Is my Mac trying to die?

[GanChan]

My 2012 Mac Mini has been chugging along without trouble for years, but lately it's been getting crankier. Webpage loading and switching between multiple tasks has gotten slower and slower, and with more time spent staring at the spinning beach ball. Sometimes the finder window refuses to cooperate. Restarting doesn't always restore performance.

Are these signs of impending death, or is the machine just hopelessly outdated at this point? I don't want to invest in upgrades on a device that will have more and more trouble keeping up with the rest of the world....

I actually spend most of my time in the Chrome environment, so I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to replacing it with a Chromebox. (Except that I'd really miss Preview....)

 

[Boyd01]

Which 2012 Mini do you have? The base model, like this? There are also better 2012 Mini's with quad-core processors.

Mac mini "Core i5" 2.5 (Late 2012) Specs (Late 2012, MD387LL/A, Macmini6,1, A1347, 2570): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Mac mini "Core i5" 2.5 (Late 2012). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

I had one of these and it was actually a pretty nice computer. You can easily upgrade the RAM in these, it's the last Mini that was designed to be user-upgradeable. I upgraded mine to 16gb, added an external SSD and gave it to my daughter's family a few years ago.

Upgrade or install memory in your Mac mini - Apple Support

Learn how to remove or install memory into your Mac mini computer.

support.apple.com

After awhile, my daughter started having lots of problems with the Mini, which I think were related to the original internal 500gb hard drive starting to die. This could very well be your problem as well. It might also be something as simple as the hard drive being nearly full, or a fragmented hard drive (common problem after years of use).

You could try using an external SSD, such as a Samsung T5, you can probably find one for about $100 or less for a used one. You would then use Carbon Copy Cloner software to clone your internal drive to the T5. Carbon Copy isn't free, however it has a free trial period which is all you'd need for this. Select the T5 in the startup disk system preferences, restart and you're all set.

Upgrading the RAM to 8gb or 16gb would also probably help. Having said this, it's always possible that something more serious is wrong with your Mini. And you'd have to decide whether all this is worth the cost and effort, especially if you would be happy with a ChromeBook. Now, if you have one of the quad-core 2012 Mini's, that might be worth more effort because they are still pretty respectable in terms of performance.

 

[Fishrrman]

After 8 years, the internal drive may be getting cranky. Certainly fragmented.
What version of the OS are you using?
How much RAM do you have?

There's a fast, easy, cheap and safe way to get a BIG BOOST in performance:
Buy an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD
Plug it in and initialize (erase) it with disk utiity
Use CarbonCopCloner (or SuperDuper) to clone the contents of the internal to the external SSD
Set the SSD to be the boot drive (startup disk pref pane).
Reboot.

The external SSD will run MUCH faster than the internal platter-based hard drive.
You'll come back here and say "I wouldn't have thought that it could make that much difference!"

This could also help:
Get ONE 8gb DIMM.
Open the bottom and replace the topmost DIMM with the 8gb DIMM
You'll then have 10gb of installed RAM -- plenty for most folks.

 

[GanChan]

Yeah, it's the base model. I guess drive failure is most likely issue, since even 4G of RAM ought to be able to keep up with my relatively light needs (casual web browsing, YouTube, and occasional office stuff). RAM is cheap, of course. But I wish I could run a specific kind of diagnostic that would definitely nail down the problem before I start buying stuff....

 

[Fishrrman]

SSDs are faster than platter-based hard drives.
You'll LIKE the improvements.
I 100% guarantee this.