Upgrade iMac 2019 Ram from 8 to 32 G

If you feel you need more RAM because your computer is slow, history here says that is not the issue and would be a waste of money. WheelieNick is absolutely right— the computer must be virtually gutted to access the RAM slots. Even some Apple Authorized Service Providers will not do the service due to the difficulty and high laborcost to their customers. Apple hints at that in the footnotes for this article:

 Before you schedule an appointment, confirm that the specific Apple Authorized Service Provider offers memory upgrade services.

95% of the "slow 21.5-inch iMac" complaints here are due to the slow and under-spec mechanical hard drive Apple installed in entry-level model. If you did NOT up-order your iMac to faster storage—Apple's Fusion (hybrid) drive of Apple's solid-state drive (SSD)—you have the slow hard drive curse.

There is a very basic quiz the can help point to the HD issue:

• Is the computer slow to start up (boot)?
• Are big apps slow to launch?
• Once launched, do those apps seem to run fine?

Three "yes" answers suggest the Slow HD Curse.

That is the "scientific wild guess" test. If you wish a precise, data-driven analysis of your computer's specific issues, please post a system config report. That is about the only way we can offer definitive help in this limited text-based environment. Fortunately there is a safe, secure way to do that without our playing a protracted game of "20 Questions" that could go on for days.

We can quickly and within the confines of these forums help you determine what issues are at play if you use EtreCheck Pro, available here:

https://etrecheck.com/index

The free version will do nicely for this purpose, although the app is worthy of our financial support.

We can see hard data about drive performance, software issues, and RAM usage. Etrecheck is the development of a long-serving and trusted contributor here expressly for displaying information in these forums to help us help you by remotely evaluating Mac issues. It will not reveal any personal or secure information.

Please see this excellent user tip on how to post long text reports like EtreCheck's into a forum response:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-25000021

Before you upgrade RAM, you may want to check whether your system needs more RAM.

If you watch the Memory Pressure graph in the Activity Monitor, while running through a typical workload, its color coding will help you determine if you need more RAM.

• Green = you have enough RAM for what the system is doing
• Yellow = the amount of RAM you have is marginal for what the system is doing
• Red = you don't have enough RAM for what you are doing, and it is hurting performance

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If the Memory Pressure graph indicates that you need more RAM, read on …

An iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) can take up to 64 GB of RAM – although the official limit is 32 GB. The best places to buy RAM are from Other World Computing (MacSales) and Crucial. Crucial does not carry RAM for your computer at this time.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/imac-2019-21.5-inch

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/apple/imac-(retina-4k--21*5-inch--2019)-imac19-2

Opening your iMac, installing RAM, and resealing the iMac is a rather involved process, so you might want to pay for a shop to do it. That could easily run you $100 USD or more in addition to the cost of the new RAM modules.

Hi there,

Please see this info on how to upgrade your RAM in your Mac. If you have a 21.5 inch 2019 model, you cannot upgrade it yourself and you will need to seek support at Apple or an Authorized service provider

. Memory is not removable by users on iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014), iMac (21.5-inch, 2017), iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017), and iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019). If the memory in one of these computers needs repair service, contact an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Allan Jones wrote:

95% of the "slow 21.5-inch iMac" complaints here are due to the slow and under-spec mechanical hard drive Apple installed in entry-level model. If you did NOT up-order your iMac to faster storage—Apple's Fusion (hybrid) drive of Apple's solid-state drive (SSD)—you have the slow hard drive curse.

Even the Fusion Drives in the 21.5" 2019 iMacs were slow.

According to MacTracker, the only Fusion Drives that Apple shipped with those iMacs were 1 TB Fusion Drives. Starting in Late 2015, Apple reduced the amount of flash storage (SSD space) included with 1 TB Fusion Drives from 128 GB to a miserly 24 – 32 GB.

If the OP has a Fusion Drive, it combines a slow (5400 rpm) mechanical hard drive and 32 GB of flash storage.

Unless the OP sprung for 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB of flash storage, that iMac could use an external SSD. It has USB-A (USB 3) and USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports, which means that plenty of external SSDs (ranging from low end USB/SATA SSDs to high end Thunderbolt 3/NVMe SSDs) are available.