Slow system, maybe downgrade OS?

[macTheUser32]

I have Early 2015 i5 2.7 8GB SSD Macbook Pro 13.
Currently on OS Monterey 12.6.3

Fells very slugish.
Does anyone feel like downgrading their Macbook to older OS actually give the speed back?
I have a half of mind to go back to El Capitan OS.

P.s - yes I did EVERYTHING to speed it up (zero start up items, cache deleted, PRAM SCM reset, removed the "advanced animations". Still each OS update feels like its slowed the machine.

Maybe go back to Mojave?

 

[clueless88]

How long ago did you upgrade to Monterey? Did you jump from El Capitan or did you do the incremental MacOS upgrades? If Monterey is too much for your system, you may not need to go all the way back to El Capitan.

I have a mid 2012 MBP running Mojave and it seems to run fine (after replacing original dying HDD with SSD and increasing RAM a bit). I didn't go further than Mojave just in case I want to run some 32 bit apps.

 

[eRondeau]

I'm running Monterey 12.6.3 via OCLP on a mid-2009 Core-2 Duo with way worse specs than yours, and it's incredibly snappy. Check your Console logs to see if anything is choking your performance. And if you have a "spinny" HDD make sure it's not failing. Something's definitely amiss.

 

[Fishrrman]

Before you downgrade, try this. It's quick and easy, and won't hurt anything.

Open the "users & groups" preference pane.

Click the lock at bottom and enter your password.

Now click the "+" sign to create a NEW account.

MAKE SURE it has administrative privileges. Give it any name you wish, it's really a "temporary" account.

Finally, if you have automatic login (to your regular account) enabled, DISABLE it for now.

Then, SHUT DOWN -- ALL THE WAY OFF.

Now reboot to the login screen.
Log into the NEW account.
Once you're "in there", run from that account for a while (I realize you won't have access to things you would in your regular account).
Does the Mac run "better"?

If so, this would indicate that something (we don't know what) is "mucking up" your regular account, throwing a wrench into the works. You've got to find out what it is.
The problem isn't with "the OS"... but rather localized in "your account".

When you're done experimenting with the temporary account, you can just delete it while logged into your regular account.

Good luck.