Mac Aid:
How to Speed Up My MacBook Pro?

The gold standard of portable performance computers, MacBook Pro is the choice of creators and professionals all over the globe. It has been for a while too. MacBook Pro had hit the shelves of Apple Store over a decade ago and rightfully earned users’ affection through the years. Its speed and power make it last and you often see Pro notebooks used years after release. Not all of them are in perfect shape however.

Why Is My MacBook Pro Running Slow?

There are only a few things that can cause MacBook Pro performance to fall short of expectations. Generally speaking, if you are not going for resource-demanding tasks like video editing, then your MacBook Pro from 2012 and up should be able to cope with it.

What can considerably bog down your computer, however, is full hard drive. Lack of free space on MacBook’s startup disk is a big deal. MacOS requires free space for doing its routine background tasks like keeping caches, temporary data, and using swap space. Your system also utilizes free storage to perform automatic maintenance scripts. None of those can be performed as intended when your startup disk is short of space. This results in a lack of performance stability, stutters and prolonged loading times accompanied with the spinning beach ball. It can also be an indication of a failing hard drive in general. Either way, you are looking at storage being among major reasons for unstable performance.

What Are the Best Ways to Clean MacBook Pro Storage?

Keeping sufficient free space on your hard drive is of paramount importance to your system. To talk numbers, aim to maintain 15-20% of your total drive capacity free. Depending on how you use your Mac and the size of its drive, different data can be taking up the space. Ideally, to figure out how to make more space available you will have to go over each of the ways listed below. So without any further ado, let’s get to it.

Manage Large & Medial Files

Reviewing big files stored locally on your Mac is probably one of those things often postponed. Yet, it has the potential of being both quick and rewarding way of cleaning up your startup disk. You can manage your files manually without the use of additional software, but first let’s look at the more convenient approach using MacFly Pro. First, you guessed it, download and install MacFly Pro. Go through basic setup and then head straight to Big Files scan to find all large files that haven’t been touched for over 30 days. Upon scan completion hit Review Files and pick the ones you want removed.

Second, check your Mac for duplicates. Even though these might not require as much space, there is no point in keeping unintentional file copies on your MacBook’s drive. Select Duplicates module and hit Scan. This will enable MacFly Pro to locate identical files on your Mac. You can then review them and manually select which are to be deleted.

Finding duplicates manually is a pain in the neck and is all-around not recommended. However, you can use macOS Smart Folder to find large files on your MacBook.

Open Finder, click on File in the Menu bar and select New Smart Folder. Next, within the popped up window choose File Size and is greater than in your filters. Then simply choose the file size and you’re good to go. You can also choose to display results based on Date Last Opened for added convenience.

Uninstall Rarely Used Applications

Apps take space, and quite a bit sometimes. Typically, there are at least a few apps just sitting on a Mac without being used at all. This is especially relevant to native Apple applications. These can be deleted without any hesitation as reinstalling them through App Store is completely free and can be done at any time.

Much like with big files, you can approach the task differently. Either uninstall them yourself by dragging the application to Trash or follow an even easier route and use MacFly Pro. Run the application and open Apps module. The Apps feature checks up on all the applications you currently have installed and groups them based on last used time. When reviewing the scan results you can also choose multiple applications at the same time and uninstall in bulk. Pretty handy.

If you want to make some extra space available, consider performing System and Leftovers scan in MacFly Pro. Using these features helps clear cache, unused language data, and left behind application files.

What to Do If Clearing MacBook Pro Didn’t Help?

Depending on what kind of issues you’re experiencing, there is still a number of things that can be done. In fact, if it’s your browser that’s slowing down, then clearing cache & cookies resolves most issues, but if the drop in performance occurs during multitasking, then your MacBook Pro is likely lacking in RAM. Here are a couple of additional suggestions on how to fix your slow MacBook Pro.

Update macOS

Installing latest firmware available for your MacBook Pro often solves a list of known software & security issues. Open Apple Menu > About This Mac and select Software update or go directly to App Store > Updates to see if your macOS version is up to date.

If you are already running the latest version and know that your hardware is intact, then a clean install is recommended.

Upgrade HDD to SSD

Opting for a faster drive will result in improvement of loading times and general read/write speed. You will clean install the latest OS version in the process of swapping the drive too, so it’s a win-win situation.

Install Additional Memory

If you happen to own a MacBook Pro model that supports upgradable RAM, it’s another good option to consider. Installing more memory on your MacBook will have a positive effect on its multitasking capabilities.

There is really that much you can do when it comes to MacBook Pro optimization. Even the giant in the world of performance notebooks isn’t immune to losing relevance with the flow of time. Keep your software up to date and your MacBook clean to make the most of its performance.