How to check your Mac’s CPU, memory and battery at a glance

The built-in ways

Activity Monitor (in Applications › Utilities) shows CPU, memory, energy, disk and network, per app. For the battery, System Settings › Control Center › Battery › Show Percentage puts the number in the menu bar. Both work; neither is something you see without looking for it.

One hover away

With SideDock, put your Mac’s vitals in a dock at any edge and they’re a push of the pointer away, beside your apps:

• CPU: processor load with a live history and a per-core breakdown.
• Memory: RAM in use, with its history and what it’s made of.
• Storage: free space on your startup disk and connected drives.
• Battery: charge, time remaining and battery health.
• Network: live download and upload speed.

Click any of them for a card with the details.

Everything else with a battery

Device Battery shows your mouse, keyboard, earbuds and every Bluetooth device, AirPods’ left, right and case included. The notch also shows charging, and your earbuds’ battery when they connect.

And a heads-up when it matters

You don’t have to keep checking. Pip, SideDock’s companion, tells you when your Mac is running hot or the battery is getting low, then gets out of the way.