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Few things are as frustrating as your Mac telling you it has run out of memory when you’re trying to be productive. But it’s even frustrating when you’ve ignored the problem for quite some time and your Mac’s limitations simply won’t let you put a solution on hold any longer.

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Well, your Mac likes to cache things in your “free” RAM so that it can load apps quickly. This might be nice sometimes, but if you need to free up a lot of memory for a particular app, let’s say running FCP on old MacBook, then you’d delete your cache files.

How to get rid of low memory notifications

Usually, a popup warning isn’t the first sign that something is amiss. You may have noticed that your Mac isn’t running as fast as it used to, with the fan louder than normal as if it’s struggling to carry a heavy load up a hill.

Although Macs are wonderful computers, like any other, they have limitations. Thankfully, there is plenty you can do to resolve this problem and get your Mac operating smoothly again.

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How to Fix Your System Application Memory

Mac memory usage is often occupied by apps, even browsers like Safari or Google Chrome. In the most dire circumstances, your Mac will toss a warning at you: “your system has run out of application memory.”

Don't despair – it's solvable. The first thing to note is this is a natural issue; your Mac has a limited amount of RAM. Though more expensive Macs have more RAM, even they can butt against limitations when too many applications are running.

It may also be an app that is hogging all of your resources. This is especially true of older applications which haven’t been optimized for modern computer architecture. Websites may also be a culprit. Let’s discuss all these possibilities step by step.

How to check RAM usage on Mac

To check your RAM use on any Mac, take the following steps:

Open Activity Monitor from your list of applications. You can do this in Mac’s control center, via the Finder in your Dock, or by pressing ⌘ + Space and typing Activity Monitor in the Spotlight.
Toggle to the Memory pane in the Activity Monitor window

As you see in the above screenshot, Activity Monitor shows you all of your processes, sub-processes, and how much memory each is taking up. The most pertinent portion of the window is the bottom, where it shows you the total memory usage, and how it’s affecting your Mac.

A better way to monitor your Mac’s memory use is with iStat Menus. After installing the app, it makes a home in your Mac’s menu bar, and monitors just about everything, including memory, CPU, GPU, disks, and network usage.

You can choose which systems you’d like to monitor in the app itself. Only the items you’re monitoring will have an icon in your menu bar. A simple click on the menu bar icon surfaces a drop-down menu of how your Mac is performing at the time, and hovering over each graphic brings up a larger menu to inspect.

How to check CPU usage on Mac

Checking CPU use on your Mac is similar to the steps above for checking memory use. For Activity Monitor, you'd make sure to highlight the CPU section of the window. This will show you all the processes using your Mac's CPU at the time.

Similarly, iStat Menus has a CPU & GPU toggle just above the memory section. Activating that will add a CPU and GPU monitor to your Mac menu bar, which has the same interactivity as the memory icon and menu shown above.

But what creates CPU-hogging problems overall and how do they lead to slow Mac performance?

Every Mac has a processor which handles the computing of any task, from opening an app to editing photos. Processors differ in power (expressed in GHz) and efficiency (generally, newer processors are more efficient).

For example, a 9th Generation 2.2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor means that it has two i7 chips, each of which is able to process data at up to 2.2 GHz, and its the 9th iteration of that processor overall.

However, regardless of the power of your processor, if you throw too many tasks at it, it will start to slow because it’s trying to process too much information at once (try opening 100 Google Chrome tabs), creating a bottleneck. That’s why you can have applications not responding. So you need to do something about it.

App Tamer is perhaps the most powerful smart CPU manager out there. Not only does it show the exact CPU percentage and battery impact each process is taking from your Mac, it lets you create simple rules to prevent certain processes from hogging too much CPU.

To tame any app, just click on it in App Tamer (located in the menu bar), select “Slow down this app if it uses more than” and specify the exact CPU percentage.

How to free up memory on Mac

Knowing how to clear memory on Mac is important, especially if you have a Mac with limited resources. One option is using Activity Monitor:

Open Activity Monitor on your Mac
Select an app using a lot of memory
Click the stop icon in the top bar

This is straightforward, but there's a better way. CleanMyMac X has an automated CPU and memory monitors built-in, which can give you a real-time view of memory usage in your Mac's menu bar. It also has a really quick and easy way to free up memory without digging through Activity Monitor and manually shutting down apps.

All you have to do is click the CleanMyMac X icon, select Free Up in the memory pane, and the app takes care of the rest! Oftentimes, it doesn't even shut apps down.

Free Up App Memory Mac

This is a quick fix, but CleanMyMac X takes it a step further in the app itself. Under the app's Maintenance section is an option to Free Up RAM, which helps you clear RAM on Mac. Once you've got this option selected, simply select Run at the bottom of the window, and CleanMyMac X will do a thorough scrubbing of your Mac's RAM, and clear unused files out of the way.

How to get rid of low memory notifications

Most apps are pretty good about how they use your Mac's resources. Having too many open or running in the background can severely limit what your Mac can handle, and is often why a Mac overheats or slows down.

Below we list a few tips to reduce high memory usage manually if you're experiencing unique warnings or issues.

Fix kernel_task, a high CPU usage bug

You may have noticed through Activity Monitor something called kernel_task absorbing a large amount of processing power. One of the functions of kernel_task is to help manage CPU temperature; you may find that your Mac fan is loud and always on, even if the device isn't hot to the touch.

That's because kernel_task usually performs this way when one or more applications are trying to use too much CPU. Unfortunately, one of the potential downsides is a Mac can overheat to such an extent that internal systems are damaged, sometimes irreparably.

Working through the following steps in this article is one way to avoid similar problems. If none of this work and kernel_task is still absorbing a high percentage of your CPU, then one or more of the following could be the cause:

Cooling system inefficiency
A failed or disconnected temperature sensor
Another hardware issue, including a worn out batter
Your System Management Controller needs a rest

If you're experiencing severe issues, Apple recommends a system management controller (SMC) reset. It's essentially a hard reset for your Mac, and should help your RAM and other hardware components start from scratch. Keep in mind you won't lose any data in this process.

Reduce memory usage in Finder

One common culprit for RAM issues is Finder, your Mac's file manager. If iStat Menus or Activity Monitor has highlighted Finder as using hun