To view Mac memory usage, you can use the following methods: 1. Use Activity Monitor to view memory usage details and close the high memory usage program; 2. Quickly view memory overview through Finder or Apple menu; 3. Run the top, vm_stat, or htop commands in the terminal to obtain detailed information; if memory is insufficient, you can close the background application, reduce browser tabs, use lightweight software, or increase physical memory (if supported).
It is actually quite straightforward to check memory usage on Mac. The key is to find the right method and suit your usage habits. Whether you want to check the cause of the lag or simply want to see the system resource usage, the following methods can come in handy.

Use Activity Monitor to view memory usage
This is the most common and intuitive way. Open "Applications" → "Utilities" → Double-click "Activity Monitor", and in the "Memory" tab at the top, you can see:
- Currently used memory and total memory
- Memory usage of each application
- Memory usage trend chart
Here you can also sort by memory usage to find out which program is "eating memory". If an application takes up a lot of memory but you don't use it, just select → click the fork in the upper right corner and close it.

Quickly view memory overview through "Findor"
If you just want to roughly see the system status, this method is faster:
- Open "Findor"
- Click "Go to Folder" in the top menu bar
- Enter
/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/
to open "Activity Monitor" (can also be opened directly here)
But an easier way is: click the Apple icon in the upper left corner ? → "About this Mac" → "Memory" tab. Here you can see the total memory and installed memory stick information, which is suitable for friends who want to confirm how much memory is installed on their Mac.

Use terminal commands to view detailed memory information
If you like to use the command line or want to obtain more detailed information, you can use the terminal. Open Terminal and enter one of the following commands:
-
top
: Real-time viewing of memory and CPU usage -
vm_stat
: Displays memory usage statistics, the unit is a page, and needs to be converted (4096 bytes/page) -
htop
(need to install): a more intuitive third-party tool than top
For example, when using vm_stat
, you can cooperate with some calculations to see the information of active memory, free memory, etc. Although it looks a bit complicated, it is suitable for advanced users.
What to do if there is not enough memory? Simple way to deal with it
If you often experience tight memory, you can try these:
- Close uncommonly used background applications
- Clean up browser tabs, especially memory users like Chrome
- Use lightweight alternatives, such as replacing Chrome with Safari
- Increase physical memory (if supported by Mac)
Some Macs cannot add memory by themselves, so you have to consider it when buying them.
Basically these are the methods, just choose one that you can do. For example, the "activity monitor" is enough for daily inspections, and advanced users can play with the terminal. The key is that you have to know where to look and how to look at it. Don’t wait until it gets stuck before you remember to check it.
The above is the detailed content of how to check memory usage on Mac. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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