As a Mac owner, you always want to assess the performance of your device and ensure that it all works the way it should.
Obviously, monitoring performance is crucial if you care about the wellbeing of your device. It will require less repairs in the long run, and if any issues are found during your assessment, you can tackle them before they become a lot more problematic.
What should you focus on when assessing Mac performance?
That depends on a multitude of things. But for the most part, it usually has to do with the disk space, RAM, CPU, energy consumption, hardware problems, as well as battery health and even network issues. All of those can prove to be problematic.
Understanding any issues related to these and addressing them can help quite a lot, and that’s what you want to pursue the most.
Use the Activity Monitor
The Activity Monitor is excellent if you want to track the CPU and memory consumption. Not only that, but it also gives you a lot of information regarding things like disk usage, energy and network usage and so on. That’s excellent info when it comes to the Mac performance, and it’s surely something you want to think about.
What’s great about the Activity Monitor is that the tool itself is embedded in Mac OS. You can use it at any given time, and it provides a wealth of information. If you see any app that consumes way too many resources, you can address that issue, and it’s all going to help more than expected.
System Information
Also known as System Report, this tool gives you all the info you need when it comes to software and hardware found on your device. That’s helpful, and it truly goes to show the value you can obtain from something like this.
You can access System Information from System Settings/General/About and here you select System Report. That’s an excellent solution to keep in mind, and it will help provide a better result, overall.
Console
The Console app also comes with Mac OS, and what’s great is that it can show crash reports and logs. Being able to see those in real time helps quite a bit, and it can provide you with all the necessary info.
It’s designed to be read by a system admin or someone who’s quite versatile in using this type of tool. But it can provide a wealth of information, which is why you have to check it out for yourself.
Apple Diagnostics
The benchmark tool is provided by Apple, and it’s formerly known as Apple Hardware Test. The role of this tool is to help you check your Mac for any potential hardware problems. If you see any hardware failure or drop in performance, this might very well be the best tool you can use.
In order to access this app, you can start up your Mac and hold D key while the device is turning on. Now, you want to release the key when the progress bar appears, or when you have to choose a language.
It will do a checkup automatically, and you can see the result presented as a reference code. Depending on the reference code, you can figure out what to do and how to address the situation.
Use third-party apps
Sometimes, the tools offered by Apple are not enough, and you need more information. There are a plethora of tools on the market that offer component-specific or even complex information about all components. The idea is to find the right ones to fit your needs.
- PerformanceTest is popular, and it comes with a multitude of tests, around 18 in total. It can help narrow down the adequate performance of your device, and if it fits the results, it should provide.
- Novabench is another great tool that can test your graphics performance, along with the RAM and CPU. It’s a rather fast tool and also available free of charge, so it’s well worth using.
- Cinebench is quite popular as well, but its focus is mainly on graphics and CPU. It has very complex tests that will run for a while, but it can definitely provide a very good return on investment.
- Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is all about measuring the read and write speeds of hard drives. That’s an important thing to keep in mind because it allows video editors or those who need a high-speed drive to see if their current drive is up to par with their expectations.
We recommend taking your time and using these tools to assess your device’s efficiency and reliability. The tools themselves are extremely reliable, and they can provide a resounding value and experience.
With that being said, it does take a bit to narrow down and solve every issue. But thanks to these tools, the process is streamlined and a lot easier than before!
