

One of those menus has a ‘Memory’ section which quickly tells you exactly how much RAM is being used, and how much is free. Each widget has a drop-down menu with more data, including things like which apps are using the most computational power on your Mac. IStat Menus lives in your Mac’s menu bar, with widgets that quickly tell you how your Mac is performing. It helps answer that age-old question ‘how much memory do i need’ without all the guess work.

But there’s a better way to check and manage your RAM’s use.Īn app named iStat Menus is a great way to monitor your Mac’s performance is real time, including your RAM use.

This is a basic way to check your RAM – and that’s fine! It tells you in short order how much RAM you have on your device. This tells you how much writable space you have for apps, files, folders and other things.) To find that, repeat the first two steps above, then navigate to the ‘Storage’ heading. (Keep in mind RAM is not how much memory you have to save files. As we can see below, this Mac has 16GB RAM. Where you see the term ‘Memory’ is the amount of RAM you have on your computer. On your Mac’s menu bar, click the Apple logo.But it’s not! The most basic way to do it through your Mac’s menu. When you need to know how to see how much RAM you have, it can feel daunting. It’s like a craftsman with a small work bench! To do another task, they have to first clear their small desk or bench instead of just working on the new project at a different spot on their work bench. This is why computers with less RAM feel sluggish your computer has less room to process your commands, so even the simplest task take a while. RAM is also used when you do anything on-device, like navigate to folders or files. When you end the program or game, your RAM is cleared of the data associated with the game. If you were playing a game or running some intensive program, your computer will be writing, rewriting, and overwriting data on your computer’s RAM the entire time. Think of RAM as though it were your computer’s work bench in a shop it’s where it places all its necessary tools, and works on projects. The data on your RAM can be written and rewritten quickly, and the data is only meant to be held on your RAM while a task is being performed. The RAM on your device is there so your CPU or GPU can run programs or games. RAM acts like temporary memory space only your computer can access. Try free ✕ What is RAM and how does it work?Īs we noted above, RAM means ‘Random Access Memory,’ but what does that mean?
