2019 iMac is extremely slow

Ok I ran Malwarebytes and the report didn't find anything. So now I know there is nothing wrong with my computer and yet it still takes 5+ minutes to open any program. I don't know what a configuration profile is... should I delete them and if so how? Will it speed things up?

And what about running an external hard drive and using that instead of the internal drive? I've been told that will speed things up?

Susan

I'd love it if you'd post your results here. This is my 3rd iMac and as I said my 2007 iMac is way faster (still) than this new one. It's been a HUGE disappointment. I too have called Apple support many times and as I think I said above in my last call they told me to use safari, not chrome that would fix the problem. What? Of course, it didn't. The other day it took 4 minutes for my mail to open. I clicked the icon and got the spinning wheel for just over 4 minutes. It's a huge disappointment. Worse I work on it all day long and I am accomplishing about half of what I should be because everything loads so slowly or not at all. I've called support maybe 4 or 5 times about it and each time I get someone telling me some stupid fix that doesn't do anything at all. This is not the iMac I expected or the support I PAID for. I'd love to know if you get any farther with them than I did.

Good luck!!!

Susan

Well what sucks about that is when I bought it I spent well over an hour at the Apple store. I explained to them exactly what I do for work and how I work and this is what they recommended to me. I took their advice and this is what I got. I told them that my work involves multiple open windows and programs.

I'm just really disappointed with Apple.

1) actually sometimes it's taken longer than 5 minutes. So that is literal. I ran that first aid thing twice in utilities and rebooted the computer and it seemed to run better. Usually, I get the spinning wheel for under a minute, but there are times that it takes forever and that is literal too, I'll walk away and come back and still have the spinning wheel and I'll go to force quit and see the program is not responding.

Programs do run faster once they have been opened once after I shut the computer down.

It looks like I can only get about $600 if I sell/trade in so that's not much help if I go buy a super-duper fast iMac. Right now I'm trying to remember to keep a lot of stuff of my desktop (I like storing a lot of files there that I use everyday) and to quit a program when I'm done with it. This has really changed my workflow as I used to keep say 4 or 5 things open and I'd copy and paste back and forth between them.

Susan

Yes I do want to upgrade and I thank you for your recommendations. I run my own business and this year had been tougher than most. I work with small biz people and a number of my clients have cut back. But I'm still in business and paying the bills. I had 2 come back last week so I hope I can make this happen in the next few months. I had a 27" screen before too and downsized but my house is small, my desk is small and that's the first decision I need to make big or bigger.

Thank you for your help!

Susan

I agree with Mapper3. Why if they know that this configuration doesn't really work, why do they sell it? Today I've had 3 lock-ups after the spinning wheel was doing its thing for a good minute. The programs stopped responding (mail, calendar, and Trello). At the time I had Safari open with 3 windows open on it.

It's so frustrating on a bunch of levels. Again, I spent at least an hour with a sales guy at the Apple store and I went over what I do every day for a living. This was the machine he picked out as perfect for me. I WAS WILLING TO SPEND MORE MONEY (that's what really ****** me off). And I remember him saying if you were working with videos I'd suggest something different. And again, if there is something wrong with the drive or the configuration they shouldn't sell it. And if they do work fine for most people when people like us call for support because OUR computers are not working right, they should solve the problem.

I've been told that it would work fine if I ditch Google/Chrome (didn't help much). I was also told to upgrade to Big Sur, which seems to have made it worse. Another Apple support person did a screen share with me (after we had shut the computer down and rebooted) and had me open mail, it took a while then (maybe 40 seconds) and she told me I needed to have patience!

I've said this before in this forum (not in this thread I don't think) that the Apple I'm dealing with today is not the Apple I knew back in 2007. Half the support people I get don't seem to know what they are doing but I have to spend an hour with them until they bump me up to someone else. And I still don't have a computer that works well.

Oh well, keep me up to date Mapper3!

Susan

I don't have an external drive. A friend suggested I get one but the only external drive I have is the drive I back up with Time Machine. My computer is exactly the way I bought it. Of course, I have more documents on it and added some apps and programs that I need (all thru the app store).

I'm dealing with some health issues with my mom so I haven't done anything yet. I hope you get your appointment and that it solves at least some of your issue. I'll be very interested in what they say!

I wish they had told me that, I really feel taken by Apple Sales. A friend told me yesterday that there is going to be a major upgrade to Apple's computers including iMac's in 2021. Every time I have bought a computer there is an upgrade AFTER I buy it. I'm guessing this upgrade may not be until the fall? I'd like to hold out until then so for once I get the newest model. Before I buy I'm going to come to Support forums and get recommendations, I will NEVER ask Apple again.

Thanks!

I hope I'm doing this correctly. It said there were NO major problems, that can't be right, truthfully it's almost unusable

.

Thanks very much!

Susan