MacOS Sequoia running very poor on m2 MacBook. Anyone have the same problem?

The Photoshop application is using 44GB+ in your screenshot - no wonder your machine is slow, as swap must be constantly going on: you only have 8GB of physical memory, so your mac will be constantly moving stuff from and to disk. This explains what is happening, now we need to try and find out why.

I am assuming that you are not doing anything so heavy as to justify this huge memory usage by Photoshop.

You mentioned this starting with upgrading the OS. As usual, people tend to blame the OS when this happens, but more likely the problems stem from some of the old third party stuff that was installed, perhaps years ago, and that does not work correctly in the new OS.

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Short answer

Yes this computer would be sluggish

Get rid of the 3 VPNs that are not really protecting the computer  and will generally reduce your Internet Connection speeds by up to 30%

VPN: What you need to know - Apple Community

They may not be what one believes they are doing for the computer and what they actually are doing behind the scenes 

https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

Get rid of Google Chrome  which is doing the opposite of protecting your personal data  Use www.brave.com which is basically Chrome without the overhead of Goolag 

Contact Google Chrome for the complete and detailed instructions on Removing " Google "  Chrome 

Application memory error on my MacBook Pro - Apple Community

MacBook Air (M2, 2022) 8 GB RAM  with  AP0256Z 251.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes) - Is Not upgradeable

This hardware configuration is generally considered be bare minimum to run the computer with macO 15 Sequoia

A1 - disk0 - APPLE SSD AP0256Z 251.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes) 

Size: 245.11 GB

Free: 115.01 GB

Available: 118.07 GB

From another contributor @etresoft regarding Free Space and Available Space 

Free vs available disk space huge differe… - Apple Community

Quote >>  “ The "available" storage is the amount of used storage that the operating system could automatically delete if it felt that it was really necessary. The "free" storage is the amount that you can actually use for something.

There are system processes that run in the background and automatically delete some of the "available" storage and convert it to "free". If you completely run out of storage, then those system processes will try a little harder. When you "delete" files you are just hinting to the operating system that you don't need those files anymore. The operating system will eventually remove them, but on its own schedule.

Certain tools will allow you to force the issue and manually clean up some of this storage and manually delete local snapshots. But that is only temporary. "  << End Quote 

A2 - ProtonVPN WireGuard - version 4.8.0 (ProtonVPN AG - installed 2024-11-27)

Application: /Applications/ProtonVPN.app - version 4.8.0 (ProtonVPN AG - installed 2025-02-19)

A3- NordVPN Threat Protection Pro™ - version 8.33.1 (Nordvpn S.A. - installed 2025-01-30)

Application: /Applications/NordVPN.app - version 8.33.1 (Nordvpn S.A. - installed 2025-02-19)Description: System extension is used to scan files downloaded from the internet for malware.

A4 - com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.system.plist (Google LLC - installed 2025-02-19)

    Command: /Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater --wake-all --enable-logging --vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/enterprise_companion/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2 --system

A5 - com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Not signed - installed 2025-02-19)

A6 - 5 -  org.openvpn.client.plist (OPENVPN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - installed 2025-02-26)

    Executable: /Library/Frameworks/OpenVPNConnect.framework/Versions/Current/usr/sbin/ovpnagent

Normally " Your system has run out of application memory. " could mean a Lack of Empty Space on the drive which is Not the case as per your earlier image

Though, using a MacBook Air with the small 256 SSD Drive and 8 GB RAM as a Developer ?

You might be better off with a more Powerful machine with a Larger Drive and Additional RAM

FYI - Used to have a M1 Machine - 8 GB RAM / 256 SSD that started with macOS 11 Bug Sur moved to every newer version including macOS 15 Sequoia - Not issues for general light usage

Presently running a M2 Mac Mini with the same specs, same usages - no issue with Sequoia 15.3.2

Also running the M3 MBA with 8 GB Unified RAM / 500 GB SSD and the M4 Mac Mini with 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD = also not issues and same usages with 15.3.2

I have an M1 mini and an M2 MacBook Pro, neither of which have had any slow downs due to sequoia.

I would think 8 gigabytes of RAM is pretty minimal for running Photoshop, but I don’t run any software written by Adobe.

Looking for Malware ?

How ?

Why ?

Antivirus software only protects the developers’ bank accounts and creates problems for users in return.

Mac app security enhancements are sufficient to protect computers from malware.

Adware and malware can affect computers and are often downloaded from “shady” websites or developers who inject them into downloads.

Source: User tip from @Kurt Lang

What is malware? - Apple Community

Good catch 👍