MacBook Maintainence: What do I need to do?

[Hieveryone]

I have a late 2013 rMBP

2.6/8/256

It is really good. I'm about to clean it per instructions on Apple's website.

What else do I need to do to keep it running top notch?

 

[Floris]

Simply don't use apps you don't actually use.
Backup your data, and organize it a little.

Just taking the step to organize data shows you how much clutter you've accumulated over the years.

 

[stockscalper]

Nothing really.

 

[Nick11Mac]

I have a late 2013 rMBP

2.6/8/256

It is really good. I'm about to clean it per instructions on Apple's website.

What else do I need to do to keep it running top notch?

Yesterday, I took my mid-2010 MBP to the local Apple store. I have not done that in the 6 years I've owned it. However, I thought my battery might need replacing. It didn't, but I was impressed by the attention the Apple worker gave it.

The Apple store employee at the Genius bar ran all sorts of diagnostics on my Mac. Nice, as he spent about 20 minutes checking out the MBP and all at no charge. IF you live near an Apple store, you might consider taking your 2013 in to have them check it over with you.

 

[Ryan1524]

I have late 2013 as well.

I find it seems to run better after I blow the fans with a duster. Got a lot of dust out, and most likely helped massively with cooling.

Also freed up some space. With 10%+ free, it's running much smoother compared to when I only had 1-2% free.

There is a Mac maintenance tool built in to optimize performance. Most of this tries to get you to dump everything into iCloud. I didn't want to do this, so I simply moved things around and deleted unused very old files (there's a tool for that too - built in)

 

[Hieveryone]

I have late 2013 as well.

I find it seems to run better after I blow the fans with a duster. Got a lot of dust out, and most likely helped massively with cooling.

Also freed up some space. With 10%+ free, it's running much smoother compared to when I only had 1-2% free.

There is a Mac maintenance tool built in to optimize performance. Most of this tries to get you to dump everything into iCloud. I didn't want to do this, so I simply moved things around and deleted unused very old files (there's a tool for that too - built in)

I have several questions. How'd you get the dust out? If I blow air into the vents, won't the dust just go inside?

Also, what are the 2 tools you mentioned called so I can use them to optimize performance?

thanks

 

[Ryan1524]

It's the Storage Management tool.

You can access it from  -> About this Mac -> Storage Tab -> click Manage. You'll see a new screen with various things you can do. I didn't want to Store in iCloud, so I went to 'Review Files' at the bottom, and sorted my files by 'Last Accessed'. This gave me some good info on stuff I never touched, and were huge. Delete what you don't need.



As for the dust clean-up. I blew through the side openings, but I find doing it from the rear vents are also good, but this tends to force the fan to spin backwards. Try not to do this too much, since it might strain the fans. Use the thin air duster extension to poke the blower into the grills. Don't go too far inside.

Normally, the airflow is designed to have a very specific path. So while some will get further inside, most in the cooling path will be forced out.

If you're brave, and have the tools, you can try opening the bottom case and clean it out directly. See instructions on how to do this below.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_15"_Retina_Display_Late_2013