I use a 2015 iMac with 8gb RAM and an Intel i5 processor. For a few months now it has been grinding to a halt. It takes an age to start up (like many minutes), open apps, wake up from sleep and so on. Some apps are really slow but thankfully Indesign seems fairly normal and stable. This seems to date from updating the OS to Catalina a few months ago but it’s getting worse.

Bearing in my that I have zero technical understanding, so pretend that you’re talking to a golden retriever that is listening intently but not really understanding anything, what could be going on and how do I fix it? Is it age? Should I clean the computer, both physically (does dust inside cause problems?) or do something with whatever makes it work? I’ve never done any file maintenance on the machine but have tried deleting cookies etc (which did nothing). It feels like a physical issue. Any suggestions?

My default solution is usually buy a new one but it seems that the new Apple chips don’t work so well with Indesign yet so that’s not an option.

Clean it, yes it can make a difference if all the fans are clogged with hair and dust.

Does it have an SSD? If not, it’s worth upgrading if possible.

I have had the same experience.. same machine and age, same timeline.

Had a good week so far, but boy, do I know what a beach ball is. (I know it’s not a beach ball flubble anymore, but the word stuck)

Mine too so would like to know. Same age and spec with 1TB HDD but running Big Sur . Bought a SSD but been forbidden in opening it up incase it won’t work afterwards!

One thing that did seem to speed up loading a very small amount was removing Chrome.

Try booting in recovery mode and running disk utility
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210898

If disk utility doesn’t find any issues maybe consider a clean install of Mac OS and reinstalling any apps etc.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904

It might seem overkill but sometimes a disk reformat and a nice clean OS install can work wonders.

You could also run Apple Diagnostics
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh35727/mac

have you opened Activity Monitor and checked whats using most energy and disk? An app writing a lot of data to disk is a potential cause, and I experience the occasional slow down with fan noise due to either Chrome or Docker Desktop chewing up resources that reminds me to quit & restart the app.

If it has an HD that’s the issue. If it has a fusion drive that could also be the issue – they don’t seem to be the most reliable of things.

The ideal solution is to get an SSD in it. If getting inside the case is too much hassle, the next best compromise is to boot from an external SSD. It will have USB3 so will still be nippy enough. This is what I did when the fusion drive in my 2012 iMac recently gave up the ghost.

8 Gb is also stingy for professional use in a non-M1 chip machine. If it is a model with accessible RAM slots I would definitely throw more at it.

SSD is key to keeping your Mac’s running swiftly. Will almost end the beach ball of doooooom. Popped on in my MacBook and Mac and its as good as it ever has been. Super easy to do (youtube for dets) and not overly expensive either. Increasing RAM is also easy and helps future proof your Apples.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I considered increasing RAM as something I could DIY but not sure I could manage an SSD, so guess I could take it in somewhere. It’s got a HD that is increasingly cranky (ie just grumbles away more than it used to). It gets pretty light use – at any one time it might have a web browser open, plus Acrobat and Indesign (no Photoshop or video editing etc). It’s the waking up from sleep that makes me feel as if it might not wake up one day and it has stalled and restarted itself a couple of times recently, which is a half-hour process.

I do have a Mac Air laptop with a SSD and it’s great. So, was looking at the new Mac Minis with SSDs but I’ll try some of the suggestions above. Should I just vacuum the vents or something?

Honestly SDD. Its how the Mac pulls its info from the hard drive. I’d have considered it voodoo before i upgraded mine. 1TB one on Amazon for £80
Check this link to the tube on how to

Ram is as easy. Plug and play and i imagine you’d get another 8gb in. They have to be equal amounts.
Don’t use a hover. Paint brush and lightly dust.

If its got a standard hard disk (or fusion drive) then going for an external SSD is the easiest option and will give a boost. I did this a few years ago, and a quick google found this guide:

https://www.kevinpurcell.org/how-to-add-an-ssd-to-a-mac/

From memory it was a pretty easy process, and is hopefully even easier these days, and it’s low risk as you don’t touch the original disk.

I find that having lots open on multiple users really slows mine down. If I close all my sons gaming crap down it’s much better!

OK, am sold on the SSD. Might perform a thorough back-up first, just in case…

SSD > Good hoover of the insides > Fresh install of OSX

I think cookies and apps are a lot to do with it, especially on start up. Often ive found the system slow to load or web pages slow to load and went off and cleaned out the caches, and lo and behold the pages etc load instantly. When you start up, each looks to update itself from its main server and the system takes its time doing that instead of what you want.
I find that after playing a game run via Steam that if I leave steam running, web pages,especially at night are really slow to load, but simply shutting down steam completely they load more quickly. Thats just my take on it, whether its actual i dont know, but cause and effect seems to suggest it.

Also if you shut down firefox from the task manager if you find it slow to load it then loads a lot quicker when you reinitialize it, again thats just an observation of cause and effect.

I can heartily recommend that you buy the iFixit tools for opening the machine up and follow the instructions on their website the linked video above didn’t mention the extra care required around the iSight camera to avoid damaging the cables.

Yes, I have zero confidence in doing stuff like removing screens or plugging in bits and bobs so I’ll think carefully about whether I’m the best person for the job. I wouldn’t jump straight into performing brain surgery either. Then again, how hard can it be?

OK, am sold on the SSD. Might perform a thorough back-up first, just in case…

you don’t do backups already 😳

SSD is a great idea, beachballing is one of the symptoms of a failing HDD.
have you used Activity Monitor tho as suggested earlier? That’s always my first port of call in case of a potential software/app issue causing problems!

I’d also go with the “clean it” line. You may also want to install a temperature monitor tool and see just how hot it’s getting, or whether the sensors are giving plausible data, and if it fans are actually spinning.

As it gets hotter the computer will reduce it’s CPU speed to control the heat generation. It’s more of an issue on a laptop to be fair.

Replacing the hard disk with an SSD is an upgrade everyone should do. Don’t be tempted to buy the cheapest one you can find on Amazon – it’ll be fast for the first week, then slow to a crawl.

Another vote for swapping in an SSD; I had exactly the same experience, albeit with an older iMac. £100 well spent and boots in seconds now.

I put an SSD in a 2010 iMac a few months ago – totally transformed it. It’s pretty easy if you follow the steps online.

And definitely clean the inside – they get filthy.

Wow, how would you even start cleaning something like that?! So, installing a SSD: it’s basically replacing the HD right? And the HD is where everything I use daily is stored – all applications, files etc? So I’d need to back-up my HD with Time Machine, swap brains, reinstall ‘everything’? I’ll check out some videos and the iFixit tools. Is there a recommended brand of SSD to go for?

Wow, how would you even start cleaning something like that?! So, installing a SSD: it’s basically replacing the HD right? And the HD is where everything I use daily is stored – all applications, files etc? So I’d need to back-up my HD with Time Machine, swap brains, reinstall ‘everything’? I’ll check out some videos and the iFixit tools. Is there a recommended brand of SSD to go for?

I would third, fourth, fifth, whatever, replacing the HDD with an SSD. I have a 2012 MBP which was doing everything you said – you could make a cup of tea between apps loading – and just sticking in an SSD has revitalised it.

I used Superduper to clone the HDD to the SSD, and literally swapped them over, and it worked.

One caveat I would add – I got a Crucial SSD, and it has once farted out on me, becoming completely unreadable. It came back, not through anything I did though, and when I posted on here it’s apparently a known thing, so avoid Crucial IME, or make sure you do regular backups (which you are, of course, doing all the time anyway…).

Samsung EVO SSD is good kit, is it really not worth cheaping out on a HDD

Try making a new user account and logging into that. If its noticable faster then the issue is your old account. If its taking ages to boot though. The issue is likely to be the drive.

Zap the pram….https://www.dummies.com/computers/macs/mac-operating-systems/when-should-you-zap-the-pramnvram-on-your-mac/

at any one time it might have a web browser open, plus Acrobat and Indesign

I wouldn’t underestimate how resource hungry web browsers / websites. This site’s ads can give your computer a real workout.

I found it was cheaper to pay for membership than upgrade my laptop. this site made it too hot to sit on my lap 🙂

Agree on the STW subscription – about the most power-hungry website I’ve ever visited. I’m writing this on a 2012 MBP which is still working fine and I run some resource-hungry photo-editing and design software.

Might perform a thorough back-up first

😱 hard to believe that you don’t already have a local backup, a remote backup, and Time Machine running.

Changing over to an SSD is a great move. Checking out the resource sucks using activity monitor as folks have suggested would be informative and might identify some resource-hogs or just give you more support for the SSD. And extra RAM is always a good thing.

Catalina was the worst MacOS of recent ones. Mangled NAS access, had a flaky Finder, and caused several ‘ugh’ moments on my i7 MBP doing big file related things. Big Sur is better. Much better.

How much room have you got left on you HDD? OSX needs >10% otherwise it slows down massively and grinds to a halt if free space is really small. It could also be a sign of a failing HDD. Mine failed a few years ago so I replaced it with a much bigger one and put a SSD in at the same time and formed a Fusion Drive. The difference was sensational. However, the new HDD only lasted a couple of years and started to fail again – similar signed to you, very slow, lots of beach ball etc. I disabled the HDD and now run on just the SSD. Works great for a 10 year old machine. Make sure you have backups!

Clone the HD
Take it to Macman Brighton for an SSD to be fitted.
Do you genuinely NEED Catalina? I’m an Apple (Graphic Arts) tech and I only just updated to Mojave. It’s a good OS.
Anything since a high Sierra relies heavily of the disc so an SSD is vital. Can you get more RAM too. Nothing intensive running on mine and it soon gobbies up my 16g of RAM. (2012 mini server)

You’ll probably need MacFansControl SW too as the sensors won’t sense any kore with an SSD

My guess would be a failing hard drive. Get it backed up, get it replaced (preferably with an ssd) and it will give a few more good years service.

I wouldn’t underestimate how resource hungry web browsers / websites. This site’s ads can give your computer a real workout.

I found it was cheaper to pay for membership than upgrade my laptop. this site made it too hot to sit on my lap 🙂

Yes – I’ve no idea what STW are doing (I assume mining for bitcoins!) but its shocking how it impacts performance.

In fairness you are trying to run a recent OS on a 6 year old machine. The SSD stuff will help – but I’ve also found that the amount of swapping going on has a big impact. There’s definitely a link between the beachball and the temp on the machine. I’m not certain which is the cause/effect – I suspect when it gets hot it throttles the CPU and then its a vicious spiral.

If you are using MS Teams it cripples my mac – especially if you screen share on the mac.

Zap the pram

Hello 1998.

2013 i5 27″ wave

I have 32 jigglebits of rammage in mine and it does everything I want

Another vote for fan software as the sensor is unlikely to work on the new SSD.

I’m not certain but you may need to run the command line to enable TRIM with third party discs. Plenty of how to primers on the web, it’s one line of code and your admin password. There will be dire warnings about bricking the machine when you get into it, I’ve not had a problem yet. (I did have one older iMac die due to age on the operating table though, screen connector failed).

So after reading this post I have just put a SSD drive in my 2011 work iMac, it was running really slow, apps were taking an age to load and I had the dreaded beach ball loading things. Wow what a difference it has made, so much I have just bought a larger SSD to fit and more ram. I wasn’t sure if I should bother or not at first as I had convinced myself I needed to replace it. I bought a smaller SSD to test the water and now I know its was easy to do I have gone for a larger SSD.

I’ve got a 2016 iMac with a fusion drive. All’s fine at the moment but I was under the impression that you can’t add stuff to it like you could the older ones? Could I replace the hd/ fusion drive with a full ssd at some point?

burko73, yes the hard drive and fusion drives are about a foot apart. You can’t replace the fusion drive as its soldered on. You can replace the HD drive just like a normal imac without the fusion drive.