Thinking about switching to the Dark Side

[cs2011]

I've been using Apple Macs on an almost daily basis since 1989, and use a 2010 vintage iMac to this day. But since 'upgrading' to MacOS El Capitan and then Sierra, the machine has become desperately slow. Just clicking on a menu or file often results in several seconds delay before it has done anything, whereas with the original Snow Leopard OS, everything was very fast and snappy. I need to use a few apps which are Windows only, and I run those using Win XP Pro under Virtualbox. Bizarrely, virtual Win XP is much faster than the native host Mac OS.

So, I'm now thinking about switching to a Win 10 PC. Has anyone made such a switch, and would you recommend it ? The other option would be to get a brand new iMac with an SSD, and hope that it is a lot faster than my current machine.

 

[MajorFubar]

But since 'upgrading' to MacOS El Capitan and then Sierra, the machine has become desperately slow. Just clicking on a menu or file often results in several seconds delay before it has done anything, whereas with the original Snow Leopard OS, everything was very fast and snappy.

Irrespective of whether it's Windows or Mac (and I've had both), I have never ever come across a computer which isn't slower when you build a new OS on top of an old one. It's mainly to do with the hard drive and how files are stored, even when they're not fragmented. By all means migrate to Win 10 or buy another Mac, but I'd swear your computer will speed up if you do a full back up with e.g. Time Machine, flatten it, then rebuild it from the back up. That's what I do every time, and after a day or so of it settling back down, I'm back to normal speed.

You could also consider having an SSD fitted to your Mac in place of the hard drive. Again you will still need to back up first. The speed increase of booting and loading applications from an SSD is phenominal. If you don't feel confident to strip the iMac down and fit the SSD yourself, you may need to find a specialist computer shop to do it (who may also offer a service to clone the old drive onto the new one, saving you the hassle). But it's still going to be cheaper than buying a new computer if you really don't need one.

 

[avole]

you probably need to add more. Also, you should clean up your hard disk. Basically, for macs (and windows machines) to work the best, you need to leave about 30% of your hdd free.

Have a look at the mac forums, too, there's lots of good advice out there.

 

[cs2011]

I have needed to restore the machine from the Time Machine backup twice, but didn't notice any change in speed. The HDD is just over half full (270 out of 500GB), and the machine is a 3GHz Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of RAM.

 

[chebby]

I have needed to restore the machine from the Time Machine backup twice, but didn't notice any change in speed. The HDD is just over half full (270 out of 500GB), and the machine is a 3GHz Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of RAM.

That could be any iMac from January 2006 until the end of November 2012 (almost 7 years). They all had Intel Core 2 Duos and 500GB hard drives were an option on all of them.

Can you narrow it down a bit?

Our old white plastic iMac (Core 2 Duo and 3GB RAM) dated from March 2006 and lasted us until September 2014 when we replaced it with our Mac Mini. It was running fine until then.

There is some regular 'housekeeping' you can do if your computer is regularly powered off overnight (and therefore misses doing it's automatic maintenance at 03:00 every morning) but i'm not sure if it's going to make any improvement.

Open Terminal, located in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.

At the Terminal prompt, type the following, exactly as written:

sudo periodic daily weekly monthly

Press Return

Type your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.

All three scripts will run in sequence. There is no visual feedback while the scripts execute. You will know they are completed when the Terminal prompt returns.

You could also run the disk utility and 'first aid' to make sure nothing is amiss.

 

[MajorFubar]

I have needed to restore the machine from the Time Machine backup twice, but didn't notice any change in speed. The HDD is just over half full (270 out of 500GB), and the machine is a 3GHz Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of RAM.

Could be your hard drive is not in the great shape it once was. If flattening the machine and restoring from a backup isn't helping, and Chebby's advice does nothing either, I'd look at the alternative option of replacing the drive with an SSD. Really it depends do you just want to make your computer faster or are you missing that temporary high we all get from opening a brand new box. A 500Gb SSD will set you back about £110 from Crucial, which will transform your iMac but won't satisfy your Gear Acquisition Syndrome (which let's face it we all have to some degree, except perhaps unless you're a puritan or Amish)

 

[Superaintit]

As said above I would try to fix it, even if you have to get back to the old os.
Since I have gone from a windows xp pc to a mac mini I have been totally converted. (Even though I work on a daily basis on a windows 7 high specced laptop for work) There is so much less hassle with macs that they're worth the premium. Moreover, with all the costs added for virusscanners over a few years and the serious slowdown of the windows os within 3 or 4 years, I suspect that a mac is cheaper in the long run. I would try to fix the mac you have if its economically feasable. Otherwise I would probably buy a macbook.

 

[chebby]

I've just seen your reference to it being a 2010 iMac. (Sorry I missed that earlier, I was being lazy and just read the bits that the Major quoted.)

So it's getting on a bit. Six years. 42 in dog years and about ten times that in computer technology years. You could try doubling the RAM to 8GB.

 

[chebby]

Since I have gone from a windows xp pc to a mac mini I have been totally converted. (Even though I work on a daily basis on a windows 7 high specced laptop for work) There is so much less hassle with macs that they're worth the premium.

Snap! Same here. Company supplied Dell Laptop based system with Windows 7 Pro. (on desk with proper screen, keyboard and mouse).

Mac Mini and all the other Apple bits for pleasure.

 

[cs2011]

Could be your hard drive is not in the great shape it once was. If flattening the machine and restoring from a backup isn't helping, and Chebby's advice does nothing either, I'd look at the alternative option of replacing the drive with an SSD. Really it depends do you just want to make your computer faster or are you missing that temporary high we all get from opening a brand new box. A 500Gb SSD will set you back about £110 from Crucial, which will transform your iMac but won't satisfy your Gear Acquisition Syndrome (which let's face it we all have to some degree, except perhaps unless you're a puritan or Amish)

Just tried the Terminal commands, and running Disk First Aid, and that has possibly made it slightly quicker. However, I normally find that after the machine has been left unattended for an hour or so, it sulks and gets very sluggish upon re-awakening. I then get the 5 second delay on each mouse click.

What do you mean by flattening ? Does it involve a sledgehammer ?

A brand new iMac would be nice (I want a desktop), but the 21.5" model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD would cost an absurd £1700. (You have to get the 4k model if you want the 512GB SSD).

I'm a bit reluctant to post on a Mac forum, as I would almost certainly get drenched in highly toxic Mac fanboy venom.

 

[MajorFubar]

What do you mean by flattening ? Does it involve a sledgehammer ?

lol no, it just means erasing it completely and starting from scratch. I'm trying to work up the testicular fortitude to fit an SSD to my own iMac, which by the sound of it is the next generation after yours. I long since upgraded my boys' 2011 Mac Mini with one, but that was a walk in the park by comparison. You can only get in an iMac from the front. The complexity of getting in there is like disassembling a Terminator robot. Probably easy if you've done it a few times mind.

 

[cs2011]

You can only get in an iMac from the front. The complexity of getting in there is like disassembling a Terminator robot. Probably easy if you've done it a few times mind.

Yes, I've looked at the installation guide on the Crucial site, and there does seem to be enormous scope for a slipped screwdriver to cause fatal damage to the machine. Their prices for SSDs are very reasonable though.

 

[chebby]

I bought this refurbished Dell computer the other day for just £239 ...

this company (fulfilled by Amazon) ...

It was an ideal replacement for our 6-year-old bedroom PC that was getting a bit 'cranky'. It's used by my wife about 80 percent of the time and she wanted to stick with Win 7 Pro. You can see - from the picture in the Amazon link - that it's pretty small and the 10 USBs (including 4 x USB 3.0) is a very generous provision.

It's also in mint condition inside and out.

I have an 8GB RAM 'kit' on the way from Crucial, although it's still suprisingly fast (for a late 2012 PC), with just the 4GB supplied.

 

[cs2011]

.......on a 27" 5k iMac

I had a look at a few Win 10 PCs in PC World the other day and I wasn't very impressed. It all seemed just too clunky and bloated, compared to the Win XP Pro PCs I used to used when I was working, so I decided to stick with the Mac.

Comparing specs, the 27" iMac seemed a better bet than the 21.5", and it has user upgradable RAM so I can take advantage of Crucial's much lower cost of extra memory. Looking at the two machines side by side in PC World, the bigger screen is very nice too. I went for the 512GB SSD upgrade, as all the reviews suggest that fusion drives only really work well if you are below the capacity of the SSD section.