What's the best upgrade path for a late 2019, 27" iMac running slow?

[ChyberChrome]

Needing Advice / Opinions. My Late 2019 5K27" iMac, upgraded with 64G of DDR RAM and a 4GB SATA SSD HD, runs slow and bogs down when running different applications. In general usage, I run MS Office. I also use Parallels Desktop to run a genealogy program that doesn't have a MacOS version. The major slowdown is when I use Photoshop, Lightroom, and Topaz AP applications to edit photographs. I rarely edit video, but I may in the future.
Here's where I'd like help. What's the best way to upgrade? Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and what's the best processor that'll take me into the future, especially with more and more AI coming? I don't need the top of the line or the top of the line price $$$$$, but with photo editing, I need the resolution and at least 27" of real estate. Can I use my current 28" iMac as the monitor? Or will I need a new monitor too? How much RAM do you recommend for photo and video editing? I consider myself a professional photographer, so I need the horsepower, but most of my work is not for hire or for profit?

Thanks in advance for any help or insight into what's next! Dale M

 

[apostolosdt]

You didn’t mention the video card on board, although that shouldn’t slow down your iMac dramatically. Anyway, 1. You can’t use it as a pro-grade monitor; 2. Consider a Studio with at least 128 GB RAM for present AND future photo projects.

 

[Basic75]

First wipe your computer and do a clean install, it might run better. Leave out any system "maintenance" or "optimization" utilities you might normally use.

 

[JUMA55]

I've got a 2019 (doesn't say early, late, etc., just 2019) iMac 27" 5K 3.6GHz 8-core i9, Radeon Pro Vega 48 8GB, 128 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 RAM, 2TB SSD for which I paid $4,963.26 for just 8GB of Apple RAM, then turned around and paid OWC $1,034.27 for 128GB of RAM and pitched 8GB that came with the machine in the box. Between the two purchases this iMac totaled $5,998.53, and I was hoping it would last 10 years. My last iMac lasted nine.

On Monday I ordered an iMac 24 M4, 32GB memory, 2TB SSD, AppleCare+ for $2,729.00, after trading in the 2019 iMac.

Why? Because for whatever reason the 2019 has problems with the internal disk becoming corrupted, the Wifi card working intermittently and the computer not being compatible with Apple Intelligence, which is not a big deal now but might be. However, at no point has it ever been slow with scanning 30,000+ documents, ripping nearly 40,000 songs or converting 3,000 or so videos. But it does take about five minutes to reboot.

This time I didn't get anywhere near the top-of-line Apple machine like I did last time. One, I cannot afford it, and, two, I'm no longer working on the big project in the previous paragraph.

Why didn't I get this one fixed? Because everyone said it was not going to be easy nor cheap, and I had to have traveled several hundred miles to a repair facility.

I would have bought one of the minis, if I could have kept this iMac and used it as monitor, but Apple took away that option sometime ago. I've also never felt this 5K display was as great as everyone said it was. I thought the display on my previous 2010 was better and my wife's iMac 24 M3 is lots better.

So that's my tale, good or bad, wise or stupid. (Probably bad and stupid.)

I would follow Basic75's advice and boot into recovery, reformat the internal, re-install Sequoia and only put back the applications you really need to do your work. You can always install something later.

Good luck!

 

[ChyberChrome]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I missed letting you know my Video card is the Radeon Pro Vega 48 8G. My 2013 21" iMac lasted 7 years before I saw the need to upgrade, and I was hoping this one would too. Sadly, not so much. I suspect it's partly because of the shift to ARM-based processors and the fact that the Intel software updates aren't as robust. My 21" still boots quickly. I'll donate it to a local nonprofit for their general use, like web browsing and lighter work. It has a 2TB SSD and 16G RAM.
I'll likely look toward a Mac Mini and get a monitor that is comparable in size, resolution, and color profiles to this one. JUMA55, This iMac has the same specs, purchased in May 20202. The difference is that I added OWI Ram and had our local Apple Authorized Repair change out the fusion drive and replace it with a WD 4TB Blue Sata. I'd look at reformatting the hard disk, but I don't have it in me, to reinstall everything again. Been there once and don't think I want to do it again. especially knowing I'll still be 5 years behind in processing and graphics. Most new photo editing programs are using AI, for noise reduction, and to recover facial details in older family photos, etc. With this said, I'll probably go for 32GB of RAM too, but opt for a 6TB SSD. Even with my photos on a couple of large RAIDs, I need the HD for programs and a Windows petition. Thanks again!!!

 

[ChyberChrome]

First wipe your computer and do a clean install, it might run better. Leave out any system "maintenance" or "optimization" utilities you might normally use.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I have way too many programs, etc., on my HD to start from scratch again. I did this a couple of years ago after the Apple Store and it was extremely Painful!

 

[JUMA55]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I missed letting you know my Video card is the Radeon Pro Vega 48 8G. My 2013 21" iMac lasted 7 years before I saw the need to upgrade, and I was hoping this one would too. Sadly, not so much. I suspect it's partly because of the shift to ARM-based processors and the fact that the Intel software updates aren't as robust. My 21" still boots quickly. I'll donate it to a local nonprofit for their general use, like web browsing and lighter work. It has a 2TB SSD and 16G RAM.
I'll likely look toward a Mac Mini and get a monitor that is comparable in size, resolution, and color profiles to this one. JUMA55, This iMac has the same specs, purchased in May 20202. The difference is that I added OWI Ram and had our local Apple Authorized Repair change out the fusion drive and replace it with a WD 4TB Blue Sata. I'd look at reformatting the hard disk, but I don't have it in me, to reinstall everything again. Been there once and don't think I want to do it again. especially knowing I'll still be 5 years behind in processing and graphics. Most new photo editing programs are using AI, for noise reduction, and to recover facial details in older family photos, etc. With this said, I'll probably go for 32GB of RAM too, but opt for a 6TB SSD. Even with my photos on a couple of large RAIDs, I need the HD for programs and a Windows petition. Thanks again!!!
View attachment 2483568

I bought my first iMac in 2008 after owning a White MacBook for a short period. It was transferred to my wife two years later after her Compaq caught Covid 2010 or whatever it was. As a replacement I bought an iMac 27 with i7, 8GB RAM, 2TB hard disk, which I used until June 2019 when I bought the iMac detailed above.

I used the same build on the 2010 iMac as I did on the 2008, with a lot of help from Apple on the transfer of OS and data. (Apparently in those days one was not supposed to change one's home folder name, which I did.) I did a rebuild (nuke and pave) in 2013, then went five years before a new build, and after that I did a complete nuke and pave with the introduction of each OS. In 2023 I made 614 screen prints of all the setting of all my programs, all neatly framed and titled. I kept up with them and changed or added 191 from 2023 until Sequoia was released.

The point I'm trying to make, and not doing a very good job of it, is I feel your pain on starting from scratch, but spending a couple of days doing screen prints of everything cuts the rebuild time way down. I don't know how many of the apps in the Applications folder are installed with the OS and how many I added, but I have a total of 118.

I've been debating with myself tonight about keeping 2019 iMac and returning the new iMac M4, but I'm about 99% sure the new computer wins. I'll live with the build, but I am going to work toward doing a new one and taking Basic75's advice and leaving lots and lots of stuff off. In fact I may not even install Z, which I might use monthly or so until I really need Z.

Let us know what you do.