I watched the recent WWDC keynote where Apple launched a bunch of new products. One of them was the high end mac aimed at the professional sector. This was a computer designed to process hours of high definition video footage for movies/TV. As per usual, they boasted about how many processes you could run at the same time, and how they’d all be done instantaneously, compared to the previous model or the leading competitor.
Meanwhile my 10 year old iMac takes 30 seconds to show the File menu when I click File. Or it takes 5 minutes to run a simple bash command in Terminal. It’s not taking 5 minutes to compile something or do anything particularly difficult. It takes 5 minutes to remember what bash is in the first place.
I know why it couldn’t process video footage without catching fire, but what I truly don’t understand is why it takes so long to do the easiest most mundane things.
I’m not working with 50 apps open, or a browser laden down with 200 tabs. I don’t have intensive image editing software running. There’s no malware either. I’m just trying to use it to do every day tasks. This has happened with every computer I’ve ever owned.
Why?
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Several reasons.
1) People don’t take care of their computers. Just because you ‘think’ theres no malware, there might be. Also there’s probably a lot of junk, and stuff cached, and just general buildup of stuff.
2) Stuff changes over time. Updates. Upgrades of software. Changes how software works for security reasons. The file manager program it came with is not the same one it has now, even if it looks the same.
Most of our computers in our house are ~7 years old, and they all run great because I maintain them. Almost none have been upgraded. They weren’t some crazy top of the line back then either, they were mid-range. You just have to take care of them, like a car.
It really, REALLY depends on a lot of factors. It could be that the demands of the OS/applications you’re using are outpacing what your components are capable of. It could be that there’s data issues someone in the chain where it’s just not running as efficiently as it used to. It could be that you need to clean out your device (De-dust and what not). It could also be that, frankly, the software developers working on the OS/ applications are just not taking your specs in mind anymore because they’re slowly being depreciated. Apple stuff has been slowly moving onto completely different hardware with their own chipsets that they have better understanding and control of. And they REALLY want you to upgrade to their stuff just because they have better control over those systems as opposed to what was the case before with Intel chips having to be designed for a more broad demographic.
Also, frankly, tech just gets better over time. It runs more efficiently (uses less power for the same amount of work), has newer features, better cooling solutions, better thermal limiting or turboing functions, etc etc. We just get better at doing things the more and more we do them and that’s very true with tech and how we manufacture them. Your device is 10 years old, that’s honestly pretty good but there are just going to be limits in an industry that’s always trying to get better, faster, more power, etc etc.
Often it’s background programs running, at least on windows. Often you install lots of software over time, almost all of it wants to start background tasks on at computer start up so it has a head start and opens fast when you click it. That would be fine if one or 2 aps are doing it. But you end up with like 10+ 20+ and now idle ram and cpu usage are high.
The software updates, though they’re often necessary to keep you safe, will also slow machines down. Just choosing to only install critical updates can result in snappier response times
If you’re installing current generation software/games etc, those applications are more resource intensive than the ones you were installing when you first got the computer
Honestly I think this sounds a bit like user error. I have multiple 6-12 y/o MacBooks that all run fine. Try reinstalling the OS.
I can almost guarantee you have a failing hdd. Get a Ssd and it will scream 10x what it did brand new.
Something to try; create a new profile, log into it and see if you have the same problems. A fresh profile can determine if you have extensions installed that are stealing CPU time. If things work faster/better then you may be able to identify processes in your own profile that are using an inordinate amount of CPU power.
Run [MalwareBytes](https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac), thankfully you don’t have to purchase the maintenance but it’s not a bad service. If you do have some questionable installs it should identify and quarantine them.
If the system runs just as sluggish under the new profile then you may wish to reinstall the OS.
>Meanwhile my 10 year old iMac takes 30 seconds to show the File menu when I click File. Or it takes 5 minutes to run a simple bash command in Terminal. It’s not taking 5 minutes to compile something or do anything particularly difficult. It takes 5 minutes to remember what bash is in the first place.
Well, here is the question: is it a 10 year old Mac running 10 year old Mac OS (don’t know what the catchy name of it was at the time, last time I used Mac OS it was Snow Leopard), or is it a 10 year old Mac running the CURRENT Mac OS with all updates installed,.with current versions of programs with all THEIR updates installed?
Operating Systems, as they are iterated year after year, generally add more and more features to create a better user experience and add to the “reason” you should upgrade to the next version, but usually those features require more and more power from the machine, which your machine doesn’t have. This is repeated by many programs, whose developers will say things like “we don’t need to optimize our program to use less than 4GB of Memory when 98% of our userbase has 16; the effort in optimizing is only going to help 2% of our customers”
It’s kind of like asking why a shelf is buckling under the weight of all your books, when it didn’t 10 years ago; 10 years ago you only had 20 books of 100 pages each, while now, as programs have gotten more complex to be more appealing and useful, while you still only have about 23 books, but each one is 5,000 pages.
Now, there CAN be other factors at play here, like viruses or extensions installed you don’t realize are using CPU resources (using the Bookshelf analogy, you or someone else hid a 50 pound dumbbell behind the books you don’t notice), your computer might be self-throttling it’s performance because it’s power supply or parts might not be functioning properly (termites weakening the wood) or other such factors.
Most of the time it’s the os bloat buildup overtime. Look at some linux distros, they manage to run pretty fast even on low end old hardware.
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