Upgraded to Sierra and having a lot of issues

[comovartia]

I have a Mac mini that I just upgraded to Sierra and am having a number of issues.
The biggest issue is I mostly use it to stream tv over the Internet and Safari is freezing up. I have to exit full screen mode and refresh the page. I was using it to stream just before the upgrade with no issues.
Another issue is when I click on an app to open it, it is taking a long time to open. This occurred with photos and safari.
I am running a late 2012 model mini 2.5Ghz core i5 with 4 gigs of memory

 

[treekram]

Your issues may be due to lack of memory. Newer Mac OS's have tended to use more memory. To check if you have sufficient memory, you can run Activity Monitor to check your memory usage.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464

Look at the Memory section.

You should turn off your computer and restart it. Run the Activity Monitor app according the instructions in the link above. Then, run the app and do what you do which causes your issues. If your memory pressure is red and the "Swap Used" figure is high (say, over 100 MB), you need more memory. The problem would be exacerbated if you're using a hard disk (vs. a SSD). If memory is the issue, it would cost $50-60 for 8GB, twice that for 16GB. Either would really help if you're having memory issues. If you're using a hard disk, getting an SSD would really speed things up.

 

[TonyK]

...
I am running a late 2012 model mini 2.5Ghz core i5 with 4 gigs of memory

Any more I consider 8GB to be a bare minimum for any OS. 16GB would be better for heavy lifting.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

What kind of -drive- is in your Mini?

If it's a platter-based 5400rpm drive (they come stock on the 2012 Minis), well -- it's a slow drive, and the most recent versions of the Mac OS seem to want either SSD's or at least a fusion drive. Otherwise, the user experience seems less like the software is "running", than it's "walking", if you get my drift.

IF you have a platter-based HDD, the best -- let me repeat so there can be no mistake: THE BEST -- thing you could do for it would be to add an SSD.

This is cheap and VERY easy to do.
Just do what I've done with my own 2012 Mini since I bought it:
Buy an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become your "external booter".

It will increase the Mini's speed by 4x, easily.
I get read speeds of 431mbps and writes about 273mbps.
You will like what this does, for low cost and relatively no effort (just "plug it in"!)

Bumping up the RAM may help a little too (but not nearly as much as an SSD).
For my own Mini, I just bought a SINGLE 8gb DIMM, popped off the cover, and replaced the "top" (most easily reachable) DIMM.
It's now at 10gb total. They say there's a slight degradation of RAM speed when using DIMMs of non-equal size, but nothing that's noticeable to me.

 

[TonyK]

Fishrrman is correct. Our 2009 macMini has 8GB of memory and a 500 GB SSD and it is much faster. We use it as our HTPC and stream content on a regular basis. It is running 10.11.

 

[treekram]

Bumping up the RAM may help a little too (but not nearly as much as an SSD).

I would disagree. If there's constant swapping going on, getting enough memory to prevent swapping will help a lot. With 4GB memory and Sierra, that's very possible unless you're using non-GUI programs.

 

[comovartia]

It does have it's original HDD. Can I get away with a 250ssd? Think I will try this before adding memory!

 

[KALLT]

Which system did you upgrade from? Which websites are you using for streaming? Have you tried another browser?

There is not much to go on without more information. You should certainly pay attention to your memory pressure before adding more RAM. Swap alone is not indicative of a problem, as swapping is part of the system’s normal operation to keep the memory pressure low. It will try to preserve state, even if it means swapping.

 

[Fishrrman]

250gb SSD should do fine.
Be aware that you don't want to "clog up" an SSD to the point of being full.

Just leave large libraries on the internal HDD. The files -in- these libraries aren't accessed often, and when they are accessed, the speed of the HDD probably isn't going to be an issue.