If MacOS Sonoma 14.0 is running slow on your computer, read this before you try to downgrade

I have a 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 Mac. I upgraded to Sonoma 14.0 last week and immediately, all programs on the computer slowed down dramatically. Out of desperation, I used the Restore function to downgrade back to the previous OS version, the system downloaded Mojave 10.14, an OS that was released approximately 5 years ago. This turned out to be incompatible with many of the programs I was using and I tried to upgrade back up to Ventura 13.6. The system hung up during the upgrade process, which I attempted multiple times. I finally tried to find the root cause of a disk error the upgrade process was reporting and ended up having to erase the Mac hard drive, upgrade using the web-based option and load my files back using the Time Machine backup. This process took me approximately 3 days, about 10 calls to Apple support and lots of frustration. I want to leave you with two root causes that I discussed with the Apple support folks:

  1. The Mojave OS may have corrupted the boot files because of it's vintage - thus explaining the problems with upgrading back
  2. An iMac of the vintage I have (2019) struggles with the demands of the Sonoma OS 14.0 thus explaining the initial slowness when I upgraded


It's not clear if these two conclusions are necessarily correct but I will use them as starting points in the future if I want to downgrade the OS or to buy a new computer


I remain a big Apple fan in spite of these problems because they have happened so rarely in the 20 years I have used these products

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Oct 17, 2023 12:41 PM

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2 replies

Oct 18, 2023 7:31 AM in response to ramfromfremont

ramfromfremont wrote:

1. I have a 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 Mac. I upgraded to Sonoma 14.0 last week and immediately, all programs on the computer slowed down dramatically. Out of desperation, I used the Restore function to downgrade back to the previous OS version, the system downloaded Mojave 10.14, an OS that was released approximately 5 years ago. This turned out to be incompatible with many of the programs I was using and I tried to upgrade back up to Ventura 13.6. The system hung up during the upgrade process, which I attempted multiple times. I finally tried to find the root cause of a disk error the upgrade process was reporting and ended up having to erase the Mac hard drive, upgrade using the web-based option and load my files back using the Time Machine backup. This process took me approximately 3 days, about 10 calls to Apple support and lots of frustration. I want to leave you with two root causes that I discussed with the Apple support folks:
The Mojave OS may have corrupted the boot files because of it's vintage - thus explaining the problems with upgrading back
2. An iMac of the vintage I have (2019) struggles with the demands of the Sonoma OS 14.0 thus explaining the initial slowness when I upgraded

It's not clear if these two conclusions are necessarily correct but I will use them as starting points in the future if I want to downgrade the OS or to buy a new computer

I remain a big Apple fan in spite of these problems because they have happened so rarely in the 20 years I have used these products



See see "vintage" and obsolete:

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired ...


If MacOS Sonoma 14.0 is running slow on your computer, read this before you try to downgrade

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