Finder in Mac OS Sonoma is SLOW - I can't use iCloud on the desktop - my new Mac Mini M2 is now a brick!

Either something went wrong with the macOS upgrade, or that Mini has some kind of hardware problem. Since the onset of the slow performance coincided with the macOS upgrade it's unlikely a hardware problem spontaneously and simultaneously occurred.

Given its age (you wrote your Mini is new) you should ideally contact Apple: Official Apple Support. Most likely, they are going to ask you to try Safe Mode but you already did that to no effect. The next step would be to reinstall Sonoma, so you might as well do that as well: How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support. Follow the steps for If you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, and proceed with Reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery.

If you need help with any of that by all means please write back, but if you are unable to reach a resolution that document ends with the following:

• If you still need help, contact Apple Support.

Please determine if the same problems occur in "Safe Mode": Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support.

FYI you are not addressing Apple on this site. To contact Apple, Contact Apple.

Disable iCloud Drive in the System Settings and see if that solves your problems. This seems to be a common problem, Apple support is working to find a fix

Ditto. Finder is almost dead since doing the 14.1.1 upgrade. Does not display recently saved documents (where I was working on the same device), ones downloaded from the web, nor ones that have been airdropped. It also doesn't matter where files are saved to desktop, downloads or iCloud. I've been waiting for an hour for a file I airdrop from iPhone to the iMac. Makes working near impossible.

Follow John's suggestions. It's certainly not normal behavior for a Mac running Sonoma.

I have the same issue, on Macbook Pro 2022 model. Finder is super slow, can't delete folder which was created.

That's a shame of Apple. Upgrade their HW with so much issues?