2019 iMac is slow--can the processor be upgraded? It has 3.6ghz quad core i3.
It's also been upgrade to 32GB of ram--it's just really slow and I don't want to buy a brand-new computer.
[Edited by Moderator]
iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.7
The problem is not the processor, it's most likely the internal HDD. The model was built with a 5400 RPM mechanical HDD and so the performance bottleneck is there because of slow write and read speeds. The fix will be to bypass the internal drive and boot the Mac from an external SSD. The performance difference will be night and day. A second option is to replace the internal drive with an internal SSD. That risks doing damage to the Mac as it has to be opened and may be more costly. Implementing an external SSD is the easier solution.
You can confirm the drive speed as the problem by running an EtreCheck evaluation of your Mac and posting the generated report back here in a reply. EtreCheck is a safe and highly regarded utility from a trusted developer and respected ASC contributor. The diagnostic report will not include any personal info. It simply gathers specifics about hardware performance and installed software that might be in conflict with the OS.
Please navigate to EtreCheck.com and download the free version. Be sure to Allow Full Disk Access when you install the app. Once you’ve run the app and created your report please post it with your reply to this message.
Please note you must upload the full report. To see how, please click > How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.
The problem is not the processor, it's most likely the internal HDD. The model was built with a 5400 RPM mechanical HDD and so the performance bottleneck is there because of slow write and read speeds. The fix will be to bypass the internal drive and boot the Mac from an external SSD. The performance difference will be night and day. A second option is to replace the internal drive with an internal SSD. That risks doing damage to the Mac as it has to be opened and may be more costly. Implementing an external SSD is the easier solution.
You can confirm the drive speed as the problem by running an EtreCheck evaluation of your Mac and posting the generated report back here in a reply. EtreCheck is a safe and highly regarded utility from a trusted developer and respected ASC contributor. The diagnostic report will not include any personal info. It simply gathers specifics about hardware performance and installed software that might be in conflict with the OS.
Please navigate to EtreCheck.com and download the free version. Be sure to Allow Full Disk Access when you install the app. Once you’ve run the app and created your report please post it with your reply to this message.
Please note you must upload the full report. To see how, please click > How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.
Good job posting this EtreCheck report.
I don't see anything especially concerning in the software that is loaded on your iMac.
There are some minor issues listed but they would not especially affect the performance.
But I do see this:
❝Drives:
disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
...
Performance:
...
Write speed: 36 MB/s
Read speed: 51 MB/s❞
These speeds (Write/Read) are woefully inadequate for the best performance of the computer. An SSD can easily bump these speeds up 8x-10x. You'll see a night and day difference in performance even with an external SSD as a startup drive on the USB bus.
Many veterans of the Apple Community will recommend that you buy your SSD and other Mac accessories at OWC/macsales.com because they know their Macs and they have great customer support. There are other recommended vendors and brands as well, you only need to search or ask in the forums.
Yes, it is physically possible to swap out the internal drive of your iMac with an SSD. The job is considered advanced and best left to qualified techs to undertake. You can start your search for a qualified Apple Authorized Service Provider here:
Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)
or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/
or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)
Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone
See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.
Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support
As I posted earlier, the easier and less involved remedy for your iMac's poor performance is to use an external SSD, loaded with macOS and used as a startup drive. Setup for this is very easy and something you can do yourself. And the performance of the Mac will be better than ever. The same SSDs that macsales.com sells can be installed in any of their external drive enclosures and connected directly to your iMac's USB port. There are other SSD brands that can be implemented the same way.
I believe you can breathe new life into this iMac with that simple change.
In a 2019 iMac with Thunderbolt 3 ports, the right external drive can be faster that anything on the internal SATA bus. The internal SATA 6G bus the current drive uses can usually do no more than 600MB/sec with an SATA SSD. External Thunderbolt 3 SSDs can do four times that:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3ENVPFX.5/
The external solutions can be done at home—no dangerous disassembly involved.
The slow speeds EtreCheck shows for your current drive are well under the nominals even for that slow model. Typically that mech drive, when healthy, will do 70-80MB/sec for both Reads and Writes.
MacTracker says that the iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) has
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Given all of this, unless your internal HDD is actually failing, I would concur that your best option is to get an external SSD and to use it as your startup drive. You could simply eject the internal HDD (and let it spin down) whenever you were booted from the external SSD and did not need to boot from it for recovery purposes.
As far as performance goes,
matt greven wrote:
Can any of you point me to a tutorial for loading the Os and actually getting the computer to ignore the old internal?
What I did with an older iMac was to
This was with High Sierra, which, like many older versions of Mac OS X / macOS, works pretty well with clone-type backups.
Recent versions of macOS make it difficult for backup programs to create bootable backups. One alternative to cloning the internal drive might be to
Although the steps are different, the idea is similar – to make the external drive bootable, and to copy everything that matters to it in an automated way.
So, is it physically possible to swap the 1TB SATA drive for an SSD?
thank you very much! I watched the video on OWC, and it doesn't seem daunting to me at all. But, I'll also look into an external solution too. I'd prefer internal, but we'll see what happens. On their video, it seems like the hardware swap takes almost no time at all.
again, many thanks.
I’m following most of what you’re saying. OWC has a video for my model showing a swap to an internal drive, but the external would certainly be easier. Idk how to connect an external ssd to the correct place, or how to essentially use it to replace the internal drive, but I’m sure it’s online somewhere! Again, many thanks. I’m certainly glad to hear that this should fix my problem.
Thank you all so much for your help! I'll consult with a local mac svc center to see how much labor they'd charge me for an internal (but doesn't look that bad). If not, external will I'm sure be just fine. Can any of you point me to a tutorial for loading the Os and actually getting the computer to ignore the old internal? I'll also check the OWC site--they probably have something on it. Again, thanks a million! First-time user of this community forum--you folks have been awesome.
Thanks very much! It's been opened before when I added the RAM. But I've not inquired about swapping for an SSD. I'll run the report you mentioned and report back!
👍🏽
Thank you for all that!
thank you!
You're welcome. 🙂
Let me suggest that you start with the external ssd option. If you find that you're happy with the performance then all is well. If you decide that you'd still like to install the drive internally you can do that and still have an external enclosure into which you can drop another hdd/ssd and perhaps use that as a Time Machine backup drive. Win/Win. 👍🏽
Unable to improve iMac speed with a processor upgrade
