new iMac quite slow...

[karilynn]

Hi all,

I have a relatively new iMac, purchased Jan. 1 of 2014. It's the late 2013 model and it has 8gb ram. I purchased this one to replace an older iMac that never had any issues with lagging or being slow, so I'm a little frustrated that a brand new machine is experiencing this.

It is generally just overall slow and laggy. When I am typing, it pauses and has to catch up all the time. It doesn't matter if I'm writing an email or an iMessage or just typing this in chrome. Applications are slow to respond/open. I restart the computer often. I check the activity monitor and it is never using more than 3gb of memory. I really don't understand why it is doing this.

I haven't downloaded any type of software like mackeeper. It's obviously still under warranty, so I can bring it to apple, but before hauling it there, thought I would check here first. Should I try to do a reinstall of the OS? Any other ideas?

thanks

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

You haven't installed any crapware have you? What is your CPU usage like?

 

[karilynn]

You haven't installed any crapware have you? What is your CPU usage like?

No, no crapware. I only have spotify, messages, and chrome running.

CPU is 2.12% user, 2.12% system, and 95.75% idle. Threads 687, processes 117.

Even typing this took ages because it paused so many times.

 

[keysofanxiety]

No, no crapware. I only have spotify, messages, and chrome running.

CPU is 2.12% user, 2.12% system, and 95.75% idle. Threads 687, processes 117.

Even typing this took ages because it paused so many times.

Good afternoon,

Please can you start by downloading Smart Utility by clicking the following link: https://www.macupdate.com/download/24875/smartutility311.zip

This will check the SMART data on your hard-drive and indicate if there's a current problem, or if it's in its early stages of failing. If it says 'warning', get that hard-drive replaced immediately.

If that comes out clean, the next thing to do is run a disk verification through Disk Utility. If there's a problem, shut down the computer. Then hold 'Alt' when you turn it back on, and boot into the Recovery partition (may be called Recovery 10.9). Click Disk Utility in there, and click 'Repair Disk'. That means that your problem was related to an OS corruption.

Please let me know how you get on with the above -- happy to help. Also drop me a quote so I'm notified. We'll have this sorted in no time at all.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Just in case there was some ambiguity regarding the Disk Utility verification:

Finder>Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility (might be easier to search for it in Spotlight, but if your computer's lagging it may take ages to find it).

Then just click 'Verify Disk'. It will take a few minutes to do on a non-Flash hard-drive, and you won't be able to use the computer in the meanwhile -- patience is a virtue.



Oh, one more thing. I know this sounds stupid ... but have you tried turning it off and on again? Apple menu>Shut Down. Ensure that 'Reopen windows when logging back in' is disabled. If it's enabled, it restarts loads of background services and doesn't really give you the benefit of clearing the RAM. Hopefully it's something as simple as this. Please give this a try if my earlier post doesn't show any problems.

 

[karilynn]

thank you, keysofanxiety!

Smart Utility came out clean. I ran the disk utility and that reported back everything is OK. I did the shut down and unchecked the box to reopen programs and that appears to have fixed the issue. I'm back to typing fluidly again and nothing is slow, yet. Maybe I should do that each night?

I feel like a real dunce! lol

 

[ApfelKuchen]

thank you, keysofanxiety!

Smart Utility came out clean. I ran the disk utility and that reported back everything is OK. I did the shut down and unchecked the box to reopen programs and that appears to have fixed the issue. I'm back to typing fluidly again and nothing is slow, yet. Maybe I should do that each night?

I feel like a real dunce! lol

Before making that part of your routine (since reopen programs can be a nice convenience over the long term), see what happens if you leave it checked. It's quite likely that it was a one-time problem that was duplicated, rather than a continuing issue. If the problem returns, then it's time to see what bad boy is causing it.

 

[keysofanxiety]

thank you, keysofanxiety!

Smart Utility came out clean. I ran the disk utility and that reported back everything is OK. I did the shut down and unchecked the box to reopen programs and that appears to have fixed the issue. I'm back to typing fluidly again and nothing is slow, yet. Maybe I should do that each night?

I feel like a real dunce! lol

Hi karilynn, I'm pleased it's fixed the issue. It's always recommended you shut down whenever you can -- definitely a good habit to get into. Although the 'turn it off and on again' is a running joke for tech support guys, I find that it actually works with Macs

Please do let me know if you run into any problems. It's good news that it wasn't a hardware failure.

 

[yjchua95]

Hi all,

I have a relatively new iMac, purchased Jan. 1 of 2014. It's the late 2013 model and it has 8gb ram. I purchased this one to replace an older iMac that never had any issues with lagging or being slow, so I'm a little frustrated that a brand new machine is experiencing this.

It is generally just overall slow and laggy. When I am typing, it pauses and has to catch up all the time. It doesn't matter if I'm writing an email or an iMessage or just typing this in chrome. Applications are slow to respond/open. I restart the computer often. I check the activity monitor and it is never using more than 3gb of memory. I really don't understand why it is doing this.

I haven't downloaded any type of software like mackeeper. It's obviously still under warranty, so I can bring it to apple, but before hauling it there, thought I would check here first. Should I try to do a reinstall of the OS? Any other ideas?

thanks

Are you using a Fusion drive, SSD or HDD?

Edit: Typically, if you have a Fusion or SSD, a Mac should be very responsive (instant app launching and boot times of no longer than 12 seconds).

If you have a HDD, slow performance is normal if the drive's got quite some data in it.

 

[TripleMoxy]

Are you using a Fusion drive, SSD or HDD?

I'm curious about this as well.

 

[Rover110]

Is it the keyboard / mouse?

With such low cpu usage, I wonder if your problem might be with the link from the keyboard and mouse to the Mac, rather than in the mac itself. I did not see you mention the mouse pointer becoming a spinning beachball (which is what would happen if an application is not responding to input for more than a few seconds).

This link is generally wireless over Bluetooth, so if anything is blocking or interfering with the Bluetooth link then you might find the mac appear slow. This might occur if you have a Bluetooth device that is looking for your old computer.

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you happen to have an older WIRED USB keyboard around? It's doesn't have to be an Apple keyboard, ANY USB keyboard will do.

If the slowdown happens again, try plugging in the wired keyboard.
Start typing.
Does that change anything?

 

[Arfdog]

Hi karilynn, I'm pleased it's fixed the issue. It's always recommended you shut down whenever you can -- definitely a good habit to get into. Although the 'turn it off and on again' is a running joke for tech support guys, I find that it actually works with Macs

Please do let me know if you run into any problems. It's good news that it wasn't a hardware failure.

I will have to disagree here. Shutting down is not necessary on a 2013 iMac. If you have a completely mysterious problem, then it can be tried. Otherwise, not needed. I have never shutdown in about 1 year of use on my iMac. Just sleep.

 

[kalms]

I got 21.5" new iMac and at first it was impressively quick but now it's a little slow. Mainly opening apps and startup, have Clean My Mac and use regular and Free Memory Pro but yeah, a little disappointed with it at the minute.

 

[anonnymouse]

I have never shutdown in about 1 year of use on my iMac. Just sleep.

You've never restarted your machine after performing a Software Update that had a required reboot? Or don't you install software updates?

 

[yjchua95]

Do you happen to have an older WIRED USB keyboard around? It's doesn't have to be an Apple keyboard, ANY USB keyboard will do.

If the slowdown happens again, try plugging in the wired keyboard.
Start typing.
Does that change anything?

I don't think it's due to the keyboard. The OP mentioned that apps are slow to respond or open as well.

I'm thinking it's because the OP did not have a Fusion Drive or an SSD upgrade, in which case the symptoms he's describing is perfectly normal.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I got 21.5" new iMac and at first it was impressively quick but now it's a little slow. Mainly opening apps and startup, have Clean My Mac and use regular and Free Memory Pro but yeah, a little disappointed with it at the minute.

That's your problem, using stupid programs like Clean My Mac. Get rid of that. And 'Free Memory Pro'?! Get rid of them. OS X looks after itself. If it's running slowly, check the RAM usage in Activity Monitor. If it's paging out, turn it off and on again.

Run a verification through Disk Utility as well.

 

[johannnn]

That's your problem, using stupid programs like Clean My Mac. Get rid of that. And 'Free Memory Pro'?! Get rid of them. OS X looks after itself. If it's running slowly, check the RAM usage in Activity Monitor. If it's paging out, turn it off and on again.

Run a verification through Disk Utility as well.

+1 don't use these programs

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'm thinking it's because the OP did not have a Fusion Drive or an SSD upgrade, in which case the symptoms he's describing is perfectly normal.

Nope, extreme lag when typing (which is what the OP mentioned) is not due to the hard-drive. SSDs are a relatively recent technology and Macs have had physical hard-drives for years. If this performance is 'perfectly normal', we wouldn't be paying the premium for a Mac.

I'm stipulating that the RAM was paging out which was contributing to the poor performance -- which is why restarting the computer with 'reopen windows' disabled fixed the issue.

----------

I will have to disagree here. Shutting down is not necessary on a 2013 iMac. If you have a completely mysterious problem, then it can be tried. Otherwise, not needed. I have never shutdown in about 1 year of use on my iMac. Just sleep.

It is necessary to shut down as it clears the RAM. If your uptime is about a year on your iMac and you haven't had any problems (so you don't do software updates?), then you must just be using your iMac for light browsing. There are lots of problems with resource usage which manifest within 14+ days of uptime.

Besides, shutting down the computer is always a good habit to get into, and even if you don't do it yourself or don't see the need to, it doesn't mean it's bad advice.

 

[Arfdog]

You've never restarted your machine after performing a Software Update that had a required reboot? Or don't you install software updates?

You got me there, only for updates do I shutdown. I never shutdown more often than that, OS X hasn't asked me to shutdown or shut itself down either. It's just a remarkable OS, this OS X.

 

[Arfdog]

Nope, extreme lag when typing (which is what the OP mentioned) is not due to the hard-drive. SSDs are a relatively recent technology and Macs have had physical hard-drives for years. If this performance is 'perfectly normal', we wouldn't be paying the premium for a Mac.

I'm stipulating that the RAM was paging out which was contributing to the poor performance -- which is why restarting the computer with 'reopen windows' disabled fixed the issue.

----------



It is necessary to shut down as it clears the RAM. If your uptime is about a year on your iMac and you haven't had any problems (so you don't do software updates?), then you must just be using your iMac for light browsing. There are lots of problems with resource usage which manifest within 14+ days of uptime.

Besides, shutting down the computer is always a good habit to get into, and even if you don't do it yourself or don't see the need to, it doesn't mean it's bad advice.

You're really speaking to such an old-school stigma of old-school computers. The iMac is not old-school. It manages and clears the RAM, as OS's should have always done.

I don't know if i'm lightly browsing? I currently have 16 tabs open and another window with probably 20 tabs. And running iTunes, have a movie loaded, Excel, torrenting. So that's probably an average load.

Shutting down can't hurt, true. But advising to shutdown once a week or whatever is akin to advising to change your oil every 3000 miles or eating gluten-free when you don't have a gluten reaction. It doesn't hurt but it also doesn't gain you anything. It's totally unnecessary.

 

[keysofanxiety]

You're really speaking to such an old-school stigma of old-school computers. The iMac is not old-school. It manages and clears the RAM, as OS's should have always done.

I don't know if i'm lightly browsing? I currently have 16 tabs open and another window with probably 20 tabs. And running iTunes, have a movie loaded, Excel, torrenting. So that's probably an average load.

Shutting down can't hurt, true. But advising to shutdown once a week or whatever is akin to advising to change your oil every 3000 miles or eating gluten-free when you don't have a gluten reaction. It doesn't hurt but it also doesn't gain you anything. It's totally unnecessary.

This is absolute hogwash. Your ignorance offends me.

At the risk of being blunt, what you've said isn't true in the slightest. Spreading ill-advice like this is not good. The OP's issue was resolved by restarting, and disabling 'Reopen windows when logging back in'. Most issues with computers running slowly, on Windows 8.1 and on OS X, tend to manifest when people have a crazy uptime. I remote into handfuls of computers daily and see this every time.

Please upload a screenshot of your uptime (type last -10) into Terminal. I'm interested to see what it is.

And to claim that shutting down weekly is "akin to advising to change your oil every 3000 miles" is nothing short of offensive to me. I'll let you do your own research, but you couldn't be more wrong.

 

[Arfdog]

This is absolute hogwash. Your ignorance offends me.

At the risk of being blunt, what you've said isn't true in the slightest. Spreading ill-advice like this is not good. The OP's issue was resolved by restarting, and disabling 'Reopen windows when logging back in'. Most issues with computers running slowly, on Windows 8.1 and on OS X, tend to manifest when people have a crazy uptime. I remote into handfuls of computers daily and see this every time.

Please upload a screenshot of your uptime (type last -10) into Terminal. I'm interested to see what it is.

And to claim that shutting down weekly is "akin to advising to change your oil every 3000 miles" is nothing short of offensive to me. I'll let you do your own research, but you couldn't be more wrong.

I'm not sure what it all means, but I've never initiated a shutdown other than to support some upgrade.

And what don't you believe, the shutting down or changing your oil every 3000 miles?

The OP had a problem, so shutting down was one viable solution. But it's absolutely not necessary as maintenance, and certainly not needed regularly, like an oil change.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'm not sure what it all means, but I've never initiated a shutdown other than to support some upgrade.

And what don't you believe, the shutting down or changing your oil every 3000 miles?

The OP had a problem, so shutting down was one viable solution. But it's absolutely not necessary as maintenance, and certainly not needed regularly, like an oil change.

Thanks for the screenshot. The computer was shut down/restarted a fortnight ago (March 25th), so I'm somewhat doubtful about your uptime claims. Before that, it had been shut down on March 2nd (3 weeks).

And it's not about what I do or don't believe. You need to shut down your computer. That's fact.