Mac computers are becoming more and more popular for many reasons. These computers are great for both work and entertainment, including gaming. The speed and durability of Macs is something most gamers are looking for.
However, as great Macs can be, they need regular maintenance work, just like any other electronic device. Thus if you want to be enjoying the best gaming experience on your Mac, you need to take proper care of it.
Therefore, to help you improve and optimize your gaming experience on a Mac, today, in this blog post, we will share some tips about taking care of your Mac, increasing its speed, preventing lagging, and much more.
Tip #1: Clean the Desktop
A cluttered desktop will slow down your Mac. This happens because to display each icon on your screen; Mac needs to use system resources. Therefore, the more files you will keep on your desktop, the slower your computer will perform.
Instead, place these files in folders. Also, you can use a special feature to organize a truly messy desktop. First, go to your desktop and click View from the top menu bar. Then, choose the option Use Stacks. It will sort the files on your desktop by their file type.
Tip #2: Check the Storage Space
As Macs come with pretty small hard drives, they can fill up very quickly. It can have a negative effect on your gaming experience because if your Mac has less than 10% of free disk space, it will become slow and begin to underperform.
Thus you should regularly check the storage space data. To do so, you need to click the Apple icon from the upper menu bar, then click the About This Mac option, and finally, go to the Storage tab. Once you are in the storage menu, you might have to wait a bit until the data is calculated.
Tip #3: Make More Disk Space
If, after checking the storage space, you have figured out that you already have less than 10% free storage space, then you have some cleaning up to do. First of all, start by uninstalling apps you no longer need. When checking the storage data, you probably noticed how much disk space is taken up by apps alone.
Secondly, start removing large files. You can either find them manually, look for some large installation files in the Downloads folder, or open the same Storage menu, click Manage, and enable the feature called Reduce Clutter. It will navigate you through large files that you may want to delete.
Tip #4: Empty the Trash Bin Often
Even if you have deleted tens of gigabytes of files from your computer, you may notice that the speed of your Mac has not increased even a little bit. This is because the files that you have deleted are still stored in the Trash Bin, which is basically the same thing as you have never deleted them.
To help you with that, you can enable a feature that will automatically remove the items from your Trash Bin after 30 days of their original deletion. However, it would be best for you to form a healthy habit and empty the Trash Bin every single time you finish using the computer for the day.
Tip #5: Keep Your Mac Updated
It is important that you always keep the macOS updated if you want to have an enjoyable gaming experience on your Mac. If you have not updated your Macbook for some time, it is likely that once you want to install a new game, you will experience multiple errors.
Also, Apple is always working on improving the performance and security of its devices; thus, if you skip the updates, you will be missing on the performance improvements as well. More to it, the security enhancements are essential to keep you protected from viruses and malware. Once you skip an update, you can find it in System Preferences.
Tip #6: Choose a Cooling Pad
If you are living in a hot environment, you should look into the idea of installing a proper air conditioning system or invest in a cooling pad. The maximum temperature at which a Mac can perform optimally is 35° C, and you need to remember that when you are gaming, the computer itself will generate a lot of heat.
Gaming in a hot environment without a cooling pad will likely end up in your Mac overheating, which will also interfere with your gaming experience. Mac will focus all of its resources to cool down; therefore, the overall performance will drop significantly.
Tip #7: Use Activity Monitor
In those cases when your Mac usually performs well, but sometimes the speed and performance of the computer just drop, make sure you check the CPU tab in the Activity Monitor.
Most likely, some resource-hungry applications are running in the background and using up the system’s resources. If you can, close these apps and, later on, maybe consider uninstalling them and looking for alternative options.