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Slow Mac after upgrading to Sonoma 14.0 OS

My Mac has 8 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 RAM and has 3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 processor and 839.27 GB HDD space is available of 2.12 TB total storage capacity.


Ever since I upgraded my Mac OS to Sonoma 14.0, I am very much frustrated. It takes about 3-5 minutes to show up the desktop icons and there after a minute or two to make the computer usable. Once I start using it, there is lot of intollerable latency in indexing and the search results to appear.


I tried following basic things but proved to be useless:


Finder-Go-Press option key + open Library - delete contents of the folders

Cashes, Cookies, Safari, saved application state - Then log out of mac then login to empty the trash bin.


What is the solution to it? Do I have to wait for the further upgrade or live with it for ever?




iMac 27″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Oct 5, 2023 12:48 AM

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Posted on Oct 17, 2023 9:03 AM

I have the exact same problem that did not exist until I upgraded to Sonoma, 14.0. Speed, latency, the same as yours. My expectation is that it is the software. I think we have the same computer, and my performance had zero issues pre-Sonoma.

127 replies

Nov 20, 2023 7:40 AM in response to Gandalf47

Gandalf47 wrote:

Why open a new thread? My problem is indentical to many on this thread, even some with the same hardware configuration.

No two people have the same problem. Open your own thread, people will try to help you.


I think there is something fundamental to Sonoma which needs attention by Apple. They know about the problem by now. I'd like to know why it's happening and why it isn't fixed yet. I think others here feel similarly.

You are knocking on the wrong door here. There's no Apple here, only users. This is a user-to-user community.

If you want to have Apple's attention, send in a feedback. Someone will read it.

Nov 20, 2023 11:10 AM in response to milind37

Of course it did! That's why I haven't done it.


What, you think Apple wants to give new updates so your old Mac works perfectly? They want to make your old one obsolete and make you frustrated so you go spend thousands of dollars to buy a new machine when the old one was working perfectly.


I can't stand it. It's making me want to just get a completely different brand of laptop when I upgrade in a couple of months.

Nov 20, 2023 2:57 PM in response to milind37

After contacting MS first line and escalation support the conclusion was to contact Apple and that Sonoma was known to have problems with Office365;

After contacting Apple First line, Escalation and Engineering support Apple referred me back to MS and advised me to copy the error report that is normally sent to Apple and send that to MS and contact them;

After contacting MS again they took receipt of the error report and would send it to their engineering teams.


So the merry-go-round continues with fingers crossed that MS will do something with it or Apple as they received multiple auto-generated reports from my system already.

Nov 25, 2023 8:45 AM in response to milind37

I have exactly same problem on my Mac Mini M2 1TB 32GB bought in Jan 2023. not having a standard Apple KB (I switch between Mini and PC with a switchbox) makes it (impossible?) to get into safe mode, Time Machine recovery so I ordered an Apple Magic KB which should arrive today. I will try some of these suggestions, although it looks like folks are not having success.


It would be cool if Apple had some like windows utility PROCMON

Dec 2, 2023 10:57 AM in response to JACQarta

Same issue. M1 Mac Mini, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. After upgrading from Ventura to Sonoma, login easily takes 3 times as long as with previous versions of the MacOS. Nothing about my configuration changed except the OS, so spending time diagnosing seems a silly waste of time. The problem is the OS. Apple needs to address this. Happy to provide information to the appropriate department. Will file bug on Developer site.

Dec 15, 2023 2:28 PM in response to Alan Hirshberg

Alan Hirshberg wrote:

I solved the issue on my system. Turns out it was F-Secure Security Suite, which I get free with my cable company subscription. Now I just need to find a different anti virus that doesn't cause this issue.


I wouldn't install any anti virus apps on my Mac. I've never used one, although it's only been since 1984, so perhaps I haven't been at it long enough.


Macs do not get viruses, and about the only thing anti-virus apps will do is take your money and, later on, cause you grief why you wonder things aren't working properly. These apps CREATE more problems than they PREVENT.

Dec 16, 2023 11:52 AM in response to M41K47YA

M41K47YA wrote:
After completing the Sonoma update, I noticed my computer began to lag, despite the update process appearing smooth.

When you update your macOS, you don't update your 3rd party apps. See what you have in System Settings > Login Items > and disable and delete them, so nothing will start at login and stop working in the background eating up energy. And, the lag.


I just updated to 14.2 and no lag whatsoever. Also, the optimised charging came back to the correct level, that is 80%, that is, after all those reboots it had while updating, and the MBP is on the Desktop mode. Mind you, my MBP is 4 1/2 years old. 👌

Dec 22, 2023 2:27 PM in response to milind37

I had all these issues with OS Sonoma . In the end I dumped the apple mail app , which found over 40,000 emails from somewhere?? trying to download them.

Installed Thunder Bird mail not the greatest app but the spinning wheel of death has gone.

Now at a point I can work and not wait watching a frozen screen , slowly going through other apps looking for conflicts . My next issue ?? trying to get my folders back to the desk top .

I wouldn't recommend Macs now, the icloud is getting out of hand .

Im not interested on whats under the hood I just want to drive the thing without spending hours looking for "fixes"

Dec 23, 2023 1:31 PM in response to milind37

Hi All


Thats it for me and Sonoma and my new mac, I have an old 2012 imac running Hi Serria I think?? it has all I need apart from security updates.. Even typing this theres a lag. I have little interest looking under the hood trying to fix things that should work!!!! My password app dosnt work i have years of notes there im terrified of losing , my desk top folders have disappeared to icloud .

IM sitting here trying to work watching the spinning wheel and its not consistent sometimes its opens and other times it just sits there spinning .

So its back to 2012 where my printer works , pages open and hopefully restrict icloud.

oh and apple mail works without trying to download 40,000 emails going back to 2012 , i dumped apple mail for Thunder bird which helped . There you go a tip !!!


Sorry but I have just had it with Apple we shouldnt have to spend hours looking for forums for fixes.

Jan 2, 2024 7:29 PM in response to milind37

I have a 2019 imac after the Sonoma download the spinning wheel of death was the result. So slow!!! . So slow I went back to my 2011 Imac .


After reading most of the forums for fixes ??

I have just installed 32gig of memory up from 8gig .

Seems to have improved the speed of things greatly.

im not a computer person, have very little interest on whats going on under the hood.

Not the easiest thing to do , replace the memory on 2019 Imac . But some very good step by step videos on line.


I did replace Apple Mail with ThunderBird. That helped.


Anyway hope this might help .


Jan 2, 2024 8:51 PM in response to milind37

Still the same problem here on a 2019 iMac 21.5" 8GB standard HDD no Fusion drive.

Even after a new Sonoma install from the Internet recovery. It's faster now, but still much slower than about 3 months ago on the mid 2019 Ventura.


Activity Monitor doesn't show any noticeable CPU, disk or network activity or memory pressure.


As it's a new install, third party kernel or system extensions can be excluded.


It's even slow when booting into safe mode with shift and neither PRAM and SMC reset helped. Official Apple support suspected clock battery failure, but that can be excluded as the clock continued well after leaving it plugged out.


Has anyone succeeded further here already?

Slow Mac after upgrading to Sonoma 14.0 OS

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