Brand New iMac Suspiciously Slow

Question

Level 1

20 points

Brand New iMac Suspiciously Slow

Hello everyone! Just purchased a brand new 21.5 Retina 4K iMac. It's a great computer however, everything is working incredibly slow. Maybe I've just gotten used to SSD's but the length of time it takes for this computer to do everything is a little odd to me. I've done an EtreCheck that hopefully someone can provide some insight into. Hopefully I can get to do bottom of this problem, otherwise I'll just exchange the computer for a new one. Thanks!

EtreCheck version: 3.4.2 (436)

Report generated 2017-08-16 10:11:18

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 10:51

Performance: Poor

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information: ⓘ

iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac18,2

1 3 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-7400) CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR4 2400 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR4 2400 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

iCloud Quota: 139.54 GB available

Video Information: ⓘ

Radeon Pro 555 - VRAM: 2048 MB

iMac 4096 x 2304

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 999.35 GB

Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ⓘ

USB30Bus

Seagate BUP Slim BK

BUP Slim BK disk3: (1 TB)

YAN PHOTOS (disk3s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) /Volumes/YAN PHOTOS : 1.00 TB (620.90 GB free)

Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Magic Keyboard

USB31Bus

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 998.98 GB (875.94 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online

System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.6 (16G29) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 170 Apple tasks

[running] 106 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.security.syspolicy.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-07-14)

[not loaded] 40 Apple tasks

[loaded] 171 Apple tasks

[running] 104 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 85012398 - installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-07-02) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2017-08-16) [Lookup]

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-09) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-09) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-08-05)

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-08-05) [Lookup]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 998.98 GB Disk used: 123.04 GB

Destinations:

My Passport [Local]

Total size: 999.83 GB

Total number of backups: 6

Oldest backup: 8/5/17, 7:35 PM

Last backup: 8/9/17, 2:16 PM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 999.83 GB > (Disk used 123.04 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

18% MailCacheDelete

18% CacheDeleteExtension

9% System Information

6% iBooksCacheDelete

4% iTunesCacheExtension

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1003 MB Adobe Lightroom

835 MB kernel_task

295 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

236 MB Spotify Helper

235 MB Messages

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

2 MB 2 MB apsd

2 MB 978 KB Spotify

1 MB 142 KB com.apple.WebKit.Networking

155 KB 26 KB mDNSResponder

17 KB 6 KB AddressBookSourceSync

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

4.44 coreaudiod

4.14 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

2.10 photoanalysisd

2.04 photolibraryd

1.98 Safari

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

2.16 GB Available RAM

22 MB Free RAM

5.84 GB Used RAM

2.14 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs: ⓘ

Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac: (installed 2017-08-05)

Microsoft Outlook for Mac: (installed 2017-08-05)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-08-05)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-08-09)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

2017-08-16 09:56:59 CalNCService Crash [Open]

2017-08-14 20:12:24 mds Crash [Open]

Cause: Initializing

2017-08-14 19:38:33 Adobe Lightroom.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]

iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)

Posted on Aug 16, 2017 10:15 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

justsome1

Level 1

4 points

Sep 7, 2017 1:50 AM in response to bearmoose

It's all just because of the glacially slow 5400rpm hdd. Swap for a SSD or at least 2TB fusion(with 128GB ssd) model. 1TB fusion comes with only a paltry 24 or 32GB ssd cache.

Reply

Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,266 points

Sep 1, 2017 11:00 AM in response to bearmoose

Another thing: a runtime for Etrecheck that goes over 8-10 minutes can strongly suggest a serious hard drive problem, expecially in light of the otherwise clean report. Yours took nearly 11 minutes.

Normally this would show up in a geriatric hard drive but can happen with new ones. If you are beyond the 14-day grace period you should insist Apple replace the HD under warranty.

We have a six year-old 21.5-inch iMac with the 2.5ghz i5 quad core and 8GB RAM and a 5400 rpm 500 GB hard drive and it is by no means slow. However it is not running Adobe CC apps. It's my wife's and she tends to keep many apps open at once. It handles Safari with lots of tabs open and Office apps plus all her other stuff without complaint. I think your issues must be something specific like the HD.

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Answer 3

bearmoose Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 1, 2017 12:09 PM in response to Allan Jones

Yup! Turned out to be faulty, replaced it and now everything works wonderfully!

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 1, 2017 10:16 AM in response to bearmoose

I'm writing this from a friend's entry level 21.5 in iMac, 8GB RAM, 2.3 Ghz i5, 1TB 5400 rpm rotational HD. It should not be taking a minute for Safari, Word, etc. to start. Something else is going on. Sorry I can't tell you what!

Reply

Answer 5

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Sep 1, 2017 10:29 AM in response to Lum Twilligear

Please create your own thread instead of attempting to threadjack this one. Please follow the directions below when you create your question on the new thread.

Please post an EtreCheckreport of your system. We can then look for obvious issues. Please click the link, download the app and run the report. Once you have the report, please copy and paste it as your reply to this post.

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 1, 2017 11:05 AM in response to Lum Twilligear

What I meant was - on my friend's system it does not take a minute for Safari, MS Word, etc. to load. The system runs fine with the same spec as the original poster. So it sounds to me like the OP does have some other issue.

Reply

Answer 7

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Sep 1, 2017 11:10 AM in response to Lum Twilligear

Lum Twilligear wrote:

Please re-read what I wrote. I'm not reporting a new issue. Just replying to original poster that I agree with him/her - what he is seeing is not normal. Sorry if that was not clear.

My apologies Lum.

Reply

Answer 8

bearmoose Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 16, 2017 11:03 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for the reply! I should've clarified that the computer runs extremely slow even from startup; this is without having any programs automatically open up from startup. Taking upwards of a minute seems a bit poor when doing things such as starting up safari and Spotify. I understand the specs minimal however I expected it to at least run faster than a 2012 MacBook pro. I was hoping the poor performance result from my diagnostic was an indicator of something significant but you pointed out that I did have Lightroom open (which I've run on computers with much lower specs just fine). I'll try running it again after a fresh start with no programs open.

Reply

Answer 9

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Aug 16, 2017 10:48 AM in response to bearmoose

You bought an entry level machine with only 8GB of RAM which is the minimum amount of RAM to operate Mac OS. You are using the machine to run Adobe Creative Cloud apps which are RAM intensive apps. Your iMac also only has an entry level HD which is only 5400 RPM which translates into slow performance.

If you were only using the machine for MS office related functions and surfing the Internet it would be fine however using it for GPU intensive work it's not the right configuration.

My recommendation is if you bought the machine from Apple directly and are within 14 days of the purchase date return it and order one with 16GB of RAM. I'd also strongly recommend getting one with a Fusion drive or even better a SSD.

Finally, you have 90 days of free AppleCare telephone support. Please contact them immediately. You can find information about this program in Apple Complimentary Support

Reply

Answer 10

Sep 1, 2017 11:03 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Please re-read what I wrote. I'm not reporting a new issue. Just replying to original poster that I agree with him/her - what he is seeing is not normal. Sorry if that was not clear.

Reply

Answer 11

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Sep 1, 2017 12:16 PM in response to bearmoose

Great!

Reply

Answer 12

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Aug 16, 2017 2:13 PM in response to bearmoose

bearmoose wrote:

Haha I think something is getting lost in translation here. I understand that it's incapable of running Lightroom and similar apps well but my concern is startup times and overall performance of Spotify, safari, Word, and similar apps. Is it right that these apps load up as slowly as they do and perform as poorly ad they do? If so, I'll simply exchange my iMac for a better one but I find out hard to believe that these programs are difficult to run for this computer. The browsing capabilities and word processing capabilities are absolutely horrid.

You are dealing with the limitations of a 5400 RPM HD. You have options which include

You can live with it.
You can return it for a refund within 14 days of purchase (assuming it was brought directly from Apple)
You can return it as in option 2 and upgrade to a more capable machine.

Reply

Answer 13

bearmoose Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 16, 2017 1:21 PM in response to den.thed

That's unfortunate. Perhaps I'm understating the severity of the poor performance. I understand that the RAM and HD aren't the best but I just find it incredibly hard to believe that it takes a minute or more to start up apps such as safari, Spotify, and word on a Mac that's built in 2016/2017. Surely 8GB of RAM is substantial enough to run such basic programs at speeds preferably under 30 seconds. Additionally, the performance mirrors that of my 2012 MacBook pro. Am I to understand that this is par for the course for Mac desktops in 2017? If so I'll have to return it immediately

Reply

Answer 14

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Aug 16, 2017 1:38 PM in response to bearmoose

Base model 21.5" iMacs were never designed to do the heavy lifting work you are asking it to do. If you configure them correctly they are extremely capable computers. If you got a 21.5" iMac and configured it with 16GB of RAM and either a Fusion drive or SSD you should be very happy. If you are looking at industry leading performance then you should consider a 27" iMac that has a dedicated GPU, up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 1TB SSD.

Another thought is to get a 27" refurbished iMac from Apple's online store. There is no downside with these machines at all. They are identical to new, have the same warranty as a new machine and are eligible for AppleCare and save hundreds of $.

Reply

Answer 15

bearmoose Author

Level 1

20 points

Aug 16, 2017 2:05 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Haha I think something is getting lost in translation here. I understand that it's incapable of running Lightroom and similar apps well but my concern is startup times and overall performance of Spotify, safari, Word, and similar apps. Is it right that these apps load up as slowly as they do and perform as poorly ad they do? If so, I'll simply exchange my iMac for a better one but I find out hard to believe that these programs are difficult to run for this computer. The browsing capabilities and word processing capabilities are absolutely horrid.

Reply