24 posts
Why Chrome, Slack, Teams, and Photoshop eat so much RAM, and what to do.
Chrome uses far more RAM than most people expect. Here's exactly why, how much is normal, and what you can realistically do about it.
App memory guidesBoth Anthropic and OpenAI's own developer forums have reports of their Mac desktop apps using excessive memory or disk activity. Here's what's happening.
App memory guidesCursor users report memory climbing past 40GB and even 65GB during long sessions, with crashes. Here's why, and the practical fixes that actually help.
App memory guidesDiscord uses 500 MB to 1.5 GB of RAM on Mac, sometimes more. Here's exactly why, what counts as normal, and what you can do to bring those numbers down.
App memory guidesDocker Desktop's virtualisation layer can idle at gigabytes of RAM even with no containers running. Here's why, and the practical fixes that actually help.
App memory guidesSpotify, WhatsApp, Notion, Slack, Discord, Teams, VS Code. They all share one architecture: a Chromium browser plus a JavaScript bundle. Here is what that costs on every Mac.
App memory guidesExcel on Mac can genuinely run low on memory with large spreadsheets, heavy formulas, or many open workbooks. Here's why, and what actually speeds it back up.
App memory guidesFigma can use 500 MB to 2 GB per document. Here's exactly why, what the Helper (Renderer) process is, and what you can realistically do about it.
App memory guidesLightroom Classic on Mac happily uses 4-8 GB on a typical day. Here is what actually drives its memory use, and what to do about each piece.
App memory guidesTeams on Mac uses 1-2 GB on a fresh launch and 3-4 GB after a full day of calls. Here's exactly why, what's changed in the new Teams, and what actually helps.
App memory guidesNotion's desktop app can jump from a normal 1-2GB to 8GB or more, with the app becoming unresponsive. Here's why, and the practical fixes that help.
App memory guidesOBS's own forums have real reports of excessive memory use and dropped frames while streaming or recording on Mac. Here's why, and the settings that help.
App memory guidesRunning Windows or Linux in Parallels or VMware Fusion on Mac reserves real memory for the guest OS, and it doesn't always give it back cleanly. Here's why.
App memory guidesOn an 8GB Apple Silicon Mac, Photoshop is genuinely usable for small to medium files, but tight for heavy layered work. Here's the honest read.
App memory guidesPostman's GitHub issue tracker has years of reports of Mac memory usage climbing past 20GB. Here's why the API testing tool uses so much RAM, and what helps.
App memory guidesBoth Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve have documented reports of memory climbing past 100GB during editing sessions on Mac. Here's why, and what helps.
App memory guidesSafari is more memory-efficient than Chrome, but it's not immune to leaks. Here's what causes them, how to spot them, and what to do about them.
App memory guidesSlack uses 1-2 GB of RAM on a good day and 3 GB+ by Friday. Here's exactly why, how much is normal, and what you can realistically do about it.
App memory guidesSpotify's Mac app has years of documented memory-leak complaints, with one user reporting 79GB before a crash. Here's why it happens and what actually helps.
App memory guidesVS Code uses 800 MB to 3 GB on a Mac depending on your extensions and project. Here's exactly why, what numbers are normal, and the practical fixes that help.
App memory guidesWhatsApp's rebuilt Electron-based Mac app uses noticeably more memory than the old native version. Here's why, and what actually helps.
App memory guidesApple's own Mail app has documented forum reports of RAM climbing from 1GB to 60GB+ within minutes. Here's what causes it and the fixes that actually help.
App memory guidesXcode regularly uses 4-8 GB of RAM with a single project open. Here's what eats memory in Xcode, realistic numbers across project sizes, and what you can do about each piece.
App memory guidesZoom uses 15-30% CPU on a normal call and 30-50% during screen-sharing on an M-series Mac. Here's exactly why, what you'll see in Activity Monitor, and what actually reduces the load.