Q: Late 2013 iMac consistently slow, stutters

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23424424234deadkittens

Level 1 (4 points)

Desktops

Q: Late 2013 iMac consistently slow, stutters

I'm not quite sure how best to explain this problem which has been a huge source of stress and disappointment since I bought the machine, but here goes: every time I restart the machine, or start any application, the machine slows to a grinding halt, slogging through whatever it's doing taking nearly a full minute to load. It has been like this for quite a while now, and I'm afraid to upgrade OS - it might become completely unusable. I can barely perform basic tasks on this machine like read PDFs or open web browsers without it stuttering completely. When I use it for software development, the iTerm program I use takes ages to login to bash. I'm not using it for anything resource-intensive. I just have no idea how to troubleshoot this issue. The weird thing is once it's done stuttering, it's fairly performant. Any ideas? My 2012 MacBook Air performs better than this.

Specs:

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) slow to start

OS X El Capitan

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac14,3

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.9 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 8 GB

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jun 6, 2016 6:49 PM

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Q: Late 2013 iMac consistently slow, stutters

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by Linc Davis,

Linc Davis Jun 6, 2016 8:38 PM in response to 23424424234deadkittens
Level 10 (207,963 points)

Applications

Jun 6, 2016 8:38 PM in response to 23424424234deadkittens

If you haven't already done so, please try this simple step first. It probably won't help. In that case, see below.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider. You may have to leave the machine there for several days.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keep your confidential data secure during hardware repair.
Apple recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
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Q: Late 2013 iMac consistently slow, stutters

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