MacBook Pro running slow

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MacBook Pro running slow

My MacBook Pro, purchased in 2020, has been running extremely slow lately. It often takes minutes for a site to load, to the point that while I wait I'll switch to reading mail, working on a Pages document, or even stepping away from the computer for 5 or 10 minutes. It has 16GB of memory and runs Sequoia 15.3.2. I think there's still plenty of memory, and although I've been more diligent lately at deleting documents, editing my photos, searching for unneeded old apps, etc., I don't think that's the problem. I don't want to delete something I'd like to keep, even if it's not crucial, if that isn't what's behind this slowdown. Is my Mac simply too old to handle the latest OS or perform efficiently? Are there some strategies I could try to help at least somewhat?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Apr 8, 2025 10:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,452 points

Apr 10, 2025 8:52 AM in response to NJM55

The current stable release of Sequoia including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 15.4

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

To trouble shoot further you can:

—A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.

***wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries— connect the charging cable, this will make the wired keyboard successful Safe Boot your Mac.

unplug all non-essential peripherals when testing

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

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