Catalina on brand new 2017 iMac 21.5" - SLOW!!!!!!!!!

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Level 1

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Catalina on brand new 2017 iMac 21.5" - SLOW!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

I just bought a new iMac in October - it ended up being a 2017 model, which was annoying because I thought I'd be getting a 2019 model (although maybe there is no newer model than 2017, I don't know) - with Catalina installed. From day one it has been slow to load every program! I feel like this is a lemon.

It's a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core 85, 16 GB 2133 MHz DDR4.

It runs slower than my MacBook Air that was running High Sierra: Early 2014, 13", 1.4 Ghz Intel Core i5 - 8 GM 1600 MHz DDR3.

When I reboot I don't reopen any current programs, I have nothing that loads on start-up and it's been doing this since day 1. I thought maybe it's just a huge OS or something but it's seriously annoying. I'm running the same programs that I ran in my MacBook Air. My main program is Microsoft Word (MS 365) and Outlook, pretty much everything else is an Apple program, or surfing the net.

I see other people are having the same problem after upgrading to Catalina. I can understand if I had a previous computer and upgraded to Catalina but this is new. I'm sure my MacBook Air would be faster if I installed Catalina. I am at the point of calling Apple and asking them if this is a lemon or something. So frustrating after forking out over $2000!

Is it possible that future updates will fix this problem? Just curious. Thank you.

Judie

PS: I put the specs in for both computers but please understand that is for the experts here - I have no clue personally. :)

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jan 25, 2020 2:01 PM

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Answer 1

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John Galt

Level 10

155,810 points

Jan 25, 2020 2:55 PM in response to JudieR

Please determine if the same problems occur in "Safe Mode": Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac.

Starting a Mac in "Safe Mode" will take a long time, several minutes perhaps, but once you log in and use it, compare how well it works in that mode vs. now.

Then, restart normally and compare its operation again.

Then, post a reply describing your observations.

It runs slower than my MacBook Air that was running High Sierra: Early 2014, 13", 1.4 Ghz Intel Core i5 - 8 GM 1600 MHz DDR3.

A MacBook Air uses solid state storage, which will always be faster than a traditional rotating hard disk drive, such as the one I'm assuming your iMac is using (Apple offered flash storage as an option).

At your option, consider running EtreCheck and posting its report in a reply to this Discussion. Run it after completing your "Safe Mode" test and restarting your Mac normally.

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