Gaming isn’t the first thing that people relate to Mac. Apple’s MacBook is built for designers and is typically known for its sleek design and powerful hardware. But while the system can handle resource-intensive designing apps and programs, it lacks when it comes to running high-definition games. Windows is a clear winner in this category.
So can you not play any games on your Mac? That’s not entirely true either. Recently, Tim Milet, Apple vice president of platform architecture, said the company loves the idea of creating Macs for intense gamers. The company’s embrace of PC gaming is riding on the strengths of their M1 processor, and they’re keen on entering the gaming space. Until then, here’s what you can do to boost the Mac you already have and make it gaming-ready.
Change your Mac’s system settings
Start optimizing your Mac for gaming by looking at the system settings. You need to disable the macOS feature you don’t need or don’t use regularly. Dashboard and Notification Center are on top of the list because these can use a lot of important resources that could be used elsewhere.
You can disable them by following commands in Terminal:
- To disable Notification Center, enter launchctl unload -w/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
- killall NotificationCenter helps to kill Notification Center
- killall Dock helps to restart Finder
- defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -Boolean Yes to disable the Dashboard
If you wish to bring back the Dashboard or Notification Center, you can use the commands:
- launchctl unload -w/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist to enable the Notification Center.
- defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -Boolean NO; killall Dock to enable the Dashboard.
Lower CPU usage to speed up your Mac
Nowadays, gaming tends to be more CPU-oriented. So if you can optimize your Mac by quitting the unnecessary apps and processes, you can speed up your system. If you’re wondering how to reduce CPU usage, you can control it from the Activity Monitor.
As you remove the resource-hogging apps and programs, you get to reduce the CPU usage on unnecessary apps and use it for your games.
Free hard disk space
Hard drive space is crucial when it comes to gaming, even though it is mostly ignored. Since Macs are already shipped with limited SSD storage, it is important to free up space as games are being made with increasing file sizes and data requirements. If your hard drive gets too full, the lack of space will result in slowing down the system. So ensure to set aside some extra space if you wish to play games on your Mac. The space requirement might change, but it is good to keep as much free space as possible.
If your system is slowing down, you can remove all the junk data and the non-essential programs from your Mac. You can delete large files from your downloads folder and other unnecessary large files.
Deactivate the startup applications
Have you ever tried to immediately start a game after starting up your Mac? You know it can easily backfire. If your system isn’t ready and there are multiple apps automatically starting on startup, you need to wait before doing anything else. By disabling some of the startup items, you can ease your system’s burden.
It would help if you headed toward the Tools portion of the apps and selected Startup. Then, you can delay or delete the number of background utilities and programs, and you can even delete or disable the non-varieties through System Preferences.
De-stress your RAM
Apps, games, and system tasks use a lot of RAM and processing power. If you want to play a game, you might need to close some applications to ensure the best gaming performance. Head toward the Activity Monitor to see how much RAM each application is using.
Keep your desktop clean
If you have a busy desktop, it can slow down your Mac. So if you have screenshots, photos, or documents strewn everywhere on your system’s desktop, ensure to put them in specific folders and clear the clutter on the desktop. A de-cluttered desktop speeds up the Mac and boosts the gaming experience.
So, these are a few quick ways to accentuate your Mac gaming experience. Until Apple starts developing computers for intense gamers, these hacks will help you play your favorite games. But even with these optimization techniques, only casual gamers can make the most of their system.