Here’s what you need to know to keep your Mac in tip-top condition and lower the risk of any slowdowns or terminal issues.
There is no denying that the Apple Mac laptop and desktop computers are among some of the most recommend systems to use for graphic design. Even though they cost considerably more to buy than Windows-based systems, they are seemingly more capable at graphical rendering than equivalent-spec Windows PCs and laptops.
Sadly there is one downside to using a Mac for graphic design, and it affects all computers – not just Macs. As time goes on, a Mac can become slower to operate and generally experience delays in carrying out many daily tasks. In some cases, Macs can even experience odd behavior, including those infamous “kernel panics”!
The good news is that there is plenty you can do to keep your Mac in tip-top condition and lower the risk of any slowdowns or terminal issues. Here’s what you need to know:
Delete any apps that you don’t use on your Mac
Something you should on a reasonably regular basis is to delete any applications that you seldom or never use. There are many reasons why it makes sense to do this. For a start, they take up valuable disk space that could otherwise get used for storing data or installing other programs. Secondly, they might become incompatible with future versions of OS X. And, third, they might be apps that you probably didn’t even install!
On a Mac, you can usually uninstall a program. Just delete its icon or folder group in the Applications folder on your system. Before you do that, double-check that the programs in question don’t have uninstalled apps that you should be using first.
Adobe Photoshop users: clear your scratch disk
In case you didn’t know, a “scratch disk” is a physical drive that Adobe Photoshop uses to store temporary files. Usually, the software deletes those temporary files once you’ve stopped working on any graphics and projects, and close the software down.
There might be times where Photoshop doesn’t delete those temporary files. For example, your Mac (or the Photoshop software) crashed, or there was a power cut at your location. To solve the problem, you will need to open Photoshop, go to the Edit menu, select Purge, and then All. Be sure to carry out that task when you’re not working on any image files!
Upgrade your RAM to the maximum possible amount
On most modern Mac systems, you can usually upgrade your RAM to 16 GB. These days, the cost of computer RAM isn’t prohibitively expensive as it once was many years ago. The process is straightforward on most Mac computers. You can always ask an IT technician or computer store to do the upgrade for you.
Of course, you might be wondering why you should upgrade your RAM; how does doing so benefit you? On any computer (Mac or PC), RAM is the temporary memory used for doing things like loading applications and carrying out tasks within those programs. The more RAM a computer has, the quicker it can complete any tasks demanded of it. A Mac that operates quickly will make your life easy and enable you to get your work done quicker!
Be sure to check which type of RAM your Mac uses and what the upgrade limit is for your system. Note that some of the latest Mac systems have RAM that is soldered onto the logic board. It’s physically not possible to carry out an upgrade on them.
Upgrade your hard drive to an SSD
An SSD or “Solid State Drive” is essentially like a high-capacity USB flash drive in that it contains no moving parts (hence the name, Solid State). These days, the majority of desktop and laptop computers come with SSDs because they are relatively inexpensive now, and demand has risen for them in recent years.
Traditional hard drives are mechanical devices, and you can often hear them working when you are reading or writing data to them. With an SSD, there is no noise from the device due to the lack of moving internal parts! So, why is an SSD better than a conventional hard drive?
The answer is due to the access times. It only takes a fraction of the time to read and write data to an SSD compared with a hard drive. An SSD speeds up your system significantly; to use an analogy, it’s as though you’ve just upgraded from a Ford Focus to a Ferrari 488!
Today, SSDs are available in a variety of storage capacities to suit your needs. Plus, they are slimline in size and are possible to install in a MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or any other Mac that uses 2.5-inch drives. It’s even possible to expand your storage space by connecting up external SSD drives. That’s something you should consider if you often work with a lot of artwork that takes up gigabytes of storage space.
Upgrade your graphics card
Do you own a desktop-based Mac such as the Mac Pro? If so, you may wish to consider upgrading your graphics card. As the name suggests, it’s an internal component that handles the graphic rendering on your computer. On a Mac Pro, it’s usually possible to upgrade to a higher-spec graphics card that has more built-in RAM or a faster GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).
Photo by Jacqueline Kelly on Unsplash
Bear in mind that some Macs, in particular, specific laptop models and iMacs, cannot have a graphics card upgrade. It’s worth doing a Google search for the specification of your Mac to find out if it has an upgradeable graphics card. You can easily find out which Mac you’ve got by clicking on the Apple logo on the top-left corner of any screen and selecting About This Mac.
Conclusion
As you can see from the above sections, there are quite a few things you can do to improve the performance of your Mac. By doing some checks or carrying out certain upgrades, you’ll have a highly-tuned graphic design powerhouse that will handle anything you throw at it without breaking a sweat!
