late 2015 iMac is very slow

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Level 1

10 points

late 2015 iMac is very slow

I bought this computer refurbished from Apple in early 2016 and used it for 4 years with no problems. Then, this computer ended up sitting in a box (climate-controlled) for about a year, and recently started using it again. I noticed it was very slow right away. I decided to completely erase the hard drive and restart from scratch but that did not help any. It literally sits for minutes trying to open chrome and I'm always seeing the rainbow circle constantly. I really don't want to buy a new computer just yet, but this is getting annoying.

Any help is appreciated!

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 2, 2021 4:05 PM

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Answer 1

Jack-19

Level 8

46,182 points

Aug 2, 2021 4:10 PM in response to x_artemis_x

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

The reason your iMac is very slow is due to the 5400 rpm hard drive. Very slow. If you use an external SSD and run macOS from that, it will make your Mac 10 to 30 times faster for storage. For more info, instructions, and what external SSD to buy, please read: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003583.

Jack

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Answer 2

Aug 3, 2021 1:39 AM in response to x_artemis_x

I agree. Your mechanical hard drive is the primary culprit for the snail-pace speed of your iMac. Having 8GB of RAM certainly makes the problem worse.

Unless the hard drive is replaced with an SSD, or using an external SSD then that iMac has reached the end. I don't believe one can upgrade the RAM on the 21" iMac so even with an SSD, the 8GB RAM limitation will still be an issue.

Any money you would spend in any attempt would be better spent on a new iMac which will have performance that far exceeds anything you're using right now.

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Answer 3

x_artemis_x Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 2, 2021 6:30 PM in response to Jack-19

Thank you for your help! I’m probably spoiled by my 2013 MacBook pros speed. I know this desktop doesn’t compare but it wasn’t this slow before.

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late 2015 iMac is very slow

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