Speeding Up El Capitan

[Fried Chicken]

What’s the best way to speed up OS X?

My work has 2011 iMacs that are way faster (UI wise) than my current iMac, although they have older generation processors, older generation graphics cards, and HDD’s rather than my custom fusion drive.

They’re running the same OS, still logging in happens almost instantly, and the UI is incredibly responsive.

I’ve used some functions from Clean My Mac, but even still, I’m not getting anywhere near the speed they’re achieving.

Perhaps they’ve been optimized, but if so, how?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Run Etrecheck to see what's going on. Post the results here if you want help.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Hey Brian, thanks for the response.
I don’t want to post the results for privacy reasons, however It does indicate “excellent performance”.

 

[jbarley]

Hey Brian, thanks for the response.
I don’t want to post the results for privacy reasons, however It does indicate “excellent performance”.

Yo do know that...
"EtreCheck automatically removes any personally identifiable information from the output"?

 

[BrianBaughn]

The old reliable test is to create a new User Account and see how things flow in that.

 

[Fried Chicken]

Yo do know that...
"EtreCheck automatically removes any personally identifiable information from the output"?

I know, but there's still quite a bit in there.

I will try a new user account.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asked:
"What’s the best way to speed up OS X?"

You said you have an iMac at home, right?
If so, what year is it?
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION:
What kind of DRIVE is inside it?

If it's a platter-based hard drive, THAT'S WHY the OS is running slower.

The more recent versions of the Mac OS (since Mavericks, really) require either an SSD or at the very least a fusion drive by which to run at their best.

Later versions of the OS will still "run" -- but from the user's perspective, the experience will be more like the OS is "walking" instead of running.

If the iMac is 2012 or later (and has an HDD inside), you can plug in an external USB3 SSD and set that up to be your "external booter". Things will then run MUCH faster.

 

[jbarley]

I know, but there's still quite a bit in there.

You mean all that Cartel stuff...

 

[Fried Chicken]

OP asked:
"What’s the best way to speed up OS X?"

You said you have an iMac at home, right?
If so, what year is it?
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION:
What kind of DRIVE is inside it?

If it's a platter-based hard drive, THAT'S WHY the OS is running slower.

The more recent versions of the Mac OS (since Mavericks, really) require either an SSD or at the very least a fusion drive by which to run at their best.

Later versions of the OS will still "run" -- but from the user's perspective, the experience will be more like the OS is "walking" instead of running.

If the iMac is 2012 or later (and has an HDD inside), you can plug in an external USB3 SSD and set that up to be your "external booter". Things will then run MUCH faster.

I have a 2012 with a custom Fusion drive (512GB SSD + 2TB HDD). The computer I’m comparing mine against is a 2011 with an HDD. Both are running El Capitan. The 2011 is extremely snappy. Granted it’s light, but it’s still extremely snappy.

Mine is by no means slow, but I want mine to be snappier than the 2011 one with HDD

 

[BrianBaughn]

And a test new User Account behaves in the same manner?

 

[iPodClassic1]

You mean all that Cartel stuff...

LOL

 

[NoBoMac]

How many background things do you have firing off at login? And related, Safari opening with lots of tabs, large history/cache? Lots of syncing with Dropbox or other cloud file services?

Like Brian^^^ said, easy way to check if something in the profile is to create a new account and see if things go smoother. If so, can start to stop some extra things starting, clear the caches, etc.