MacBook Pros were not built to run slow – quite the contrary. They are sleek, elegant, but most of all, they are efficient computers, which have been perpetually optimized to withstand the test of time at maximum efficiency. So what can you do if your MacBook Pro is running slow? Luckily, you’ve got several solutions you can test out, such as the three tips and tricks we’re featuring below. Check them out and let us know in the comment section if any of them helped solve your problem.
All MacBook Pros come with an inbuilt System Management Controller, which is, indeed, responsible for a lot of the computing power you’ve got under the hood. As the name suggests, it is that hardware function that will control your system and make it run – whether properly or not. Now, if you’re not the technical type, you might be a bit anxious about acting upon a function called ‘system management controller’. For the purpose of this discussion, all you need to know is that you would not be inflicting any permanent damage to your MacBook Pro or the proper functioning of its system. You need to turn the machine off, make sure it’s plugged in, then hold Left Shift, Option, Control and the Power Button all at the same time, for ten seconds. Release the keys and turn on the machine. In case it turns on as you’re holding the keys pressed down, you probably didn’t manage to keep them all properly pressed, so you need to start over.
Your apps might be resource-hogs
As you may well know, not all Mac apps are created equal – some are more efficient, while others can turn into absolute resource hogs. If your MacBook Pro is running slow, apps might very well be the reason, so one of the tests you need to run is check to see how much of your processor each app is using up. You can find stats on processor usage on your MacBook Pro in the Activity Monitor, which is located in the Utilities section of your Application Folder. The monitor displays various CPU usage statistics, but the one you are most interested in, as far as app efficiency goes is the % Idle stat. This statistic should not be below 50-60% per cent at all times – and if it is, you should take it as a hint that some of the apps you have installed are not doing your machine any good. You can easily identify those that you would be better off without via the same Activity Monitor and should also uninstall them as soon as possible.
Using any pointless features?
By and large, MacBook Pros are recognized for their efficiency, which, of course, makes it all the more frustrating to discover that your MacBook Pro is running slow. As you try to figure out the reason for which this is happening, you might unearth some features that your machine is using that you really have no need for, such as Spotlight Search. What newbie OS X users usually don’t know is that the operating system comes with an inbuilt search engine, which indexes all he data on your hard drive. Of course, this can be very useful when you change file systems, perform an update on your system, or even when you connect a portable storage device or another hard drive. This can become particularly unnerving if you’re using an HDD, not an SDD on your MacBook Pro. Luckily, Spotlight indexing is easy to deactivate, as it shows whether or not it’s active in the search engine’s menu, in the upper right corner of the screen.