2019 iMac 21.5 extremely slow

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Level 1

8 points

2019 iMac 21.5 extremely slow

I have a iMac 21.5 2019 (i3, 8G RAM) which runs extremely slow from time to time, truth be told the performance seems to be much worse than the iMac 2009 and 2011 that I still use from time to time. Seems like I'm not alone and I read similar posts in the forum, many of the answers point to unnecessary anti-virus softwares, which I don't have.

I chatted with Apple Support earlier and we reviewed the activity monitor and the support staff seems to think there's no obvious issue with RAM or CPU being stressed, but I still get the forever turning beachball. It's just really painful.

I have also attached a report from running EtreCheck based on the recommendation in a few other threads.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions to improve performance of this Mac.

EtreCheck Report

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 16, 2020 6:38 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,850 points

Dec 16, 2020 8:28 PM in response to youfulei

There is nothing technically wrong with your computer, what the problem is is that you purchased it based on it's price and not based on your needs. Sorry to sound harsh but that is what occurred. Base model 21.5" iMac have only 8GB of unupgradeable RAM and a glacially slow 5400 RPM HD. The ONLY thing you can do to make the computer faster is to buy an external SSD, I'd recommend the following https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3 and then clone the internal HD to the SSD using either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Then make sure the external SSD is set as your startup drive. You can then re-format the internal HD and use it for additional storage. The 2012-2020 base 21.5" iMacs were a downgrade from the 2011 and earlier models as they use the 5400 RPM HD and do not have RAM that is user upgradeable. They were built for folks that just want to surf the net and do a few e-mails and really nothing else.

Best of luck.

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Answer 2

youfulei Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2020 5:44 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you, I'll give it a try. I don't do games or anything that'd require a lot of power, really basic stuff, so for Apple to produce something that can't even meet basic user needs, that's quite a shame. Can't believe they would do that. I'll never buy an entry level Mac ever again.

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

33,100 points

Dec 17, 2020 7:18 AM in response to youfulei

rkaufmann87 is spot on about the hard drive and it has been an issue for years. There are literally hundreds of posts similar to yours. My own tech department saddled me with a similar computer several years ago so I can tell you from personal experience - once you’ve purchased the external drive, installed the OS on it and set it to boot from the external the computer will seem like a totally different machine.

BTW I don’t think the entry level computer is always a bad choice. But I do think Apple sometimes provides a less than optimal computer to make the price low. If in doubt, check here before purchasing.

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Answer 4

youfulei Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2020 8:06 AM in response to dwb

Thank you, I should have done more research before the purchase. I did Google and saw some posts about slow speed but overall the reviews still seemed to be fairly positive and I thought how bad can it be, it's an Apple, should still be much better than my 10 year old Macs, and how naive, lol

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Answer 5

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,850 points

Dec 17, 2020 8:34 AM in response to youfulei

Your welcome and good luck.

Stay safe!!

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2019 iMac 21.5 extremely slow

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