How to Improve your Macintosh Performance

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There are plenty of things that users can adopt to boost the performance of their Macintosh machines. For sure, there is no way to make older system new, but it is absolutely possible to improve the performance of your MacBook with the help of some generous Mac reviews. Sometimes, it only takes hard drive cleaning, and other time, hardware and software upgrading can do the trick. It is lot easier than you think to optimize your Mac’s performance. Here are some important tips that could be of some great help to you.

Keep your Macintosh clean
Mac OS X always requires 20% free space on hard drive, so that there is enough space for virtual memory and temporary files. If there is low space, your Mac will slow down. It’s best to keep large sized files like movies and image galleries on secondary or external storage devices.

Use fast hard drives
Usually, the standard hard drives that come along portable Macintosh are 5,400 rpm. Data processing time depends on the speed of hard drive spin. Faster spinning speeds can retrieve data in less time. Replacing your standard hard drive with a 10,000 or 15,000 drive will put a positive impact on overall speed of data processing.

Replace your RAM
RAM plays a vital role in the performance of any system, whether it’s PC or Macintosh. Mac OS X usually requires 1GB of memory to run efficiently. The more RAM you have, the more will be the performance. An upgrade to 2GB RAM would be good enough to improve the performance of your Mac. With a 2GB RAM, you can easily do heavy work in Photoshop and GarageBand.

Streamline Login items
There are applications that generally run automatically as your log on. Some of them are desirable, but some not. You may want iChat to run when you are logged on your PC, but other applications might be unnecessary and slow down your Macintosh. Disable them by going to Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. This won’t create any problem, even if it does, you can add it back by going back to the same menu.

Only run your desired applications
Applications run on system resources like RAM, hard drive and processor cycles. When you’re done using any program, simply close it or else it will become a resource hog. Some programs while running use more and more RAM that ultimately slow down speed of the system. You can use Activity Monitor feature in the Utilities section to see, which program is using more resources.

Be selective in installing applications
Don’t install too many applications. Only install the ones that are of use to you. Installation of many unnecessary apps results in clutter and extra space. Most of the programs add themselves to startup items. You may not use them regularly, but they will automatically run at start up. You can uninstall such programs by using an uninstaller.

Keep your Mac updated with latest technology
Keep yourself updated with Apple releases. Every new version of Mac OS X is better and faster than the previous one. This exactly is the case with software and drivers installed on your Macintosh. You can update software and drivers with the help of Software Update. For third party software, update them from their websites. Utilization of proper information will be of great help to you.