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I've recently bought a 2017 iMac, Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 3 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4.
Its running slower than my base model 2012 iMac, and I get the beachball every time I try and reply to an email or open a simple webpage.
I have reset the SMC and NVRAM, reinstalled the OS, and support hasn't been of much help to date. After restarts it seems to run ok for a while, but it never lasts log. Any ideas please???
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Please do not misquote me again. I never said that the OP should get something better. I simply informed him/her that they had purchased an iMac with a very slow spinning drive and a minimum of RAM.
Please do review the ToU of these forums:
https://discussions.apple.com/terms
You have a glacially slow 5400 rpm drive (standard in 21” Macs). I do not know if yours would be accessible to be upgraded (Apple does not support this to be done by anyone but an authorized service) and 8 GB RAM is about a minimum for Mojave. I am not familiar with Backblaze - is this an online backup service? If so, your computer will be uploading data continuously slowing down everything else especially due to the slow read speeds.
You have large number of 3d party apps running
One of them also looks weird
MenuMetersApp.app (? - installed 2018-09-27)
(/private/var/folders/42/y4krmkzx7hx2pgb1_fczzy8r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/939DF314-9DCF-4D4D-AB36-2D4A4EB56C8C/d/MenuMetersApp.app)
Options:
1- Suggest you quit them all to test
2- Log in as different user to test without those apps
3- Start in Safe mode to test the speed without those apps
4- use `Option+Command+Esc` then quit one at the time and test
I disagree with your disagreement.
It show total memory usage of 6.12 GB out of 8 !
that is not bad,at all.
Also There are a lot of apps open with average of 20 to 70MB range, not just Mail and Safari.
Since you appear to be in such capable hands and I do not allow being dragged into an irrelevant discussion, I will no longer respond here. I hope you will be able to take care of your problem. Good luck!
You purchased a baseline, 21 inch screen iMac possible.
In order to speed that iMac up, you are going to have to spend some extra cash to get this basic, baseline iMac up to par.
Only Apple Stores are ONLY allowed install the additional RAM into these new, 2017, 21 inch screen iMac models.
Next.
The hard drives and fusion drives in these 21 inch screen iMacs all utilise 33%-50% slower 5400 RPM laptop hard drives instead of the “normal” and “ desktop standard” 7200 RPM mechanical spinning hard drives.
This means, potentially, up to 50% slower read/writes to these drives and slower seek times!
The ONLY viable and speedy storage drive options in these new, 2017, 21 inch screen iMacs IS THE SSD drive option!
The fix?
Forget the internal hard drive (use it strictly as a backup storage and emergency boot drive) and purchase an external USB 3.0/3.1 connected 256, 500 GBs or 1.0 TB pure all SSD drive.
Install a Mac OS (or purchase and use data cloning software, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone your current internal system setup) to this external SSD drive and make the external SSD drive your permanent boot drive!
Your iMac will run A WHOLE LOT FASTER than it does now from an external USB 3.0/3.1 SSD drive!
A WHOLE LOT FASTER from an external SSD drive!
Or return this iMac.
You have 14 days to return this iMac.
Purchase one of these with one of the internal SSD size options instead.
The SDD options are 256 GBs, 512 GBs or 1 TB internal SSD.
That is all I can recommend in, sort of, a nutshell.
Good Luck to You!
So there you have it.
Two posters say you should spend more money and get better hardware.
While I agree with them your iMac is not top of the line..... no reason to panic
if you do not have the money right now, you could just do following to speed it up.
Close all Apps that you are not using frequently, like the Backblaze and Drop box, and many many others that you have open all the time specially those that are not from Apple.
Thanks for your comments. Can I expect an external HD to run as fast as an internal one? I replaced the HD with and SSD in my old 2012 baseline Mac but expected this 4k machine with much better specs to do better. Its not even doing better than the original baseline Mac before the upgrade. The beach balling seems unusual to me on a new Mac, even when I don't have Backblaze running. I don't want to void the warranty so if I need to go to an external SSD I will, but I didn't just spend a bunch of money to get something I should need to upgrade immediately.
An external USB 3.1 enclosed SSD WILL be very fast.
Like I stated, magnitudes faster than that internal 5400 spinning hard drive.
8 GBs of RAM is really now baseline RAM amount for Macs, now, since OS X 10.10 thorugh macOS Mojave the Mac OS is really internal hardware resource intensive.
Gone are they days when you could run a Mac OS on 2-4 GBs of RAM.
macOS needs a base minimum of 8 GBs or greater amount of RAM.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
I'm not happy to settle for a 1500€ machine that needs immediate upgrade or supplemental help as it seems is the consensus here, so back to apple support to see what I can come up with.
I do not know what you think Apple Support is going to do for you.
As I already have stated, you have 14 days to return this iMac, get your money back or add extra cash for a much better spec’d out iMac.
That baseline iMac you purchased is simply not up to the tasks you need it to do.
Having a desktop Mac running with a 5400 RPM ”laptop standard” hard drive that is a very slow drive in a desktop Mac is something Apple should NEVER done.
Stay away from 21 inch screen iMacs with the “so-called” Fusion drives, too!
In the 21 inch screen iMac models, these drives are very small capacity SSDs coupled to 5400 RPM spinning hard drives, once again.
At one time like 2006-2011, ALL aluminum bodied iMac models came with much faster “desktop standard” 7200 RPM spinning mechanical hsrd drives across the entire iMac lineup.
Today, the faster 7200 RPM spinning mechanical hard drives and combo Fusion Drives can ONLY be obtained in the larger screen 27 inch screen iMac models, now!
Good Luck to You!
I second the previous poster. A sincere good luck in your endeavor for a faster iMac. I have an early 2008 iMac with a 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, running 10.11.6, which is as far as apple will let me upgrade. Many years ago, I had to replace the HDD. I installed a WD 2tb 7200 rpm drive myself, saving a ton of money. Interestingly enough, it also only has 4 GB 800mhz DDR2 SDRAM (half, and much slower than what a new base model comes with). It has an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB graphics card. This machine still runs great!!!!!! Unfortunately it won't run some of the latest updated software as of Jan 1 this year, including Quicken's Turbotax...something I need for my part time employment and general tax prep. I also do photo and video editing for personal use.
A week ago, hoping for more speed, I took delivery of a mid 2017 iMac, with 3.0 Ghz Quad Core processor, 8 Gb 2400mhz DDR4 RAM, Radeon Pro 555 graphics, but...here's the kicker...the HDD is a 1 Tb 5400 rpm drive. Yes, it's very nearly a base model iMac, but ten years newer, which should be much faster with a faster processor and twice the RAM. Well, I was certainly MISTAKEN! And VERY disappointed. My wife even posted a note on it, and I quote, "This computer is SOOOO slow!! :( Much slower than old one." She's right. Spinning rainbow balls quite often. IMHO, Apple laid an enormous egg with this line of Macs.
I am now returning it, and have already ordered the next step up to see if the 1 Tb Fusion drive model runs better, as reviews have stated. If I still need something faster, I will then attach a 1 Tb SSD (such as SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable External SSD - USB-C, USB 3.1) and be done with it, as many web posters have done and noticed a HUGE difference.
Again, I hope you find what you need, but the external USB 3.1 option will be great alternative over spending more with Apple installed hardware.
Here is the etrecheck report
Here is the Activity monitor
It say you are running low on RAM ?
---show us your Activity Monitor for memory.
---You either quit some apps or upgrade RAM.
New iMac running super slow
