Issues with old Mac computer

Macs and MacOS
1

I would like to ask for an opinion on an issue I am having with my old Mac computer. I purchased an iMac 2010 (back then as well) which worked fine until recently. I decided to purchase a 2017 iMac with the following specs: 4K retina, core i5, Radeon Pro 555 2GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD. However, once I installed Catalina OS, its performance was a lot worse than before. Even my iMac 2010 is doing better than this “new” machine. The screen would freeze, new folders open up very slowly and CPU usage is quite high. I am prepared to purchase an SSD and an additional 8GB of RAM memory but I want to see what might be the problem first. How does one check PC hardware on Mac computers?

2

If your Mac runs slowly there are certain things you can do about it.

  • Your computer’s startup disk may not have enough free disk space. To make disk space available, you can move files to another disk or an external storage device, then delete files you no longer need on the startup disk. mac OS can also help you optimize storage by storing files in the cloud and helping you identify files you no longer need.

  • An app you’re using may require more memory than your Mac has easily available. To see how much memory your Mac has, choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then check the amount of memory listed in the Overview pane. See the documentation that came with the app to find out its system requirements.To find out how to increase your computer’s memory, choose Apple menu > About This Mac, click Memory, then click Memory Upgrade Instructions in the lower-right corner. (Not available on all computers.)

  • Quit any app that isn’t compatible with your Mac. For example, an app may require a different processor or graphics card. See the documentation that came with the app for information about its system requirements.

    • To see what processor your computer has, choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then click Overview.

    • To see what graphics card your computer has, choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then click Displays. The name of the graphics card in your computer is displayed in the middle of the window.

  • Quit any apps you’re not using.

  • If you have problems with your disk, use Disk Utility to verify and try to fix any issues.

  • Use Activity Monitor to see if a particular app or activity is making a large demand on your Mac.