Apparent memory management issue leads to slow performance

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Apparent memory management issue leads to slow performance

Hi,

I'm running into an apparent memory management issue with Mavericks. I recently bought a MacBook Pro (late 2013), with Mavericks 10.9 preinstalled (I updated it to 10.9.4), with an Intel quad core i7 2.0GHz, and 8 GB RAM. The main purpose for this laptop is Graphics research and design. However, from the beginning, I noticed that after a not-so-intensive task, in particular having Photoshop (without any file open in it) and Dreamweaver CS6 open at the same time, made the mouse motion and the applications response slow.

Yesterday, I was compressing a 7GB *.dmg file into two parts (using RAR command) when I ran into the same memory management problem (although I wasn't running any other app other than RAR). The compression process went OK (very fast from my point of view), but after that, my computer became slow. Then, I decided to check the Activity Monitor, and at the bottom of the window, the memory usage was 7.3GB out of 8GB, even though I had finished compressing the file. When I checked memory usage I was running only Firefox. So, I went on and summed up all memory assigned to the listed processes, and those didn't exceed 1.3GB. Therefore, my guess is that Mavericks is NOT releasing RAM after assigning it to a given process. This is because whenever I opened another app, the 7.3GB instead of decreasing or staying the same, increased and reached up to 7.98GB.

I'm worried that it might be a hardware problem, and that I have to take this laptop to Apple care after just three weeks of purchase. Nonetheless, I'm also new to Mac OS System, and I migrated to this OS and brand thinking that it is the best choice for Graphics research and design.

Some additional information: the first time I detected this slowness problem (with Photoshop and Dreamweaver), I decided to make a clean install of Mavericks by downloading a copy from the AppStore... but that problem has shown up a second time in a different context (compressing a large file). Is it that I won't be able to work with Photoshop (designing a large ad or editing a 300dpi file) with this computer? As a side note, I was able to do all of these tasks and more with just 6GB RAM in my previous PC with Intel dual core i5.

Perhaps doing a downgrade to Mac OS X 10.8 might be a solution, but I am uncertain... I'm a novice to Mac.

Any insight is welcome. I appreciate your time in advance. Kind regards.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), Late 2013 Model

Posted on Sep 22, 2014 12:19 PM

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Answer 1

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baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Sep 22, 2014 1:55 PM in response to LaYoungMin

Since it's relatively new, arrange for an AppleCare repair. There's not much else you can do, IMO. The memory usage is normal, maximizes used RAM, and supposedly works better. See https://www.apple.com/osx/advanced-technologies/ for details. FWIW, since it shipped with Mavericks, it most likely can't run Mountain Lion. See and What's a "computer-specific Mac OS X release"? and Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers for details

27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Sep 22, 2014 4:30 PM in response to LaYoungMin

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take one of the actions that you're having trouble with. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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Answer 3

LaYoungMin Author

Level 1

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Sep 22, 2014 6:44 PM in response to LaYoungMin

Thank you all for your information,

I actually followed baltwo advice about getting support from Apple Care, so I contacted them via chat and they guided me through the process to reset the SMC and the PRAM. After doing that, the system became more responsive.

Instead of installing Adobe CS6 to replicate the slowness problem, I went on to installing the most newest version in trial mode: Adobe CC, and had no problem when working with both Dreamweaver and Photoshop. It seems that they improved performance in comparison to CS6 (besides support to Retina display).

So far so good...

I will continue to create another compressed file to see if I experience the same issues as yesterday. In that matters, I will follow Linc Davis advice.

I will let you know how this task winds up being.

I appreciate your kind help 🙂

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Answer 4

LaYoungMin Author

Level 1

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Sep 22, 2014 7:29 PM in response to LaYoungMin

I have run the last test, but this time, I opened a video online and it ran smoothly (not jagged like before). There's something puzzling me, though. I still see the following readings from the Activity monitor:

Physical memory: 8.00 GB

Memory used: 7.89 GB

Virtual memory: 8.00 GB

Swap used: 0 bytes

App memory: 1.43 GB

File cache: 5.73 GB

Wired memory: 792.2 MB

Compressed: 752 KB

Why is "Memory used" so high if right now I am just Firefox? The output in the console from the last compression test was:

9/22/14 19:01:19.974 mds[58]: (Normal) Volume: volume:0x7fbc3d814000 ********** Bootstrapped Creating a default store:0 SpotLoc:(null) SpotVerLoc:(null) occlude:0 /Volumes/firmwaresyncd.78X2vL

9/22/14 19:02:10.172 Console[293]: setPresentationOptions called with NSApplicationPresentationFullScreen when there is no visible fullscreen window; this call will be ignored.

9/22/14 19:06:58.326 login[278]: DEAD_PROCESS: 278 ttys000

... and that's it. I can't see any problem there. It seems that resetting the SMC and PRAM worked. I just would like to know how to interpret the "Memory used" reading in the activity monitor. On the other hand, the "App memory" looks more intuitive because I got that result from summing up processes' memory usage yesterday.

Thank you so much!

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Sep 22, 2014 9:20 PM in response to LaYoungMin

It's normal in Mavericks for almost all memory to be in use, either by applications or by the file cache. That's what you should want, since unused memory is going to waste. The relevant measure of whether memory is in short supply is what Apple calls "memory pressure."

Apple's explanation of memory pressure is here. If you want a more detailed, technical description, see here.

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