UKC

I never seem to be off the phone to Apple cause my iMac runs slow.

I’ve tried all the various ‘software’ solutions and am wondering whether it’s worth taking it in to get it checked.

Could it be a hardware issue? If it’s only software then taking it to my nearest (an hours drive) dealer seems pointless.

What model and os?

I’ve a 10 year old macbook hacked to run Monterey that’s still running fine.

2015 running Monterey. Activity monitor shows no issues with memory (8GB). 1TB storage, of which I’m only using around 20%.

Def not our Wi-Fi as all our iPhones run fast, with no issues.

I expect it is hardware, yes. I had a similar problem with mine (bought new in 2012). I thought it was the end of it until I took it in to an independent Mac specialist a year ago, who gave it a new lease of life by taking out the tired old 1Tb HDD and replaced it with a 1Tb SSD. Big improvement in speed and still going strong, even with high demand stuff like photo editing.

He had to unglue the screen to get at it, and re-glue it back again. All good, except there's a tiny fly carcass stuck inside the screen bottom centre. I've given up trying to clone it out! 

What aspect is slow? You mention wifi, so I presume internet access. Is the Mac wired or wireless? If the latter, what wifi standard (b,g,n,ac?), how far from router?

What about CPU temperature? Are the vents blocked? That might force the CPU clock to run slow to keep the temperature down.

Thanks for this.

Did they charge for adding the fly? 

Start up and opening up anything (photos, word, excel etc).  Everything  just takes ages. I screen shared with an Apple tech yesterday and they agreed it was slow.
Mac is wireless. Not sure of the Wi-Fi, I mentioned that more as a comparison with our phones as they have no issues. Albeit they’re significantly newer.

We have a 2015 MacBook Pro and a 2011 MacBook Air in the house. If either starts to bog down I run through:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp1731/mac

if this doesn't work then:

https://www.macworld.com/article/224955/how-to-reset-a-macs-nvram-pram-and-...

Clearing SMC often works when a Mac runs slowly but there are no obvious greedy apps in Activity Monitor

Thanks. I’ll try both of those, but fairly sure I’ve run through these previously. Seems weird I would need to repeatedly run through these steps?

Yes, that was the midgeority of the cost.

interested in this thread as our old iMac was also very slow until it stopped working completely a couple of weeks ago. That was solved by a restore from backup (luckily I had a recent backup & copies elsewhere of the more recent files not on the backup) but its still slower (eg when opening software, esp Word & Excel) than when new.

But what in this context is 'SMC' ?

System Management Controller

thanks, now need to find out what that is in French

I refreshed my iMac 2013 by changing the hard drive up to 2tb SSD and going up to 16GB ram

like you I was frustrated by my iMac slowing down, it was quite unnerving to take it apart (following you tube videos) and putting it back together again. There is a little something you need to do to the cooling fan, not a game changer but it can mean the fan runs little noisy if you don't do it.

Made a huge difference and i've  had 4 more years out of it. I did get the wrong format on the SSD which didn't make an immediate difference but now I need to reformat thebSSD again if I want to upgrade the operating software.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. Doubt I’d do the job myself, that would be a recipe for disaster. Think I’ll speak to my local approved dealer.

I’m not sure it’s an “approved” upgrade, I know apple have changed policy on their phones recently but apple did make a lot of stuff non upgradable ie closed boxes. 
You have to start the whole process by prising the screen off using a hairdryer and blade 😏

You could always try factory resetting it by reinstalling the OS from a usb stick? Could just be getting overwhelmed with years of accumulated stuff

Tried that about 6 months ago. Complete wipe and reinstall.

But thanks for the suggestion 

Been fixing macs for years until recently. What I would do in your case it double the RAM to 16 gig, install a new, good quality 1TB SSD and install fresh OPSYS. This isn’t as hard as sounds and def DIY for a competent person. Follow a guid on youtube. Also youtube for making an OPSYS USB boot stick, a gain not difficult if you follow the instructions to the letter. 
My own MBP is a 2012 model and with 16 gig ram and an ssd and I can edit video at 4k with it no problem and it’s still as fast and snappy as day 1.

There is an inbuilt protection on macs that uses current sensing and if it detects a fault the mac goes into a ‘limp home’ mode and makes them extremely slow (to the point of being unusable) but it certainly doesn’t sound like your symptoms. Just threw that in as it may come up in a google search and set you off on the wrong path.

Have you created a new user and tried to see if that is better. This can be a quick check for a corrupt system file.

Also have you started up in safe mode? (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=start+mac+mont...)

also I would reset the PRAM and SMC as a precaution

I think Big Sur is a better bet for your machine

Otherwise the 'genius people' at Apple do have a much more refined test programme than the one available by pressing D at startup (https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202731)

HTH. SS

Thanks. I’ll have a look. Worst case I wreck it and buy a new one 

Yeah, done all that. I’ll check out the links though 

Worth running Onyx for your version of OSX - I doubt that it will fix things, but there's a small chance, and it is free and safe.

Ultimately I agree with the SSD idea. You have a couple of options. Putting in an SSD: I have done this on 27", 24" and 21.5" iMacs and it isn't that hard. Clear away all children, dogs, flies etc and put aside an hour of concentration. The screen coming off is usually fairly easy (many of the models are held on by magnets and pull up with a pair of small window suckers like glaziers use, the others are easily sliced through and the glue/foam can be removed afterwards). I'd suggest going to everymac.com to check your model and see what the max RAM capacity actually is and the model number, and then go to iFixit.com to get really good walkthroughs (still and video) of how hard or easy it might be. For instance, most 2015 iMacs can use up to 32Gb RAM so you could easily double your 8Gb (which is probably two 4Gb sticks behind a little door that just unscrews). Have a look at your model and decide if you are up to it... there are good little sets made by OWC that contain all the things you need including slicing tools to get the stuck on screens off, suckers, thermal cables and sensors for the new drive etc. 

Alternatively, sod all that for a laugh and just buy an external SSD hard drive. Plug in, format using the Disk Utility in MacOS, and then install Big Sur on it. Then go to Preferences >Start Up>choose the external SSD. This is the cheapest and safest (non-destructive) way to do it and if you are nervous of opening up an iMac and fiddling is incredibly easy, and pretty effective. Due to the bottleneck of USB in 2015 compared to the internal connectors it will be a bit slower than an internal SSD, but still very much better than what you currently have, as well as much cheaper than paying someone to do it. Don't buy an external spinning HDD, it has to be an SSD. It doesn't need to be big - 256Gb or 512Gb would be fine - you can keep all your data on the internal spinning drive and just run the OS from the SSD if you want. Having said that a 1Tb external USB bus powered SSD looks to be less than a hundred notes on Amazon. Just don't unplug it or you will be back to square one wondering why your machine has gone so slow again as it defaults back to the internal HDD.

Ultimately, the Intel Macs will probably lose support in a couple of years, ahead of which it might be wise to flick it on while it still has some resale value, and buy an Apple Silicon model. So sorting out a useable machine for another 12-18 months is more sensible than a potentially expensive third party upgrade. I would wait until the next iMac release comes out though, as the current model is a single size and may be smaller than you want and the chipset is about 18 moths old (although still blisteringly fast compared to Intel models); the M2 model is widely expected to be released later this year.

HTH

b

Going that route there are some very good thunderbolt SSDs out there and these will be better than USB. Although you would have to be careful as many are now the USB-C (TB-3+)  fitting which might mean buying a dongle and these are not cheap.

They aren't the easy to find though - the speediest way would be to use the TB2 out from the iMac, a TB2 to TB3/4 dongle, and then a USB-C SSD, but the above 'simple" version is probably 80% of the speed and half the price. If you find a cheap TB2 external SSD please let me know as I would quite like one!

cheers

b

Agreed. There are a few enclosures still around that might make it worthwhile. Steve

Certainly looks like it'll take an off the shelf ssd.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/imac-aluminum-tapered-edge-faq/how-...

Thanks to all. That’s brilliant help. I’ll have a look over the next couple of weeks and see how I get on.

That’s the 2012/13 model, I think the op was 2015? But the principle is the same  

b

"This Q&A covers the "Late 2012," "Early 2013," "Late 2013," "Mid-2014," "Late 2014," "Mid-2015," "Late 2015," "Mid-2017", "2019" and "2020" Tapered Edge Aluminum "

Good spot, thanks

b

Thanks for the link to every Mac.com. I haven’t seen that before.

So after a bit of research, calling Apple again and speaking to a couple of local IT shops I now know I can’t really meaningfully upgrade my iMac.  I could swap out the HDD, but can’t make changes to the RAM. Given what I predominantly use it for waiting for the M2 will probably not see much benefit over the M1. Most likely solutions are therefore external SSD, or bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Given I’m due for a wee bit of a windfall soon I think I’ll just opt for the new one.

 Thanks everyone for their contributions.

Sounds like M2 then - might still get a reasonable sale price for the old one while there is still a market for the Intel ones. Or if you need a second machine, a cheap external SSD would fit the bill. 
 

I’m just getting a couple of MacBook batteries in as the kids machines are 2013 and 2014, bought third and second hand already. Both are SSD machines and with a new battery will last out a decade easily. I’m always struck by how well Apple products hold up over long ownership cycles even if they are more expensive to begin with.

b

Thanks. Hadn’t considered selling it. I’ll check eBay and see what it’s worth.

I know they come in for a lot of stick about buyers just being ‘sheep’. But when they work, they work well.

In case anyone is still following. But apparently Apple aren’t planning to add the M2 to iMac. Waiting for M3 to be developed.