Check of RAM usage on a Mac

 RAM usage on a Mac to troubleshoot performance problems

 

Knowing how to check RAM usage on a Mac is vital if you're having issues with performance, or want to get rid of  this problem altogether. RAM (Random Access Memory) is vital to your Mac, being able to run effectively, and if it's all being used up by applications or processes, you won't have enough memory to run other applications, leading to poor performance, lagging and crashes. By knowing how to monitor your Mac's RAM load, you can identify when it is maxing out and what apps or processes are causing this. This can help you optimize, what your Mac is doing, as well as troubleshooting performance issues when gaming or using any app.

By default, it has not been possible to upgrade RAM on a Mac (or easily at least) for a while now, even though it used to be very easy. For newer Apple Silicon Macs, it's impossible to upgrade RAM as all the memory is built into the main chip. Essentially, what the Mac came with new is what you're stuck with. If you are regularly seeing your RAM is at max out for even simple tasks, need to find out solution. Checking RAM usage on Mac is easy, but it isn't obvious how to do it if you haven't done it before. We have given step by step process for your help.

First we need to open Activity Monitor. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can click the magnifying glass icon in the top right to open Spotlight, then type "Activity Monitor" and hit Enter open the app. Or, open Launchpad, click Other (Utilities on older Macs) and then click Activity Monitor. The app tile resembles a heartbeat monitor.

Select RAM and view usage

Now select Memory in the top bar and view your RAM usage at the bottom.

In the left hand box, you'll see a diagram of RAM pressure — in effect, how much headroom you have.

In the middle box you'll see a breakdown of what is taking up RAM usage.

In the right box, you'll see a breakdown of the used memory.