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User profile for user: carolyn223
carolyn223 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Slow iMac :-( Beach-balling especially when launching Apps and at Startup. Painful!

Ok, so I can see I'm not the only person with this issue. I have Apple Care however after several days of tech support then escalating at with tech support they sent me into the store. I left my computer there and they called me within 4 hours saying all is good - come get it.


When I arrived the support person looked me in the eye and said "nothing is wrong. It's the computer. This one is one of the slowest and I had one too and upgraded"


Well, well. Thanks so much. I've had this for 1.5 years y'all! I've attached my EtreCheck report. If anyone sees anything in the report that points to a problem, please let me know.


I use this computer to: surf web, check email, use pages and numbers. I store my contacts and use the Calendar. I do have a **** load of photos but do not run Photos all the time. I only launch Photos when I need to which is once a week. I have a lot of music stored as well.


Thank you in advance for you assistance.


Best,

C

EtreCheck for Carolyn223


Posted on Jan 17, 2022 9:03 PM

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User profile for user: Jack-19
Jack-19
User level: Level 8
46,014 points

Posted on Jan 17, 2022 9:17 PM

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


The reason your iMac is slow is due to the 5400-rpm hard drive. While this hard drive found in your Mac is perfectly suited to light tasks, such as email, web browsing, etc., for more advanced tasks, and for users who want the maximum performance from their Mac, this hard drive does have its limitations. Luckily, you can use an external SSD as your startup disk to run macOS and all your data from that. It will make your Mac 10 to 30 times faster for storage, and in turn, make your entire Mac system much faster. For more info, instructions, and what external SSD to buy, please see: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk on a Desktop Mac - Apple Community.


Another option is to replace this Mac with a new Apple Silicon Mac: Mac - Apple. If you go this route, it is generally recommended that you purchase 16GB of Memory with the largest SSD that you can afford. You can also use Apple Trade-In to get credit towards a new Mac: Apple Trade In - Apple.


Jack

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Jack-19
Jack-19
User level: Level 8
46,014 points

Jan 17, 2022 9:17 PM in response to carolyn223

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


The reason your iMac is slow is due to the 5400-rpm hard drive. While this hard drive found in your Mac is perfectly suited to light tasks, such as email, web browsing, etc., for more advanced tasks, and for users who want the maximum performance from their Mac, this hard drive does have its limitations. Luckily, you can use an external SSD as your startup disk to run macOS and all your data from that. It will make your Mac 10 to 30 times faster for storage, and in turn, make your entire Mac system much faster. For more info, instructions, and what external SSD to buy, please see: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk on a Desktop Mac - Apple Community.


Another option is to replace this Mac with a new Apple Silicon Mac: Mac - Apple. If you go this route, it is generally recommended that you purchase 16GB of Memory with the largest SSD that you can afford. You can also use Apple Trade-In to get credit towards a new Mac: Apple Trade In - Apple.


Jack

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Slow iMac :-( Beach-balling especially when launching Apps and at Startup. Painful!

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