While you could solve this issue by purchasing more RAM, a far easier (and cheaper) alternative is to close any apps that you don’t currently need, especially if those apps are gobbling up memory.

You can have a top-spec MacBook, but if you also have a bunch of apps running in the background then your Mac isn’t going to live up to its full potential – eventually, even the best laptop is going to struggle to find enough RAM to support all those apps.

Banish those Memory-Hogging Apps and Processes Once again, you should take a look at exactly what’s running on your Mac – which, conveniently, just-to-happens to be the subject of our next section!ġ. Although a small number is acceptable, if Activity Monitor is displaying a high ‘Swap Used’ value, then this is an indication that the system doesn’t have enough RAM to meet the demands of the currently-running apps and processes. Typically, if the compressed memory is 20% or more than your total memory, then this suggests there’s a problem and you should look at how many apps and processes are currently running on your machine. To make more memory available for other processes, OS X will sometimes compress data in RAM, or swap it to your hard drive. Typically, this is memory that’s necessary to support your computer’s core functions. The total amount of memory being used by apps and their processes. You need to free up some memory asap!ĭelving a bit deeper, to the right of the graph you’ll find ‘Memory Used,’ which provides an exact figure about the total amount of memory being consumed by your apps and OS X.īut we can do better than that! Activity Monitor breaks this total down into the following categories: Your Mac has run out of memory and is resorting to using your hard drive for memory. Resources are still available but they’re being tasked by memory-management processes such as compression. This live-updating graph uses colours to communicate just how good, or bad your memory situation really is: This tab contains a ‘Memory Pressure’ graph, which is the perfect place to start analysing the way your Mac is using memory. To launch Activity Monitor, open your ‘Finder’ and select ‘Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.’ Make sure the ‘Memory’ tab is selected. Luckily, your MacBook already has access to a powerful tool that lets you scrutinise exactly what’s going on with your RAM – it’s called Activity Monitor.

If you’re going to make the biggest impact on your memory usage, then you need to understand how your Mac is currently consuming memory.

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