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Why is my Mac running slow? 6 common culprits and their cures
Apple has been dishing out new M-series chips at lightning speeds, and is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. Just six months after we got a taste of the M3 chips in new Macs, Apple has already announced its M4 chip that's powering the new iPad Pro. It's only a matter of time until we get new MacBooks powered by the M4 chips, and you'll soon be longingly looking at Apple's website, planning an upgrade.
Truthfully, you don't have to fork out for a new MacBook frequently for performance improvements. Unless you're using one of the older Intel-powered Macs, your machine is plenty powerful and all you really need to do is change a few settings and perform some quick troubleshooting to speed it up. So if you're worried about your Mac not being as fast as the newer models or if you're genuinely wondering why your Mac is so slow, then read on to find some answers along with convincing ways to speed things up.
Your Mac software is not up-to-date
Never ignore software updates
It's no secret that macOS handles general updates better than Windows, but you still need to update your Mac regularly in order to ensure it performs optimally as intended. Failing to perform regular software updates for both macOS and the apps that are installed on your Mac may lead to poor overall performance. Thankfully, a quick software update can fix this issue, so head to System Settings > General > Software Update to see if there's an update to install on your Mac. Updating the apps that are installed on your Mac is just as important, so open the App Store on your Mac and click on Updates to check if there are any pending updates.
Apps that you may have purchased outside of the App Store need to be updated separately, so keep that in mind.
You haven't restarted your Mac in a while
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"
Very few topics in the tech space cause more arguments than the one about "shutting down or putting your Mac to sleep". It's an age-old topic, which still, surprisingly, keeps popping up frequently. While it used to be recommended that a computer should be kept on to prevent wear and tear of hard drives, that's no longer the case. There are no benefits to leaving your Mac on as opposed to shutting it down at night or when it's not in use. In fact, there are a number of advantages to shutting down your Mac as it allows macOS to have a clean slate to use swap files i.e., using spaces on your storage as virtual memory. Restarting your Mac also clears caches and shuts down the applications hogging its memory.
You're not paying attention to app activity
Don't leave unnecessary apps running in the background
Having too many applications running simultaneously can also slow down your Mac significantly. It is true that Apple's new M-series chips are powerful enough to handle all your demanding applications, but there are only so many applications they can handle simultaneously. It is important to monitor your app activity and close any unwanted apps that are running in the background. This is particularly crucial in case you haven't shut down your Mac in a while, as your Mac may continue devoting CPU usage and RAM to programs that you may not have used recently.
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It may be time for a quick clean up
Having free space on your Mac is crucial as macOS demands some storage space to write and read swap files. It is never a good idea to completely fill your SSD, so free up some space for macOS by offloading large or unwanted files. From compressing files to deleting unwanted apps and their data, there are plenty of simple and easy ways to free space on your Mac, so it is recommended that you take the necessary actions and let macOS breathe with some free storage space.
You have too many programs opening at startup
Don't let unwanted apps launch at startup
Having all your important applications launch automatically when you start your Mac is a useful feature. That being said, it can be a huge culprit that's slowing down your Mac as other applications that you don't want to launch at startup can use the feature and launch automatically when you log in. It's important to keep tabs on the programs that are installed on your Mac and prevent them opening when you power your Mac on to avoid slowing it down. You can head to System Settings > General > Login Items to add or remove apps from startup.
Your Mac is frequently syncing to iCloud
Avoid storing large documents or change
As a Mac user, there's a good chance that you use iCloud to sync files across multiple desktops or use it to sync your photos to iCloud Photos. While it's completely fine to use iCloud, you just have to keep an eye on your cloud syncs, as your Mac may suffer slowdowns while your system syncs in the background. This particular issue isn't specific to Macs, as cloud storage syncs often bogs down plenty of devices, including Windows laptops, phones, etc.
Your Mac is more powerful than you think
Unless you are putting up with an outdated, age-old Mac that's dying to be retired in favor of a new Mac, then you should have no issues speeding up things on your Mac. As you can tell, a lot of things can slow down your Mac and bring it down to its knees, so it's important to ensure you have complete control over the macOS software and the apps that are installed on it. Of course, you can do a clean install of macOS or ditch your existing Mac for a new one, but they should only be treated as last resorts, in my opinion, as there are plenty of ways to speed up your Mac.
