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bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Windows actually does this as well (albeit to a lesser degree),
I have 39.7GB cached on my Windows 10 PC and 13.03GB on my Intel Mac Mini... (both have 64GB of RAM)

Where Big Sur does better than windows is when available RAM becomes tight, Windows bogs down sooner.
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Original poster
Oct 24, 2014
10,625
11,296
Uh, it is supposed to use all of it. What good is memory if it's not being used?

If you're suggesting unused RAM being used for file cache, even subtracting that Big Sur still uses double the memory of Windows and triple that of Linux.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,678
If you're suggesting unused RAM being used for file cache, even subtracting that Big Sur still uses double the memory of Windows and triple that of Linux.

Cache, purgeable memory, speculative pages. There is obviously some overhead, especially compared to most Linux distros at their default configuration (services, rich UI etc.). These things have been explained to you repeatedly. I am still confused why you consider idle RAM usage to be of any relevance. What you should look instead is how RAM is handles under pressure. Can Linux sustain more active processes while maintaining responsiveness than macOS, that kind of thing. That’s the relevant and interesting measure of OS RAM efficiency, not the amount of free RAM.
 

Darkseth

macrumors member
Aug 28, 2020
50
89
6.93GB+4.70GB seems excessive though. Can understand the 4.70GB cache memory getting freed up for apps in theory although I've seen it use up nearly all 16GB RAM and not free up cache but go straight to using swap. Aside from cache, 6.93GB OS/app usage seems excessive when Windows 10 uses half and Linux less than a third.
Well, that comparison from your first Post isn't even a Fair one, because your Mac System has 16gb Ram, while the Windows and Linux machine only has 8. You Can't make a fair comparison there.
The OS will use the Ram, that's available. The Mac has 16gb to work with, so it's using that, and fills up more stuff, than it would, if it only had 8gb Ram. And this is just how it should be.

How efficient the OS is using the available Ram has NOTHING to do with how much Ram is used/free after a Boot. The difference will be visible when you push the System to the limits. I promise, a Windows Device will slow down faster than an M1 Mac would on the same Workload.

Second, don't use Task Manager on Windows, it doesn't show you the whole truth. Use Resource Monitor. That will show you your used Ram, cached ram, and free.
I have 32gb Ram right now, 13,7gb are used, 17,7gb are Cached, and 1,1gb are "free".
I'll make a Reboot right now just for the Sake of it, and edit it here. Of course, my System is not a fresh install tho.

Edit: Fresh boot, and just waiting for everything to load.
6,1gb "used", 4,1 gb "cashed", 22~ gb Free.

I am very sure, if i pulled out 3 Sticks and had only 8gb Ram left in my System, it would not have 6,1gb "used" after a Boot.

It uses what's there. If more Ram is there, there is literaly no Reason not to use it, and that's how it should be.
 
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Lemon Olive

Suspended
Nov 30, 2020
1,208
1,324
If you're suggesting unused RAM being used for file cache, even subtracting that Big Sur still uses double the memory of Windows and triple that of Linux.
It just seems to me like you're expecting the memory to be sitting there, unused. macOS will use as much memory as you can throw at it.
 
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