So, even in today's world decades post information revolution, I'm destined just to live with this?

Not necessarily. I'd check with the application developers first to see if they've encountered the same issue and have a fix or workaround for it. If it's a common application in the field, you shouldn't be the only one to be experiencing the issue (regardless of platform). It could be something that just needs a bit of tweaking (eg, the resource reservations I mentioned earlier). If they haven't encountered the issue before, then it brings it up on their radar and they might research into what's causing the issue. I brought up the SQL issue because what you describe (more resources being consumed and not released until a reboot is performed) is exactly what I've encountered in previous cases. The issue might not be exactly the same, but it could be similar. If the issue is happening in your Windows VM and under MacOS, then it's likely not an OS issue so it's higher up in the structure (so application or data layers). Getting new hardware isn't likely to resolve the issue if it is one of the two layers above. It might allow you to operate longer, but it doesn't address it. I'm not saying don't get new hardware (we all love our toys) but it's not necessarily going to immediately resolve the problem.

One other thing. Reboots might seem to be a hassle (trust me, I hear complaints about it all the time...we see similar threads in this sub as well). But they're necessary (even if the issue is resolved on your end for example). They refresh system resources and also allow security updates to critical files that cannot be updated while the system is up. Doesn't matter what OS you're using. (another debate for another time). At least it's just one box. When you hit enterprise clusters, it's three or more boxes and you have to be very careful, otherwise you can corrupt data very badly.

This. Unfortunately for me, I'll probably never buy a Mac again, unless and until they go back to Intel (CISC) chipsets. I'm a fan of RISC (ARM) but much of my dev work is in still in the windows space. And almost all of my customers (manufacturing) are still mostly windows shops. So I bought the most pimped out version of the last Intel MBP I could before AAPL sunsetted them. If my Mac gets too old, I'll get a Linux Intel laptop and just run windows in a VM. I'll miss some of the cool integrations like iMessage, notes, calendar, reminders, etc., but I won't mind having a fully customizable linux desktop.

The above is one of the primary reasons I'd just prefer to remain in the Mac ecosystem, at least for the things I do work on. It's just so much easier to reply via iMessage on a Macbook than having to grab my phone/iPad when using a PC based computer.

Linux running VM Windows is probably a good option, if you have some legacy software that *only* runs on the Windows environment, which has been virtually the case my entire life. I'm just hoping I can just get rid of them.

Just as an FYI, for those who are still debating about the M2 MBP and Mac Mini, a lot more coverage has come online as reviewers have received their units (I guess Apple doesn't like YouTube reviewers)... One of the more prolific channels has lots of good info... so thought I'd post the channel here.

https://www.youtube.com/@MaxTechOfficial

Thanks! The Mac Mini seems like a pretty darn good deal.

I think so. Likely to pick up a pro version. I need something for my home lab. Tired of asking teammates to set up stuff when I want to test scan for vulnerabilities against a Mac.

At my old job we fumbled testing some things on Apple Silicon because the MySQL configuration we copied over to the M1 Mac minis assumed 32GB of memory available to MySQL on machines with only 8GB of RAM total.

Yeah, I don't think that would end well. Would probably destroy the SSD as well.

Fortunately the machine ground to a near stand-still rather than swapping itself to death but we could shut it down over SSH.

That would have been an interesting conversation with Apple Enterprise Support though.

I use a piece of twinwall polycarb to sit my mac on... it stops your knees getting hot and the computer stays cool! it is light as a feather and fits in my bag with the computer.