Over the previous six months, I’ve revealed quite a few tutorials to assist Mac customers enhance the efficiency of older computer systems, in addition to some nice guides to the perfect Mac equipment throughout quite a lot of classes. Immediately, I’m tying all of them collectively on this helpful, one-stop roundup of the perfect Mac equipment and upgrades.
This information walks you thru all the things: in a single place, you possibly can study the perfect Mac laborious drives, RAM upgrades, docks, keyboards, trackpads, stands, baggage, and journey equipment on the market. And it’s also possible to get free apps to enhance your Mac’s storage and responsiveness, discover plain English explanations of your Mac’s technical specs, and study concerning the little safety screws Apple makes use of to tamper-proof its machines. There’s quite a bit inside, so it’s possible you’ll need to bookmark this piece for future reference!…
Study About Your Mac’s Specs
It’s simple to have a common understanding of what’s and isn’t working effectively along with your Mac: everybody is aware of easy methods to clarify that “the display is ok” however “the pc is sluggish.” Should you actually need to perceive why the display is ok, and how the pc might be quicker, I’ve decoded Apple’s Tech Specs pages for you (part 1 and part 2) to clarify the Mac household’s options in plain English. Is it price upgrading your current Mac, or buying a new Mac at a discount? These guides will allow you to get a deal with in your Mac’s options, and perceive how they examine with currently-available machines.
Diagnose Your Mac: How A lot Will An Improve Assist?
To determine how briskly your present laborious drive, CPU, and graphics processor are by comparability with newer Macs, begin by benchmarking your Mac with three free downloads: BlackMagic’s Disk Speed Test, Geekbench 3, and Cinebench R15. They’ll provide you with a way of how briskly your Mac’s present key elements are, so you possibly can resolve whether or not to spend your cash on a small improve or full Mac alternative.
In case your laptop began out quick however has grow to be sluggish over time, it’s fairly seemingly that your laborious drive is overloaded with recordsdata. I’ve really useful a few free, trustworthy apps to clean and speed up your Mac called GrandPerspective (above) and OnyX. GrandPerspective rapidly exhibits you the recordsdata and folders which can be consuming most of your laborious drive area. OnyX deletes invisible recordsdata, similar to OS X and app installer logs, which ought to have been deleted robotically.
In case your Mac laborious drive’s nonetheless overloaded with content material, there are three methods to repair it. You possibly can get rid of space-wasting duplicate files (together with doubles/triples of digital images) utilizing a secure, reasonably priced duplicate-finding app. Alternately, you will get an exterior laborious drive to carry your largest recordsdata. Or you possibly can exchange the inner laborious drive with a more recent, quicker stable state drive (SSD), which can radically enhance your Mac’s efficiency throughout the board.
Select An Exterior Arduous Drive
The Mac market is in the midst of a historic shift from conventional mechanical laborious drives to vastly quicker SSDs that run silent, don’t have any shifting elements, and are a lot smaller. If measurement and portability are your high concerns, a thumbdrive-sized SSD such as OWC’s Envoy Pro mini delivers excessive reliability and USB 3.0-quality speeds in a Mac-matching steel enclosure.
If you’d like one thing moveable with a better storage capability, pocket-sized external hard drives such as Seagate’s Seven begin at solely $100 for 500GB of “take it wherever” capability.
Most desktop Mac customers will gladly hand over portability for reliability. I’ve spotlighted a collection of excellent external Mac hard drives here, most notably G-Know-how’s reasonably priced, quick, professional-grade G-Drive USB. My article discusses the benefits and tradeoffs you’ll get from cheaper, higher-capacity drives versus more expensive, longer-lasting ones, so you possibly can select what’s greatest to your wants.
Substitute (And Repurpose) Your Mac’s Inner Arduous Drive
Though this may appear to be a giant step, changing an older Mac’s inner laborious drive with an SSD has the best chance of radically enhancing its pace. To assist everybody make the swap on their very own, I’ve put collectively a set of nice, easy-to-follow guides.
Apple’s iMacs profit essentially the most (and infrequently essentially the most simply) whenever you exchange their laborious drives for SSDs. My guide to swapping an old iMac’s hard drive for a new SSD has been actually widespread with readers, and I’ve obtained so many “thanks!” emails that I understand how pleased individuals have been with their new drives.
I’ve additionally written guides to installing SSDs inside certain MacBooks, Mac minis, and Mac Pros, which differ in set up complexity from “extremely simple” to “tremendous troublesome.” Should you’re fortunate sufficient to have a MacBook Air or Retina MacBook Professional with an current SSD inside, worth drops and pace boosts are making this a good time to swap the MacBook Air/Pro SSD and improve the capacity.
If you wish to study extra concerning the particular screws Apple makes use of on its computer systems, I’ve written this guide to understand and unlock Apple’s Mac security screws. The TL;DR model: get this 54-Bit driver kit and also you’ll be prepared for just about something your Mac has outdoors or inside.
And also you don’t should throw away your Mac’s previous laborious drive. You possibly can put it in an affordable external USB enclosure and maintain it round as a backup or spare. Good enclosures are within the $40 vary.
Add Extra Ports or a MacBook-Prepared Accent Dock
Should you’re a MacBook Air/Professional person, or simply need to radically broaden the connectivity choices of an iMac or Mac mini, there are actually a bunch of extremely aggressive Thunderbolt 2 docking options to select from. Elgato’s Thunderbolt 2 Dock (proven), CalDigit’s Thunderbolt Station 2, and Kanex’s Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock are all in the identical $200-$250 worth vary, with the identical primary options: twin Thunderbolt 2 ports, three USB 3.0 ports (throughout back and front), Ethernet, 4K HDMI, and audio ports. Every has somewhat distinction, similar to higher audio assist, ESATA laborious drive assist, or a packed-in Thunderbolt 2 cable to justify the worth.
If all you want is USB enlargement, Moshi’s iLynx 3 (proven) and Mobee’s Magic Hub are $50-$60 choices that add 4 USB 3.0 ports to Macs, together with one with assured iPad/iPhone-recharging energy. iLynx 3 works with many Mac fashions; Magic Hub is solely for iMacs.
Add Extra RAM
Putting in new and extra RAM is one Mac improve that Apple intentionally made simple for nearly each older Mac. My information to choosing and installing quality Mac RAM explains which Macs are able to being upgraded, an affordable option to noticeably enhance your Mac’s potential to run a number of apps directly. It ought to price $90 or much less for sufficient RAM to run OS X Yosemite with out hiccups, or $180 for sufficient RAM to ensure you received’t want extra for years. All you’ll want is a small screwdriver and 15-Half-hour, relying in your consolation degree with unscrewing a couple of screws and inserting a small circuit board or two into your laptop.
Select A Higher Keyboard or Trackpad
Your Mac may not have shipped with the perfect keyboard to your private wants. I like Apple’s Wi-fi Keyboard, however hate the fixed “low battery” notifications it creates (and the necessity to swap AA cells). Some individuals actually favor old style keyboards with clickier keys than those Apple makes use of. So this guide to the best Mac keyboards will allow you to decide between high wired and wi-fi choices, in addition to add-on numeric keypads for individuals who like them.
In case your Mac got here with a mouse and also you haven’t but switched to a trackpad, you may need to contemplate making the transfer. Apple’s Magic Trackpad (left/middle) is the most secure alternative, as Apple constructed it and helps it with all of its OS X software program, together with full Multi-Contact gestures. However Logitech’s Rechargeable Trackpad for Mac does away with the Magic Trackpad’s dependence on AA batteries, in favor of an built-in battery with micro-USB recharging. It’s slimmer and simpler to toss right into a bag, although its Multi-Contact assist is considerably extra restricted than the Magic Trackpad’s.
Recharge Your MacBook On The Highway
Up till lately, if you happen to ran out of MacBook energy and couldn’t discover a wall outlet to recharge, you had been out of luck. I used to be notably thrilled to see ChargeTech’s ChargeAll (proven) seem as a MacBook-ready charging resolution, giving anybody entry to 5-7 hours of further Mac run time utilizing a very moveable AC outlet. An alternative choice, Gbatteries Energy’s BatteryBox, prices extra and works round Apple’s MagSafe connector to supply hours of further run time for a MacBook with not less than some remaining energy.
Assist Your MacBook Stand Up, Or Give Your iMac A Storage Drawer
Relying on the peak of the desk the place you’re utilizing your MacBook, in addition to the dimensions of the MacBook itself, it’s possible you’ll discover {that a} stand helps to make the display or keyboard extra accessible. My guide to the best Mac stands and mounts appears to be like at a set of nice choices, together with all the things from moveable flip-out stands to stationary desktop alternate options.
My private iMac sits atop one of the crucial helpful desk-decluttering equipment I’ve come throughout: Just Mobile’s Drawer is made principally from iMac-matching silver aluminum, including a slide-out black plastic drawer massive sufficient to retailer peripherals, spare change, cables, or no matter else might in any other case get scattered throughout a desk. It’s considered one of a number of completely different iMac-compatible stand choices coated within the best Mac stands and mounts guide.
Every thing Else
A number of the different Mac equipment I’ve coated embrace the best Mac travel accessories, starting from international travel adapters to two-in-one Lightning/micro-USB cables, MacBook privacy film, and travel-friendly carrying cases.
Final yr, I really useful my favourite set of Mac audio system, Bowers & Wilkins’ MM-1, which may be had new or as substantially-discounted refurbs. They’re a little bit of a splurge, however they sound actually nice and do a a lot better job of matching the look of a Mac than every other audio system I’ve seen. Extra lately, I coated Elgato’s Game Capture HD60 (beneath), which lets your Mac seize and livestream 1080p/60fps movies instantly from recreation consoles and different video sources — in addition to including reside commentary.
Should you’re in search of one thing that hasn’t been coated above, take a look at extra of my How-To guides and reviews for 9to5Mac here. Don’t overlook to click on on Older Posts on the backside of the web page to see all the things!
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