Trying to keep my computer fast

[kwaku_100]

I’ve had problems with my current computer in that it has massively slowed down and become unusable in only three years. If I were going to get a new MacBook Air I had this idea to keep it fast - I just need to check if this could actually work:

- Get one with 16GB of RAM

- Use an external SSD to store the majority of my programs that I won’t need in daily life (school)

Hopefully this could help to avoid it slowing down too quickly. Any ideas if this would work?

[jaslion]

What are your current computers specs?

 

Have you ever reinstalled windows?

 

Have you ever cleaned your computer out with compressed air? Not just from the outside but by opening it?

 

I mean the macbook air isn't magic and will still slow down over time as it gets more cluttered. Using a external drive for programs won't help here it never does and only adds more potential for actually slowing things down as the computer freaks out where all the stuff suddenly went.

[Chris Pratt]

Neither of those technically do anything. RAM capacity only matters if you exceed it and start paging to the filesystem. 16GB puts you in a better position than 8GB for that not to happen, but as time marches on, and depending on the programs and your general usage, even that eventually may not be enough.

 

Putting programs and files on an external drive has literally no impact on anything. If anything, things would likely run quicker on the internal drive, since something like an internal SSD has the potential, at least, to be much faster than even the fastest external SSD.

[kwaku_100]

42 minutes ago, jaslion said:

What are your current computers specs?

 

Have you ever reinstalled windows?

 

Have you ever cleaned your computer out with compressed air? Not just from the outside but by opening it?

 

I mean the macbook air isn't magic and will still slow down over time as it gets more cluttered. Using a external drive for programs won't help here it never does and only adds more potential for actually slowing things down as the computer freaks out where all the stuff suddenly went.

I have reinstalled and cleaned the entire the entire thing. I have also taken it to many places and they don’t have an answer for me. Could an external drive still be plausible though as it is cheaper than getting a higher capacity internal. 

[Kilrah]

An external drive won't change anything. As long as you have an SSD internally and it's big enough for what you store on nothing you could solve by moving stuff to another drive would cause significantly reduced performance.

 

 

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, kwaku_100 said:

I have reinstalled and cleaned the entire the entire thing. I have also taken it to many places and they don’t have an answer for me. Could an external drive still be plausible though as it is cheaper than getting a higher capacity internal. 

What are your computer specs? We need to know this to help you further. A external drive will do nothing for you.

[kwaku_100]

I’m thinking of upgrading that’s what I’m asking about. I want to upgrade to a 2021 MacBook Air and wondered if using an external drive on that will help to improve its performing life. My current laptop is broken. I shouldn’t have mentioned it so don’t worry about that. 

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, kwaku_100 said:

I’m thinking of upgrading that’s what I’m asking about. I want to upgrade to a 2021 MacBook Air and wondered if using an external drive on that will help to improve its performing life. My current laptop is broken. I shouldn’t have mentioned it so don’t worry about that. 

It will not.

[Aviisclueless]

10 hours ago, kwaku_100 said:

I’ve had problems with my current computer in that it has massively slowed down and become unusable in only three years. If I were going to get a new MacBook Air I had this idea to keep it fast - I just need to check if this could actually work:

- Get one with 16GB of RAM

- Use an external SSD to store the majority of my programs that I won’t need in daily life (school)

Hopefully this could help to avoid it slowing down too quickly. Any ideas if this would work?

Laptops aren't supposed to slow down like that in just 3 years. But to speed things up, you want to run an antivirus program to scan for any types of viruses because those can slow a drive down. If you're on a pc, press Win + R, and type 'temp', ctrl + a and delete everything that's not in use there. It's the temporary files folder that windows stores to perform certain tasks. If there is something in use, skip deleting it. Press Win + R again for run cmd and type '%temp%'. It's another temporary files folder and repeat with the previous step. Try to stop any startup programs and background apps from running because those drain battery life and performance of the system. It should be fine by now. IF not, then there is something inside the computer slowing it down.

[Kilrah]

4 hours ago, Aviisclueless said:

But to speed things up

OP said they already tried reinstalling the whole system so it's moot. 

 

There are 2 possibilities:

- Hardware issue, such as blocked vents or degraded thermal compound

- The usual - over time the apps you run become more demanding with updates making the whole thing feel slower.