Late 2014 Mac mini is slow

[avz]

How do you define "critical updates"? AFAIK, Sierra is no longer supported by Apple and has not received any updates since 2019.

macOS Sierra - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If I understand it correctly, "critical" is the official name for the "under the hood" updates like XProtect and MRT.

 

[Boyd01]

Why do you think that Sierra still gets this kind of update? Apple's security update page shows the most recent update was September 26, 2019.

Apple security updates (2018 to 2019) - Apple Support

This document lists security updates for Apple software.

support.apple.com

There were no Sierra updates in 2020 - 2022

Apple security releases

This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.

support.apple.com

 

[khikhz144]

im running a 2014 late mac mini with a 3gz dual core 16GB of ram and an SDD. I think those r making all the difference for the smooth experience im having.

 

[avz]

Why do you think that Sierra still gets this kind of update? Apple's security update page shows the most recent update was September 26, 2019.

Apple security updates (2018 to 2019) - Apple Support

This document lists security updates for Apple software.

support.apple.com

There were no Sierra updates in 2020 - 2022

Apple security releases

This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.

support.apple.com

XProtect and MRT on my Sierra installation is the same versions as on my Catalina installation. I believe Apple don't publish press releases about critical "under the hood" updates.

 

[Boyd01]

im running a 2014 late mac mini with a 3gz dual core 16GB of ram and an SDD. I think those r making all the difference for the smooth experience im having.

The 3ghz i7 was the top of the line 2014 Mini and was quite expensive with 16gb and SSD. This thread was originally about the bottom of the line 1.4ghz i5 model with 4gb of memory. So, naturally yours would be quite a bit faster. I almost bought that top 2014 Mini but went with a used 2012 quad-core i7 Mini instead because it was 50% faster than the top 2014.

 

[opeter]

Yeah, the top 2014 Mac mini had only the Core i7 3.0 GHz dual-core (with HT) CPU, in contrary the 2012 Mac mini had an 2.3 GHz Core i7 CPU which was real quad-core. You even had the option for the faster i7 with 2.6 GHz.

Apple did a bad move in that time...

 

[Boyd01]

the 2012 Mac mini had an 2.3 GHz Core i7 CPU which was real quad-core. You even had the option for the faster i7 with 2.6 GHz.

Yeah, I got the 2012 2.6ghz quad i7 with 16gb and original Apple 256gb SSD from MacSales (aka OWC). Went with them instead of a private seller because they offered a 90 day warranty. It was also about $150 cheaper than a new 2014 i7/16gb/256gb Mini. Has been perfect ever since, converted it to a file/time machine server when I got my 2018 Mini.

But I also have the model just below the top 2014 Mini - 2.8ghz i5/8gb/fusion - and it runs 24/7 as a media server. No problems there either, it's a pretty nice machine. B&H Photo was blowing these out (new) for $500 after the 2018 Mini was introduced so I grabbed one while they lasted. At that time, Apple was still selling the exact same model in the refurb store for over $1000!

 

[king_moot]

Hi. So I was trying to stay on Catalina on my late 2014 Mac Mini for as long as possible, because it was just so stable.

Unfortunately, some of the other basic apps, such as Chrome & Spotify, refused to update on that OS, so, reluctantly, I pushed the OS on from Catalina (10.x) to Monterey (12.x).

One of the unfortunate side affects of this seems to be a very slow boot up time, compared to Catalina. Is there anything I can do to improve this, or is this a consequence of using 2014 hardware with a newer OS? Once the OS has booted up, it seems to be ok, but it actually takes maybe 10-15 minutes to get to the desktop now, on boot up.

I did wonder, initially, if it had started booting from the SATA disk again, but no, USB_MAIN is the startup disk.

Thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

king moot wrote:
"Is there anything I can do to improve this, or is this a consequence of using 2014 hardware with a newer OS?"

Tell us:
how much RAM is in the Mini?
what kind of drive is it running on?
(platter-based HDD, fusion drive, SSD, or...?)

 

[king_moot]

Sure, here's the spec:

Mac mini
Processor: 1.4 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
Memory 4GB 1600 Mhz DDR3
Startup Disk: USB_MAIN (because I switched it using the guide from this thread)
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536 MB

The disk that came with the machine was a 500 GB Sata Drive, but I now use that for storage only. The disk I boot from is a Samsung SSD T5 500GB drive.

 

[Boyd01]

I have the exact same Mini and boot it from an external USB Samsung T3 SSD (generation before the T5). Using a USB SSD definitely slows down the boot process, but it takes a little under one minute for me. Something is seriously wrong if it's taking 10 to 15 minutes.

I'm still running Mojave however, since I run iTunes with home sharing and use this machine as a dedicated media server. But I wonder, could the internal 500gb hard drive be failing on your Mini? I had a 2012 base Mini that also booted from the same T3 USB SSD. After awhile, it started throwing lots of errors and crashing. Apparently, the internal hard drive was dying and even though it wasn't being used for anything, it was causing the crashes.

 

[Fishrrman]

king moot --

The external t5 probably isn't "the problem".
What IS the problem is the fact that the Mini has only 4gb of RAM.
That's simply NOT ENOUGH for modern Mac OS's.

Frankly, it's time for something new, or at least newer.
If budget is a problem, I'd look for a 2018 Mini, i7, 16gb of RAM.

 

[meson]

1-3 minutes is probably about right for booting from an external SSD over usb3. 10-15 minutes is excessive.

It could be an issue with something you have installed. For a number of years my TeX installation caused my boot time to double or triple. Combined with a lower amount of ram that uses swap more often, it could really slow things down. The issue was common across multiple machines that I used, persisted through clean installs, and only resolved with a new enough version of macOS. I cannot remember which variant fixed it.

 

[MichaelLAX]

After buying two used 2014 Mac Minis with only 4GB of RAM and then discovering, to my horror, that the RAM is soldered with no expansion slots, I found DosDude1 on this forum who does the work to upgrade these types of soldered RAM Macs.

Here is his reply to my email and if any of you are interested, watch his YouTube video, and he seems to really do quality work.

This seems to be the only option for these Macs other than to sell them off and buy ones with more RAM already installed (which Ironically I did last year from OWC to build out a Roblox server for my grandson and his friends).

Here was his email reply to me on January 29th:

Normally, we do the upgrade for $200, plus the cost of parts and return shipping (for 16GB, part cost is normally around $60 - $75). We estimate about 2-3 weeks turnaround time, but it may be a bit longer due to shipping times from China (which is the only place to get compatible LPDDR3 RAM for that machine's configuration) if we don't have any in stock when we receive your machine. If this works for you, let us know, and we will provide further info.

---
Regards,
The DosLab Team
https://doslabelectronics.com

 

[Boyd01]

It's very impressive that he can do this at all. But paying around $300 ($200 + $75 + shipping) to add 12gb of memory to a 10 year old computer doesn't make any sense to me. MacSales (aka OWC) will sell you a used 2014 1.4ghz Mini with a 250gb SSD and 16gb RAM for $119. They even have the top spec 2014 3ghz i7 Mini with 250gb SSD and 16gb RAM for $175. And their used Mini's have a 90 day limited warranty.

I'd just cut my losses at this point and either find a use for them as-is (my 4gb Mini works fine as an iTunes server), sell them for whatever you can get or just give them to somebody who can use them.

 

[Fishrrman]

There's absolutely NO reason to buy 2014 Minis any more, when the 2018 models have come down to very reasonable prices...

 

[MichaelLAX]

There's absolutely NO reason to buy 2014 Minis any more, when the 2018 models have come down to very reasonable prices...

Yeah: where were you 2 weeks ago, when I "helped out" a High School Robotics team selling off 2014 Mac Minis with 4GB of RAM for $60 each to raise money for their next project, and I bought two of them not realizing that I could not (easily) add more RAM?!? hahaha

 

[MichaelLAX]

I'd just cut my losses at this point and either find a use for them as-is (my 4gb Mini works fine as an iTunes server), sell them for whatever you can get or just give them to somebody who can use them.

I am going to match one with a 24" 2008 iMac that was given to me and use it headless for my Ham Radio activities.