MacBook computers, like any computer, need unused RAM and hard drive space to function efficiently.
Brian Kersey/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Mac computers are famous for their quick start-up speeds, swift application load times and overall fast performance. This does not mean, however, that Mac computers are completely devoid of speed issues. If your MacBook computer has been running slowly, there are a number of issues that could be causing the slowdown.
Overfilled Hard Drive
The amount of data stored on a MacBook's hard drive is one of the main contributors to its overall performance speed. Click on the "Apple" icon on the computer's task bar and select the "About This Mac" option. In the "About This Mac" window, click the "More Info..." button to bring up the "System Profiler" application. Click the "Serial-ATA" option beneath the "Hardware" subheading to view the details of your MacBook's hard drive. Note the value next to the "Capacity" subheading and the value next to the "Available" subheading. Divide the "Available" amount of the hard drive by the "Capacity" amount to determine the percentage of the hard drive available. If the amount of space available on your computer is 10 percent or less, you may be experiencing considerable slowdown due to an overfilled hard drive. Go through your computer and delete some files or transfer the files to an external memory storage device to speed up your MacBook's performance.
Damaged Disk Permissions
Sometimes, a MacBook computer can run slowly if the disk permissions for one or several files has been damaged or modified in some way. To check the computer's disk permissions, open the Finder window and click on the "Applications" folder. From here, click the "Utilities" folder, followed by the "Disk Utility" icon. Select your MacBook's hard drive and click the "Verify Disk Permissions" option. Allow several minutes for the verification process to finish. Once the Disk Utility is finished verifying the permissions, it will give you status report on the computer's disk permission. If any of the permissions need repair, click the "Repair Disk Permissions" option to repair them. Allow several minutes for the repair process to finish.
Application Overload
Another reason that a MacBook computer may be running slowly is because of an application overload. All computers, regardless of operating system, use RAM when accessing data stored on the computer's hard drive. If too many applications are running at once and too much RAM is being used, less RAM is available to ensure that the computer is running smoothly. Click the "Apple" icon on the computer's task bar and select the "Force Quit..." option. Here, you will be presented with a list of all of the applications running on the computer. If there is an application running that you are not using, highlight it and click the "Force Quit" button to quit the application and free up the RAM it was using.
Hidden Applications
If your system has ample hard drive space, the disk permissions have been verified and repaired and there are no extra visible applications running that are using your RAM, it could be that there are hidden applications that may be siphoning your RAM. To determine if this is the case, or if an application you are using is using too much RAM, open the Finder window, click the "Applications" folder, followed by the "Utilities" folder and launch the "Activity Monitor" application. In the Activity Monitor window, click the "System Memory" tab to view the system memory being used. The window will display the "Free," "Wired," "Active" and "Inactive" memory. If your "Active" memory is close to your total available RAM, scroll through the list of processes running to determine the cause. To quit a process and free up its RAM, highlight the process and click the "Quit Process" button
References
Photo Credits
- Brian Kersey/Getty Images News/Getty Images
