Are you a photographer, graphic designer or video editor? A Mac is the best option for fulfilling your creative endeavors as it comes with a comprehensive range of the best design and editing software.
Do you code? You can opt for a Mac because these machines are less prone to malware or viruses. Also, they are developer-friendly as most databases and web servers are Unix-based. And Mac is built on top of Unix!
Are you a gamer? Gaming is the only area where Mac needs a bit of a hand. Apple is trying its best to make Macs a gamer’s first choice but there’s still time for that. However, you can set up your Mac and get it ready for a blasting gaming experience by following a few simple steps. In this guide, you will learn how to prepare your Mac for games.
Table of Contents
Say no to a cluttered desktop
A cluttered desktop can slow down your system and make it difficult to find files. If there’s an abundance of files, screenshots and pictures on your desktop, the operating system has to render each file. You can put the documents and pictures in folders instead of leaving them cluttered on your desktop.
Check if your HDD has space for breathing
Similar to a tidy desktop, it is essential to keep a neat hard drive. Since there’s limited hard drive space, it can easily get filled with games, videos and files. It would be ideal to leave 10% of the maximum capacity of your hard drive free all the time.
Hard drive space is not static because the system and games require extra space to shuttle around temporary times and files. You must regularly remove unused apps, files, games or move large files to ensure your HDD has enough breathing space.
Stop stressing your RAM
If your Mac is running out of memory, you won’t be able to smoothly run games. You must check RAM usage Mac by going to the Activity Monitor. Although more expensive models come with more RAM, they might also struggle to run too many applications.
Open Activity Monitor > go to the Memory tab and close the programs that are hogging too much memory.
Upgrade HDD and RAM
Gaming is not only about the graphics card and the processor. Your hard drive and RAM plays an important role too. Besides being a place to store games, HDDs play an essential role in loading and accessing games.
The system tasks and boot times can be improved by upgrading your HDD to SSD. Typically, new Macs come with an SSD but some of them do not. You will have to upgrade to an SSD. If you are running an older Mac, you can upgrade the HDD by looking for a 7200 RPM hard drive. This will help to quickly boot up and load your games.
Please note that you cannot upgrade all Mac SSDs once you have ordered them like the 12-inch MacBook. So ensure to purchase a Mac with the highest SSD.
RAM plays an essential part in running your games smoothly and even the kind of games you can play. Over time, the importance of RAM is increasing as operating systems and games have become increasingly demanding.
If you are a casual gamer, you might get by just fine with 4GB of RAM. But if you want to play AAA titles or do some power gaming, you will have to upgrade to 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
Disable any unnecessary applications or processes that may interfere with gaming performance
Disabling any unnecessary applications or processes that may interfere with gaming performance is an essential step to ensure a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience on your Mac. Running other applications in the background can consume system resources and cause lag or stuttering in the game. To disable unnecessary applications or processes, you can use the Activity Monitor application on your Mac to identify the ones that are using the most CPU or memory. Once identified, you can either quit these applications or disable them from starting up automatically. This will free up system resources and ensure that your Mac is dedicated solely to running the game.
Adjust system settings, such as graphics and resolution, to optimize gaming performance
Adjusting system settings, such as graphics and resolution, is another important step to optimize gaming performance on your Mac. The default settings may not always provide the best gaming experience, and adjusting them can greatly enhance the visuals and performance of the game. To adjust graphics and resolution, you can access the game settings within the game launcher or platform, or you can access your Mac’s system preferences. In the display settings, you can adjust the resolution to match the game’s requirements and adjust the graphics settings to balance performance and visuals. Finding the right balance can greatly improve the gaming experience on your Mac.
Purchase a new Mac
If clearing space and upgrading RAM & HDD is not enough, it might be time to upgrade your Mac and purchase a gaming-friendly model.
Compared to older models, the newest Macs are much more gaming-friendly. If you are using an older model, you might want to get a new Mac before playing your favorite games. The newer models include both discrete and integrated AMD Radeon graphics cards, allowing users to dedicate the discrete card to gaming. This ensures a much better outcome than utilizing the GPUs of older models. If you are unsure of what graphics you have, go to the Apple menu > choose About This Mac. You will see the label for Graphics in the Overview section and you will see what GPU is installed in your system. Also, there’s an option to purchase an external GPU or an eGPU. These work with systems that have Intel processors and a good option for older Macs.
The Bottom Line
The release of Ventura has brought the focus on games. However, you need to tweak some settings and clear space to ensure your Mac is ready to handle your gaming demands. This guide should help you in readying your system for games so you can have the best experience.
