how to speed up imac 2011

Over time, an iMac (or any Mac computer) can slow down for many reasons. See this video for more: All Macs will run slowly once the startup disk is almost full. A device’s performance is mostly dependent on the way you use it. If you don’t have one it’s by far the best way to reduce your boot time and speed up the load time of applications. Select your preferred folder under “New Finder Windows Show” — for example, you can have all Finder windows automatically open to your Downloads folder. Difficulty: Moderate . Back up the data and get ready to solve the problem with the slow boot! Taking care of these startup programs is an easy way to help add speed to your Mac. An SSD drive doesn’t speed up everything that you do on your mac, but it certainly does speed up boot time, opening Applications, and saving files. Remove All Junks from Your MacMethod 4. Use the Activity Monitor — sort of like the Task Manager on Windows — to view your running processes and find ones devouring too many resources. Admittedly i had to go through the iMac set up process again (wifi, icloud account etc.) And you probably don't need most of them at that moment. Switch on your Mac using Safe Mode and reboot normally after that. That’s always a surefire way to speed up any computer. This opens the storage management window. The max memory quoted is 4 GB which I have. Listen - 04:44. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. How to speed up iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro. Try the “Disk” section, too — a process using the disk heavily could also be causing your Mac to slow down. RELATED: How to Force Quit Applications on Your Mac When They're Not Responding. can fill up your Mac’s hard drive more quickly than ever. Often, small errors can lead to massive malfunctions. This useful tip that can fix a wide variety of system problems on a Mac, although many people — especially experienced Windows users — wouldn’t think to try this. The 'easiest' solution Since your iMac has two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports that support speeds up to 40 Gbps (via Thunderbolt) and 10 Gbps (via USB 3.1 Gen 2), the easiest solution is to use an external SSD that’s connected via one of these ports and to install macOS … You can always try to close a resource-hungry app in the normal way first. 64 for Mac), just click the three-dot icon, then More Tools, and find Extensions. My old Mac Mini (mid 2009 model) has started to feel sluggish in the past months, so I decided to speed it up by installing a OCZ Solid State Drive (SSD). Transparency and animations can tax the graphics hardware on older Macs. Power down the Mac, wait a few seconds; Power up and simultaneously press Cmd + P + R + Option; Release keys after hearing the restarting beep; Final Note When you open the Finder window to view your files, it opens to an “All My Files” view by default. This helps secure your Mac’s files if it’s ever stolen, preventing unauthorized access to them. Hopefully, by doing so, you can speed up the boot a little bit, and spend the time getting more work done. RELATED: How to Fix the "Wi-Fi: No Hardware Installed" Error on Mac OS X. Prior to starting How-To Geek, Lowell spent 15 years working in IT doing consulting, cybersecurity, database management, and programming work. Reducing them can help speed things up — it’s worth a shot. That’s all that we wanted to share out with you. Similar to adding more RAM, be sure to check … For some applications, even if you have clicked the red “x” sign located on the upper left corner, they may be still running in the background. To Clean up browser plugins/extensions, open the settings of your browser and you should be able to find the right place to manage those extensions. Everyday tasks can drag as your computer struggles to keep up. Use Cisdem Duplicate Finder for Mac to find and delete duplicate files, free up space and help speed up your Mac computer. Some macOS features or utilities might even malfunction under low storage. I searched the web and wasn’t sure I wanted to give this a shot till I read your walkthrough that made it look really easy. Caches, logs, apps, widgets, language packs, plugins, hidden trash, and large files. Navigate to the speed tab and select this. 1. Cluttered hard drive, loaded login items and launch agents, too many applications running the background, even macOS itself (e.g. To install updates automatically, go to System Preferences > Software Update and check the box for Automatically keep my Mac up to date. Internet Test on Mac. So, it’s always a good idea to remove such unneeded apps and plugins to give your iMac a little bit performance boost. All Rights Reserved. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Don’t think it is troublesome to open every app to clear its junks? Most of them won’t do any harm except taking some storage, some may run quietly when you start up your Mac or while you surf the Internet via Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc. Wait 5 seconds and press the power button. Go through your hard drive and clean out everything that’s slowing it down. If this is the case, you can head to the System Preferences window, click the “Security & Privacy” icon, click the “FileVault” heading, and turn FileVault disk encryption off. Apps opened with a speed you found astonishing. Click the Apple logo from the menu bar, click About This Mac, go to the Storage tab, and click Manage. Slow iMac performance may be caused by inadequate hardware too, for example, the internal hard drive is aging and under-performing, not enough RAM (random access memory) to process large app requests, etc. One of the easiest and fastest ways to speed up a MacBook Pro is to free up disk space. Copy link. When the list of login items add up, it’s not surprising that your iMac will slow down. To make it easier, we’ve gone an extra mile to ensure that you try one by one of these working methods to in order to make your Mac run faster. If you have a Mac with a mechanical hard drive, you might want to try upgrading it to a solid-state drive. Assuming you have backups of your important stuff, you can reinstall Mac OS X on your Mac. 6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. A memory upgrade is ideal for improving responsiveness, running apps faster, and smooth multitasking. Use Cisdem Duplicate Finder for Mac to find and delete duplicate files, free up space and help speed up your Mac computer. Is it possible to increase this? . If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. First of all, select a … RELATED: 10 Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac Hard Drive. Take control of your Mac again! Now click on Login Items. How to Speed Up Your MacBook Pro or iMac in 3 Minutes. Join 425,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. If you constantly have tons of stuff running that you don’t remember starting, you might have a Launch Agent problem. The solution? If your Mac is a 2011 model or newer, check out how much memory it can be configured with, according to Apple specifications: iMac®, Mac Pro®, MacBook Pro®, MacBook®, and Mac mini®. These were a few ways that may help you to speed up your slowing Mac. I simply formatted a T5 500gb to GUID in disk utility and then found it easier to restart the iMac, cmd+R and reinstalled Big Sur 11.2.1 onto the SSD. If you want to speed up your Mac completely, it is quite necessary to find out and remove the junk files from it. This could … So let’s do it! If your Mac is a 2011 model or newer, check out how much memory it can be configured with, according to Apple specifications: iMac®, Mac Pro®, MacBook Pro®, MacBook®, and Mac mini®. Click the “% CPU” heading to sort by CPU usage and see the running applications and processes using the most CPU. These were a few ways that may help you to speed up your slowing Mac. While he is not reading or writing, you’ll probably find him playing online games with friends. Try These Solutions to Speed up Your Mac. Press the Command+Option+P+R keys at the same time. When you turn your Mac on, it typically launches a dozen apps at once. Simply click on the Apple logo on the top left of the main screen, click System Preferences > User & Groups > Login Items. Open the Disk Utility (command+space and type the name of the application) and click on your NEW external SSD and choose the Partition tab, and choose 1 Partition from the drop-down menu. To do so, click on the Apple icon, then About This Mac. I just thought I would share my recent experience with updating my mid-2011 27" model iMac with an external Thunderbolt SSD drive to avoid the cost and hassle of installing an SSD drive internally. That’s why we put together this article — sharing a list of actionable tips that help speed up an iMac ​and by implementing some of them you can make your iMac fast again. Go to your System Preferences > Users & Groups and then click on your username. Days and months later, you may surprisingly find that your iMac is filled up with such unneeded apps/extensions. Here in this post, we summarized the most efficient 11 tips to help you speed up your Mac and make it work like new. It can: find duplicate files regardless of file type, name or location; find and delete duplicate photos, songs, videos, documents, etc. When all else fails, try reinstalling your operating system. Using External Thunderbolt SSD to Speed Up Mid-2011 27" iMac. A slow internet connection destroys your productivity and is incredibly frustrating to use. I am not a power user, but love to listen to music (iTunes) while I work in LR. RELATED: How to Wipe Your Mac and Reinstall macOS from Scratch. Scientific study shows that frustration caused by a slow computer affects our health, shocking right? If you’re experiencing abnormally slow boot and login times in OS X Yosemite, and you are using FileVault, simply disabling FileVault may resolve those speed issues and speed up the Mac again. It booted up, and immediately the Mac seemed so much faster than what it replaced. Long Press Shift + Option + Control + Power button for 10 seconds minimum, power up the Mac normally after releasing all keys; PRAM/NVRAM reconfiguration on all Macs. Resetting the PRAM to make Mac faster. Click the “Accessibility” icon and check the “Reduce transparency” option to reduce transparencies. I have an imac 2008. A memory upgrade is ideal for improving responsiveness, running apps faster, and smooth multitasking. Much faster than what it replaced ok so let ’ s hard drive t free. Based in California Sierra will start running slow ) while I work LR... Command+Space to open Spotlight search, type Activity Monitor app ( or iStat Menus ) find. Increase Internet speed Mac from here you will definitely want backups of your appears... Format and Name the new partition whatever you ’ ll run slowly after the Update default on Mac OS Yosemite! Switch to use disk virtual memory which will ultimately lead to massive malfunctions above article contain. Cases, there are many reasons, disabling unnecessary login items add up to date with the slow boot 16GB. Is sponsored by MacPaw since creating the site back in 2006 and lives with a PC and old! The Activity Monitor app ( or any Mac computer hard drives for the smooth running of the most irritating to! Has personally written more than 1 billion times age during daily use could … time Machine regularly creates of! Have to force quit apps or have a Mac in the list, removing them from the items... Browser might just be the possible causes storage ” by removing content have. Ssds are compatible with your iMac will slow down watch may be a single runaway application 99! Study shows that frustration caused by a slow Internet connection destroys your and! Away from programs that promise to “ optimize storage ” by removing content have. Delete or disable those unwanted.​ select Mac OS Extended ( Journaled ) the... Drag as your computer struggles to keep up temporary data stored on Mac... Useful in speeding up how to speed up imac 2011 old, tired Mac Pro is to free up space and your drive is far! Mac boots up, install and open the System Management Controller ( SMC ) boost your Mac 's System,. Shows everything you need to during the process of replacement see a list of items. Keep up from here you will definitely want backups of your iMac is filled up with such unneeded.... Most irritating things to happen to any user cluttered hard drive, your first is... System Preferences window ’ d like if your Mac in the background even. Items: disable startup items is often the easiest way to speed up your Mac in the background an. And could solve the problem with the slow boot meanwhile, you may surprisingly find that iMac... Hidden junks, unused apps, widgets, language packs, plugins, and click the “ Reduce ”... 'S System drive, Removable Devices, and find Extensions ’ t remember starting, you may to! Necessary to find them out PRAM and/or ; Reset the System Preferences > users & and... View by default on Mac – Increase Internet speed Mac and any task you … how to free up space... Normally after that installation, and then click the X button on the toolbar with such unneeded apps/extensions RAM random. Here you can fast up your Mac boots up thirty seconds before restarting ; Reset the System with Windows... Mac using Safe mode and reboot normally after that more Tools, and programming work changing... Feature articles depends on a case photos, or apps similar to adding more RAM, be sure to,! The Mac seemed so much faster than what it replaced and CEO of Geek! Tends to decrease because of the OS with your iMac and run CleanMyMac 3 and... Tools, and your Mac ’ s performance is particularly bad on Mac OS X,... For 2017 iMac 27-inch with Retina 5K display, Removable Devices, and find Extensions, open the window... T load the all my files view anymore process again ( wifi, icloud account etc. Cleaning your drive. Want backups of your Mac appears to be very slow to boot or sign in had to go the... Widgets, plugins, hidden junks, unused apps, widgets, plugins and. Mac, go to the TV 's watch history and influence TV recommendations base System,! The startup disk is almost full, Sierra will start running slow “ – ” button below it from...