To speed up a MacBook, find out what is slowing it first: open Activity Monitor and check the CPU and Memory tabs. Then quit the heavy apps, restart, install updates, free up storage and trim login items. Those five free steps fix most slow Macs. The rest of this guide covers the cases they miss.
Below are 13 fixes, free ones first, with the exact menu paths for macOS 27 Golden Gate (the current version, 27.2) and notes where Tahoe, Sequoia or Intel Macs differ. Steps were checked against Apple’s support pages on November 9, 2026.
Why Is My MacBook So Slow? Check This First
Apple lists a short set of usual causes in its guide If your Mac runs slowly: the startup disk is short on free space, an app needs more memory than is available, an app isn’t compatible with your Mac, too many apps are open, or the disk has a problem. Two minutes in Activity Monitor tells you which one it is.
- Press Command-Space, type Activity Monitor and press Return.
- Click CPU, then click the % CPU column so the busiest process is at the top. One app sitting near the top for minutes while you aren’t using it is your suspect.
- Click Memory and look at the Memory Pressure graph at the bottom.
Apple explains the memory pressure colors like this:
| Memory Pressure | What Apple says it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Your Mac is using all of its RAM efficiently | Memory isn’t the problem; look at CPU and storage |
| Yellow | It might eventually need more RAM | Quit apps and browser tabs you aren’t using |
| Red | It needs more RAM | Close heavy apps now; see the RAM section below |
Don’t worry if “Memory Used” looks almost full. Apple says free memory doesn’t necessarily make a Mac faster, because macOS deliberately fills spare RAM with cached files to speed things up. The pressure color is the number that matters.
Quick Fixes That Take Under 5 Minutes
1. Restart properly
Closing the lid only puts the Mac to sleep. Choose Apple menu > Restart so every app and background process starts fresh. If your MacBook has gone weeks without a restart, try this before anything else.
2. Quit the apps and tabs eating memory
Press Command-Q to quit an app completely; closing its window usually leaves it running. For an app that has stopped responding, select it in Activity Monitor, click the stop button (the X at the top left), then choose Quit. Use Force Quit only if Quit doesn’t work, because Apple warns that a force quit can lose unsaved work.
Check your browser in the Memory tab too. Every open tab uses memory, so bookmark what you need and close the rest.
3. Check that Low Power Mode isn’t on
Low Power Mode cuts energy use to make the battery last longer, and on a MacBook it is easy to switch on and forget about. Click the battery icon in the menu bar to see whether it’s on. To change it, go to System Settings > Battery and set Energy Mode to Automatic for both “On battery” and “On power adapter”. Automatic is Apple’s default (Apple: About Power Modes).
A MacBook Pro from 2024 or later with a Pro or Max chip (or a 2021–2023 model with a Max chip) also has a High Power mode. It lets the fans spin faster during long video exports and 3D work. It won’t make everyday browsing faster. Our MacBook battery health guide explains how these settings affect battery life.
4. Install macOS and app updates
Go to System Settings > General > Software Update. For App Store apps, open the App Store and install the waiting updates. Update apps from other sources from inside the app or from the developer’s site. Apple’s macOS version list shows the newest release each Mac can run. If your MacBook can’t install macOS 27, stay on the latest update for the version it does support (for example Tahoe 26.7.2 or Sequoia 15.8.2).
Free Up Storage on Your Mac
A nearly full startup disk is the first cause on Apple’s list. macOS uses free disk space for swap, the overflow it relies on when RAM runs short (Activity Monitor shows it as “Swap Used”). With no room to swap, everything slows down. Apple doesn’t give an exact amount of space to keep free, so aim to keep enough room for the files you’re working on and for the next macOS update.
5. Use the built-in Storage recommendations
- Choose Apple menu > System Settings > General > Storage.
- Read the bar at the top to see what is taking the space.
- Under Recommendations, consider Store in iCloud (Desktop, Documents and photos on demand), Optimize Storage (removes Apple TV shows you’ve already watched) and Empty Trash automatically (clears items after 30 days).
- Click the More Info button next to a category such as Applications or Documents to see its largest items and delete them.
Storing files in iCloud uses your iCloud plan, which starts at $0.99 a month for 50 GB in the US. If iCloud is full as well, our iPhone storage guide shows what is safe to clear on the phone side.
6. Delete the big, forgotten stuff
- Downloads folder: old installers (.dmg and .pkg files), zips and videos.
- Old iPhone and iPad backups: delete the ones for devices you no longer own.
- Mail: choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail, then Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.
- Video and photo libraries: move them to an external drive. If you import iPhone photos to your Mac, our guide to moving photos between iPhone and MacBook covers moving them back off again.
- Apps you never open: drag them to the Trash.
Then empty the Trash. Apple’s free up storage guide notes that the space isn’t actually freed until you do.
Stop Apps Opening at Login and Running in the Background
7. Trim your login items
- Go to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.
- Under “Open at Login”, select an app you don’t need straight away and click the minus (–) button.
- Under “Allow in the Background”, turn off helpers for apps you rarely use (old updaters, printer tools and cloud apps you’ve stopped using).
A login item you remove can still be opened by hand whenever you need it. To skip all login items once, hold Shift while you click Log In.
Slow Right After a macOS Update?
8. Give Spotlight time to finish indexing
This is the most common complaint in Apple Community threads such as “macOS 27 Golden Gate causing lag on M1”. After a software update or upgrade, Spotlight rebuilds its search index, and Apple says indexing can take hours or even days depending on how much data you have. It finishes sooner when the Mac is idle, plugged in and on Wi-Fi.
The fix is simple: leave your MacBook plugged in and awake overnight a couple of times. Press Command-Space; if you see an indexing progress bar at the top of the window, it hasn’t finished yet.
Deeper Fixes When It’s Still Slow
9. Test in safe mode
Safe mode starts the Mac without login items or third-party extensions, checks the startup disk and clears some system caches (Apple’s safe mode guide).
- Apple silicon (M-series): shut down. Press and hold the power (Touch ID) button until you see “Loading startup options”. Select Macintosh HD, hold Shift, then click Continue in Safe Mode.
- Intel: turn the Mac on and immediately hold Shift until the login window appears.
Then restart normally. If the Mac stays fast, the checks and cache clean-up in safe mode fixed it. If the slowness returns, a login item or startup software is the cause, so go back to fix 7.
10. Run Disk Utility First Aid
If several apps quit unexpectedly or a file turns out to be corrupted, open Disk Utility, choose View > Show All Devices, select a volume and click First Aid. Run it on each volume, then on the container, then on the disk itself. To check the startup disk itself, Apple says to run First Aid from macOS Recovery.
11. Turn on Reduce motion
On older or base-model MacBooks, animations can make the Mac feel slow even when it isn’t busy. Go to System Settings > Accessibility > Motion and turn on Reduce motion. Apple notes this tones down effects like the fluid morphing of the Liquid Glass design.
12. Remove “cleaner”, antivirus and old system add-ons
On Apple Community, the advice in “slow after upgrading” threads keeps coming back to the same point: optimizers, cleaners, antivirus suites and some VPNs run constantly in the background. If you installed one years ago, uninstall it with the developer’s own uninstaller, then restart and compare.
13. Reinstall macOS
If safe mode didn’t help either, Apple’s next step is to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery. A reinstall keeps your personal files, but back up with Time Machine first anyway.
Do You Need a Mac Cleaner App?
For most people, no. Apple says that when space is needed, macOS already clears caches and logs that are safe to delete, including temporary database files, interrupted downloads, staged updates and Safari website data (Apple: Optimize storage space). Many of the “speed up your Mac” guides near the top of search results are published by companies that sell cleaner apps. Storage recommendations, Activity Monitor and a restart do the same job for free.
Is It Time for More RAM or a New Mac?
If Memory Pressure stays red during your normal work, even after you close extra apps and tabs, the Mac doesn’t have enough memory for what you ask of it. Check whether yours can take more RAM: hold Option, choose Apple menu > System Information and click Memory. Apple says that if the Memory Slots pane with an “Upgradeable Memory” entry doesn’t appear, upgradeable memory isn’t available for your Mac.
In that case your options are lighter apps and fewer browser extensions, fewer apps open at once, or a Mac with more memory next time. If a “Your system has run out of application memory” warning appears, quit the apps at the top of Activity Monitor’s Memory tab, then free up disk space, because swap lives on the startup disk.
About SMC resets, the tip still found in older guides: Apple says you most likely do not need to reset the SMC. On Apple silicon it resets automatically when you restart, and on Intel Macs it’s meant for power, fan and heat problems, not general slowness.
Quick Answers
How do I speed up my MacBook for free? Check Activity Monitor, quit the heaviest apps and tabs, restart, install updates, use System Settings > General > Storage to free space, and remove login items you don’t need. All of it is built into macOS.
Why is my Mac slow after updating macOS? Spotlight re-indexes your files after every update or upgrade, and Apple says that can take hours or even days. Leave the Mac plugged in, awake and on Wi-Fi until it finishes.
Does clearing cache speed up a Mac? Rarely. macOS clears caches that are safe to delete on its own when space is needed. Deleting them by hand mostly makes apps rebuild them, which is slower at first.
Is Low Power Mode making my MacBook slow? It can. Low Power Mode trades speed for battery life. Set Energy Mode to Automatic in System Settings > Battery to get full speed back.
Can I add RAM to a MacBook? Check first: hold Option, choose Apple menu > System Information, then click Memory. If the Memory Slots pane with “Upgradeable Memory” doesn’t appear, Apple says you can’t add memory to that Mac.
Will reinstalling macOS delete my files? Apple says reinstalling macOS doesn’t remove your personal files. Still, make a Time Machine backup first.
