If your Mac has an update available, follow the on-screen instructions to install it. Select the main Apple menu > System Settings > General. If your Mac is slow, a quick system update can work wonders. Keeping your Mac up-to-date is the surest way to resolve multiple issues, including high CPU usage on Mac. To end any CPU-hungry tasks, simply select it from the list and click the 'X.' How to reduce CPU usage 1. Notice the graph at the bottom this shows a breakdown of your CPU consumption. The highest CPU-consuming tasks will be located at the top of the list. Here in Activity Monitor, you'll see precisely what applications and programs are running and what resources they are using. Select the CPU tab from the top and sort by CPU. Select Finder > Applications > Utlitiles > Activity Monitor. Thanks to Apple's built-in Mac performance monitor, Activity Monitor, it's simple to check your CPU usage. Luckily, it's easy to reduce Mac CPU usage and speed up your Mac let's go. If the CPU usage is edging around 100%, your Mac is trying to do more work than it has the capacity for. But obviously, the higher the usage, the slower your Mac performance will become. Surprisingly to many Mac users, there is no recommended percentage of CPU usage. If you've noticed your device is suffering from any of the issues above, jump to the next step, and I'll show you how to check the CPU usage on your Mac. Often referred to as the brain of a Mac, it executes commands and instructions and interacts with all other parts of your Mac.Īlthough CPU usage constantly changes, depending on which activities your Mac is running, high usage can cause multiple issues for Macs, including:Ĭrashing, freezing, or stalling applications What is CPU usage on Mac?ĬPU (Central Processing Unit) is essentially responsible for performing all of your system tasks. If you're constantly waiting for applications to load or find yourself gazing at the spinning beachball more than you'd like, it's time to check your CPU usage and jump into troubleshooting mode. High CPU usage on your Mac could be the reason your device has become painfully slow.

How to increase mac cpu speed