Top 3 things to make OS X go faster?

[Mcmeowmers]

In El Capitan, an Solid State Drive doesn’t make as much of a difference as it used to. With El Capitan, you need an Solid State Drive just to make the Mac function at a normal speed, as El Capitan is significantly slower than Mavericks.

Definitely faster for me. Hit to the battery, though!

 

[jblagden]

Definitely faster for me. Hit to the battery, though!

El Capitan is certainly faster than Yosemite, but not Mavericks. I wish I hadn't upgraded beyond Mavericks.

 

[Mcmeowmers]

El Capitan is certainly faster than Yosemite, but not Mavericks. I wish I hadn't upgraded beyond Mavericks.

I was so relieved when El Capitan was released because Mavericks was also slow like Yosemite for me.

 

[komatsu]

Thanks for all the great responses so far.

Does the amount of files on the desktop slow down OS X?

 

[bent christian]

Thanks for all the great responses so far.

Does the amount of files on the desktop slow down OS X?

Not specifically. It's just another folder in the drive. Total usage is what you want to look at.

 

[themac]

In general, what are the Top 3 things you can do to make a 3-4 year old OS X running on an iMac or Macbook go faster? (not including memory upgrades)

Replace drive with SSD
put as much ram as possible
clean up files and caches

Daniel

 

[Gregg2]

You're asking for heartache if you keep lots of "originals" on the Desktop. Just saw a post the other day where someone lost a bunch of stuff. It's easier to do by mistake with stuff on the Desktop. Use aliases!

 

[dogslobber]

This is #1 free option by a wide margin, especially if on a spinner.

Also, delete Xcode if you don't use it. Oh, did anyone mention SSD?

I would recommend upgrading to an SSD.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I would recommend upgrading to an SSD.

I plan to at some point. But I can't say I'm happy it's essentially a hack on my 2011 due to the HDD having Apple firmware. So I have to figure out which hack works correctly with mine so I don't have fan issues. That and I'm spending $400 on a four year old computer. Still, I'm likely going to do it.

 

[dogslobber]

I plan to at some point. But I can't say I'm happy it's essentially a hack on my 2011 due to the HDD having Apple firmware. So I have to figure out which hack works correctly with mine so I don't have fan issues. That and I'm spending $400 on a four year old computer. Still, I'm likely going to do it.

Run Mac fan control so you can throttle the HD fan. Problem solved.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Run Mac fan control so you can throttle the HD fan. Problem solved.

That is yet another hack. I don't want to manage my fans. I own an iMac to forget about things like this.

 

[dogslobber]

That is yet another hack. I don't want to manage my fans. I own an iMac to forget about things like this.

By you definition, putting in a third party SSD is a hack. Do whatever you want. You've been told how to get around your procrastination.

 

[jblagden]

I plan to at some point. But I can't say I'm happy it's essentially a hack on my 2011 due to the HDD having Apple firmware. So I have to figure out which hack works correctly with mine so I don't have fan issues. That and I'm spending $400 on a four year old computer. Still, I'm likely going to do it.

I don't know about iMacs, but I know that a upgrading my late 2011 13" MacBook Pro's hard drive from the stock 5400 RPM 500 gigabyte hard drive to a 7200 RPM 750 gigabyte hybrid drive, and it wasn't a hack. I didn't have to use any extra software or any special Terminal commands. I just cloned my old drive onto the new one and that was it. I know for a fact that my MacBook's original hard drive didn't have any Apple firmware.

With a Solid State Drive, it's not firmware that you need to think about. With Solid State Drives, you have to deal with TRIM. OS X automatically enables TRIM for Apple Solid State Drives, but not for 3rd party Solid State Drives. For a third-party Solid State Drive, you'll need to use Trim Enabler, and you might need to disable SIP for Trim Enabler to work.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I don't know about iMacs, but I know that a upgrading my late 2011 13" MacBook Pro's hard drive from the stock 5400 RPM 500 gigabyte hard drive to a 7200 RPM 750 gigabyte hybrid drive, and it wasn't a hack. I didn't have to use any extra software or any special Terminal commands. I just cloned my old drive onto the new one and that was it. I know for a fact that my MacBook's original hard drive didn't have any Apple firmware.

With a Solid State Drive, it's not firmware that you need to think about. With Solid State Drives, you have to deal with TRIM. OS X automatically enables TRIM for Apple Solid State Drives, but not for 3rd party Solid State Drives. For a third-party Solid State Drive, you'll need to use Trim Enabler, and you might need to disable SIP for Trim Enabler to work.

My MBP is done and working great. Unfortunately, the iMac relies on a temperature sensor in the drive that, if missing, causes the fan to run full speed.

I just want to do it right once and forget about it. No special utils running in OSX.