Mavericks and memory (Ram)

I recently bought an iMac with 8GB. I'm a web developer, so I use about 4GB normally. Ever since, I started using the new iMac I'm constantly at 8GB and I've had an issue where Mavericks would crash. The mouse would keep moving, but my icon bar and window screen would freeze. Now, I know I don't use that much memory as this is my second iMac, but the first time with Mavericks on it. My previous iMac is running the predeccesor OS and still works beautifully, compared to the iMac with Mavericks. Both use the same kind of programs too... I don't understand why I'm having such an issue with Mavericks, any thoughts?

I have to agree with iFan, and the many others posting on here that there is something fundamentally wrong with this new version of the OS. I have a computer science degree and have worked as a programmer for a few years. One thing you learn as a programmer is how buggy your programs can be when it comes to releasing used memory resources causing a program to "hold onto that memory" when it should be releasing it back for the system to allocate to another task. These "memory leaks" can accumulate depending on how many times that particular routine is called in the progam and can manifest into a system disaster by locking up the resources and eventually crashing the system. Normally memory leaks are prone in 3rd party software written for computers but I have no doubt that some of the in-house software or system programs that are incorporated into Mavericks could be the cause of the problem. It may not even be software you can see running on the activity monitor but could be a hidden system process that was not written correctly and is holding onto our valuble system RAM. No matter what the actual cause is... a system ramping up to 4, 5, or even 6 GB of used RAM resources without more than a few simple programs running like Safari or iTunes is not normal at all!

ejh7977 wrote:

I have to agree with iFan, and the many others posting on here that there is something fundamentally wrong with this new version of the OS. I have a computer science degree and have worked as a programmer for a few years.

You need to forget all you learned and experienced from before. This is a much more radically different approach to memory management than anything Apple has done before and for a significantly large majority of users is working as designed. I won't argue that it's possible third party apps could be at fault here, but maximizing RAM utilization is a feature here and should be ignored when troubleshooting issues.

This radically different use of memory is terrible. Obviously the programming staff released Mavericks to early. Hopefully apple becomes apple again and fixes this mess.

lostindc wrote:

This radically different use of memory is terrible. Obviously the programming staff released Mavericks to early.

I completely disagree. It's working perfectly for me and for way over ninety percent of the hundreds of users I correspond with daily concerning Mavericks. My iMac runs faster than it ever did when it was brand new with Mountain Lion.

The one thing that seem to have been identified is that most of the users with issues have only 4GB of RAM, so that may be a System Requirement spec that Apple needs to adjust. Apple's decison to no longer allow user upgradable RAM in some cases, makes that situation even worse.

You can disagree all day.. Maybe it only affects mac older than 2011... But the memory management ***** bad... I have literally upgraded it to 16 gb and then gave up... It just does not work. Now I'm using windows with 8 gb and doing all the same work with no issue.. I'm an early upgrader but it has only given me pain since snow leopard... Maybe they will finally fix it in next version.. And I'll be the first one to upgrade.. Until then I can't use it on my 2011 MacBook Pro with mavericks...

Have to agree with MadMacs0, not a single problem with RAM compression in any of our Studio Macs (some as early as 2009 models). Out performing Mountain Lion by a mile. But in saying that, I would not run with under 8GB RAM if I needed to seriously work on a Mac.

Pete

MadMacs0 wrote:

I completely disagree. It's working perfectly for me and for way over ninety percent of the hundreds of users I correspond with daily concerning Mavericks. My iMac runs faster than it ever did when it was brand new with Mountain Lion.

Could be that it works perfectly for you but that does not make the problem for users that find their Mac unworkably slow after upgrading to Mavericks less serious. That your iMac is running faster than ever is good for you, but that doesn't mean there is no problem with Mavericks memory management. Just Google for Mavericks slow and you'll find tons of people complaning.

The one thing that seem to have been identified is that most of the users with issues have only 4GB of RAM, so that may be a System Requirement spec that Apple needs to adjust

That could be correct. I struggled with Mavericks being slow for a long time, trying all the solutions mentioned in this thread. None helped, until I upgraded my MBP from 4 to 8 GB. From that moment on eveything worked smooth again.

Useful post thanks! I have 16gb RAM now which has helped a lot you can do it yourself with Crucial 16gb RAM

bellicose100xp wrote:

You can disagree all day.. Maybe it only affects mac older than 2011... But the memory management ***** bad...

I'll disagree as well

I have a 2009 MBP, it is faster running Mavericks than it was on Leopard or Snow Leopard.

It has 8GB and Mavericks uses all 8 very effectively.

Eagerbob wrote:

MadMacs0 wrote:

I completely disagree. It's working perfectly for me and for way over ninety percent of the hundreds of users I correspond with daily concerning Mavericks. My iMac runs faster than it ever did when it was brand new with Mountain Lion.

Could be that it works perfectly for you but that does not make the problem for users that find their Mac unworkably slow after upgrading to Mavericks less serious. That your iMac is running faster than ever is good for you, but that doesn't mean there is no problem with Mavericks memory management.

It means that there is a problem (or problems) with the configuration of the specific machines. If it was systematic we would all be affected.

Fantastic survey numbers! I am sure they're reliable. Minus the numerous threads on this board and a general google search displaying the commonality of the issue then your survey is correct. So it sounds like as long as it does not impact the majority of users (<=50%) then everything is good? Not really logical and very bad business. The fact that I have spoken with numerous senior reps and they acknowledge the issue should tell you something. Apple rarely ever acknowledges issues.

Fantastic survey numbers! I am sure they're reliable.

So it sounds like as long as it does not impact the majority of users (<=50%) then everything is good?

And how reliable is that (<=50%)

Or are you guessing?

Wrong, systematic is not eliminated because you and many others have not encountered the issue...yet. We all know the iPhoto issues from 2006ish time yet many swore it was not an iPhoto problem but rather a problem with particular machines and/or users. This was obviously incorrect.

That was my point, it is all guessing in terms of numbers, but it is not guesswork that there are many threads on this board, other message boards, and numerous other forums discussing and displaying the commonality of the issue at hand. Nor is it guess work that apple knows about the problem because I know apple knows this is an issue and their senior reps are stumped on how to help. The senior reps are also hoping for an update/fix.