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

Sluggish behaviour, iMac Retina 5K, Late 2015

E

espenbandersson

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2016
5
0
Hi,

I have two computers at my office:
- iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015. 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5. 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR 3.
- Macbook Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016. 1.2 GHz Intel Core m5. 8 GB 1867 MHz LPDDR3.

What seems strange to me, is the iMac performance. I experience lots of small delays when doing really basic stuff in Google Chrome, Adobe Photoshop and Fantastical 2, and several times a day get the spinning mouse cursor and have to wait for several seconds before continuing.

I have had quite a few iMacs over last years, and never seen this before. And the MacBook works like a beauty doing the same stuff.

Any ideas? I've tried to reinstall MacOS, new user accounts++, but the issue(s) remain.

Hardware issue, maybe?
 
You have a fast CPU, fast GPU, fast RAM but you slow storage ruins the experience. Each time your Mac needs to access data you waste a lot of time.
macOS needs a lot of I/O accesses and a slow disk is a real bottleneck.
 
The first and obvious question is whether it has always been slow or whether this has developed over time. It is easy to point the finger at the hard disk and I would blame it too if the computer's speed has always been unsatisfactory. But, otherwise it could be something else.
 
You can add an external SSD on USB3 or thunderbolt and move you system and applications on it.
Or tear down the screen and install a SATA SSD in place of the HDD (more efficient but more risky).
 
JustMartin said:
The first and obvious question is whether it has always been slow or whether this has developed over time.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm not 100 % sure when it started or if it has always been; I use both machines daily, but moved the more demanding tasks to my iMac recently, which is when I started noticing.
 
OP asks:
"Is it possible to upgrade the storage?"

Yes.

But my advice is: DON'T try to open it and install a drive that way. Too much can go wrong.

Instead, buy a USB3 external SSD and plug it in.
Initialize it with Disk Utility, then either:
a. Install a clean copy of the OS onto it, or
b. Use a cloning app such as CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of the internal drive onto it. (This works only if the SSD is large enough to hold the contents of the internal drive).
Set it up to be an "external booter" (with the OS, accounts, and apps).

It will SOLVE your speed problems.

Something like this will do the trick:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY532?tag=delt-20

Get either the 240gb or 480gb version. Even the 240gb may be "enough".

Note: you probably want to keep "large libraries" (such as music, movies, and photos) on the existing internal HDD.
This way, the external SSD is kept "lean, fast and clean".

Important:
DISREGARD the warnings others will post about a USB booter not having TRIM enabled.
I've been booting and running my own 2012 Mac Mini like this going on FOUR YEARS now, and TRIM has NEVER been enabled.
It runs as fast and smooth today as the day I first set it up in January 2013.

Aside:
The Mac doesn't really care from which drive it boots.
External or internal...
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
rbart said:
That's why it is so slow...
Apple should not sell so slow machines in 2015 ...
Click to expand...
I know I'm commenting pretty late, but I have a SATA Disk on mine and it's running slow to! I just used my friends 2015 MacBook Pro and it runs hella smooth!
 
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