Big Sur you're so SLOW

[jquest68]

I just don't know why is Big Sur is so slow to load at startup. I took out any app that's at startup and even took out the Adobe illustrator app and kept Photoshop and it's still slow. I can walk away make coffee and brush my teeth and it's still loading. My computer may be old:
(iMac Retina 5K, 27in, Late 2015) (Processor 3.2 GHz, Quad-core intel Core i5) (Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3) Graphics (AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB)
Now, I honestly don't know what all that means but this is my computer. I just finished dumping all my school stuff on an external hard drive to release some space and in hopes of having my computer run better but it hasn't. Do you think it's time for a new computer?

 

[Andrea Filippini]

I just don't know why is Big Sur is so slow to load at startup. I took out any app that's at startup and even took out the Adobe illustrator app and kept Photoshop and it's still slow. I can walk away make coffee and brush my teeth and it's still loading. My computer may be old:
(iMac Retina 5K, 27in, Late 2015) (Processor 3.2 GHz, Quad-core intel Core i5) (Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3) Graphics (AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB)
Now, I honestly don't know what all that means but this is my computer. I just finished dumping all my school stuff on an external hard drive to release some space and in hopes of having my computer run better but it hasn't. Do you think it's time for a new computer?

Do you run Big Sur on HDD or SSD?

 

[Airsculpture]

Mine whizzes along ...external SSD as internal drive is old HDD

 

[Quackers]

Mine flies along better than Catalina and I'm on a 7 year old internal SSD.

 

[fisherking]

you could reset the nvram, the smc (google for your particular model). and/or... you could just sleep your mac most of the time, and reboot only when working seems sluggish, etc. how often do you reboot now?

 

[GregoryN]

Your computer is not too old but may be low on resources: RAM, Storage. I'm not having any issues with Big Sur on a 2014 iMac 5k 27 with 32G and 1T SSD.

 

[allan.nyholm]

@jquest68 my model iMac too, same gfx card with same amount of GB on it even.
I have a little more RAM installed, but I would imagine hooking up any SSD externally will boost your experience a great deal.

Big Sur is doing OK on my iMac, but I admit to have reverted to macOS Mojave after having used Big Sur almost since release. I usually scale my display so the elements on screen are a bit larger. That speeds up the interface and operations on Big Sur a great deal. But the main aspect here is probably that I use a Thunderbolt SSD enclosure to boot from and operate from.
Currently with macOS Mojave I have a Fusion Drive set up with my Kingston A400 960GB and the internal 1TB HDD.
I split that up when I install Big Sur because I haven't found the CoreStorage commands within the Big Sur Terminal using diskutil cs for instance. There's minimal information there, so to keep my sanity in check I split the Fusion Drive.

 

[jquest68]

You have to excuse me I am not computer savvy, I don’t know anything about SSD, HDD, or resetting any nvram. I usually turn off my computer every night after using it.

you could reset the nvram, the smc (google for your particular model). and/or... you could just sleep your mac most of the time, and reboot only when working seems sluggish, etc. how often do you reboot now

. Please help me to get better performance on my computer Because I really can’t afford a new one.

 

[fisherking]

You have to excuse me I am not computer savvy, I don’t know anything about SSD, HDD, or resetting any nvram. I usually turn off my computer every night after using it.

. Please help me to get better performance on my computer Because I really can’t afford a new one.

most ppl these days just put their macs to sleep. you can restart occasionally (ie if working on your mac seems sluggish), but it's overkill to shut down every night.

meanwhile, if you want to try these things:

nvram

smc:

1. Shut down your Mac, then unplug the power cable.
2. Wait 15 seconds, then plug the power cable back in.
3. Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

You have to excuse me I am not computer savvy, I don’t know anything about SSD, HDD, or resetting any nvram. I usually turn off my computer every night after using it.

. Please help me to get better performance on my computer Because I really can’t afford a new one.

You can reset NVRAM https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063
But I think it's the storage.
Open Spotlight through keyboard command + backspace.
On Spotlight search "system info".
Double click on "system info" app then search "storage" in the left column.
Check the storage info and eventually report it here.
If you have a 5400 rpm HDD your OS will run very slowly.

 

[CLS7]

I just don't know why is Big Sur is so slow to load at startup. I took out any app that's at startup and even took out the Adobe illustrator app and kept Photoshop and it's still slow. I can walk away make coffee and brush my teeth and it's still loading. My computer may be old:
(iMac Retina 5K, 27in, Late 2015) (Processor 3.2 GHz, Quad-core intel Core i5) (Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3) Graphics (AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB)
Now, I honestly don't know what all that means but this is my computer. I just finished dumping all my school stuff on an external hard drive to release some space and in hopes of having my computer run better but it hasn't. Do you think it's time for a new computer?

I have the same machine as you (iMac 27", late 2015). My machine is super fast. I replaced the Fusion disk last year with an SSD (Samsung 860 Evo 1TB) and clearly noticed a performance improvement. So I think the bottleneck in your machine is the Fusion disk.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Odds are OP your iMac has HD or Fusion...not SSD. Very few (special order only?) iMacs of that vintage would be SSD.

No easy way to move backward, so your most likely resolution would be an external SSD to boot from. If you want to replace your iMac, you might want to wait for M1 iMacs, likely coming in the next few months...a year at most.

In the meantime, you could boot to an external SSD for a small cost, and possibly retask the SSD for storage or a backup later with the new Mac. An external could also let you delay replacing for another year or longer.

 

[jquest68]

You can reset NVRAM https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063
But I think it's the storage.
Open Spotlight through keyboard command + backspace.
On Spotlight search "system info".
Double click on "system info" app then search "storage" in the left column.
Check the storage info and eventually report it here.
If you have a 5400 rpm HDD your OS will run very slowly.

this is a snapshot of what I have

 

[jquest68]

I have the same machine as you (iMac 27", late 2015). My machine is super fast. I replaced the Fusion disk last year with an SSD (Samsung 860 Evo 1TB) and clearly noticed a performance improvement. So I think the bottleneck in your machine is the Fusion disk.

I don't know anything about fusion disk

 

[hobowankenobi]

Yep. You have a hard drive ("rotational" is the proof).

APFS is Apple's newer file system, and it was built for solid-state drives (SSD). There is no workaround to really improve speed on a HD.

Options:

• Boot to external SSD
• Replace internal HD with new SSD
• Replace iMac with new(er) Mac with SSD

No need to get into Fusion (Hybrid) drive. You don't have it...and you don't want it.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

this is a snapshot of what I have

You have a hard drive (HDD).
To boost performance (boot up, launch apps, etc.) you need to replace internal HDD with a SSD.
Your model has a SATA III interface so it can run a SSD without speed limitations.

 

[sallymacpro]

I had adobe illustrator lagging and freezing problem with my Mackbook Pro with M1.
Macbook pro M1 is Not compatible with Adobe Illustrator.
I had Adobe rep remote access my comp and we tried everything. to make story short, the Adobe representative said, the engineers are working hard to fix the problem, but for now the Adobe Illustrator will have problems with M1 because it is NOT compatible with Mackbook pro M1. If you are using Adobe for work, DO NOT buy Macbook with M1.
more info below from Adobe.
https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/macos-big-sur.html

 

[jm31828]

So has anyone found a real solution to the horrible performance caused by Big Sur? I have a 2017 27" iMac with 16GB RAM- no trouble with available resources, this thing was speedy as could be on Catalina, but it is terrible since the Big Sur update- double the time to boot, apps launch slower, and a couple of my apps- GIMP and Luminar- take MUUUUCH longer to export photos I had edited vs. what they did under Catalina.

 

[hobowankenobi]

So has anyone found a real solution to the horrible performance caused by Big Sur? I have a 2017 27" iMac with 16GB RAM- no trouble with available resources, this thing was speedy as could be on Catalina, but it is terrible since the Big Sur update- double the time to boot, apps launch slower, and a couple of my apps- GIMP and Luminar- take MUUUUCH longer to export photos I had edited vs. what they did under Catalina.

Do you have SSD or HD?

 

[Airsculpture]

Originally mine was on HDD, I switched to an external SSD and everything fun’s like a dream.

hobo may have a point

 

[Jpoon]

You have a hard drive (HDD).
To boost performance (boot up, launch apps, etc.) you need to replace internal HDD with a SSD.
Your model has a SATA III interface so it can run a SSD without speed limitations.

Bump this suggestion.
How to Add An SSD To The 27" iMac (Late 2015) - iFixit Repair Guide

 

[Populus]

Do you run Big Sur on HDD or SSD?

This is really the key ^

@jquest68 @Airsculpture and other users complaining about slow machine, just replace your internal HDD for an SSD or boot from an external Thunderbolt SSD.

My experience, after purchasing a 2014 Mac mini (not an old machine) with the stock HDD on Mojave it was so slow, it was barely unusable. Click, wait 2, 3 minutes, then follow with the next click. The system was incredibly sluggish.

Then I purchased an 1TB SATA 860EVO SSD, -keep in mind that SATA SSD aren’t the fastest drives as the SATA III conector is limiting the data transfer to ~370Mbps- and installed it as a main drive. Then, Mojave, Catalina, run fast and smooth with no lag.

 

[Airsculpture]

This is really the key ^

@jquest68 @Airsculpture and other users complaining about slow machine, just replace your internal HDD for an SSD or boot from an external Thunderbolt SSD.

FYI a I wasn’t complaining

I was pointing out what I had done to rectify the situation

 

[Populus]

FYI a I wasn’t complaining

I was pointing out what I had done to rectify the situation

Ok, I read quickly the thread, excuse me if you felt offended.

For everyone else who is suffering from a sluggish system, read my previous post, especially OP

 

[Airsculpture]

Not offended, just confirming the solution that worked nicely for me. Made the world of difference