My second computer is a late 2012 Mac Mini, 500 GB internal HD, 16 GB RAM. It is running Catalina.
I only use this for streaming the internet with my kids, nothing else at all is important to me to run on this computer. I have NordVPN installed.
When I run a speed test (firefox) without connecting through the VPN, I get 250 MBps download, 40 Mbps upload, which is exactly what I pay for from my ISP. When I run the test connected through the VPN, I only get 90-100 download, upload still good at 40.
Through chrome, I get the same 90-100 download when not connected to the VPN, when connected it drops to 70-80.
The weird thing is, when streaming unconnected through FF, it hangs up a lot and isn't much better than with the VPN connected, even though the speeds are so much faster unconnected. It still gets stuck a lot and has to be reloaded to continue. This might happen 5 times in a half hour show. Same with chrome - I would say it makes very little difference whether on chrome or FF, connected to the VPN or not, the streaming is still bad. I've been in contact with Nord, they are no help at all.
As an aside, my newer late 2019 mac mini (on which I do lots of stuff other than streaming) uses the same VPN, same browsers and has no issues at all.
I'm wondering if it's the computer itself and if there's any fix. Since I don't care about anything that's on there, I could simply reset the computer to factory settings, might that help? I've already deleted most software and files, it's using about half of the 500 GB HD.
Or reading other threads, would getting an SSD HD (even 250 GB would be enough, maybe external) help? Since my problem is internet streaming, I'm not sure if that would do much, but if it would, I'm not sure what to then do, perhaps I could set it up to boot from there?
Or any other thoughts/advice? Any and all help is very much appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
I only use this for streaming the internet with my kids, nothing else at all is important to me to run on this computer. I have NordVPN installed.
When I run a speed test (firefox) without connecting through the VPN, I get 250 MBps download, 40 Mbps upload, which is exactly what I pay for from my ISP. When I run the test connected through the VPN, I only get 90-100 download, upload still good at 40.
Through chrome, I get the same 90-100 download when not connected to the VPN, when connected it drops to 70-80.
The weird thing is, when streaming unconnected through FF, it hangs up a lot and isn't much better than with the VPN connected, even though the speeds are so much faster unconnected. It still gets stuck a lot and has to be reloaded to continue. This might happen 5 times in a half hour show. Same with chrome - I would say it makes very little difference whether on chrome or FF, connected to the VPN or not, the streaming is still bad. I've been in contact with Nord, they are no help at all.
As an aside, my newer late 2019 mac mini (on which I do lots of stuff other than streaming) uses the same VPN, same browsers and has no issues at all.
I'm wondering if it's the computer itself and if there's any fix. Since I don't care about anything that's on there, I could simply reset the computer to factory settings, might that help? I've already deleted most software and files, it's using about half of the 500 GB HD.
Or reading other threads, would getting an SSD HD (even 250 GB would be enough, maybe external) help? Since my problem is internet streaming, I'm not sure if that would do much, but if it would, I'm not sure what to then do, perhaps I could set it up to boot from there?
Or any other thoughts/advice? Any and all help is very much appreciated!
Thanks in advance.