How to Speed Up M1 Mac Mini? Easy 10 Ways to Boost Speed

Want to get the original M1 Mac Mini Speed back? Is your M1 Mac Mini running slow? Don’t worry; this article will show practical workarounds to increase the speed of slow Mac Mini. Apparently, we’re the only one accountable for the slow speed of Mac Mini by storing unnecessary applications, photos, videos, and much more to count.

Without wasting time, let’s deep dive into the ways to boost your Mac Mini with an M1 chip’s performance.

Best Ways to Speed Up M1 Mac Mini

Why M1 Mac Mini Running Slow?

There are plenty of reasons why the Mac Mini lagging and freezing; here are a few most common causes.

• Possible software glitch.
• Loads of Cache files.
• Outdated Firmware and Apps.
• Loads of installed Applications.
• Desktop Clutter.

1. Quick Tips:

• Close all the needless background apps.
• Frequently restart Mac Mini.
• Close redundant browser tabs and extensions.
• Turn Off, Screen Saver.
• Allow Mac Mini to cool down.
• Empty Trash and downloads.

2. Restart Mac Mini

If you’re like me, leaving the Mac Mini on sleep mode until it starts malfunctioning and lagging, its a bad habit and could reduce Mac’s life and increase the chances of random issues like this. Recently, I realized that devices like computers, phones, tablets need to be restarted frequently to keep it smooth. But still, for people like us, it’s a big task to close the applications, files, and other things just to shut down the Mac, though it’s necessary.

1. Click on the Apple logo in the top menu bar.
2. Select Restart to restart the Mac Mini.
3. Select Shut Down to shut down the Mac Mini.

3. Check for Latest Updates

M1 Mac running slow could be a possible software glitch. And the best way to fix the software glitch is to keep the macOS and installed applications up to date. Outdated apps and macOS firmware could be an invitation to shaky UI. Often, developers release new updates to fix the existing bugs and add new features; there is no harm in updating the device.

1. Connect the Mac Mini to the Wi-Fi or Ethernet and proceed with the steps.
2. Navigate to the System Preferences.
3. Select Software Update from the list of available options.
4. Let the Mac Mini check for updates, if available, then click on the Update Now button and install it.

Note: From the same menu, you can turn on the “Automatically keep my Mac up to date” option.

Besides, when the software update is up to date, all the Apple Applications, including Safari, Photos, Books, Messages, Contacts, Mail, Music, and FaceTime, are up to date.  

Whereas Mac doesn’t update the third-party apps on its own until you’ve enabled the Auto-Update setting in Mac App Store.

1. Go to the Mac App Store.
2. In the sidebar, click on the Updates button.
3. Click the Update All button to update all the apps in one go.

Enable Automatic Updates, open the Mac App Store > click on App Store in the top menu bar > go to Preferences > choose Automatic Updates.

4. Remove Cache Files

From smartphones to desktops like Mac Mini, all these systems store and use the Cache files to speed up performance. All the Cache files are stockpiled on the hard drive with the intention to re-use them when you open the same app or feature. 

The best example of cache is a web browser; when we visit any page, its impression is saved on the hard drive in the form of a cache file, so when you next visit the same page, the browser picks up the cache to load the page, rather than re-downloading the page from the server. This is why the websites that you frequently visit are faster than others; basically, this is our mindset.

You might get shocked after seeing the Cache size on the Mac; it could go up to few gigabytes, most taken up by web browsers, Apple Music app or Spotify, or the apps that you never miss to open once in a day. Don’t worry; the macOS will re-built the cache files to make things smoother. Let’s boost M1 Mac Mini performance.

Delete MacOS Cache:

5. Manage Safari Browser

Why the M1 Mac Mini running slow? Like I mentioned in the above solution, the cache files play a significant role in speeding up Mac, but at the same time, they are the ones responsible for Mac’s drowsy performance.

After deleting the MacOS cache, it’s time to remove the hogging Mac’s storage files.

Delete Safari Cache: 

1. Launch Safari app.
2. Click on Develop in the top menu bar.
3. Select Empty Caches.

Delete Safari History:

1. Go to the Safari app.
2. Click on History in the top menu bar.
3. Click Clear History.
4. Choose the time period for which you want to delete the history.

Delete Safari Extensions:

1. Launch Safari app.
2. Click on Safari in the menu bar.
3. Go to Preferences.
4. Click on the Extensions option.

• To Disable Extension: Deselect the checkbox of the Safari extension that you wish to disable.
• To Delete Extension: Select the Extension and click on Uninstall.

6. Enable Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency (Turn Off Animations)

Visual Animations and Motions provide the final fancy touch to our system; however, they took up a lot of processors and could slow down the system. If you’re the person who keeps open tones of windows, applications, and tabs in the Safari browser, then I’d highly recommend you to leave this fancy look of Mac behind and let the Mac speed up.

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Select System Preferences.
3. Click on Accessibility.
4. Go to Display.
5. Check the box of Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion.
6. The changes will take place immediately, effective on the entire Mac Mini.  

Though fewer animations like Zips and Zoom, Fading would still be there, they use negligible processors compare to the rest.

7. Remove Unused Applications

Not to mention, but downloading hundreds of applications on Mac Mini is the first reason why the M1 Mac running slow. First, when you install any app, it consumes Storage Space; the lesser the Storage on Mac, the higher chances of the system freezing and lagging. Secondly, it consumes the RAM and other processors in the background. And of course, it doesn’t make any sense to keep the applications that we haven’t used in months. Start deleting them one by one.

1. Launch the Finder.
2. Go to the Applications folder.
3. You’ll see several applications; drag the one to the Trash that you don’t need.
4. Once you’re done with this, empty the Trash too.

8. Stop Apps from Opening at Startup

Startup Apps or Login Items are the applications and features that MacOS runs when you press the Power button to turn on the Mac. If there are more Login Items added to your user account, the M1 Mac will get slow during startup because most of the processors will be used by the Login Items, and you know the rest.

I’ve seen many Mac Mini which have Login Items such as Google Chrome, Safari, OneDrive, iCloud, etc. well, do you actually need to load the Chrome, Safari, or iCloud during startup? Obviously, NO. Therefore, check the list of your Login Items and remove the ones that are just sitting there.

1. Go to the System Preferences.
2. Click on Users & Groups.
3. Select the user account from the sidebar.
4. Select the app from the list of Login Items and then click on ( – ).

9. Free Up Storage

There is nothing to say more about Clearing Up Storage by deleting unwanted Photos, Videos, Documents, Applications, etc., from Mac Mini. Just keep in mind that macOS needs some storage to keep the system expeditious; the same is applicable to the applications you’re using on the Mac.

Apparently, when it comes to SSD, this kind of problem shouldn’t be affecting the M1 Mac Mini. However, this is the best way to make your M1 Mac Mini faster without any hassle.

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Select About This Mac.
3. Go to Storage.
4. The primary disk will appear with total capacity and used Storage.
5. Click the Manage button.
6. On the sidebar, then you’ll see the list of applications that have occupied the Storage with exact numbers.
7. Besides, use the built-in services of Apple-like Store in iCloud, Optimise Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter to get things done.

In most cases, when you remove unwanted Applications, Photos, and Videos, from the system, there is no need to rove throughout the Mac Mini. So just focus on those apps to save your time.

10. Try to Get Desktop Clean

The Files, Folders, and Applications stocked up on the Desktop use a part of RAM. In other words, you’ve experienced that the Mac showing Preview of an app or folder or showing QuickLook without going to that file or application? Have you? To make this possible, macOS stores a specific part of that data into the RAM, which causes M1 Mac lagging and freezing issues.

All you have to do is, remove the apps and folders that you don’t need on the Desktop and reduce clutter as much as possible. The best way to do this is, organize the individual files and group them into the folder where they belong. Alternatively, only let the apps sit on the Dock that you need frequently.

11. Enable Low Power Mode

Another workaround to optimize the M1 Mac performance is to enable Low Power Mode. For the first time, Apple has added the Low Power Mode functionality to disable unnecessary programs, background activities that won’t need at all, and reduces battery usage. With all these changes, Mac will speed up automatically.

1. Click on the Apple icon.
2. Go to the System Preferences.
3. Select Battery.
4. Click on the Battery menu in the sidebar.
5. Check the box of the Low Power Mode option.

Apple Support:-

You are switch into Apple’s Mac System and You don’t know what should you do! Nothing found helpful then Contact Apple Support or Book Appointment at apple genius bar reservation.