2019 iMac - should I update to Sequoia?

[Lactoes]

Got a 2019 iMac - Intel i5 3GHz, 40GB RAM. Still on Ventura 13.6, and it runs like a top.

If you're on a similar older machine, how is Sequoia for you?

I'm looking at an M2 MBA, and will run Sequoia on it. I use Final Cut, and typically edit the same library (SSD) on the iMac and my old MBP. I'd like to do the same with the new M2, but prob need to update the iMac for compatibility. Weighing the costs/benefits.

 

[gilby101]

Does it have an internal SSD?
Sequoia is fine on my 2019 i9 27" iMac with 512GB SSD. The i5 would still be good.

 

[Lactoes]

Thanks. I'm sure I'll take the plunge.

It actually has the Fusion Drive, but that was junk from day one. Clunkiest Apple product I've ever had. I eventually moved the whole OS to an external Samsung SSD, and it was a night and day difference.

 

[Bananapple]

Thanks. I'm sure I'll take the plunge.

It actually has the Fusion Drive, but that was junk from day one. Clunkiest Apple product I've ever had. I eventually moved the whole OS to an external Samsung SSD, and it was a night and day difference.

Hello did you update? my Fusion Drive just crashed, luckily I still could access it and moved everything to my external Samsung SSD.i am on Catalina right now and everything is smooth but I can't use newest version of Chrome, Spotify and so on. so is it worth to update to Sequoia? Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You might consider getting an external USB3.1 gen2 SSD, such as the Crucial X9 (I have one and it's very nice).

Then create an EXTERNAL boot drive with Sequoia on it.

This should run better than your fusion drive.
You'll see read speeds around 900MBps or even a little better, when connected to one of the USBc ports.

This will breathe a couple of years of "new life" into the iMac...

 

[Bananapple]

OP:

You might consider getting an external USB3.1 gen2 SSD, such as the Crucial X9 (I have one and it's very nice).

Then create an EXTERNAL boot drive with Sequoia on it.

This should run better than your fusion drive.
You'll see read speeds around 900MBps or even a little better, when connected to one of the USBc ports.

This will breathe a couple of years of "new life" into the iMac...

which IMAC Model you have?

 

[pshufd]

I upgraded my 2017 iMac Pro back in September and it's running fine.

 

[Andrey84]

Got a 2019 iMac - Intel i5 3GHz, 40GB RAM. Still on Ventura 13.6, and it runs like a top.

If you're on a similar older machine, how is Sequoia for you?

I'm looking at an M2 MBA, and will run Sequoia on it. I use Final Cut, and typically edit the same library (SSD) on the iMac and my old MBP. I'd like to do the same with the new M2, but prob need to update the iMac for compatibility. Weighing the costs/benefits.

Sequoia is running completely fine on my 2015 MBP. So, on the 2019 iMac it should be flying.

If you feel it's slow, just disable the video-wallpaper and maybe the Genie effect when minimizing; I also use Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion in the Accessibility settings.

 

[Bananapple]

Sequoia is running completely fine on my 2015 MBP. So, on the 2019 iMac it should be flying.

If you feel it's slow, just disable the video-wallpaper and maybe the Genie effect when minimizing; I also use Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion in the Accessibility settings.

thank you

 

[Bananapple]

update: I updated also to sequoia. it running smooooooth, I recommend to update! I also disabled the settings that @Andrey84 mentioned. thanks

 

[T_Ray]

update: I updated also to sequoia. it running smooooooth, I recommend to update! I also disabled the settings that @Andrey84 mentioned. thanks

I updated my iMac 2019 (3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7, Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, Sequoia 15.2, Hard Drive 729.19 GB available of 1.03 TB) and I have hated it.. Takes my nearly 60 minutes just to do a simple restart. iCloud syncing is beyond pathetic. I'll get home and out of my car for 20-30 minutes, iPhone and iPad both updated but iMac still says driving. Messages don't sync timely, takes me 10 minutes to open a blank Numbers worksheet, or Chrome. Photos constantly crashes..

 

[gilby101]

Hard Drive 729.19 GB available of 1.03 TB

Fusion Drive (HDD + tiny SSD) - get an external 1TB SSD and run macOS from that.

 

[T_Ray]

Fusion Drive (HDD + tiny SSD) - get an external 1TB SSD and run macOS from that.

Is that truly the only way? It's just crazy to think I used my mid-2011 iMac from 2012 until 2020 without any issues. Sure I wasn't able to continue MacOS updates but the thing ran like a champion. To think this iMac only lasted me 4 years is crazy.. I could easily give my old iMac to someone to use and it would work. But, with sequoia on this one, I literally want to pluck my eyes out piece by piece with needle nose tweezers...

 

[gilby101]

Is that truly the only way?

Getting an SSD (external is easy) is the first step. From the woes you describe there may be software issues too - so you may need to start again with a clean macOS recovering data from backup.

 

[Fishrrman]

T_Ray:
"Is that truly the only way?"

It's not the "only" way. You could open the iMac and replace one of the drives (splitting the fusion drive in the process), but you run the risk of breaking something during "the operation".

But... moving to an external boot SSD can be "the fastest, easiest, safest way" to get more speed.

You could use one of the USBc ports on the back.
A USB3.1 gen2 drive would do quite well (very well).
Something like the Crucial X9. Small and fast.
You'll see reads in the 910+ range.

If you want even faster, you could get a thunderbolt SSD.
More speed, but... more money.
Your choice.

My prediction:
A USB3.1 gen2 SSD will be "all you need".
Try this, and I predict you'll be back here reporting that you never thought it could go so well...

 

[JUMA55]

I have a 2019 iMac 5K i9 128GB RAM 2TB. If you could avoid going to Sequoia, I would. It's been nothing for me but trouble. I've tried every version--release, public beta and developer beta, and while some problems have been fixed, others remain. For example:

There's this weird Cryptex disk that I see using Disk Utility, others have seen it on their desktops. No one knows what it does. It does not seem to harm anything, probably just shoddy work on Apple's part.

Poor workmanship runs through Sequoia. If you update, you'll get the app for iPhone Mirroring. It won't work on an Intel iMac, but it's there for you to look at. You'll also get an incomplete Image Playground installation. It doesn't show in Finder as iPhone Mirroring does, but it does show in Path Finder.

My WiFi turns off at random.

I have a corrupted part of the internal drive that relates somehow back to Time Machine.

Path Finder randomly crashes.

In Safari some web pages do not completely load or load so slowly you can grab a beer waiting.

1Password crashes in Safari several times a day and will not hold its settings.

I could probably think of more, but in 16 years of using Macs this is the first time I've regretted updating.

 

[JUMA55]

FWIW, the incomplete installation of Image Playground comprises 2,311 files and folders. They take up a tiny amount of disk space. But why was it halfway installed when Apple knows it won't run on an Intel Mac? And iPhone Mirroring adds another 101 files.

 

[TVreporter]

Thanks. I'm sure I'll take the plunge.

It actually has the Fusion Drive, but that was junk from day one. Clunkiest Apple product I've ever had. I eventually moved the whole OS to an external Samsung SSD, and it was a night and day difference.

Wondering if there's an update? How has it been? I'm still debating with the 2019 i5 with 40GB RAM

 

[JUMA55]

I updated my iMac 2019 (3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7, Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, Sequoia 15.2, Hard Drive 729.19 GB available of 1.03 TB) and I have hated it.. Takes my nearly 60 minutes just to do a simple restart. iCloud syncing is beyond pathetic. I'll get home and out of my car for 20-30 minutes, iPhone and iPad both updated but iMac still says driving. Messages don't sync timely, takes me 10 minutes to open a blank Numbers worksheet, or Chrome. Photos constantly crashes..

I had a similar machine to yours. I gave up, traded it to Apple and bought a loaded iMac 24. I do miss the larger screen at times but not that often.

 

[Lactoes]

Wondering if there's an update? How has it been? I'm still debating with the 2019 i5 with 40GB RAM

Ah, I missed the notifications for this entire thread.

I updated the iMac to Sequoia shortly after my initial post. Super stable - no complaints. I have had some hiccups with Audacity (coreaudio CPU usage), but I blame that one app over the Mac or MacOS. Maybe boot time has increased, but I don't notice any other slowness if there is any.

Ideally, I'll stop the OS update cycle with the last release of Sequoia, and pause my M2 MacBook there, too. Then resume after replacing the iMac in a couple of years. New improvements (like AI, lol) are now so minute that I doubt I'll actually miss out on much.