Visual effects: macOS contains a lot of visual effects that can be taxing on older Mac computers, draining your battery and slowing you down. These unnecessary processes can eat up precious CPU power and RAM. Too many startup programs and background processes: You may have apps that start automatically every time you boot up your system and/or run quietly in the background while you work on other tasks. If you’re running old versions, they could very well be slowing you down. The same applies to most apps and programs. Out-of-date software: Apple generally produces new macOS versions because the newer versions run faster and better. And if you’re using a hard disk drive (HDD), lack of space means you can’t defrag your disk to help boost performance. If it’s chock-full of apps and large files, there won’t be enough space left to help apps and other processes run. Insufficient RAM: If your computer doesn’t have enough short-term memory ( RAM), it will struggle to complete everyday tasks like running programs and browsing the internet.įull hard drive: To compensate for low short-term memory, your computer is forced to store things on the hard drive. Why is my Mac running slow? It could be due to: