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Mac mini very very slow

Hi. I am a new Mac user. Irecently got a reconditioned Mac Mini. It is my first Mac. I am still getting used to it. Sometimes it is very very slow. I regularly run CCleaner, and it helps but not by much. I don’t understand why it runs so slowly. Almost every time I click on anything, I get the spinning coloured ball for 40, 50 seconds or more.I downloaded CleanMyMac and it often pops up when the computer is really slow and it tells me that I only have a few MBs of memory free. Is it normal to have 4G of memory onboard, but have less than 100MB of it available? This often happens with only Safari running - nothing else. Can I disable some things to free up memory? Can I upgrade my RAM? I read somewhere that you cannot increase the RAM in a 2014 Mac mini.

When I look in the Activity Monitor, it seems that there are lots and lots of things running(see attached). Any advice, please?

Mac mini (Late 2014), macOS Mojave (10.14)

Posted on Nov 17, 2018 6:43 AM

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31 replies

Limnos

Level 10

411,229 points

Nov 21, 2018 10:28 AM in response to mikefromcaledon

You say not good but this is in comparison to what?

From my general reading I am understanding that since Apple went to integrated graphics on Minis back around 2011 that graphics performance is below par from what one might expect. I am not going to post hunt on this but I seem to recall somebody even said MacBook Pro performance is better than Minis of the same years. Even what I have been reading about 2018 Minis one of the main weaknesses is the graphics aren't up to what one would hope to get from a 2018 desktop computer when used for high demand situations. I don't know where a 2014 Mini stands in all this but it probably shares the weakness of integrated graphics. Then too we know little about your TV. I know some TVs are getting good these days but it you have a 720p TV and you're sitting 3 feet from it then you're going to see pixels.

Nov 21, 2018 1:40 PM in response to Limnos

Well, the display is not as good as it was with my Windows machine. When I am in a text document, (Pages, Mail or Word) it is almost like an old dot matrix printout. I can almost see the dots that make up each character. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but that's the effect of it. I have tried all the settings, 1360 x 768, 1080p, 1080i, and 720p. The default is 1360 x 768. I have tried the others and they are worse and the size of the screen is too big with the 720. I was tempted to look for a monitor in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, but I'd hate to do that only to discover that the Mini is limited in it's graphics capabilities. I don't want to spend money for no good reason.

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Nov 21, 2018 2:08 PM in response to mikefromcaledon

This has nothing to do with the use of Intel’s integrated video. There are 2 factors at play. Windows users tend to describe the quality of Mac text as blurry or pixilated. Having a Win10 notebook next to my iMac I do see a significant difference between the two. Second, Apple tunes text for retina displays so text Tends to not look so great on non retina displays. See this article, it may help. You tune your text

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Nov 23, 2018 1:11 PM in response to mikefromcaledon

I’d say the problem is with the display you are using. I’ve hooked up a lot of different displays to my mini and MacBook Air and the quality has differed from display to display. Given that at the moment I’m using a 2008 Samsung LCD and text looks great on the mini I don’t think we can blame the mini or the OS.

Nov 23, 2018 1:47 PM in response to dwb

OK that is encouraging. If I could borrow an LCD monitor, it would help too, I guess. I am reluctant to run out and buy a monitor just incase I end up with no improvement. I think I need to ask my friends if I can visit them with my Mini, or borrow their monitor, and see how the Mini looks with a different monitor.

Let me work on that idea over the weekend! Thanks.

Nov 24, 2018 11:40 AM in response to mikefromcaledon

Well, I think I might have solved this graphics question. I hooked up the Mini to my 55 inch TV on the wall in my living room! The limitations I complained of don't appear to be here now. I am on the 55 inch now as I write this from my lazy-boy with my cordless keyboard. So I guess my 29 inch TV that I have used as a monitor for the last few years just isn't a good match for the Mini. I guess I am now in the market for a new monitor!

Nov 17, 2018 8:23 AM in response to mikefromcaledon

OK macjack. I installed CCleaner and CleanMyMac to try to resolve the slowness, but I will do as you say and post the log file. Thanks for the advice.