is doing so well because google scams the reporting system by tricking users into installing and making the browzer the default.

I'm really beginning to hate google, BS tactics like this rub me the wrong way. Makes you question their motives. I routinely blow away chrome on any machine I use.

I've stopped using google search engine too as the first 5 pages of a search are advertisers or scams.

I won't use gmail because of their use of my personal data.

My advice to you is to stay away from anything google, there are better alternatives.

 

[sick z33]

I love Chrome on a PC compared to anything IE. Safari browses the internet much more smoothly on a Mac, IMO.

 

[benwiggy]

Chrome 27 and Firefox 21 don't exhibit the same behavior. They will increase RAM as needed and release it when closing tabs or browsing to a simple text page.

Previous versions of Firefox have been notorious memory eaters. And some versions of Chrome have had major problems.

My view is: there will always be something not quite right with any version. Instead of switching browsers every six months, just stick to the one you prefer.
Closing all your windows/tabs and/or rebooting/relaunching should fix it. I'd be very surprised if Safari still retained memory after that.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I've never noticed Safari being a RAM hog, as I never thought to look.

I guess I'll have to check its usage next time I decide to fire it up, just to see how it behaves under my normal work load. Thanks for the heads-up though.

 

[sick z33]

I've never noticed Safari being a RAM hog, as I never thought to look.

I guess I'll have to check its usage next time I decide to fire it up, just to see how it behaves under my normal work load. Thanks for the heads-up though.

It def can be a hog at times. I currently have 7 tabs open and its hogging nearly 3.5 GB.

 

[katewes]

Chrome is doing so well because google scams the reporting system by tricking users into installing and making the browzer the default.

I can only speak for myself. I have Chrome, Safari and Firefox all installed on my Mac, and spent a few weeks using teach of the alternatively, and felt Chrome give the best user experience.

I am very conscious of tricks that some software have of tricking you to install Chrome - and I always select custom installs, so I can avoid such surreptitious installations.

So, speaking only for myself, I selected Chrome based on my own usage testing.

 

[nomadicarus]

fwiw I have been fed up with Safari for the past 12~18 months or so for this very reason. I've switched between Safari and Chrome but the past week of Opera has been quite revealing.

With the same web usage that would see Safari run into 2Gig+ of 'web content' Opera 15 barely creeps over 100Mb.

If like me you're on a 2010 MBP with 4~8Gb Ram then you're looking at Opera > Chrome > Safari for resource management.

 

[3rd Rock]

fwiw I have been fed up with Safari for the past 12~18 months or so for this very reason. I've switched between Safari and Chrome but the past week of Opera has been quite revealing.

With the same web usage that would see Safari run into 2Gig+ of 'web content' Opera 15 barely creeps over 100Mb.

If like me you're on a 2010 MBP with 4~8Gb Ram then you're looking at Opera > Chrome > Safari for resource management.

Really ? RAM hog. Not mine. Ever