Painfully slow Mac - basically unusable 1 yr old Mac..

nonerao Said:

“Painfully slow Mac - basically unusable 1 yr old Mac..: [...]I am just so frustrated as I have spent hours and hours and hours trying to work around this. I have also heard that 8GB is low - Why did they not issue a warning when upgrading to Catalina ? And how come they are still selling 8GB Macs then ? If it is true they will be so slow with just 8GB ?”

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RAM:

• 8GB is ideal for basic use and running one or two apps at a time.
• 16GB and up is ideal for multitasking and streaming and gaming

Where to Go from here?:

If you have no AppleCare+ protection on this, then I would downgrade, manually.

Try This:

1. First, Backup your Mac, then

2. Then, install your macOS Mojave anew.

3. Finally, migrate it over.

In Depth:

Always Back up your Mac Prior to Installs:

Start by creating a Time Machine backup of your Mac, so that you can have something to restore your Mac to, should anything go wrong with the install.

Use a USB Bootable Installer:

Create a USB Bootable Installer for Mojave. Delete the hard drive's partition. Then, install Mojave with. Go Here: How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support. Next, migrate it over from the Time Machine Backup you created in step 1 to this new install.

I don't see much wrong in the report other than Apple really should really have sold a Mac intended for Internet use with only 8GGB of RAM & a 5400 RPM drive.

Only solution I see is to Clone to an expensive TB3 SSD & boot from that...

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3

I am sorry, I misread your first comment about your Chromebook. To your comment about Vhromebook, it is a completely different system. It works off of the internet and doesn't really have an installed operating system like Macs and PCs do. As to selling the basic computers, they are normally just fine for people who only do the basics: only one or two apps open, no editing, emails and internet only. The real issue as I see it is enabling new users to better determine what they specifically need. In fact, I sent a letter to Apple last week with specific recommendations on how to address this issue. ill they pay attention? I hope so. In the meantime, below are some useful suggestions for things we all should do to keep our Macs running faster. They can make a difference. Often times there is a specific cause for slowness and other times any of the following actions may be helpful. They are “maintenance” steps which are often ignored by many people.

·      It is important to occasionally restart a Mac. Ideally, once a week or more often. This does some system cleaning.

·      Regularly clearing the history of your browsers can help as all the data is stored in RAM. Clearing frees up RAM for system use.

·      Some people seldom empty their trash. If you haven’t, then do so. Also empty your email trash.

·      Some programs use a lot of RAM. (Like many Adobe apps and games.) When using them, close any other apps not being used. Only keep open the apps you are currently using.

·      Doing a restart in the safe mode can clear a number of problems. This is done by holding down the shift key at start up. This process can take up to ten minutes while the computer is doing its maintenance and cleans the cache. You may then restart normally.

·      It is also a good idea to periodically run the Disk Utility app. If it reports some issues, then rerun it repeatedly as needed until the final report is ok.

·      On some computers such as yours the problem may simply be that there is not enough RAM installed for RAM hungry programs that are being used. The very minimum amount of RAM we would recommend for computers running the Catalina OS is 16 GB. This information is found by going to the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the finder and clicking on About This Mac. Note; not all computers are able to have RAM user installed. Some upgrades must be done by a qualified Apple service specialist , and the cost can be substantial.

·      Last, and most important, you should remove any and all Mac cleaner and anti virus programs. They will cause problems and will significantly slow your computer.

·      We'll take a look at the EtreCheck report, it will be very helpful in determining what may be happening.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and enable you to speed up your computer.

You definitely would benefit from a fast external SSD with Thunderbolt or USB C connection like this one or this one,  Clone your boot drive to it and boot and run from the external.  You can use the internal HD for additional storage as necessary 

If you upgrade your RAM get the modules from either MacSales.com or Crucial. They guarantee that their modules will work in the Mac they are designed for, have great warranties and excellent customer support.

Your iMac has a snail like slow 5400 rpm hard drive - it does everything at molasses-like speed. Your friend's mac may have only 8 GB RAM, but if they have an SSD as a hard drive, it will do things at lightning speed. Unfortunately, yours is a 2017, so you cannot upgrade it yourself. You can only upgrade RAM or an SSD from an authorized service provider.

Here are install videos:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac-21-inch-2017/

FWIW, I have a 2017 i7 iMac with 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD - it runs well and is responsive.

I am sorry to hear about your frustration with your Mac. Unfortunately, you need to provide more information for us to be able to respond in a meaningful way. Which model and year Mac do you have? How much RAM is installed? Most important, have you installed any anti virus or Mac cleaner apps? If so, immediately remove them using the vendor's uninstaller. They will significantly slow down your Mac and cause other problems. They are completely unnecessary. Yes, Catalina does use a bit more RAM than older operating systems, but it is a very good OS. You are using the Chrome browser which is a RAM log. I would use another browser such as Firefox. 8 GB of RAM is sufficient for most baseline Mac users. Do you use any Adobe editing products? They are very heavy RAM users. Depending on your model Mac, it may be possible to add more RAM. Please click on the link blow, and read the information so you can help us to help you. Then we can offer some specific ideas.

Writing an Effective Apple Support Communities Question - Apple Community

You can save us asking dozens of questions by submitting a report from this App for us to look at…

EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report if you capture the URL while there…

https://pastebin.com/

Whew, they've changed pastebin & made it harder, but after pasting in, click Create new paste button, then Embed button, then copy the URL...

<script src="https://pastebin.com/embed_js/KuvnghqA"></script>

The important part is...

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/KuvnghqA

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...

The biggest bottleneck to performance is the slow mechanical hard drive.

You may want to consider upgrading to an SSD, or at the very least, using an external SSD to boot from. 8GB of RAM shouldn't really be a problem for you in day to day operations, though the adobe apps may tend to bog down as they can be serious resource hogs.

Here is my take on this. I think that with new technologies the market for computers has evolved, but our knowledge of how to determine what out specific needs are, has not matched this evolution. Many users of low end computers have been and are happy with what they have. Unfortunately the apps we now use have grown and often use more RAM, as does our newest OS, Catalina. Finally, we have become unaccustomed to slowness that might have been acceptable in the past. (Remember dial up modems?) Apple would do well to develop a sophisticated, easy to use questionnaire for new buyers to use to determine realistically what configuration(s) might best serve them. It would help buyers and would result in fewer dissatisfied users. I have suggested this to them, but I have no way of knowing if they are interested. Let's hope they are.

I bought a Mac Mini with a 5400 rpm drive years ago (I was still unaware) - I sold it after 3 months because I could not stand it (having to wait that long for everything. But, those drives are much less expensive than an SSD or even a 7200 rpm drive (which is acceptable)and so is 8 GB vs. 16 GB RAM which makes for a less expensive entry level Mac.