2012 Mac Mini running Yosemite - incredibly slow and freezes on wake up

[fluidedge]

Hi

My Mac Mini from 2012 with this spec:

2.5GHz Core i5
4GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024MB

runs incredibly slowly these days with many glitches in graphic performance for example the mouse pointer disappearing from time to time and freezing for literally 2-3 minutes while the machine wakes from sleep and gets back to normal.

What's happening? Do I just need more RAM and a fresh install? 4GB is a decent amount of RAM but a MemoryClean widget I have in my toolbar shows I never seem to have more than 200-400MB free so it's all getting eaten up somewhere. Activity Monitor looks normal. Is this Mac Mini just on the way out? It's really not stressed very hard, just internet browsing and some emulation gaming occasionally, hardly justifying a core i5 +4GB RAM frankly.

Perhaps the HDD is giving up and I need to replace with a SSD to give it some new life?

 

[ZMacintosh]

fresh install might be worth it if the os has been updated over time.
RAM should help, atlest 8GB...could be some browser extension or plug-in?

 

[Toltepeceno]

I have this same mac mini and while most of the memory is used what it needed was an ssd. It would freeze up and was extremely slow until I put an ssd in it, a world of difference. Like a new computer. Adding memory, while worthwhile, made no difference really. Yosemite ran horrible on the spinner.

 

[tibas92013]

I have this same mac mini and while most of the memory is used what it needed was an ssd. It would freeze up and was extremely slow until I put an ssd in it, a world of difference. Like a new computer. Adding memory, while worthwhile, made no difference really. Yosemite ran horrible on the spinner.

I have a i5 Mac Mini (Late 2012) 2.5 GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HD. I am still on OSX "Mountain Lion" which is functioning A-OK for my computer needs and I have decided not to download OSX "Yosemite" until I purchase a External SSD by the end of the year because of some of the reasons that you have stated above.

 

[Toltepeceno]

I have a i5 Mac Mini (Late 2012) 2.5 GHz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HD. I am still on OSX "Mountain Lion" which is functioning A-OK for my computer needs and I have decided not to download OSX "Yosemite" until I purchase a External SSD by the end of the year because of some of the reasons that you have stated above.

Good idea. Mine came with mavericks and I upgraded but I regretted it until I put in the ssd. It's actually easy to install one, I put the 500gb spinner in secondary position.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You need an SSD (memory is less important).

It can be either an internally-installed SSD (considerable job, be certain of your abilities), or, get an SSD and put it into an enclosure that is advertised to support UASP, for an "external booter".

If you get an enclosure that supports UASP, for all practical purposes the external SSD will be as fast as if it were installed internally. Much less trouble doing it this way.

I recommend "going external".
You can "prep and test" and then just designate the external drive to be your booter in the Startup Disk preference pane.

You might put a clean install of the OS onto it, and then move over your accounts, apps and data when prompted by the Setup Assistant (during install).

 

[Toltepeceno]

I recommend "going external".

Why? It's really easy to install and another external drive cuts down on portability. I recommend going internal and having an external for backups, etc.