Seriously? 8GB used to be enough.. it's becoming less and less the case

[TheSynchronizer]

That doesn't even add up near to 8GB

Meanwhile, Apple still sells base models just shy off a thousand with 8GB equipped.

I gotta say, owning this laptop since new it's probably frozen on me less than 10 times. So overall great stability..

however messages like these worry me for the future.

 

[GMShadow]

...why is Notes taking 2.5GB? That seems like a bug.

It doesn't add up to 8GB because the OS is using the rest.

 

[TheSynchronizer]

Idk why I’m just a user

Notes often take up quite a bit of memory, these messages aren’t rare anymore.

The performance rarely suffers but the message has to mean something?

 

[Bigwaff]

The performance rarely suffers but the message has to mean something?

Launch Activity Monitor and select the Memory tab. Post screenshot.

 

[TheSynchronizer]

Launch Activity Monitor and select the Memory tab. Post screenshot.

will do next time i get the message

 

[mi7chy]

It's expected that OS and apps grow in memory requirements over time so better to oversize memory if non-upgradable paying about 20% more than paying 100% to buy a new laptop replacement. 8GB is only adequate if running Linux.

 

[boss.king]

Notes using 2.4GB is insane. The rest looks pretty normal. 8GB is a little tight these days but should still be fine for light users as long as things don't break.

 

[Alameda]

View attachment 2413102
That doesn't even add up near to 8GB

Meanwhile, Apple still sells base models just shy off a thousand with 8GB equipped.

I gotta say, owning this laptop since new it's probably frozen on me less than 10 times. So overall great stability..

however messages like these worry me for the future.

Not only does it not add up to 8 GB, but the system uses virtual memory, which pages memory to the SSD, which effectively doubles or triples your memory.

Make sure your SSD is not full, so the system has room to page, and restart the machine.

But, why Notes is taking so much memory is a really good question.

 

[EugW]

Doesn't this also occur when you run out of storage? Without sufficient free storage, the Mac can no longer page to disk, and IIRC you may get an insufficient memory error.

How much storage do you have left?

EDIT:

I see that @Alameda has already mentioned that.

 

[barracuda156]

View attachment 2413102
That doesn't even add up near to 8GB

Meanwhile, Apple still sells base models just shy off a thousand with 8GB equipped.

I gotta say, owning this laptop since new it's probably frozen on me less than 10 times. So overall great stability..

however messages like these worry me for the future.

Yeah, it is a common problem.

Very stupid of Apple to have 8 GB models at all nowadays (and a bad decision on my side to fall for some reviews claiming it is fine and in result getting 8 GB model). My PowerMac has twice as more.

 

[Mac_fan75]

Not another 8GB topic please.

 

[MajorFubar]

They'll keep coming until Apple stops selling new Macs at a premium price with non-upgradeable memory capacity straight out of 2009 and therefore implying it's absolutely sufficient for a machine costing a grand even though it's absolutely not. I built a 2010 Mac Mini with more RAM than this.

 

[mihighil]

8 gb is a joke for a 1k machine, no matter the corporate gaslighting that 8=16 on macos. And the fanboys can go choke on a rock.

 

[ignatius345]

Yeah, something's very wrong there. I wouldn't generalize whatever issue you're running into there out to all 8GB RAM Macs. Clearly you've got something running amok.

I have run *way* more stuff than that on an 8GB base model Air and never seen that message. And my wife runs her business on a base model Air day in, day out on 8GB. Probably not up to snuff for the stat-obsessed hobbyists who haunt Activity Monitor to see what color their "memory pressure" is, but out in the real world MacOS is very capable of using virtual memory to keep things working smoothly for day to day productivity stuff.

 

[MBAir2010]

I crank my MacBook Air m1 since 2021 with ONLY 8GB and never received that message,
even with Sequoia beta through an external drive.

/but don't use "notes" heavily or often.

 

[Bigwaff]

I crank my MacBook Air m1 since 2021 with ONLY 8GB and never received that message,
even with Sequoia beta through an external drive.

/but don't use "notes" heavily or often.

But are you a fanboy choking on a rock? That information is pertinent to the "8GB is not enough" debate according @mihighil

 

[MBAir2010]

But are you a fanboy choking on a rock? That information is pertinent to the "8GB is not enough" debate according @mihighil

They never saw "8 is Enough" live as we, I did in the 1970s!

I probably the last one to wave an  flag here.
this year Cupertino received several of my typed complaints about  in 2024.




until yesterday.

 

[AlixSPQR]

These complaints are legit and they will keep coming as long as Apple insists on having 8 GB RAM in their base models. Hopefully, demanding AI functions will save us from that seamingly endless abhorration.

 

[MayaUser]

1As long as their base macs goes 16gb ram and keep their prices..its good
2As long as their base macs keeps 8gb ram but starting prices goes lower..its good and same with nr1

 

[Burnincoco]

Can't have enough 8GB threads

 

[Fishrrman]

With Apple Silicon...

16gb is "the new 8",
and
32gb is "the new 16"...

 

[EugW]

Even if 16 becomes base (instead of the 12 GB I was previously predicting), I wonder if the next step up may be 24 GB instead of 32 GB.

 

[MacPoulet]

I think there’s a bug in the notes app. It single-handedly manages to drain my 14” MacBook Pro overnight according to Activity Monitor. I usually quit from it and then things are fine.

 

[Tzvia.ls]

Hmmm... maybe this is one area where being a long time Windows person (can we say Windows 286) comes in handy. LOL I tend to shutdown/reboot once a week or so... call it ancient habit. Just clear out the stuff that I opened and really doesn't close when I hit little red X... (Yea I know, command+q) Used to have a Lenovo with 8gigs ram, and with Windows that's just crap. MAC does better with 8gigs for sure. But in the end yea I reboot every week or so, old habit or whatever... my M2MBA is the bare bones 256/8gig.
Come to think of it, I do tend to use NOTES quite a bit and yea I do see some extra battery drain when I use it and then just close the lid till the next day...

 

[johannnn]

"Seriously? 8GB used to be enough.. it's becoming less and less the case"

It was enough with Intel Macs. M chip Macs use "unified memory", which is used by both the CPU, GPU and neural engine. This is why, while M chips are extremely fast, just focusing on the memory then 8GB on Intel Mac is more similar to 16GB on M chips.

And this is why it's so crappy of Apple to sell Macbook Pro M3 with 8GB.