Mac Mini late 2014, suddenly slow

"Mac Mini late 2014, suddenly slow: Mac Mini late 2014, suddenly slow, 4gb ram original internal drive 500gb, will upgrading to an SSD be worth it, it was fine a week ago, could it be something other than the HD?"

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Upgrading with 4GB of RAM:

First off, your Mac is old and obsolete. So, if its been through lots of use, then reading and writing to and from your hard rive would have been performed. On top of that, if your hard drive's storage capacity is almost swollen up, then it will ultimately stall, no matter the device. Finally, note that RAM is intended for multitasking (running multiple applications at once). So, with so little RAM, and having gone through so much use, no, I do not think a storage capacity increase would be ideal. RAM cannot be modified in YOUR mac's model, as it is soldered into the LogicBoard. As for the spec of needs such as academic or work usage, note that 8GB of RAM is required for common application, such as that of the Microsoft Office Suite.

I agree with TheLittles that adding an SSD to your Mini will not do the job.

I suggest you get a new Mac Mini M4 with this configuration: a 10 Core Mac Mini M4 with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD ($1084 US).

That's what I have and had not had any problem.

Additionally, you will be able to have the latest system and its advanced functions and be supported for years to come whereas your current Mini is considered Vintage by Apple. When the next system is released later in 2026 your Mini will sip to Obsolete in Apple's eyes.

If you haven't installed any new software on the Mac ("security" software that could be doing background scans, "cleaning" software that might have removed stuff it shouldn't, etc.), then replacing the hard drive might get you back to where you were, and even improve performance a bit.

However,

• Eleven years is a pretty good life for a computer.
• That Mac mini only has 4 GB of RAM. That will probably limit performance and the number of applications you can run at once even if you replace the hard drive with a SSD.
• That Mac mini cannot run anything later than Monterey. Monterey is still good enough to run most major third-party Web browsers, LibreOffice, and the Affinity Suite, but it is not one of the "most recent three" and so isn't supported by vendors like Adobe and Microsoft.
• A M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini would give you a much faster CPU, a faster GPU, a fast SSD, a lot more RAM, and the ability to run the latest version of macOS.

Given all that, you might want to consider upgrading to a M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini.

If you are looking to save money, you can get some M4 and M4 Pro Mac minis from Apple's Certified Refurbished store. The discount from list price is usually only about 15%, but the refurbishment process is very high-quality. I am typing this on a Certified Refurbished Mac Studio, and I know someone who used a Certified Refurbished iMac for well over a decade.

Note that selection in the Certified Refurbished store is "catch of the day", and you may not always be able to find the exact configuration you want.

Still, there seem to be a lot of Mac minis there. There's a M4 Mac mini in the U.S. Certified Refurbished store with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD for $849 USD. That is $150 USD less than a new custom-order one would cost you. (Both prices before state and local sales tax.)

If you do go the refurbished route be sure to get one with a minimum of 1 TB storage and 16 GB of memory. Any less can end up causing problems down the line.