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jarmeearc220 Author

Level 1

38 points

NEW MacBook Air M1 8gb 256gb: "your system has run out of application memory"

Just about daily, my new M1 MacBook Air starts to run warm (thought they were SO much cooler now) and then I get a popup to ForceQuit my applications with the message, "your system has run out of application memory" (and showing me that Safari is using the most memory by far). In fact, I checked the RAM usage and its showing 6.3gb out of 8gb. Im wondering is this simply a RAM issue and I should return/exchange for the 16gb model?

Funny enough, my 4 month older MBA 2020 never crashed like this (though it ran scorchingly hot which is why I bought the new M1 to replace it).

Only apps Im running when this happens are: WhatsApp, iMessages, Safari (with LastPass/Rakuten/Honey extensions). Safari has about 15 tabs open, which is nothing for my 10 year old iMac, or the prior MacBooks, so cant imagine its too taxing for this new M1 MacBook?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 30, 2020 10:30 PM

Top-ranking reply

ewl930

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Dec 1, 2020 2:45 PM

This happened to me for the first time today on my 8gb M1 MBA and I was so shocked I neglected to take a screen shot. It showed Safari using a gigantic amount of memory with about 15 tabs open and a few other programs; like you, nothing that my older MBA couldn't handle easily. Apple's response is quite disappointing indeed. If/when it happens again to me, I'll be contacting them to complain as well. Keep us posted on how it works out.

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Similar questions

138 replies

Dec 2, 2021 2:31 AM in response to jarmeearc220

Same issue, how can this be using up all my memory?

Prof-et

Level 1

45 points

Dec 1, 2020 7:02 AM in response to jarmeearc220

If I were you I'll change the unit!

jarmeearc220 Author

Level 1

38 points

Dec 3, 2020 11:00 AM in response to woodmeister50

When i called they told me the opposite, to try and stick to Safari because Chrome and others may not yet be ready for the m1.

Prof-et

Level 1

45 points

Dec 5, 2020 8:50 AM in response to ewl930

Is there any site opened? Did you opened a lot of sites with videos??? It seems you are opening a site that keeps eating memory... did you tried to verify one at a time??? Or the one that does that?

jarmeearc220 Author

Level 1

38 points

Dec 5, 2020 11:40 AM in response to ewl930

I like how Apple tagged your post as "Solved" when this hasn't been solved for anyone!

Dec 5, 2020 12:43 PM in response to jarmeearc220

I think the culprit is likely more Safari itself than the machine.

I think Apple may have just built Safari from the same Intel

code with little or no optimization for the M1 platform.

sh9001

Level 1

12 points

Dec 6, 2020 8:09 PM in response to jarmeearc220

It's the extensions. I had the same issue for Safari and deleted "Rakuten", all good now.

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 7, 2020 12:06 AM in response to sh9001

Why am I not surprised, sh9001? Not in the least!

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 7, 2020 11:04 AM in response to ewl930

Welcome, ewl930, to Apple Support Communities!

I’m glad to hear that sh9001’s experience helped you, as well!

jarmeearc220 Author

Level 1

38 points

Dec 9, 2020 9:54 AM in response to woodmeister50

Which adblocker do you recommend? Id be open to trying one to see if it helps.

Dec 9, 2020 9:59 AM in response to jarmeearc220

The one I mentioned, Skynet, is free and available via the MacApp Store.

If doesn't work for you, just uninstall it.

Dec 14, 2020 2:22 PM in response to jarmeearc220

I have the 16gb ram in mine, and I'm still getting this error. And it's mostly Safari at fault, with nothing excessive about the few tabs open.

mory.w

Level 1

4 points

Jan 2, 2021 10:21 AM in response to jarmeearc220

Hey maorfrommiami, I posted a reply to the thread but just to ask you specifically, what screen resolution are you using?

Jan 8, 2021 3:35 AM in response to jarmeearc220

Same here, M1 mini, happens multiple times a day. Especially when I'm low on disk space.

It'll also kernel panic about once a day and reset completely.

Laudify

Level 1

4 points

Jan 24, 2021 7:07 PM in response to jarmeearc220

Upgrading doesn’t help. I have a maxed out M1 Mac with 2tb ssd and I’m running out of memory as well. Or at least “100mb of ram available” on a 16gb ram computer. Kinda odd tbh.

NEW MacBook Air M1 8gb 256gb: "your system has run out of application memory"