There has been a long-standing war between Mac and Windows with their loyal followers behind them, to determine a better gaming system.
The choice is not an easy one to make. Macs come weaponized with powerful processors, high-quality display, and graphic cards. But PCs are equally powerful with customization, upgradation, and compatibility, not to mention financially more accessible.
Introducing macOS has been a game changer. According to Forbes, the AAA gaming experience has improved at Apple’s first attempt with the M1 processor. So, there’s no telling where Macs can go in the gaming world in the future.
That being said, presently, there are a few cool tricks that can optimize your Mac for an amazing gaming experience.
- Reduce Memory Usage – The first and foremost thing while optimizing your Mac for gaming is checking and reducing its memory usage. Empty your drive and let it breathe. Clean your desktop clutter while you are at it. Games take up a lot of space and stresses the RAM out. It would help if you took the trash out by cleaning your Mac’s Hard Drive. It is super easy, and to learn more about it, click setapp.com.
- Check and Remove Unused Applications – We have hundreds of apps on our phones and laptops nowadays while using only a select few. These unused heavy apps on your Mac drain your resources and slow it down. Open a finder, go to Utilities under Applications and find the Activity Monitor. Selecting the CPU tab, sort by %CPU. You will find the heavy apps on top of the list, and terminating a few will improve your Mac’s processor.
Also, any app that’s not being used regularly is just eating up space, and removing them will give you a much better gaming experience on your Mac. Don’t forget to take them out of the Trash too.
Moreover, stop the apps from starting automatically every time you log into the system. For this, click on the Apple icon, go to Users and Groups under System Preferences and enter Login Items. You can select apps you don’t want to pop up unceremoniously and click on the “-” sign.
- Upgrade your HDD and RAM – A faster hard drive plays a major role in optimizing your Mac for gaming. It is better to switch from your old hard drive to a faster SSD in the long run. Newer models of Mac come with an SSD but even if you are on an older version, you can upgrade. This will let you load up and access your games much faster.
Upgrading your RAM makes sure your games run smoothly. 8 GB RAM is more than enough for casual, light online games. But, hardcore gamers looking to play AAA titles on Mac need to upgrade their RAM to 16 GB or more.
- Restart your Mac from time to time – If you have left your Mac running for days on end, chances are no amount of cleaning up or upgrading can make it run smoothly. macOS does not need to be shut down every day, but once a month or even a week, your Mac needs to take its time to reboot itself. During this time, Mac clears its cache, does basic maintenance, and runs additional tasks. Give your gaming machine this chance to refresh itself.
- Keep your game’s software up to date – To have an optimum gaming experience on Mac, keep visiting the App Store for updates on your games. Gaming software is generally updated from time to time to have its bugs fixed so that they don’t slow down. If you want this to be automatically done for you, go to System Preferences and tick the “Automatically check for updates” under Applications.
- Let your Mac Cool Down – Overheating your Mac computer is one of the most persistent problems you will face while gaming. It causes the processor to slow down considerably, which affects the performance of your Mac. Apart from restarting it from time to time, you can also look into investing in a stand or a cooling pad and an external monitor as well. This takes care of the heating problem and keeps it cool for a longer period.
- Choose your games and their Settings – Some games work beautifully on any device, while others tend to have problems optimizing. Choose your games carefully. Also, while you are in-game, making a few changes in its graphics and video settings can help your machine a lot. You can always lower the screen resolution, texture, and shadow quality, not to mention that the general settings are low, medium, or high.
In conclusion, the war between PCs and Macs will go on till the day there’s even one loyal gamer standing in each camp. But Apple tends to revolutionize its technology, and the future may hold a winner in this never-ending debate. Until then, there are always these pointers to make sure your gaming experience on a Mac remains amazing.
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