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Brand New Computer seems quite Slow

Hello I just bought a new imac 21.5" 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 it not that fast ....any ideas ? I havent got much on it.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 1, 2020 11:10 PM

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Question marked as Best answer

Primary problem: The 5400rpm HDD. Those drives are significantly slower at system startup and application/file opening times than an SSD equipped laptops or smartphones. Worse, they are so slow that they can only barely keep up with a clean install of MacOS Catalina and may freeze up with beachballs if too many 3rd party applications are installed I consider them unusable.


Solution: Buy an external USB 3 SSD and reinstall/restore MacOS onto that, or alternatively return the computer and order a model with an SSD. The 1TB Fusion is adequate for most users but still earns occasional complaints and should probably be skipped to be safe.


Secondary problem: The quad-core i3 with 8GB is a sweet system for basic internet/email/iWork/iLife type users but may lag on demanding tasks (3D rendering/games, video editing, audio compositions, Adobe Cloud, etc). For the advanced stuff you probably want at least 16GB RAM with a 6-core i5 or better.


Bloat: The opposite of lean. References applications that use more RAM than strictly necessary. For example, Google Chrome.

Posted on Jul 2, 2020 6:19 AM

5 replies

Jul 2, 2020 5:40 AM in response to GreenToms

Sadly You likely want to return it if you've had it less than 14 days & avoid these 3 things...


1: No i3 or i5 two core.

2: No 5400 RPM drive or Fusion Drive, today's bloat requires an SSD big as you can afford.

3: No 8GB of RAM, that is too little for today's bloat get 16GB or more.


PS. on the 27" iMacs you can add your own RAM at a reasonable price.

Question marked as Best answer

Jul 2, 2020 6:19 AM in response to GreenToms

Primary problem: The 5400rpm HDD. Those drives are significantly slower at system startup and application/file opening times than an SSD equipped laptops or smartphones. Worse, they are so slow that they can only barely keep up with a clean install of MacOS Catalina and may freeze up with beachballs if too many 3rd party applications are installed I consider them unusable.


Solution: Buy an external USB 3 SSD and reinstall/restore MacOS onto that, or alternatively return the computer and order a model with an SSD. The 1TB Fusion is adequate for most users but still earns occasional complaints and should probably be skipped to be safe.


Secondary problem: The quad-core i3 with 8GB is a sweet system for basic internet/email/iWork/iLife type users but may lag on demanding tasks (3D rendering/games, video editing, audio compositions, Adobe Cloud, etc). For the advanced stuff you probably want at least 16GB RAM with a 6-core i5 or better.


Bloat: The opposite of lean. References applications that use more RAM than strictly necessary. For example, Google Chrome.

Jul 2, 2020 6:26 AM in response to padams35

Ace...thank you, it is Google chrome that is really slow...what a pain....i didn't buy from Apple Store so not sure I can return but I may call up and ask. Im not using it it for any video editing or photoshop etc.. just annoying when it spins trying to open a file etc... why is naughty Apple selling these computers? I've never had a problem before, ive been using them for over 15 years.

Brand New Computer seems quite Slow

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