Speed up my old iMac

[Loke2112]

Without doubt the issue here is with the Hard Drive which is more than likely 5400rpm. I thoroughly recommend upgrading to a Hybrid Drive and performance will increase dramatically I have done the same with one of my iMacs which is the identical model
https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/solutions/solid-state-hybrid/
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2889+Display+Replacement/57815

Hey Guy hard to find out what the RPM's are but I believe you are correct that mine is 5400. Where you able to address the lack of RAM in anyway?

 

[tonyhalse]

Thanks to the info in the thread I solved my problem with a 2012 iMac whose performance had deteriorated with recent OS upgrades. GUI navigation had become really slow - just flicking between browser screens and bringing back passwords from keychain were painful. Memory and disc space weren't an issue so I followed the advice re adding an external SSD and the improvement has been amazing.

I bought a Samsung T5 500Gb for AUD 150 and an hour later with Mojave booting off the SSD it was like I had a new computer!

Thanks!!

 

[Loke2112]

Thanks to the info in the thread I solved my problem with a 2012 iMac whose performance had deteriorated with recent OS upgrades. GUI navigation had become really slow - just flicking between browser screens and bringing back passwords from keychain were painful. Memory and disc space weren't an issue so I followed the advice re adding an external SSD and the improvement has been amazing.

I bought a Samsung T5 500Gb for AUD 150 and an hour later with Mojave booting off the SSD it was like I had a new computer!

Thanks!!

Thats great to hear. Mine has been working better lately after I cleaned out the aches and installed Mojave. I am still running the external SSD myself with only 8 gigs of ram. I will likely do the internal SSD soon as I am told the USB port is a bottleneck and I will upgrade the RAM to 16 at the same time but I am no longer in a rush.

 

[Fishrrman]

tony wrote in #27 above:
"I bought a Samsung T5 500Gb for AUD 150 and an hour later with Mojave booting off the SSD it was like I had a new computer!"

Just one more example of why I say that the "fastest, easiest, cheapest and safest" way to get more speed from a Mac that has a platter-based internal drive is to just buy and plug in a USB3 SSD and set it up to become the boot drive...!