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xhfoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2018
6
1
The latest OS are slow on my iMac.
Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open Finder, Preview are slow. Boot consider normal.
Im a graphic designer, my majority apps are adobe illustrator & photoshop.
The lag are crazy when im performing those heavy apps compared to previous OS High Sierra.
Atleast High Sierra are doing fine.

Any recommendation for me before i try to do a clean install for it?

Spec: iMac 21.5, late 2012. 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 & 8G rams.


(Problem solved)
10 October 2018 Edit: The final solution are make a clean install. problem solved. iMac 2012 now works like a charm.
 
Last edited:

campyguy

macrumors 68040
Mar 21, 2014
3,413
957
Seemingly by your own admission Mojave isn't causing issues. To wit, you wrote "Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open finder, preview, boot consider normal."

TBH, you didn't offer which version of PS or Illy that you're running. You didn't offer whether or not you're using a scratch disk, or which type of scratch disk you're using.

My recommendations? Install more RAM. Use a fast scratch disk. Install an SSD. They're also Adobe's recommendations - search their own online Support documentation. Look up my posts on this matter in these forums, I've linked directly to Adobe's own Support files, and I'll leave it to you to find them...

I see no difference between HS or Mojave relative to the CC suite apps (again, you didn't specify which Adobe apps that you're using). I've been using PS since v.3 and Illy since v.2, back in the mid-1990s. More RAM, a fast scratch disk, and a fast OS drive - same advice they were giving then is relevant today.
 

xhfoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2018
6
1
Seemingly by your own admission Mojave isn't causing issues. To wit, you wrote "Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open finder, preview, boot consider normal."

TBH, you didn't offer which version of PS or Illy that you're running. You didn't offer whether or not you're using a scratch disk, or which type of scratch disk you're using.

My recommendations? Install more RAM. Use a fast scratch disk. Install an SSD. They're also Adobe's recommendations - search their own online Support documentation. Look up my posts on this matter in these forums, I've linked directly to Adobe's own Support files, and I'll leave it to you to find them...

I see no difference between HS or Mojave relative to the CC suite apps (again, you didn't specify which Adobe apps that you're using). I've been using PS since v.3 and Illy since v.2, back in the mid-1990s. More RAM, a fast scratch disk, and a fast OS drive - same advice they were giving then is relevant today.


Thanks for the details!
I mentioned the OS are slower compared the previous OS High Sierra, the hardware are basically the same.
But looking through the forum or google, i found overall users are satisfied with the performance as well improved.
So i assume the problem is only mine. The whole user experience are taken up two-time-slower. eg Open finder need 1sec but my iMac need 2sec.

The hardware are default from Apple, 8G 1600 MHz DDR3 & 1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive.
Using Adobe CS6 standalone license, updated version.
[doublepost=1538981788][/doublepost]
Seemingly by your own admission Mojave isn't causing issues. To wit, you wrote "Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open finder, preview, boot consider normal."

TBH, you didn't offer which version of PS or Illy that you're running. You didn't offer whether or not you're using a scratch disk, or which type of scratch disk you're using.

My recommendations? Install more RAM. Use a fast scratch disk. Install an SSD. They're also Adobe's recommendations - search their own online Support documentation. Look up my posts on this matter in these forums, I've linked directly to Adobe's own Support files, and I'll leave it to you to find them...

I see no difference between HS or Mojave relative to the CC suite apps (again, you didn't specify which Adobe apps that you're using). I've been using PS since v.3 and Illy since v.2, back in the mid-1990s. More RAM, a fast scratch disk, and a fast OS drive - same advice they were giving then is relevant today.

Sorry what i mean is Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open finder, preview are slower.
Boot consider normal.

Grammer mistake.
 

ISKOTB

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2011
966
191
Florida
Maybe on the latest hadrware it's faster but I got the same issue and I been reading other posts where people did a clean install and still HS was faster

The latest OS are slow on my iMac.
Opening apps(even settings, in-built apps), open Finder, Preview are slow. Boot consider normal.
Im a graphic designer, my majority apps are adobe illustrator & photoshop.
The lag are crazy when im performing those heavy apps compared to previous OS High Sierra.
Atleast High Sierra are doing fine.

Any recommendation for me before i try to do a clean install for it?

Spec: iMac 21.5, late 2012. 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 & 8G rams.
 

294307

Cancelled
Mar 19, 2009
567
315
Can you check whether Spotlight is indexing itself? That might be the cause of the unusual performance issues you're experiencing.

You can find out if Spotlight is indexing by pressing Command (⌘) + Space Bar and typing in an app name. Wait for the search results and check whether it says it's indexing beneath the search box. It will look like this:

zlgxs.png


If it's not indexing and performance remains poor, you may wish to consider erasing the drive and reinstalling macOS Mojave. Only do this if you're prepared to reinstall your apps and reconfigure everything all over again. Obviously, you'll lose your data by going down this route, so make sure you have a Time Machine backup before you do this.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,448
12,565
OP wrote:
"Spec: iMac 21.5, late 2012. 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 & 8G rams."

26139 "says it right" in reply 8 above.

If you have a 5400rpm platter-based drive inside, it's going to be slow.
The ONLY WAY to get more speed is to boot and run from a faster drive.

I would not open up the iMac to install one.
There's a faster, quicker, easier and SAFER way to do it:
Buy a USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to be the boot drive.

The iMac will boot and run happily from an external SSD.
In fact, it will run much, MUCH faster.
You'll see a speed increase of about 4-4.5x over the internal drive.

I'd suggest something like a Samsung t5 or a Sandisk Extreme.
250gb or 500gb will do (but 250gb is really "all you need").
You don't have to spend much money!

Set it up with a copy of the OS, your apps, and accounts, but...
... leave "large libraries" (things like movies, music and pictures) on the internal HDD.

If you do this, you won't believe how much better the experience can be -- until you've tried it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 26139

294307

Cancelled
Mar 19, 2009
567
315
It would be great if the usual suspects would stop blindly advising users to upgrade hardware. It's really frustrating to read. The author upgraded to macOS Mojave and suddenly experiences poor performance. And all you can come up with is to replace the hard drive. That's really poor advice. Clearly, this user is perfectly content with a 5400 RPM hard drive despite how much slower it is. I too think they are piss poor hard drives, but that's what I think as a pro user that needs to run I/O and CPU heavy apps. Not everyone does this line of work and it would be misleading if I just said the hard drive is the problem and left it at that, when clearly the evidence suggests otherwise.

Mojave is supposed to improve hard drive performance (it was listed as one of the improvements in the slides during the WWDC keynote), so performance should not be worse after upgrading. xhfoo, check if Spotlight is indexing as I suggested above and let us know. Please ignore the misleading advice from 26139 and Fishrman – you don't need to go down that route unless you've always experienced poor performance from day one or later on down the line when your hard drive needs to be replaced.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: baas

26139

Suspended
Dec 27, 2003
4,315
377
It would be great if the usual suspects would stop blindly advising users to upgrade hardware. It's really frustrating to read. The author upgraded to macOS Mojave and suddenly experiences poor performance. And all you can come up with is to replace the hard drive. That's really poor advice. Clearly, this user is perfectly content with a 5400 RPM hard drive despite how much slower it is. I too think they are piss poor hard drives, but that's what I think as a pro user. Other people don't consider it to be a problem and I would be misleading others if I just said the hard drive is the problem when clearly the evidence suggests otherwise.

Mojave is supposed to improve hard drive performance (it was listed as one of the improvements in the slides during the WWDC keynote), so performance should not be worse after upgrading. Please check if Spotlight is indexing as I suggested above and let us know. Please ignore the misleading advice from 26139 and Fishrman – you don't need to go down that route unless you've always experienced poor performance from day one or later on down the line when your hard drive needs to be replaced.

The new OSes are built to run on SSDs, not hard drives.
Apple has been screwing customers over by still offering HDs at all for years.
We're trying to fix the problem for good, you're trying to tell him to put on a bandage.
 

294307

Cancelled
Mar 19, 2009
567
315
The new OSes are built to run on SSDs, not hard drives.
Apple has been screwing customers over by still offering HDs at all for years.
We're trying to fix the problem for good, you're trying to tell him to put on a bandage.

You're making assumptions about what the problem is and advising the author to spend money unnecessarily. You have jumped to a solution without identifying what the problem is, ignoring the specific set of circumstances the author has described. This suggests I/O activity has significantly increased since upgrading and that kind of performance degradation can only be attributed to something as heavy as a hard drive being reindexed.

If the author said performance has always been slow and is just as slow under Mojave, then you might have had reasonable grounds to make your suggestion.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,448
12,565
It's the drive.
NOTHING else the OP can do will "make it faster".
Nothing.
 

Wally©

macrumors member
May 2, 2015
99
18
Belgium
Can you check whether Spotlight is indexing itself? That might be the cause of the unusual performance issues you're experiencing.

You can find out if Spotlight is indexing by pressing Command (⌘) + Space Bar and typing in an app name. Wait for the search results and check whether it says it's indexing beneath the search box. It will look like this:

zlgxs.png


If it's not indexing and performance remains poor, you may wish to consider erasing the drive and reinstalling macOS Mojave. Only do this if you're prepared to reinstall your apps and reconfigure everything all over again. Obviously, you'll lose your data by going down this route, so make sure you have a Time Machine backup before you do this.

I find this answer very useful...
Mojave was driving me nuts on my late 2013 Mac with basically the same specs...
While the boot up process itself is considerably slower and the settling down after reboot
takes a few minutes...after a couple of days I noticed it ran smoother and smoother...
Almost on par with the previous OS which was Yosemite...
I guess the indexing process takes a bit longer on a 5400rpm drive...
 

xhfoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2018
6
1
Can you check whether Spotlight is indexing itself? That might be the cause of the unusual performance issues you're experiencing.

You can find out if Spotlight is indexing by pressing Command (⌘) + Space Bar and typing in an app name. Wait for the search results and check whether it says it's indexing beneath the search box. It will look like this:

zlgxs.png


If it's not indexing and performance remains poor, you may wish to consider erasing the drive and reinstalling macOS Mojave. Only do this if you're prepared to reinstall your apps and reconfigure everything all over again. Obviously, you'll lose your data by going down this route, so make sure you have a Time Machine backup before you do this.


Hey BBNCK,

Thanks for the advise but no, the indexing is done few days ago.
Not indexing issue.
[doublepost=1539075262][/doublepost]
OP wrote:
"Spec: iMac 21.5, late 2012. 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 & 8G rams."

26139 "says it right" in reply 8 above.

If you have a 5400rpm platter-based drive inside, it's going to be slow.
The ONLY WAY to get more speed is to boot and run from a faster drive.

I would not open up the iMac to install one.
There's a faster, quicker, easier and SAFER way to do it:
Buy a USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to be the boot drive.

The iMac will boot and run happily from an external SSD.
In fact, it will run much, MUCH faster.
You'll see a speed increase of about 4-4.5x over the internal drive.

I'd suggest something like a Samsung t5 or a Sandisk Extreme.
250gb or 500gb will do (but 250gb is really "all you need").
You don't have to spend much money!

Set it up with a copy of the OS, your apps, and accounts, but...
... leave "large libraries" (things like movies, music and pictures) on the internal HDD.

If you do this, you won't believe how much better the experience can be -- until you've tried it.

Replace your HD with an SSD.

Thanks for the tips guys.
I have another rMBP with SSD and modification 2013 MBP with SSD & HDD, yes agreed with the statement that SSD is the best way. But my current situation doesnt matter with hardware, it was different OS with different experience on the same iMac.
[doublepost=1539075339][/doublepost]
It's the drive.
NOTHING else the OP can do will "make it faster".
Nothing.

Hi Fishrrman thanks for the comment.
As i stated, same iMac, different experience, the OS Mojave are slower in my iMac, faster/smoother in my 2015 rMBP.
Thanks.
[doublepost=1539075573][/doublepost]
It would be great if the usual suspects would stop blindly advising users to upgrade hardware. It's really frustrating to read. The author upgraded to macOS Mojave and suddenly experiences poor performance. And all you can come up with is to replace the hard drive. That's really poor advice. Clearly, this user is perfectly content with a 5400 RPM hard drive despite how much slower it is. I too think they are piss poor hard drives, but that's what I think as a pro user that needs to run I/O and CPU heavy apps. Not everyone does this line of work and it would be misleading if I just said the hard drive is the problem and left it at that, when clearly the evidence suggests otherwise.

Mojave is supposed to improve hard drive performance (it was listed as one of the improvements in the slides during the WWDC keynote), so performance should not be worse after upgrading. xhfoo, check if Spotlight is indexing as I suggested above and let us know. Please ignore the misleading advice from 26139 and Fishrman – you don't need to go down that route unless you've always experienced poor performance from day one or later on down the line when your hard drive needs to be replaced.


Thanks for standing side!!!!
Absolute that's my feeling now! HAHAHA
I know installing SSD is the best way to solve "slow" issue, but it is my office workstation. I can't spend a penny upgrade any spec on myself, need management approval for the upgrade. Spotlight indexing is not faulty issue. I guess tonight im going to have a clean install, will keep this post updated for the outcome.

Thanks guys!
[doublepost=1539075871][/doublepost]
The new OSes are built to run on SSDs, not hard drives.
Apple has been screwing customers over by still offering HDs at all for years.
We're trying to fix the problem for good, you're trying to tell him to put on a bandage.

Hey 26139,
Yup SSD is the best way but my office workstation only allowed me to buy a bandage for it.....
[doublepost=1539076391][/doublepost]
Run Activity monitor and look at your CPU and memory usage.


Normal right?
 

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xhfoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2018
6
1
It's NVIDIA, don't bother with other stuff. One option to wait for official nvidia web drivers, and other is to install 3rd party kexts

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dia-gpu-lag-yet.2088300/page-12#post-26585423

The thread is MBP affected. My rMBP and iMac are working fine.
[doublepost=1539139905][/doublepost]BTW guys, the final solution are: make a clean install. problem solved.

My 2012 iMac now works like a charm, this is how OS Mojave should perform. A clean format/install.
[doublepost=1539140112][/doublepost](duplicated reply)
 

294307

Cancelled
Mar 19, 2009
567
315
The thread is MBP affected. My rMBP and iMac are working fine.
[doublepost=1539139905][/doublepost]BTW guys, the final solution are: make a clean install. problem solved.

My 2012 iMac now works like a charm, this is how OS Mojave should perform. A clean format/install.
[doublepost=1539140112][/doublepost](duplicated reply)

Glad to see it's sorted for you.
 
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