Anyone else have performance issues on a MacBook M2 with Chrome? I stupidly didn't get enough ram (8GB) and you can't upgrade after the fact. Memory usage is super high and I think it's mostly chrome stuff. I guess just use Safari?
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
I have the Mac mini M2 and I was using Chrome initially but have switched to Firefox and am quite pleased with it. I think it's less of a resource hog overall.
Next stop for right to repair, should be right to upgrade, where soldered ram is banned. That and mandating memory card slots for mobile phones. Manufacturers getting rid of/not even having option on both fronts was a huge cash grab
I have not explicitly had experience with M2. But in general with M1 mini and other recent Mac OSX upgrades have found a need to sometimes avoid chrome for memory issues. Also, can try to occaisionally close down all Chrome and soft reboot to fully restart memory.
At the point all of the browsers are actually fairly efficient handling memory management, taking into account the insane bloat they have to render. The problem is the websites themselves which are incredibly inefficient with the way they are coded and the way everyone has agreed things should work.
I had huge performance problems on Chrome that I finally tracked down to Adblock Plus. Plenty of alternatives out there now (like PrivacyBadger or uBlock Origin).
Anyone dumb enough to buy an Apple product deserves what they get. Windows/Dell baby. Many feel your pain Chris.
Oh ya their phones suck also, Samsung Galaxy kicks all ass.
Dell makes the worst fucking laptops in the world and has been doing so for thirty years. Only machine I’ve ever seen overheat and kill itself /while asleep/.
I have an older (2017) macbook pro so idk how useful this is, but i use an app called "memory clean 2". It helps clean ram that isn't being used. The new macbooks have this dynamic memory thing that's supposed to use your ssd temporarily for excess ram. Maybe a SW update will help with that?
I tried Chrome years ago on a computer with enough “stuff” to run 3D animation software and it was horrible. Just horrible. I never tried it again. So, yes. I just use Safari. Sometimes I use Firefox if some website absolutely glitches (extremely rare). Plus I like what Safari offers.
Check your disk space usage as well -- one of the reasons the Apple Silicon systems shipped with small memory amounts is that the SSDs in those things are *fast*, and virtual memory covered a lot of sins that way.
Try Firefox! But, realistically, 8GB of RAM just isn't enough for anything but very basic usage these days, and Apple should have known that when they sold you a $1200 laptop. The M4 laptops are coming in a month, and you should definitely upgrade to something with at least 16GB.
8GB isn't enough in the modern age IMHO. Especially if you like having 20+ tabs open all the time like me 🙂
Try disabling Chrome running in the background. Settings ->Advanced > System. Toggle off "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed." Will free some memory when closed
Chrome is really crappy on this from. Safari is the most clearly reliable, but if you’re looking to still use Chrome extensions, I’ve been using a browser called Orion that’s built on the same engine as Safari. A few bugs here and there, but I’d recommend it.
You shouldn't have problems even w/Chrome with that setup, but as several have said downthread, Chrome is a bad idea anyway, and is also a memory hog. Safari is more secure, faster, and better with RAM.
This was a huge QoL improvement for me (using it on Thorium rn though). Unloads tabs from memory after a while, can whitelist specific sites/tabs to keep them in memory. ymmv
I've got an iMac with the M1 chip, 8 GB RAM. Firefox works well with no performance issues, and I frequently have multiple tabs open at once, sometimes as many as a dozen (or so) tabs at once.
yeah Chrome is unfortunately a notorious memory hog, I err on the side of Too Much RAM every time I get a new computer because I am one of those people who keeps hundreds of tabs open
Chrome has been having more issues across all M series Macs recently, even with pros with 32GB or Ram. I just finally gave up and use Safari and have 1000 tabs open with no issues.
Yeah, Chrome has become so bloated that it is close to useless on some machines. Another browser is going to be your best bet, although I would look at some of the other alternatives since there are a few that more closely emulate Chrome
yeah, it's unfortunately the one place where the 8GB apple silicon laptops can struggle. safari is better, but mostly you've got to close your tabs regularly. but hey, new laptops soon which means decent trade-in offers from apple!
Maybe you have a lot of programs running in the background? The Utility application will show you what's running, and how much bandwidth is being used. (Finder Window>Applications>Utilities). You can force-quit anything running from the Utility app. Also, helps to close running server tabs.
I don’t know if all of the stuff is still true on this but it has made me steer clear of chrome ever since. https://Chromeisbad.com I deinstalled chrome on my (at the time 5 year old) MacBook Pro and it ran like new.
From what I've found, yeah. It manages tabs differently in the background—Chrome will keep the majority of tabs loaded/partially loaded and it slows things down, while Arc is better at putting open-but-not-used tabs to sleep. I can have 200+ tabs open and it's nbd to Arc
Granted, I don't use Apple laptops or phones, but if they won't upgrade you after the fact, there are a lot of people that I'm sure can do it for you, takes about 5 minutes to swap out the DIMMs on a standard laptop (unless there is something crazy about macbooks I'm not aware of).
Comments
Did you look at your Activity Monitor app to see what’s using the memory? I’m no expert, but maybe check your Chrome settings and switch off all the AI stuff.
Possibly helpful?:
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reduce-chrome-memory-cpu-usage/
Number one problem on the Macs I troubleshoot is Chrome.
.
8gb is crazy low for 2024
Oh ya their phones suck also, Samsung Galaxy kicks all ass.
You should not be in this conversation.
Uninstalling chrome and keystone fixed this for me.
I use Safari and then Brave if I need chromium
Details at:
https://chromeisbad.com/
Try disabling Chrome running in the background. Settings ->Advanced > System. Toggle off "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed." Will free some memory when closed
I’ve been using Safari since it came out, and it’s never steered me wrong.
https://www.howtogeek.com/875320/chrome-memory-saver-mode/
This warning is from 17 September:
If you’re open to switching to Safari or Firefox, that’s the simplest solution.
Having them on the side fits with their multiple-spaces/profiles approach to work with tabs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVZZv1ygNP8
Well, that negates everything I just said, lol