How to Optimize Playtime on Mac? – Complete Guide

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How to Optimize Playtime on Mac – There are almost 250 million people in this world who use Apple’s MacBook as their primary device for working and gaming. Mac has always been one of the best machines for work and study but lacks in the gaming zone. A God among technology and software companies, Apple has been trying its hardest to make Mac a complete machine for its users with each new update.

How to Optimize Playtime on Mac?

How to Optimize Playtime on Mac

According to Business Insider, in 2019, Apple had partnered with several independent video game creators to help them develop original games for Apple Arcade. This new subscription video game service will be playable on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. In addition, it will give subscribers access to more than 100 games on Apple’s iOS and macOS devices.

With these gradual upgrades and new technologies coming to the surface, you need some tweaking to turn your Mac into a gaming machine. Here are some ways to optimize your Mac for gaming:

  • Reducing Memory Usage 

The first thing you need to do to optimize your Mac for gaming is to check and reduce its memory usage. Empty your drive and clean your desktop clutter because games take up lots of space. It is super easy to clean your hard drive, and it will give your Mac a chance to breathe.

  • Upgrading the HDD or the SSD 

Hard drives play an essential role in loading your game faster, booting the system quickly, and improving the system tasks. It is best if you upgrade your HDD to an SSD. Learn the working mechanism of SSD and make sure you go for an SSD that can upgrade in the future and optimize your Mac further for gaming.

In Windows PC, NT File System or NTFS gives you better performance if you use your SSD to store games. You can also use NTFS drives on Mac. Click setapp.com to know more.

  • Checking The Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor tells you every detail about your Mac’s memory, CPU, RAM, and energy usage. You can check all the applications in your Mac from this in-built tool. For example, suppose you find any application lagging the processor behind or using up resources and taking any toll on your device that isn’t letting you enjoy your gaming experience. In that case, you can terminate it from the Activity Monitor.

  • Removing Unused Applications

The apps you don’t need or use daily drain your resources and slow down your device. To terminate a few apps and improve your Mac’s processor,

  1. Open Finder
  2. Go to Utilities under Applications 
  3. Find the Activity Monitor.
  4. Select the CPU tab
  5. Sort by %CPU. You will find the heavy apps on top of the list.
  6. Terminate the ones you don’t need. Don’t forget to take them out of the Trash too. 

  • Stopping Automatic Apps 

Several applications start up automatically every time you log into the system. To stop this, 

  1. Click on the Apple icon
  2. Go to System Preferences
  3. Select Users and Groups
  4. Enter Login Items
  5. Choose apps you don’t want to pop up unceremoniously and click on the “-” sign.

  • Disabling OS Features

The Notification Center and Dashboard are the OS features of your Mac. They aren’t used every day, but they run in the background, slowing your Mac’s processor, which prevents you from playing a game smoothly. 

To disable the Dashboard feature:

  1. Click on the Spotlight icon
  2. Go to Utilities under Applications.
  3. Next, go to the Terminal.
  4. Enter the command: defaults write.com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES. 
  5. Next enter: killall Dock.

To disable the Notification Center feature,

  1. Open the terminal once again
  2. Enter the command: launchctl load-w/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist. 
  3. Next enter: killall NotificationCenter.

These changes are not permanent. You can go back the same way to enable both features whenever needed. Moreover, in the most recent macOS version, Apple has permanently removed the Dashboard feature.

  • Choosing Game Settings Wisely

First, you need to choose your games carefully. Not all games are Mac compatible yet. Also, while you are playing, make a few changes in the graphics and video settings of the game. You can always lower the screen resolution, texture, and shadow quality, not to mention the general settings, which are low, medium, or high.

  • Cooling Down And Restarting

While in-game, you will persistently find that your Mac is overheating. In turn, it causes the processor to slow down, which affects your Mac’s performance. Restarting your Mac from time to time lets your Mac re-energize itself. During this time, it clears its cache, does essential maintenance, and runs additional tasks. To cool down your overheating Mac, you can invest in a stand or a cooling pad, or an external monitor as well.

Also Read: How to Make a Video Game for Free

With Apple revolutionizing its technology every few years, there’s no telling what the future may hold for Macs in the gaming world. But, until that time, these pointers will surely help you optimize your device, giving you a much better gaming experience after learning How to Optimize Playtime on Mac.

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