How avoid my 2017 iMac becoming slow?

[johannnn]

HI all, I have this iMac at work:

- Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017
- 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
- Radeon Pro 570 4 GB
- 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
- 500GB APPLE SSD

It's still quite fast, I assume because I got it with 32GB RAM and with SSD instead of a crappy spinning drive.
But I'm a little bit nervous it will get slower and slower over time, and I don't think I will ever get a new iMac (everyone else at work has a crappy windows machine).

Is there any precautions I can take to prolong the speed of this machine as much as possible? I guess I could avoid updating the system each fall, but I don't know if IT would like that. Is there anything else? Use something like TinkerTools to disable visual effects?

 

[Isamilis]

Don’t upgrade the OS. Some people (not me) concern security issues, but it’s again, depends on each person’s preferences and typical usage. But it creates dilemma in the long run because many apps will stop updating for the old OS eventually.

 

[ignatius345]

Don’t upgrade the OS.

This ☝️

Every Mac starts off feeling very zippy and fast running the OS it ships with. Subsequent updates inevitably become more demanding of resources, and at some point inevitably it starts "slowing down." The only way out of that is to be more careful about OS updates. I'd also be careful about major updates to demanding software you use.

If it helps assuage your IT team, whatever OS you stop at should receive security updates for a few years.

I think the SSD helps you, and so does the 32 GB of RAM.