There are now over 227 million gamers in the US alone. While a lot of people play via a smartphone or console, many choose to play on a PC or laptop. There are simply too many games available for the platform, including those on the Steam and Epic game stores.
Unfortunately, not everyone has a premium laptop. A lot of people own low to mid-range types of laptops.
Those are still great for watching movies, communicating, and doing office or schoolwork. However, they need a boost in laptop performance to run demanding games and apps.
Fortunately, we’ve got a list of tips below to help you enhance your laptop experience. Continue reading to learn all about them.
Tips to Improve your Laptop Performance
Startup Tasks and Apps
Start boosting your laptop by managing all the startup tasks and apps. You don’t need most of them anyway. This is especially the case if you bought a new laptop and still have a lot of bloatware installed.
Open your task manager and then go to the Startup tab. You can arrange the apps according to their impact on the startup process. Disable the startup tasks that you don’t need since those slow down your laptop.
You can also do this with a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Go to your Users settings from the system settings panel. Find the login items and disable the startup apps you don’t need.
Add More Memory
You can also boost your laptop’s performance by adding more memory. While very few laptops allow you to upgrade the internal parts, most modern devices will let you upgrade the memory. It’s as simple as opening the bottom case and then sliding in a new RAM card/board.
4 GB RAM is a decent start but it won’t work as well if you want to run AAA games or video editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Pro. 8 GB or 16 GB RAM will help you run AAA games on medium to high settings. If you want to run things on the highest settings, aim for 32 GB or 128 GB RAM.
Of course, the amount of RAM you can install depends on your operating system and motherboard. Older laptops might not be able to handle more than 4 or 8 GB RAM.
Also Read – How to Improve Gaming Performance on Laptop?
External GPU
Buying a laptop with a powerful processor and enough RAM is a good start. However, these can only get you so far. You’ll also need a powerful graphics card (GPU).
The downside is that most laptops only feature an integrated graphics card. This means you can’t replace them. Manufacturers solder these to the motherboard and connect them to the processor.
However, you can work around this. There are now ways to add an external GPU. You will need to open up your laptop and do a bit of rewiring to install one but it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
Clean Out the SSD
Your hard drive can also affect how your laptop performs. The more cluttered it is, the slower it gets. This becomes an even bigger issue if you don’t delete old files and duplicate files.
There are multiple apps you can use to find duplicate files. Remove those as soon as you can.
After deleting the files you don’t need, transfer everything else on a cloud storage system. You can use Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and more. All of these not only free up the clutter on your SSD but also let you access the files while on the go.
Uninstall Bloatware
Got a brand new laptop?
One of the first things you should do upon turning it on the first time is to identify all the bloatware. These are the apps meant to introduce you to the manufacturer’s ecosystem of apps and services. You don’t need the vast majority of these tools.
Those that you do need, you can replace with other laptop essentials. For example, you might find a basic anti-virus tool already installed on your laptop. Uninstall it and replace it with a more powerful one of your choice.
Get rid of bloatware that does nothing for you. This includes additional photo gallery apps, cloud service apps, and more. A lot of these bloatware apps have better, third-party alternatives.
Cleaning Out the Closet
If you think your laptop is starting to slow down, it might be time to clean it. This doesn’t simply refer to opening up your laptop and dusting out the interior parts and fans. It also refers to cleaning out all the junk filling up storage space and consuming processing power.
Start by using a tool like CCleaner. This will eliminate most of the cache and junk files filling up your hard drive. Don’t rely solely on this, however, because there could be a few unnecessary files that it can’t detect.
Whenever you uninstall a program or game, head back to both your C and D drives to eliminate any associated files. Delete the ones that you no longer need since the application is already gone.
Defrag the Hard Drive
If your laptop still uses an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), you’ll need to defrag it from time to time. Upgrading to a newer operating system, such as Windows 11, will allow you to automate the defragging process.
Why is this important? Over time, the parts that make up a file scatter across the hard drive’s physical platter. It will take the reader a bit more time to access a file since it has to read more parts of the disk.
Defragmentation reassembles the disk, putting associated file portions together. Doing this will make it easier and faster for your laptop to read those files.
Switching to an SSD
Of course, why stick with an HDD when SSD (Solid State Drive) options have been around for years? These are storage devices that no longer rely on physical, rotating platters to read and write data.
The most obvious benefit of an SSD is that it’s a lot easier and faster to transfer data.
However, this also applies to running applications and games. You’ll see less lag and stuttering when running demanding video games. This is thanks to the fact your laptop isn’t struggling to read important files.
Disable Automatic Updates
Enabling automatic updates might seem like a major convenience. You won’t need to do anything and your laptop will conduct maintenance without supervision. However, this can cause issues for performance.
The biggest concern is that your laptop will find, download, and install updates all day and night. Your laptop will allocate all its resources to prioritize those updates, especially during installation.
Unfortunately, that means your laptop won’t be as fast or capable at all times. You could be in the middle of rendering a video or playing a game when everything slows down due to an ongoing update.
Disable automatic updates. Schedule when your laptop will run these updates, guaranteeing it downloads and installs when you aren’t busy doing something important.
Improve Cooling
Overheating will lower your laptop’s performance. There is a sensor on the motherboard that will force components, such as the hard drive or RAM, to slow down if things get too hot. Components like the laptop’s GPU can even shut down due to overheating.
There are a few ways to address this. The first method is to upgrade the fans on your laptop. Not all laptop models allow you to install new cooling fans but you can get an external laptop stand that comes with USB-powered cooling fans.
Using a laptop stand also helps with ventilation. Putting a laptop directly on your lap blocks ventilation.
Of course, placing your laptop in a room with proper ventilation and air conditioning can help too. You can also position an electric fan to keep your unit cool.
Reroute Power Settings
Did you know that having a powerful Nvidia GPU doesn’t automatically mean your laptop will use it? Your laptop might rely on an integrated chip instead. You’ll need to access the personalization or graphical settings for your laptop and reroute the power.
Make sure the laptop uses the most powerful components available. You can also divert RAM to prioritize the most demanding application currently running. This becomes a handy feature when you use the laptop for heavy-duty multitasking.
Not every laptop features something like this. You should prioritize getting a laptop like Dell Alienware or Lenovo laptops with the Intel EVO platform. If you’re not that familiar with these options, get more information here.
Viruses and Malware
The slowdown on your laptop can also occur due to viruses and malware. These spread quickly through your laptop and will consume processing power.
Become a smarter laptop user by installing efficient anti-virus and anti-malware apps. You don’t need to run them every day. You can run them on a weekly schedule, ensuring they can identify and eliminate problems on your laptop.
Don’t settle for free tools. These will find viruses but they will not remove them from your laptop. Paying the premium may seem a bit costly but it will save and boost your laptop in the long run.
Boost Laptop Performance Today
Now you know what to tinker, remove, and add to boost laptop performance. From removing bloatware to managing viruses, all of these steps can help your laptop achieve peak performance. This becomes a necessity for people running demanding video games and apps.
But why stop with this laptop guide? If you enjoyed this list and want more, we’ve got more guides that cover a wide range of technology topics. We also have posts tackling business tips and entertainment too!
