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Slows down imac during daily work. Is your Mac slow? Optimization Tips

Slows down imac during daily work. Is your Mac slow? Optimization Tips

Modern technologies never stand still: with each new generation iMac gets even better, making working in OS X more convenient and faster. At the same time, Cupertino remains loyal to users of “classic” iMac models: they are in no hurry to write off computers that are two, four, or even six years old, which still support all the modern features and OS X updates.

Nevertheless, for any computer 3-6 years is a significant period. iMac in a classic aluminum case was once considered the benchmark in the desktop market, but today its performance may not be enough even when working with everyday tasks like web surfing or simple graphic editors.

a lack of random access memory, drive performance, and more: in many cases, there is a "bottleneck" that slows down the iMac. What to do, and how you can speed up iMac, we were told by the specialists of the MacPlus.ru center.

Classic iMac

Installing an SSD

In everyday work, a slow hard drive (both from factory specifications and with significant wear on components) slows down iMac when loading the system, launching applications and while working with them, especially if these are graphic editors and video editing programs.

The first step in upgrading any computer should be replacing the storage: in some cases, even installing a more productive HDD can affect the system's responsiveness, but to get real result it is worth considering installing a solid state drive: a properly selected SSD can, in many cases, raise the performance of even 2009 models to a modern level.

There is only one caveat: SSDs are still somewhat more expensive than conventional hard drives, and therefore SSDs often have significantly less capacity compared to conventional hard drives for the same price.

In the case of a 2009-11 thick case iMac that came with a built-in optical drive, this problem is solved by installing an SSD in an Optibay adapter basket. Today, when manufacturers are phasing out optical discs in favor of digital technologies, replacing a drive with an additional drive provides several advantages at once:

while maintaining the capacity of the drive, the responsiveness of the system is significantly increased;
it takes significantly less time to boot OS X, on the order of 15 - 20 seconds (or less, with proper configuration);
programs installed on a solid state drive run almost instantly;
with a lack of RAM, “freezes” are much less common.

If for some reason you do not want to give up an optical drive, for some iMac models it is possible to connect the drive to an additional SATA connector. This is a rather complex operation that can not be performed on all iMac configurations, but in return the user will receive high system performance while maintaining the HDD and SuperDrive.

There is, of course, another way to install an SSD in classic iMacs - you can simply replace the standard hard drive with it, and although this may sometimes require installing an additional sensor in the cooling system or specialized software in the system itself, the method is still quite popular.

Increasing the amount of RAM

The amount of RAM plays a very important role when working with operating system OS X, because in many cases iMac slows down precisely because of the lack of RAM. Increasing the amount of RAM allows you to get rid of system freezes when switching between desktops and resource-intensive applications, since the computer will less often access the drive for temporary files. Working with complex projects in graphic and video editors will also be more comfortable, as it will become easier for the system to “remember” a large amount of data: effects, layers, and so on.

It is also worth noting that memory in OS X is used a little differently than on computers running Windows, so this parameter should be treated with special attention.

Of course, many modern utilities can "clear" memory from unnecessary processes:

But, even despite this, for comfortable work in most latest versions OS, you may need 8-16 GB of RAM, especially if you are running complex programs or you already have an SSD installed in the system, which also requires significant amounts of RAM to reach its full potential.

Modern iMac Slim

Installing an SSD

To date, the new iMac in a thin body of the sample of 2012-2015 is a fairly productive computer and does not experience any problems with working in new versions of the operating system. However, even he may need a hardware upgrade: installing an SSD still allows for a more comfortable experience in the OS X environment.

However, in the case of iMac Slim the situation is complicated by the lack of a SuperDrive optical drive, and therefore, for installation, you will need an SSD with a proprietary interface that is connected directly to the motherboard, an alternative is to install an SSD in place of a regular hard drive.

You can choose an SSD for each model of the new iMac, the main thing is to pay attention to the year of manufacture of the Mac itself and the type of SSD controller used (this item is relevant when installing a 2.5 ”drive).

Increasing the amount of RAM

On new iMacs with a diagonal of 21.5 inches, to replace the RAM modules, you will need to remove the display module (screen), and therefore we recommend that you increase the RAM in this series at a service center or if you have the appropriate experience. The 27-inch model uses standard SO-DIMM format strips, which can be accessed through a special door on the back of the case.

Since most slim iMacs come with 8GB of RAM out of the box, you may need to upgrade it to run specialized software (graphics or video, where 16GB is becoming the standard) or if you constantly work with a large (very) number of tabs in browser.

Additional measures

OS X Software Optimization

If your iMac is slow even when performing daily activities, this may be due to the "clutter" of the operating system.

free desktop

The first step is to clean up your computer desktop: OS X constantly keeps a record of every file on the desktop in memory, which slows down the system if there are a lot of photos, videos, or folders.

Change the glass Dock to an opaque one:

It's also a good idea to turn off OS X effects in the Dock Preferences and select "Reduce Transparency" in "Accessibility". This will reduce the load on the GPU and, as a result, increase system performance. The latter is more relevant for older iMacs, but it also helps some configurations.

Fusion Drive Organization

Fusion Drive is a special method of interaction between a hard drive and a solid state drive developed by Apple, in fact it is a hardware-software RAID array.

Organizing the work of Fusion Drive allows not only to reduce the operating system boot time, but also to improve the performance of OS X in everyday work: the most frequently used applications and files are moved to the SSD area, the files that the system accesses less often are stored on a regular hard drive, and both drives are defined by the system as a single volume (you see one disk and use it the same way, and the system takes care of everything else). It should be noted that this is indeed very convenient, and in some situations it greatly simplifies the solution of problems, for example, when Windows installation through Boot Camp on Fusion Drive, you can easily divide the disk into several partitions, each of which will be accessible from any system.

Extreme upgrade options

iMac processor and graphics replacement

For both classic and slim iMacs, iMac CPU and GPU upgrades are available. The difficulty here lies in the fact that the choice of components for the upgrade is possible only from a narrow range of compatible processors or video cards installed in other (top-end) Apple modifications, otherwise there is a serious risk of incompatibility of a particular motherboard model with an installed chip.

In addition to replacing the processor or "video", there is the possibility of connecting an external video card via the Thunderbolt interface. The bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2 does not allow you to fully realize the potential of a powerful desktop graphics card, but even in this case, the performance of full-fledged graphics can be an order of magnitude higher than the mobile chip installed on an iMac.

Planned Precautions

Or something to keep in mind.

Prevention of the cooling system is relevant in any case, but especially if you constantly use your Mac to the limit, do media processing, and even more so if you purchased it off-the-shelf or turned your iMac into a top-end one.

As practice shows, if the iMac slows down without apparent reason- It's about overheating. If the cooling system, for one reason or another, ceases to effectively remove heat from the processor or video card, OS X begins to "cut" their performance. This is most often noticeable in resource-intensive applications, where the iMac starts to slow down after a few minutes of work.

In the case of the processor, overheating and almost complete failure of the system can cause a special kernel task process, which artificially limits the use of hardware resources in the presence of any serious problem.

For the normal operation of the computer, it is enough to perform maintenance work 1-2 times a year, that is, a complete cleaning of all components of the cooling system. If you do not have the necessary tools to disassemble the iMac, you should contact the service center to perform the entire list of work on the prevention of the cooling system: dust cleaning, cooler lubrication and replacement of thermal paste. This action will not only improve system performance, but also extend the life of your iMac.

Results

Slows down iMac. How to speed up iMac? - the question is not the most trivial, because both the most elementary increase in the amount of RAM and more subtle methods can help here. Many elements contribute, from the operating system itself to the operating temperature of the iMac. Colleagues from MacPlus.ru willingly shared their practical experience. Here you will also always be able to help both with the upgrade and with any iMac repair.

Hello Makovods! Quite often, such a problem sounds from the lips of iMac or Macbook users - what to do if the Mac starts to slow down? In general, sooner or later, any computer will start to work slower than when you bought it, and this is normal. Now I will tell you how to speed up your Mac, or at least understand the reasons for slowing down your Mac. Go!

Why does Mac slow down?

The reasons why your iMac or Macbook laptop starts to run slower are simply a wagon and a small cart! We can highlight only a part of them, since I simply may not know all the reasons:

problems with programs;
problem with Internet;
installed version of macOS;
lack of Mac resources;
dying disk;
internal sensations of the user;

Of all these problems, they can be both related to each other and collectively slow down the Mac, or they can be present separately and cause discomfort to the user. Let's analyze all the points in order and try to find ways to speed up the Mac!

User experience

Yes, yes, I decided to start from this point, so that, sometimes, it is the internal sensations that are the starting point. It is the inner sensations that make the user surf the Internet, look for the causes of the brakes, and as often happens, the reasons are found.

Sometimes, however, it happens differently: at home there is an iMac 27 2017, on work Macbook Air 2013. Or vice versa, in this case it does not matter. The important thing is that when switching from the “old” Air to the “new” iMac, you understand that the old Mac works faster, and not the new one, as it should be, according to the logic of things ... understanding the basics, which we will talk about a little later.

Problem with slow programs on Mac

The next problem is the lack of Mac power to work with programs, and it doesn’t matter if it’s professional software or a regular browser. If we talk about working in Final Cut or Photoshop, then the power of the poppy should match these programs. Of course, you can edit video in 1080p resolution (Full HD) on an old macbook in 2010, but the speed of work will leave much to be desired. Therefore, you should immediately choose a Mac for tasks and not try to perform complex tasks on weak or very old hardware - you will most likely solve the problem, but you definitely won’t get pleasure!

And vice versa, with regard to domestic use - browsers, mail, music in iTunes and a couple of instant messengers - almost any poppy, even a fairly old one, can handle these tasks. However, one feature of the modern user must be taken into account - the love for a million open tabs in the browser ... Alas, modern sites do not shine with optimization (the search engine shines, but the resource one does not), and therefore they can eat up device resources just like crazy! Literally 5-10 open tabs in the browser can use up to 2 GB of RAM. By the way, how many browsers and their open tabs are currently open on your Mac?

Well, do not forget about third-party applications that also eat up RAM and processor resources. It can be instant messengers, email clients, music players and other programs. Or maybe even background tasks that do not have a window or program, but use the resources of your Mac. Launch System Monitor and see what you have running there (just first click on View -> All Processes, in running System Monitor):

As you can see from my example, Telegram turned out to be the “heaviest” application, which used as much as 1.2 GB of RAM. However, as soon as it was closed and opened again, he lost a whole gigabyte 🙂

So if you feel that the computer has begun to slow down, just try to turn off a couple of programs (not with a cross in the upper left corner, but to shut down completely) and you will feel that the Mac has become freer to breathe.

The same applies to tabs in the browser - after a long viewing of Facebook or YouTube, there is a lot of RAM. Closing these tabs and opening them again will free up enough RAM and the system will be more responsive - you will speed up your Mac 🙂

Problem with Internet

There are also situations in which it is not entirely clear what exactly slows down. Internet pages open for a long time, video in the online player works with interruptions or something like that. Do not immediately repeat that this slows down the Mac. It may well be that the problem is in the Internet in your home / office. To get started, you should go to the site and check the speed of the Internet. Here is an example of the Internet of a healthy person:

And here is the internet smoker:

It is possible that the problem lies in your router or there are problems on the line. In any case, first make sure that the problem is not with the Internet, and only then try to speed up your Mac 🙂

Does the new macOS slow down?

I think it's not a secret to anyone that I'm still an Apple developer, which means I have more than one Mac. This means that I can make a rather funny test of how much RAM is eaten up by macOS alone, without programs and third-party services. To do this, I took 3 different poppies with different macOS - El Capitan (10.11.6), High Sierra (10.12.6) and Mojave (10.14.2). Each of them has an almost bare OS, without system extensions and other things. I created a test user, in which there is nothing in the autoload, and after rebooting all the poppies, I can see how much RAM was used.

You should not pay attention to the fact that these are different computers, it is more important that they have different macOS. For example, El Capitan used only 1.29 GB random access memory:

Air with High Sierra installed showed results in 1.75 GB:

And my Retina with Mojave eats up almost 2 GB:

In total, as we can see from the results obtained, the newer macOS, the more resources it eats up, which means that if your Mac has only 2 GB of RAM (for example, Air 10-11 years), then you should not install one of the fresh macOS on it , but it is better to stop at Yosemite or El Capitan ...

Your Macs may have slightly different RAM values when running this test. Honestly, I would like to conduct a test in which measurements would be made on just installed macOS and one Mac, but for now I don’t have such an opportunity, maybe in the future ... If you have such an opportunity, tell me about the results, plz 🙂

Lack of Mac resources. Which Mac to choose?

In theory, this point has already been considered in the previous two: the Mac slows down due to heavy programs and it is running macOS that is not suitable for it.

In this case, if you already have some kind of Mac, then there is almost nowhere to go and you have to use what is. But if you are only thinking of buying yourself a new or used Macintosh, then you should approach this issue wisely. It is better to calculate in advance, before buying, the most likely scenarios for using a computer and choose the appropriate one, but with a little margin. For example, if the plans are only to work on the network and documents, then the Macbook Pro will obviously be superfluous. But if there is a child at home who is already starting to look towards games, then the power will not be superfluous and it is better to take the iMac 27 PlayStation 4!

Of course, if the Mac allows, then you can try to increase the amount of RAM or install an SSD. For this question, you can and I will help you with the upgrade if you are in Yekaterinburg 🙂

Mac Disk Issues

There is another reason why the computer starts to run slower - an old or dying drive. Yes, this is especially true for models with a disk, as you might guess - almost all iMac or Macbook / Pro manufactured before 2012. If you have a Mac with just such a disk, then it can start to slow down your computer.

But how to understand that the disk is dying? There is one way that is not a panacea, but nonetheless. You can download and run the program and use it to view the status of your internal disk, the so-called S.M.A.R.T.

If there are no yellow or red inscriptions in the main window of the program, and the Overall Health Rating and Overall Performance Rating values are equal (or close) to 100%, then internal system self-diagnostics found no problems with the drive itself. But this does not mean that the drive is fast and does not slow down the Mac.

Slow hard drive on Mac

It is possible that someone has already encountered a strange situation: there are 2 poppies, one new modern, and the other old, but here's the paradox - the old one works faster and pleases with its quickness, and the new one barely moves at all and the browser opens for 2 minutes! And the thing is that one computer has a fast SSD, and the other has a slow HDD.

In this case, you need to replace the old drive with a new SSD. By the way, I already somehow described installing an SSD in one of the. Since then, technology has jumped ahead and solid state drives have become very cheap. For example, a 500 GB drive costs about 5 thousand rubles, which is quite good!

Just like before, if you need to install an SSD in your iMac or MacBook Pro, then I can help you with this - 🙂

I think there are other reasons why your Mac is not running as fast as you would like. I can hardly describe all of them, although I have analyzed quite a lot of the existing ones. If you need help with a slow Mac, feel free to post your problem in the comments! Do not forget to share this article with your friends and family, and also join my groups in

Mac computers boast high performance, but even Apple devices can become slower over time. Luckily, there are many ways to speed up an old Mac.

1. Use a cleaning app

First, try installing a computer cleaning application. For example, CleanMyMac 3 can help you remove junk files, clear your cache, and speed up your Mac. The developers offer a free trial version of the program.

2. Find the culprit

You can also try to solve the problem by using Activity Monitor. The program displays all running processes and shows resource consumption. Open System Monitor and select sort by CPU time (CPU), then click on the program that consumes the most resources and close it.

It is worth noting that this solution is only temporary, as the next time you launch a resource-intensive application, your Mac will start to run slowly again. Consider upgrading your hardware or replacing the app with a "lighter" alternative.

3. Turn off animation

macOS has a ton of effects and animations that can slow down older Macs with integrated Intel graphics cards. In this case, the most reasonable solution would be to disable animation and transparency. Go to Settings -> Accessibility and in the "Monitor" tab, check the box next to "Reduce transparency".

4. Don't use FileVault

OS X Yosemite and older have FileVault encryption enabled by default, which helps preserve user data in the event your Mac is stolen or lost. However, as with any encryption, computer performance is degraded. To speed up your Mac, go to Security & Protection and disable FileVault.

5. Disable auto-start apps

If you have a large number of programs installed on your computer, it is likely that many of them start automatically after you turn on your Mac and work in background without your knowledge.

To speed up the work, you need to disable resource-intensive applications by going to Settings –> Users and groups –> Login objects. Here you need to uncheck the programs that should not open automatically after starting the Mac.

6. Disable Spotlight Indexing

From time to time, such as after installing updates, Spotlight re-indexes the system, which requires a lot of resources. This feature cannot be disabled in the settings, but it can be done in the Terminal using the command

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

If you need to re-enable indexing, just type:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

7. Turn off photo indexing

macOS Sierra has learned to recognize faces in photos, but all this happens directly on the Mac for privacy, which also affects performance.

If you think that you don’t need such functionality, just go to Activity Monitor and close all processes with the name “photos”. This should solve the problems.

8. Clean up your hard drive

Over time, the hard drive becomes clogged, so sometimes it is necessary to delete unnecessary files, especially from the boot drive. Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner, go to About This Mac, and then to Storage. A panel with space freeing functions will be displayed on the side.

This is true for the macOS Sierra operating system. On older versions of macOS, you can use Disk Inventory X to clean up your drive.

9. Reset SMC

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) will resolve most OS issues. To reset the SMC, turn off your Mac and connect it to the charger, press and hold the power button and the keyboard shortcut Shift+Control+Option. The computer will boot normally and there will be no visible reset confirmation, however the SMC will be reset.

10. Remove Adobe Flash

Flash Player is a thing of the past, and most modern browsers generally block it, so if it is still installed on your computer, it simply "eats" system resources in vain. Try removing it with AppCleaner.

11. Solve the problem with kernel_task

Sometimes Mac owners face the problem of consuming too many resources by the kernel_task process. You cannot complete it, since it is systemic, so you will have to look for other solutions. For example, as mentioned above, you can try resetting the SMC, restarting your Mac, uninstalling recently installed drivers, or even uninstalling Flash.

12. Use Safari

The Chrome browser has long been the butt of jokes for consuming too many system resources. Try to use the default Safari, and leave Chrome just in case.

13. Install an SSD

If your Mac was released before 2012 and is still running on an HDD, we recommend replacing it with a faster SSD. It is easy to do it yourself at home, but the increase in productivity and speed will be obvious. You can also upgrade the RAM.

Keep in mind that newer models introduced after 2012 can't replace either the SSD or the RAM.

14. Reset settings

The most radical but effective measure is formatting the hard drive and reinstalling macOS. Everything is done quite simply.

Turn off your Mac and turn it back on by holding Command+R while booting. After that, you will be taken to the recovery menu, where you should select the item "Reinstall macOS". Then follow the instructions on the screen.

If none of the above helped, the only option left is to buy a new Mac.

Modern technologies do not stand still: with each new generation, iMac becomes even more perfect, making working in OS X more convenient and faster. At the same time, Cupertino remains loyal to users of “classic” iMac models: they are in no hurry to write off computers that are two, four, or even six years old, which still support all the modern features and OS X updates.

Lack of RAM, drive performance, and more: in many cases, there is a “bottleneck” that slows down the iMac. What to do, and how you can speed up iMac, we were told by the specialists of the MacPlus.ru center.

Classic iMac

Installing an SSD

The first step in upgrading any computer should be to replace the storage: in some cases, even installing a more productive HDD can affect the responsiveness of the system, but to get a real result, you should think about installing a solid state drive: a properly selected SSD can in many cases increase the performance of even 2009 models release to the present day.

while maintaining the capacity of the drive, the responsiveness of the system is significantly increased;
it takes significantly less time to boot OS X, on the order of 15 - 20 seconds (or less, with proper configuration);
programs installed on a solid state drive run almost instantly;
with a lack of RAM, “freezes” are much less common.

Increasing the amount of RAM

The amount of RAM plays a very important role when working with the OS X operating system, since in many cases iMac slows down precisely because of a lack of RAM. Increasing the amount of RAM allows you to get rid of system freezes when switching between desktops and resource-intensive applications, since the computer will less often access the drive for temporary files. Working with complex projects in graphic and video editors will also be more comfortable, as it will become easier for the system to “remember” a large amount of data: effects, layers, and so on.

It is also worth noting that memory in OS X is used a little differently than on computers running Windows, so this parameter should be treated with special attention.

Of course, many modern utilities can "clear" memory from unnecessary processes:

But even so, for comfortable work in most recent versions of the OS, you may need 8-16 GB of RAM, especially if you use complex programs at the same time or the system already has an SSD installed, which also requires significant amounts of RAM to fully open your potential.

Modern iMac Slim

Installing an SSD

However, in the case of the iMac Slim, the situation is complicated by the lack of a SuperDrive optical drive, and therefore, for installation, you will need an SSD with a proprietary interface that is connected directly to the motherboard, an alternative is to install an SSD in place of a standard hard drive.

Increasing the amount of RAM

Additional measures

OS X Software Optimization

If your iMac is slow even when performing daily activities, this may be due to the "clutter" of the operating system.

free desktop

Change the glass Dock to an opaque one:

Fusion Drive Organization

Fusion Drive is a special method of interaction between a hard drive and a solid state drive developed by Apple, in fact it is a hardware-software RAID array.

Organizing the work of Fusion Drive allows not only to reduce the operating system boot time, but also to improve the performance of OS X in everyday work: the most frequently used applications and files are moved to the SSD area, the files that the system accesses less often are stored on a regular hard drive, and both drives are defined by the system as a single volume (you see one disk and use it the same way, and the system takes care of everything else). It is worth noting that this is really very convenient, and in some situations it greatly simplifies the solution of tasks, for example, when installing Windows via Boot Camp on a Fusion Drive, you can easily divide the disk into several partitions, each of which will be accessible from any system.

Extreme upgrade options

iMac processor and graphics replacement

Planned Precautions

Or something to keep in mind.

As practice shows, if the iMac slows down for no apparent reason, it's overheating. If the cooling system, for one reason or another, ceases to effectively remove heat from the processor or video card, OS X begins to "cut" their performance. This is most often noticeable in resource-intensive applications, where the iMac starts to slow down after a few minutes of work.