I am trying to hang in there but my computer is so slow it can't do 2 things at the same time. If I open up a browser and then at the same time decide to open a folder, it's like a tug of war of who's going to open first. It takes forever to open either one. I can't afford a new computer and I just don't know what to do.
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Slowest iMac
- Thread starter jquest68
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Step 1. If you installed a 'cleaner' or 'antivirus' uninstall. The 'cleaners' are at best powerful tools that let inexperienced users hurt themselves, and at worse are blatant scams. 'Antivirus' applications trade performance for marginally better security, but MacOS is pretty secure by itself and it sounds like you need performance more.
Step 2. If this is a 21.5" model with a 1TB HDD buy an external USB SSD and reinstall MacOS onto that. HDDs are too slow for modern MacOS, especially the 2.5" 5400rpm drives that shipped in 2012-2019 21.5" iMacs by default.
Step 3. If neither of the above apply to you post the specifications for the iMac you use so we can offer better advice.
Step 2. If this is a 21.5" model with a 1TB HDD buy an external USB SSD and reinstall MacOS onto that. HDDs are too slow for modern MacOS, especially the 2.5" 5400rpm drives that shipped in 2012-2019 21.5" iMacs by default.
Step 3. If neither of the above apply to you post the specifications for the iMac you use so we can offer better advice.
What year is your iMac?
What SIZE is your iMac?
What kind of drive is inside?
What version of the OS?
I'm going to agree with padams above "Step 2".
Get an external USB3 SSD, set that up to be the new boot drive.
What SIZE is your iMac?
What kind of drive is inside?
What version of the OS?
I'm going to agree with padams above "Step 2".
Get an external USB3 SSD, set that up to be the new boot drive.
I'm going to have to disagree about the advice for an external USB3 SSD. If you want real performance then you should get a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure with an appropriately sized NVMe. You can build you own if you don't want to pay for a name brand. If you're running with just 8GB of RAM then you should definitely upgrade that also.
Slowest car.
My car is just not running right, and I can't afford a new car and I just don't know what to do.
Any ideas?
(Some more info would help)
My car is just not running right, and I can't afford a new car and I just don't know what to do.
Any ideas?
(Some more info would help)
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You gave us almost no information. It could be due to slow hardware, a software issue, or defective hardware, etc.
Nah. For light usage, a Samsung T7 Shield (external USB-C/A SSD) with 8 GB RAM would more than suffice.
I have MacKeeper to clean my computer but it also has a StopAd installed. My computer is a iMac (Retina 5k, 27 inch, late 2015), Processor 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB. It's an old model.
It's an iMac (Retina 5k, 27 inch, late 2015), Processor 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB. I'm running Monterey version 12.6
iMac (Retina 5k, 27 inch, late 2015), Processor 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB and I'm running Monterey 12.6
The type of drive is the most important spec for this machine.
If it is a spinning drive, even as part of a Fusion Drive, I am guessing that this would be your bottleneck.
An external Thunderbolt 2 or USB 3 SSD would be the first thing to try. (You can replace the internal drive, but that is a bit complicated and risky.)
Personally, I'd try a Samsung T7, you can get 1 TB for $99:
SAMSUNG T7 Shield 1TB, Portable SSD, up to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Rated, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, External Solid State Drive (MU-PE1T0S/AM, 2022), Black
Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD delivers high performance on-the-go, not matter the terrain. It has an IP65 rating for water** and dust* resistance, with Dynamic Thermal Guard to manage heat control. Transfer huge files instantly. USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe® NVMe™ achieve soaring sequential read/write...
www.amazon.com
Install the OS on that, migrate only what you need (which will also get rid of any cruft you have in your existing system) and then reformat the internal drive and do not use it for anything except possibly long-term storage. (Personally, I'd just leave it unmounted, so it has no potential to slow you down.)
I had a 2015 iMac 5K, with a 3 TB Fusion Drive, which was incredibly slow. I upgraded to a 2017 with a 2 TB SSD. The difference was really night and day, I continued to happily use that until I got an M1 last year.
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Slowest car.
My car is just not running right, and I can't afford a new car and I just don't know what to do.
Any ideas?
(Some more info would help)
For cars, it's terribly easy.
A. Rent one. (or hire one)
B. Mod the current one
OP:
We need to know WHAT KIND OF DRIVE is inside.
For some reason, many new users omit this information when telling us "what Mac" they have.
The drive inside makes "all the difference".
I'm going to GUESS that you have a 1tb fusion drive.
If so, the SSD portion may be "saturated", pushing stuff to the HDD portion, and that slows everything down.
We need to know WHAT KIND OF DRIVE is inside.
For some reason, many new users omit this information when telling us "what Mac" they have.
The drive inside makes "all the difference".
I'm going to GUESS that you have a 1tb fusion drive.
If so, the SSD portion may be "saturated", pushing stuff to the HDD portion, and that slows everything down.
Get someone to replace the internal HDD with an SSD, or learn how to do it. otherwise get a loan and buy a new computer.
sure, if he has the money.....otherwise just get an external SSD and boot from it
That works surprisingly well, especially the usb c models, with them the speed of an external blade ssd can be faster than the internal sata ssd I usually install.
I really like this idea and am going to try it. I have to admit that I am still learning a lot. I was wondering where the Mac OS is located on the drive. On the Windows platform, I am always having to use the install disks with a OEM key. I just don't want to do something and loose the Mac OS. I hope that makes sense. Richard
There are no license keys to keep track of for macOS.
There are several ways to go about this, but I almost always create a USB installer, boot from that, start Disk Utility and format the drive, and then do a fresh install. There are instructions here:
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.
Do NOT reinstall any “cleaner” apps after the fresh OS install!
You can leave your internal drive untouched, and chose to not mount it, so you can always go back to booting from it if you need to for whatever reason.
If you need detailed instructions for each step, feel free to ask.
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I don't know if MacKeeper is causing your problems, but I would get rid of it regardless (and since StopAd comes from MacKeeper, I'd get rid of that as well):
Ongoing MacKeeper fraud - The Safe Mac
Controversy about MacKeeper has been around almost as long as MacKeeper has existed. It is one of the most aggressively-marketed products in the Mac world, and there are numerous accusations that it isn’t useful or even that it is fraudulent. At the same time, you will find a number of positive...
www.thesafemac.com
Like others, I suspect your drive may be the issue. However, if you have a lot of browser windows open already, with just 8 GB you might be running out of RAM. To check this, when you encounter the behavior you described, open Activity Monitor, switch to the Memory tab, and check Memory Pressure at the lower left. It should be green like this:
The good news is that, if RAM is an issue, upgrading is easy (there's a RAM door at the back) and relatively inexpensive. You've probably got 2 x 4 GB, so adding an additional 2 x 4 GB, to give you a total of 16 GB, is only $33:
Memory Upgrades for iMac w/ Retina 5K Display Late 2015
Max out the memory in the new iMac with Retina 5K display with iMac memory upgrades. Certified to work with your iMac and backed by a lifetime warranty.
eshop.macsales.com
Install memory in an iMac - Apple Support
Get memory specifications and learn how to install memory in iMac computers.
Hello there and thank you for the reply. I will be doing this tomorrow! I have purchased a T7 SSD ITB drive and a USB C to USB C cable. When I go to the Apple App Store I seemed to be able to download the Mac OS Montery file. I think that it's saved in the Applications folder. I am assuming that I can click on the downloaded file and install the OS on the SSD External drive. I know that I have to unmount the original drive and format the SSD for the OS.There are no license keys to keep track of for macOS.
There are several ways to go about this, but I almost always create a USB installer, boot from that, start Disk Utility and format the drive, and then do a fresh install. There are instructions here:
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.support.apple.com
Do NOT reinstall any “cleaner” apps after the fresh OS install!
You can leave your internal drive untouched, and chose to not mount it, so you can always go back to booting from it if you need to for whatever reason.
If you need detailed instructions for each step, feel free to ask.
It may be too late now, but note that the T7 Shield is probably better suited as a boot drive than the T7. The T7 Shield usually costs the same or less than the T7.
The T7 is fine but the T7 Shield is a more recent drive that leverages newer flash and I believe a different chipset/firmware for faster speeds and more sustained speeds.
Do you have 30% free space on your boot drive? If the system has gotten much slower than when you purchased it I would look at RAM utilization and free disk space first. Next look at apps that are running to see how much cpu and memory they are using. Don't do any upgrades until you can pinpoint the bottleneck.
Thanks again! I ordered the T7 Shield. Of course there are now two versions of the T7 Shield available so I was confused about which to go with. Other than the case, they appear the same, so I opted for the less expensive option. I will recieve the regular T7 today or tomorrow and give it a shot to see how things are with that. I can return the drive if there isn't much of a difference between that and the internal HDD.
Thank-you very much for the reply! I ordered the T7Shield as per your suggestion. However, I was a bit confused because there were two versions of the T7 Shield available on Amazon, so I opted for the less expensive option. I will try my luck with the T7 Regular tonight to see if it's better than the internal HDD. I can always return the SSD drives.
Yippee! Here is the drive I will be using! Samsung T7 Shield 1TB USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive (MU-PE1T0S/AM) - Black