[mulcahey]

Here is an example thread of many users experiencing resource utilization issues with various root causes:

https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/3499

Some root causes have been addressed. If they are significantly changing the architecture with the Apple Silicon rollout, I'm very much looking forward to see if that improves things!

[TimTheTinker]

Docker for Mac is a really bad resource hog for devs at my company. It's a common refrain that comes up again and again.

We build a SaaS web app with a MERN stack deployed to AWS. Local development usually involves running about 12 containers.

Personally, I got fed up and installed Ubuntu 20.04 in Parallels and have been running the Docker containers there for several months. What a night and day difference... the entire VM sits at about 13% CPU when idling, whereas Docker for Mac would whine my fans at around 150% CPU continuously when idling, and spike up to 300+% when clicking around the app.

[ogre_codes]

I wasn't trying to argue the point about Docker being a resource hog! I've always run Docker on computers with lots of RAM or with fairly simple images (or both sometimes) so it's likely I've just dodged that bullet.