My iMac is slow after updating to Sonoma

Raul_1581 wrote:

Sonoma itself is just too demanding for the 2019 Intel chips.

... either get a Macbook with a more powerful processor or downgrade to Mac OS Monterey or Ventura(might need assistance for this so that you don't lose any files or mess up your Macbook in the process).

You are entitled to your view on this, but we have several thousand Macs where I work, maybe half with the older Intel chips (my work MacBook Pro is a 2019 Intel model, purchased new in 2020; my personal Mac used at home is also a 2019 Intel Mac purchased new in 2020), and all are being migrated to Sonoma, this is required, and no such slowdowns are reported. My personal Mac is also on Sonoma with no issues, very fast still. I think it might make sense for Intel Mac owners to first look carefully at what is installed and whether it is compatible with the MacOS, as opposed to the very disruptive and lengthy process of erasing and installing an older operating system.

Posting the output here from Etrecheck, which provides anonymous listings of the configuration and installed extensions, might enable people to find the cause of the slowdown. Common culprits are "cleaning" type utilities, security suites, antivirus, network monitoring tools, and utilities that claim to "optimize" the OS operation. Things that always run in the background are usually the first to examine and check.