iMac has slowed down

BillN_33

BillN_33

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I need a little advice

My current iMac is a Retina 5K, 27" Late 2014
Processor 3.5 GHz Intel core i5
Memory 24GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2048 MB
Storage 1 TB
SSD 120 GB

I am still running the macOS High Sierra - (I have a few windows apps that I run in Parallels) - so I have not updated the OS

I bought a Nikon D850 a few days ago and since then presumably because of the bigger 45 MB files, (before the D850 I used mainly a D810) the machine has slowed down noticeably.
I still have 350 GB of 'free" storage on the hard drive

I am running LR Classic on the Adobe monthly subscription model
I use LR 90% of the time for photo editing with say 10% moving into PS
I have cleared the cache in LR and increased the cache size to 50 GB ........ and it's a little better, maybe noticeably - should I increase the cache size further as I have the space

Q: is this to be expected

Q: Within reason, what's a suitable iMac upgrade, i.e. a new machine, that will this speed things up considerably

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give me
 
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I'd say it's to be expected - looking at the benchmark (link) results of your iMac, the processor is starting to show its age compared to some newer models which will be a factor. However, if you've got the original fusion drive still in there, that'll be just as guilty (if not arguably more if you look in this thread > (link)

Before considering buying a completely new machine though, I'd suggest using an external SSD briefly to see if there's any improvement when running everything from that (rather than the fusion drive) and if so, look at upgrading the fusion drive with an SSD. To do it yourself you'd need to take the screen off of the iMac, so unless you're comfortable doing that, I'd either take it to a shop or look at mounting the SSD to the back of the iMac via one of these.

If you'd rather just go out and treat yourself to a new machine, I'd suggest the M1 Mac Mini with a 16Gb RAM upgrade if you're planning to buy now (then buying a separate monitor and external SSD for the storage) or waiting for September when Apple are rumoured to be releasing the 27" iMac with the M1 (as the 27" still have Intel currently).
 
I got one of THESE and plugged it into the back of my late 2013 iMac then cloned the internal disk with 'Superduper' and made the external SSD the boot disk, it's made a significant difference. I will replace the internal disk in due course but the external SSD works fine.
 
LeftyXXIII said:
I'd say it's to be expected - looking at the benchmark (link) results of your iMac, the processor is starting to show its age compared to some newer models which will be a factor. However, if you've got the original fusion drive still in there, that'll be just as guilty (if not arguably more if you look in this thread > (link)

Before considering buying a completely new machine though, I'd suggest using an external SSD briefly to see if there's any improvement when running everything from that (rather than the fusion drive) and if so, look at upgrading the fusion drive with an SSD. To do it yourself you'd need to take the screen off of the iMac, so unless you're comfortable doing that, I'd either take it to a shop or look at mounting the SSD to the back of the iMac via one of these.

If you'd rather just go out and treat yourself to a new machine, I'd suggest the M1 Mac Mini with a 16Gb RAM upgrade if you're planning to buy now (then buying a separate monitor and external SSD for the storage) or waiting for September when Apple are rumoured to be releasing the 27" iMac with the M1 (as the 27" still have Intel currently).
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gramps said:
I got one of THESE and plugged it into the back of my late 2013 iMac then cloned the internal disk with 'Superduper' and made the external SSD the boot disk, it's made a significant difference. I will replace the internal disk in due course but the external SSD works fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys really helpful - and @gramps I'll give that a go, or rather let my son-in-law do it as it seems a little complicated for me

Just another point - as I edit stuff in LR the "available memory" reduces from about 70% gradually to about 30% - (I use a app called memory clean which shows the available memory as I use the computer) - whatever that means.
 
I have an iMac from 2016 and decided to replace the main drive to an SSD I kept the old harddrive once cloned as a plug in storage.
The difference is amazing, it boots up in 15 seconds and LR and all programs load very fast. It's like a new machine.
Mine is the thin version with stick on screen not the easiest but first time for me! All went very well
 
Definitely try an external USB. Your machine has USB3, which would be good enough for an SSD.
 
Pound Coin said:
Definitely try an external USB. Your machine has USB3, which would be good enough for an SSD.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all you answers guys

Thanks Pound Coin, the easiest would seem to be a plug-in SSD using USB3 - or a plug in using the thunderbolt port? - versus taking the screen apart and fitting an SSD inside the machine

I have watched about half a dozen tube vids and the complicated bit for me would be cloning the existing 1TB fusion drive

a few questions, if I went the external route

1). How do I establish what version my thunderbolt port is and will it be much faster than USB3

2). Do I clone all the contents of the existing internal fusion drive onto a 1TB/2TB new SSD, or just the OS and leave LR and the LR Catalogs on the internal drive - my current fusion drive is about 70% full, so presumably a 2TB SSD would be better than a 1TB

3). Why do they use the "Erase" function when they format the drive - what does the "Erase" command mean as it seems to be the wrong way round to me

4). The OS I now have is High Sierra, - if I put the latest Mac OS on the new SSD and booted from it would that cause a problem.
 
BillN_33 said:
Thanks for all you answers guys

Thanks Pound Coin, the easiest would seem to be a plug-in SSD using USB3 - or a plug in using the thunderbolt port? - versus taking the screen apart and fitting an SSD inside the machine

I have watched about half a dozen tube vids and the complicated bit for me would be cloning the existing 1TB fusion drive

a few questions, if I went the external route

1). How do I establish what version my thunderbolt port is and will it be much faster than USB3

2). Do I clone all the contents of the existing internal fusion drive onto a 1TB/2TB new SSD, or just the OS and leave LR and the LR Catalogs on the internal drive - my current fusion drive is about 70% full, so presumably a 2TB SSD would be better than a 1TB

3). Why do they use the "Erase" function when they format the drive - what does the "Erase" command mean as it seems to be the wrong way round to me

4). The OS I now have is High Sierra, - if I put the latest Mac OS on the new SSD and booted from it would that cause a problem.
Click to expand...
I run my 2012 21 inch iMac off an external SSD (Samsung T5 250GB portable SSD). it runs off the the USB3 port. For the cost I didn't bother with a thunderbolt SSD connection. it would likely be faster but the SSD via usb hasn’t been an issue.

there are quite a few guides on the internet that take you through it step by step. For cloning the drive I used carbon copy cloner. I’d recommend CCC for any Mac user as it makes backing up so easy.
 
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