The Apple MacBook Air is one of the best laptops for engineering students. It is a thin and light laptop that offers great performance and has a long battery life. Engineering students often have to push their laptops further than students in other fields because of the programs they rely on.
The software they use is resource-intensive. It’s essential for them to optimize their MacBook for best performance. Here is some advice from engineers on Macbook optimization.
Clean up system files and documents
We all have heard about optimizing the Mac. So what is optimizing your mac? One of the first steps is to clean up system files and documents to improve performance. Clearing up junk files and temporary data will help to solve issues such as reduced disk space and unresponsive applications.
If you press Command+F, select This Mac and then select Other from the drop-down menu, you can search for particular file types and delete them. Going through all your unwanted files can be time-consuming. There is software available that does the job automatically.
Run a MacOS system update
The system that runs on MacBooks is known for its stability and ease of use. If your macOS is outdated, it may not be able to handle all the apps you need to run as an engineering student. You need to make sure you’re up to date with your software. To check for updates:
- Open the menu and go to System Preferences>Software Update. Wait while the Mac checks for updates.
- Click Update Nowif an update is available.
- Make sure the Automatically keep my Mac up to datebox is selected.
When you use the latest version of the operating system, it will run fast. You will have the latest security patches and fewer problems that can affect performance.
Speed up startup time
Your MacBook Air could be slow when you boot up due to unnecessary startup programs. If you disable Mac startup programs, this means you will have fewer processes running in the background.
- Open the menu and go to System Preferences> Users & Groups.
- Click Login Items.Select anything you don’t need on startup and click the Minus Icon.
- LaunchDemonsand LaunchAgents are installed apps that launch automatically. You can move them to trash if you don’t need them. Click Go in the menu bar and hold down the Option key on the keyboard. Click on the display item called Library and scroll until you see the apps.
Find and stop demanding processes
A demanding process can cause your Mac to slow down.
- Click Goin the menu bar, choose Utilities, and select Activity Monitor.
- Click the CPU tab and select % CPUto sort active processes by how much computer power they’re using.
- Ignore necessary system processes related to the macOS and focus on applications you’ve installed. They will have your user name in the User
- If processes are using more than 5 to 10% of CPU, you may want to stop them. Select the process, click X and choose Quitor Force Quit.
Remove any apps you don’t need
Removing any apps you don’t really need will give you more space. You start by sorting your apps by the date you last used them.
- Go to Finder> Applications. Click the Grid icon, and select Date Last Opened.
- Drag the apps you don’t use to the Trashand empty it. This means they won’t take up space and slow your MacBook down.
Upgrade RAM and upgrade from an HDD to an SSD
There’s a difference between an HDD and an SSD. If you upgrade to an SSD, you will move to a disk that can load data at speeds up to 3500 MB per second rather than 100 MB per second. Prices of SSDs have dropped, so it can be an affordable way to improve the speed of your MacBook.
If you add more RAM (random access memory), you will see a boost in performance. You can find out how to do this on Apple’s support pages for MacBooks.
Store high-resolution photos in the cloud
With your iPhone, you can easily upload your photos to your Mac. This can be a problem with memory capacity.
- Select Photosfrom the menu and select Preferences.
- Pick the iCloud tab from the box.
- Select Optimize Mac Storageto save your photos in standard resolution to your Mac. You can download the high res photos from iCloud when you need them.
Conclusion
As an engineer, a MacBook is a good option because it is equipped with powerful processors and graphics cards that can handle the demands of engineering software. However, you need to make sure your MacBook is optimized if you want maximum performance from it.