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User profile for user: Andijames2001
Andijames2001 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Is it time to upgrade my Mac?

Forgive a basic question from a middle-aged man, but I'm wondering if it's time to upgrade my iMac. It's a late 2013 21" with a 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 of memory, & Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB graphics. I've recently updated my OS to Catalina. I use Lightroom, Photoshop, & Luminar 4 quite a lot - just about every day - & I've noticed a lot of lag recently (I've only purchased Luminar 4 in the last month & it's only now I've noticed the worst of the lagging). Often Luminar will crash or it takes a long, long time to save back to Lightroom. Is this more a question for Adobe? Or, considering the age of my iMac, is it time for me to buy a new computer with more processing power? Thanks!

PS: Please don't be too technical with any answers....like I said, I'm a middle-aged man with a middle-aged man's knowledge of technology....

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 11, 2020 5:48 PM

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User profile for user: Ronasara
Ronasara
User level: Level 6
15,115 points

Posted on Aug 12, 2020 10:43 AM

I strongly second the advice given here. As more app updates and operating systems are issued, they seem to often require more and more RAM. So, looking ahead, I would get as much as I could afford. To add some clarification, since you are non-technical, what rkaufman87 was saying is that if you buy a 21.5" Mac, it has its RAM soldered into it and can not be easily upgraded, so order it with as much RAM installed as you can afford. The larger 27" Mac is user upgradeable. The RAM he recommends comes from a trusted supplier who sells it for less than Apple does. DO NOT buy any RAM from some other source. It often will not work. In this larger Mac, you can install the additional RAM yourself in about 10 minutes. It's not hard to do and the web site has a video showing you how to do it. One final note. Sometimes the RAM cards are difficult to insert and they must be fully seated. I had to tap mine in with the end of a screwdriver handle to fully seat them. Also, we all are strong advocates of only installing the newer solid state (SSD) drives over the old, slower hard drives. I'm sure you will really enjoy the new Mac's improved performance. (Incidentally, I am 82 years old, so it's never too late to learn.)

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User profile for user: Ronasara
Ronasara
User level: Level 6
15,115 points

Aug 12, 2020 10:43 AM in response to Andijames2001

I strongly second the advice given here. As more app updates and operating systems are issued, they seem to often require more and more RAM. So, looking ahead, I would get as much as I could afford. To add some clarification, since you are non-technical, what rkaufman87 was saying is that if you buy a 21.5" Mac, it has its RAM soldered into it and can not be easily upgraded, so order it with as much RAM installed as you can afford. The larger 27" Mac is user upgradeable. The RAM he recommends comes from a trusted supplier who sells it for less than Apple does. DO NOT buy any RAM from some other source. It often will not work. In this larger Mac, you can install the additional RAM yourself in about 10 minutes. It's not hard to do and the web site has a video showing you how to do it. One final note. Sometimes the RAM cards are difficult to insert and they must be fully seated. I had to tap mine in with the end of a screwdriver handle to fully seat them. Also, we all are strong advocates of only installing the newer solid state (SSD) drives over the old, slower hard drives. I'm sure you will really enjoy the new Mac's improved performance. (Incidentally, I am 82 years old, so it's never too late to learn.)

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User profile for user: Andijames2001
Andijames2001 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Aug 12, 2020 2:10 PM in response to woodmeister50

Well, I did uninstall all the useless apps that come with a Mac when I bought it so that may have helped, but yeah, I've never had any problems until I upgraded to Catalina. Even after asking my question I went back into Lightroom, Photoshop, & Luminar to process some more photos & the lag wasn't too bad, I'm just impatient. So 8gig has always been enough for me.

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Is it time to upgrade my Mac?

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