Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mid 2011 21.5" - Too Slow

B

bad1550

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 13, 2007
227
0
I have a mid 2011 base iMac 21.5" 500gb HD which runs slow - I get alot of beachballs. I have upgraded Ram to 8 gb but does not help.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Beachball is usually the RAM but not always. Either way, more information would be helpful.

What kind of stuff are you doing when it happens? How much do you have open at one time? Also, what kind of information is your activity monitor showing as far as RAM and CPU usage?

If it is the RAM, even with 8GB, it could still run a little sluggish. It all depends on what you're doing which is why I ask the above.
 
AcesHigh87 said:
Beachball is usually the RAM but not always. Either way, more information would be helpful.

What kind of stuff are you doing when it happens? How much do you have open at one time? Also, what kind of information is your activity monitor showing as far as RAM and CPU usage?

If it is the RAM, even with 8GB, it could still run a little sluggish. It all depends on what you're doing which is why I ask the above.
Click to expand...

My Activity Monitor says:
CPU - % User .50
- % System .62
- % idle 98.26
Threads 257
Processes 51


System Memory:
Free 6.32 gb
Wired 1.00 gb
Active 535.7mb
Inactive 151.7mb
Used 1.67 gb

vm size 117.77 gb
Page ins 257.9 mb
page outs 0
swap used 0

I use mainly for emails and internet only

Thanks,

Bob
 
What do you define as "slow" and "a lot of beach balls" by the way? Also, you say you use it for email and internet? What program and browser are you using? Firefox, for instance, has been known to cause a lot of beach balls. Especially when it has been on the computer for awhile.

Unless it's something going on with your HDD you should be getting plenty of speed with that much free RAM and CPU. My iMac usually has no more than 4GB of RAM free and still runs fast by my standards.
 
AcesHigh87 said:
What do you define as "slow" and "a lot of beach balls" by the way? Also, you say you use it for email and internet? What program and browser are you using? Firefox, for instance, has been known to cause a lot of beach balls. Especially when it has been on the computer for awhile.

Unless it's something going on with your HDD you should be getting plenty of speed with that much free RAM and CPU. My iMac usually has no more than 4GB of RAM free and still runs fast by my standards.
Click to expand...

I am using Safari - When I turn on the iMac - I usually get message "No internet Connection" then it works?

Thanks

Bob
 
bad1550 said:
I am using Safari - When I turn on the iMac - I usually get message "No internet Connection" then it works?

Thanks

Bob
Click to expand...

Are you on the latest firmware? There was a patch released for the wifi issue.

Although I fail to see how that constitutes as the computer running slow. It is just taking a slight amount of time to pick up the internet connection. Unless it's for an obscenely long time that seems like normal behaviour to me.
 
AcesHigh87 said:
Are you on the latest firmware? There was a patch released for the wifi issue.

Although I fail to see how that constitutes as the computer running slow. It is just taking a slight amount of time to pick up the internet connection. Unless it's for an obscenely long time that seems like normal behaviour to me.
Click to expand...

How do I get the wifi patch? Is that under software updates?

Thanks

Bob
 
In additon to machine update / checks, also perform a Speed Test on your Internet link. What speed did you buy? What speeds are they delivering?

For speed test link, surf: http://www.speedtest.net/

Hope this helps as well....
 
Thanks for the Performance tips - iMac seems to be running better!

Bob
 
I forgot to mention I am still running Snow Leopard. Should I upgrade to Lion?

Thanks,

Bob
 
bad1550 said:
I have a mid 2011 base iMac 21.5" 500gb HD which runs slow - I get alot of beachballs.
Click to expand...


I'm having the same problem with the same machine. I haven't added anything to my iMac - it's a stock standard mid-2011 base iMac 21.5". I've only had the iMac since January 2012. I've noticed over the last few days that the machine is super sluggish, especially when using a browser. I primarily use Firefox (which is up to date), but using Safari gives me the same results - incredibly slow, lots of beach balls and it takes five minutes or more to load the simplest sites. Even when it does load sites, it hates me scrolling down the page and will launch beach balls regularly and seemingly at random. It seems to hate Twitter the most, which is unfortunate because part of my job is maintaining a daily social media presence.

My iMac specs:

Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4

I currently have 413.84GB free on my harddrive out of the available 499.25GB. I also have a 1TB WD Passport external HD attached via USB to the computer as a main backup drive. It has over 800GB left on it. I use a bluetooth mac keyboard and magic trackpad.

I recently updated to 10.7.4 - wondering if it could be some issue with that update? This is my main work machine, so I'm very eager to get this sorted out. If I thought it needed repair, I'd book it in post haste. (I have AppleCare on this machine, thank goodness.)

Any suggestions as to what the problem is would be appreciated! Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back