Resolved Slow performance, with some exceptions?

[Dezlboy]

I had a 2009 mini too; ... webpages ... very slow to load, basically just sit and spin. ...I had long ago updated my 2009 mini with an SSD and maxed the ram (so those help a lot, but I don't think they will help with your issue: slow web page loading).

michaelb5000....appreciate response...esp as you had same issue, and made the upgrades suggested by others.

Thanks to everyone. I've debating between the i3 or i5 with 16gb RAM, 256 SSD. Since use if web, word, excel, nothing intensive, the i3 will likely do. The 16gb RAM might be overkill. 256G SSD is plenty for me.

Then again, the i5 is "only" $270 over the i3. Maybe that will protect against not being able to install the OS version five upgrades from now.

Anyhow, if anyone wants to add to the i3 vs i5 decision, please do.

I promise, decision will be made by 11:59 PM 15 Nov 2018.

 

[redheeler]

michaelb5000....appreciate response...esp as you had same issue, and made the upgrades suggested by others.

Thanks to everyone. I've debating between the i3 or i5 with 16gb RAM, 256 SSD. Since use if web, word, excel, nothing intensive, the i3 will likely do. The 16gb RAM might be overkill. 256G SSD is plenty for me.

Then again, the i5 is "only" $270 over the i3. Maybe that will protect against not being able to install the OS version five upgrades from now.

Anyhow, if anyone wants to add to the i3 vs i5 decision, please do.

I promise, decision will be made by 11:59 PM 15 Nov 2018.

I don't think Apple should be selling an i3 at that price point, especially with no dedicated GPU part cost. But to be honest, I don't see why it wouldn't be good enough for your basic use case, and Apple is likely to drop OS support for both the i3 model and the i5 model at the same time.

 

[Tigerman82]

I happen to have an Early-2009 Mac Mini that the OP was asking about. In my opinion the culprits for the slow performance are the CPU and El Capitan (as some have said that their Mac Minis running an older OS X feels snappy). The reason why I don't think the issue is with the HDD is because my Early-2009 Mac Mini is running not only 8 gigs of RAM but a Crucial SSD (both of which I updated). So even with the SSD the performance under El Capitan is annoyingly slow (even something like opening the App Store feels very sluggish)

Just tried out a clean install of OS X Mavericks (read online that it should be snappier than El Capitan on this Early-2009 Mac Mini). With Mavericks the performance feels more responsive. However, this is a trade-off as now some of the more current apps are incompatible. In fact, I probably should've picked Yosemite as some of the apps I've used are compatible with 10.10 and later. Oh well...

 

[ElectronGuru]

if anyone wants to add to the i3 vs i5 decision, please do.

If i5/256 is $100 more than i3/256, then you’re getting two more cores for $50 each. The i3 is excellent but not excellent enough to supplant that value, even if you won’t need them for a few years.

 

[Marshall73]

Hi everyone.

MacMini, early 2009, 4GB, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, El Capitan.

Performance very slow. I don't recall it being as slow five (?) years ago, apps take long time to load, web pages seem to be loading more slowly (progress bar very slow). BUT.....certain site load quickly (APPLE, Verizon speed test), and download tests as 80MB. Activity Monitor memory pressure remains green.

Questions:

1. Is poor performance because mini is simply so outdated, such that a new mini clears up issues?
2. Especially looking for speedy web performance. But, a couple sites run fast, so the issue is not my mini?

Any suggestions.
Thanks!

Could be an indicator that the HDD is about to fail.

 

[Dezlboy]

All, again thank you very much for taking your time to provide your expertise.

Purchase made. i5, 16gb RAM, 256G SSD.

Instead of buying monitor right now, going to use the monitors I have.....will post questions about those in separate thread.

Likely a bit overkill for my mundane needs, but provides peace of mind over the i3,8gb RAM.