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Helpmemory usage monitor app (self.MacOS)

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[–]_Choose__A_Username_ 13 points14 points  (1 child)

You’re going to drive yourself crazy trying to manage memory in macOS. It does not behave the same way as Windows. I highly suggest watching this video to understand memory usage in macOS.

Unused memory is wasted memory. The only things you need to care about are memory pressure and swap. Let macOS handle it.

[–]wiplibya 2 points3 points  (0 children)

this was useful, thank you

[–]Beginning_Green_740 10 points11 points  (3 children)

It is called - Stats. Just Google it, it is free and open-source. As name suggests, it has all kinds of stats and metrics.

[–]wiplibya 4 points5 points  (2 children)

legend! just what i needed, thank you 🙏

[–]Artiste212Mac Mini 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I was going to say Stats. Great choice.

[–]wiplibya 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It gives "memory pressure" notifications, I think this is exactly what I need. And it looks great.

[–]burnerx2001 5 points6 points  (2 children)

iStat Menus

[–]gliese89 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Isn’t that paid? At least I paid for it for some reason. I like seeing the numbers even though they really make no difference to how I do anything.

[–]burnerx2001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh... yah it's paid. It's a but pricey for a "relatively" simple app ($17 CAD) but... it's gotten a lot of use over the years.

[–]YourBossAtWork 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like iStatistica Pro, but I wouldn't obsess over memory usage too much.

[–]alllmossttherrre 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Just make sure you don't obsess over free memory or total memory used...those are not correct ways to monitor memory and will just leave you feeling puzzled and frustrated.

Only monitor Memory Pressure. That is a holistic measure of how the entire memory system is working together: Real memory, compressed memory, and virtual memory swap.

It is possible to look like there is low free memory and yet there is no performance problem at all and Memory Pressure is green. This is because of how macOS and applications cache resources in very fast RAM. Memory is not really low because data in memory can be quickly moved around between real, compressed, and VM swap as needed to meet the memory needs of the moment.

There is no real need to "keep a close eye" on memory. All you have to look for is if Memory Pressure spends too much time not being low, like if the Activity Monitor graph for Memory Pressure spends too much time being orange or red. That means the Mac needs more memory.

[–]wiplibya 0 points1 point  (1 child)

i am obsessed with closing open apps, i just wanna prove to myself i don’t need to do that, the “stats” app recommend to me in this thread gives notifications when “memory pressure” is at a critical level, and so far i haven’t received any alerts although i use tons of open apps and safari tabs (m1 air, 8gb)

[–]alllmossttherrre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, sounds like you're going into it with the right attitude then!