Those who own a Mac know — it’s a system that is as close to being failure-free as it gets. Sadly, Macs are not failure-proof and tend to lose some of their efficiency with the course of time. While at a certain point the need for an upgrade becomes inevitable, there is a number of things you can do to get the most of your Mac’s performance.
Reasons for Slow MacBook Performance
Your very first step towards curing the acquired sluggishness of your MacBook should be finding the source of the problem (or a list of sources for that matter). Let’s take a look at a few common causes that result in slow MacBook performance.
Lack of Free Storage
Fortunately, the most common reason of Mac being slow is lack of storage. What makes it fortunate is the fact that fixing the issue relatively easy. It is advised to keep at least 10% to 20% of your disk free at all times. This is an approximate number of course, as it will vary depending on the amount of RAM that you have installed and your total storage.
Macs require free drive space to operate decently. The absolute minimum would be 5GBs of free space at all times in order for OS X to install updates etc. MacOS also uses that storage as virtual memory to swap files. The amount used up by the OS will also vary based on the RAM installed. Which brings us to the next potential cause.
RAM Deficiency
Unlike the case with the storage, lack of RAM is harder to deal with. Mainly because not all Macs have upgradeable RAM slots. Most of latest MacBook lineups come with RAM soldered on to the logic board. That’s bad news for those of you stuck with older 2GB to 4GB versions, as RAM management will have to become your second nature if you don’t want your system performance bottlenecked by the lack of memory.
Troubles with Heat Absorption
The final issue (at least mentioned on this list) is heat problems. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that hardware components don’t do too good of a job when exposed to excessive heat. When put under stress temperature, there is only so much a CPU can take before throttling down until the heat is put away. This results in slower clock speeds and therefore lower performance. The reason behind it can be as simple as wrong laptop placement or dust.
How to Fix a Slow Mac
Now that the causes of why is Mac running very slow are determined, let’s have a rundown of ways to get your MacBook back in shape.
Free Up Disk Space
There is a number of ways how you can make more storage on your computer. Yet before you get to cleaning and uninstalling a bunch of stuff — check up on how much space you actually have. Click on Apple Menu > About this Mac > Storage to get an overview of what’s going on with your storage. You can also hit Manage… to access a few basic storage management options, but it’s likely safe to assume that you’ve already explored every tool provided. Now that you’ve got the numbers down, let’s get to cleaning.
Download MacFly Pro, that comes with a free trial, and run a comprehensive system scan from the Smart Assistant tab.
MacFly Pro will suggest a bunch of things that you can remove to make more room on your drive — it can be anything from unneeded localization data, to countless file duplicates spread all over your system. Remove as many files as you need from the list of suggestions. All of the files can be safely removed with no hard to your system. This is by far one of the easiest and quickest ways of freeing up disk space on Mac.
Manage Your RAM
If you are stuck with the non-upgradeable RAM, you best bet is on learning how to manage it. Launch Activity Monitor from the LaunchPad or using Spotlight and switch to the Memory tab.
This will be your bread and butter if you want to manage available memory manually. Whenever your Mac starts slowing down due to shortage of RAM, bring up Activity Monitor and start closing unused apps with the “X” button. This won’t solve all of your problems, but will definitely give your Mac an easier time.
Alternatively, you can take advantage of MacFly Pro that you’ve installed during the previous step. Scroll to the Cleaner section and run a Memory cleanup. This will offload all unused applications and processes from RAM without any harm to your data or system.
Prevent Overheating on Your Mac
There are a couple of reasons for Mac overheating, which, luckily, can be prevented with relative ease. Firstly, make sure you are not blocking the airflow on your laptop. This is often the case with soft surfaces, that cause MacBook to sink in and hinder the proper flow of air. To fix this, simply place your laptop on a hard even surface.
Secondly, commit to literal hardware cleanups. Cooling fans are constantly blowing air to ensure proper heat absorption. Unfortunately, that causes dust to be blown into the Mac body as well. When dust accumulates it start hindering the flow of air, which in return reduces the amount of heat absorbed and leads to overheating. In such case, it’s recommended to take your Mac to someone who knows what they are doing, but if you have the right tools and will to take on the challenge — you can lookup and follow step-by-step cleaning tutorials online. Thirdly, use certified Apple chargers that come with the product. Uncertified third-party accessories are known to have caused heat issues.
How to Speed Up Slow Mac and Maintain It Clean
It’s not just a matter of dealing with the “my Mac is slow” question, but getting your MacBook to run at the top of its capabilities at all times. To ensure that, you will have to maintain your Mac in clean condition. MacFly Pro, even more so its Smart Assistant, just happens to be the right fit for making that possible. What it does is it runs automated checkups and analyzes your computer to give you a heads up when it’s time to cleanup again. Simply run your first scan manually if you haven’t already (we’ve done that in previous steps) and Smart Assistant will take it from there. Enjoy a faster Mac. Please note, that if none of these tips have shown to bring a noticeable change, you should consider looking into hardware upgrades.