iMac question - upgrade RAM or buy new ?

justa1972

justa1972

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Justin
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Hello

I have recenty noticed that my late 2012 27 2.9 ghz i5 imac has just started to struggle with Lightroom. Probably the combination of running the latest verison and uprading to an XT-3 from m43.

Its not terribly slow but enough to get on my nerves - I'm not very patient !

A few years back I increased the RAM to 16gb and I can increase it further to 32gb - will cost about £180.

Do you think its worth it or should I just bite the bullet and buy a 2019 model ?

many thanks
 
16 RAM should be able to cope with most things as I have the same amount. Trying to update further may not be possible either, |I don't have a Mac but my wife does and she has found that even a later version of yours needed the latest model. if you do go for newer don't forget to remove the RAM you put in and use it in a later version and save a bit of cash. Maybe I did see the other day Currys were offering a part exchange deal (new for old) or just advertise it to help pay for a new one. If you take that route don't forget to save work on an extrnl device then wipe the old computer clean

Before you do anything have you removed and "clutter" in the computer and defragged the HHD drive. You may find changing over to an SSD drive may make a big difference. I store most photos on an extrnl drive and leave the "C" drive relatively clear to import photos to work on then return to the extrnl drive. That way your not slowing down the computer. i don't have the extrnl drive connected to the computer unless I need it

Can't think of anything else at the moment sorry
 
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SSD will make the biggest difference, the modern OSX is designed for SSD rather than HD.
 
When I used a Mac all the time I had a piece of software that allowed me to monitor memory use. At that time going from 4GB to 8GB memory (LR5) made no difference because it was only using 2.7GB to 3.4GB.

TBH you have a 7 YO Mac, so it's not surprising that it struggles a little. LR is very processor intensive.
 
you can see if you need more ram by watching its usage in activity monitor- you only need to upgrade anything if you're pushing up against the limits

download an app called intel power gadget, run that and watch your temperatures, if they're running really hot, like say north of 80 degrees your computer is overheating and slowing itself down, likely because of dust build up

run activity monitor and watch the ram usage, right this second I am using 26gb out of 32gb- the 'swap used' is the bit to look for, that should be zero, if it's not, that indicates you ran out of ram and had to swap out to the hard drive- if your swap is zero, you never ran out of ram so upgrading would be a waste

make sure you have gpu acceleration enabled within lightroom

an ssd is always a great upgrade, but opening up an imac is a nightmare, and I dont think yours has usb 3 ports so you cant even really run an ssd externally
 
domart said:
you can see if you need more ram by watching its usage in activity monitor- you only need to upgrade anything if you're pushing up against the limits

download an app called intel power gadget, run that and watch your temperatures, if they're running really hot, like say north of 80 degrees your computer is overheating and slowing itself down, likely because of dust build up

run activity monitor and watch the ram usage, right this second I am using 26gb out of 32gb- the 'swap used' is the bit to look for, that should be zero, if it's not, that indicates you ran out of ram and had to swap out to the hard drive- if your swap is zero, you never ran out of ram so upgrading would be a waste

make sure you have gpu acceleration enabled within lightroom

an ssd is always a great upgrade, but opening up an imac is a nightmare, and I dont think yours has usb 3 ports so you cant even really run an ssd externally
Click to expand...

Thanks thats useful - just enabled GPU acceleration and it seems much quicker. For instance selecting presets is much quicker...

Will have a look at the RAM usage...
 
The CPU is too weak.

2.9 Ghz i5 in 2012 I believe would be the bottom of the range i5 2410M model.

Of course Apply don't go into specifics on the CPU models because they don't want people to realise they often have the bottom of the range models.
 
Caerus said:
The CPU is too weak.

2.9 Ghz i5 in 2012 I believe would be the bottom of the range i5 2410M model.

Of course Apply don't go into specifics on the CPU models because they don't want people to realise they often have the bottom of the range models.
Click to expand...

I don't want to go into an Apple v PC debate - suffice to say I'm a very happy Apple user even if it is" bottom of the range"
 
domart said:
you can see if you need more ram by watching its usage in activity monitor- you only need to upgrade anything if you're pushing up against the limits

download an app called intel power gadget, run that and watch your temperatures, if they're running really hot, like say north of 80 degrees your computer is overheating and slowing itself down, likely because of dust build up

run activity monitor and watch the ram usage, right this second I am using 26gb out of 32gb- the 'swap used' is the bit to look for, that should be zero, if it's not, that indicates you ran out of ram and had to swap out to the hard drive- if your swap is zero, you never ran out of ram so upgrading would be a waste

make sure you have gpu acceleration enabled within lightroom

an ssd is always a great upgrade, but opening up an imac is a nightmare, and I dont think yours has usb 3 ports so you cant even really run an ssd externally
Click to expand...
Late 2012 has four USB3 ports and two thunderbolt ports. I have seen articles where folk have run the OS from external SSD. Contemplating doing this with mine.
 
domart said:
you can see if you need more ram by watching its usage in activity monitor- you only need to upgrade anything if you're pushing up against the limits

download an app called intel power gadget, run that and watch your temperatures, if they're running really hot, like say north of 80 degrees your computer is overheating and slowing itself down, likely because of dust build up

run activity monitor and watch the ram usage, right this second I am using 26gb out of 32gb- the 'swap used' is the bit to look for, that should be zero, if it's not, that indicates you ran out of ram and had to swap out to the hard drive- if your swap is zero, you never ran out of ram so upgrading would be a waste

make sure you have gpu acceleration enabled within lightroom

an ssd is always a great upgrade, but opening up an imac is a nightmare, and I dont think yours has usb 3 ports so you cant even really run an ssd externally
Click to expand...

Even running LR, a Citrix progam and Safari it maxed out at 72 degrees and settles around 60 so Ok there then - will check the RAM
 
domart said:
you can see if you need more ram by watching its usage in activity monitor- you only need to upgrade anything if you're pushing up against the limits

download an app called intel power gadget, run that and watch your temperatures, if they're running really hot, like say north of 80 degrees your computer is overheating and slowing itself down, likely because of dust build up

run activity monitor and watch the ram usage, right this second I am using 26gb out of 32gb- the 'swap used' is the bit to look for, that should be zero, if it's not, that indicates you ran out of ram and had to swap out to the hard drive- if your swap is zero, you never ran out of ram so upgrading would be a waste

make sure you have gpu acceleration enabled within lightroom

an ssd is always a great upgrade, but opening up an imac is a nightmare, and I dont think yours has usb 3 ports so you cant even really run an ssd externally
Click to expand...

It seemed to use 8gb of RAm and swap said 320 but no idea what that means ?
 
Sorry to jump in, but where will I find GPU Acceleration. - Please.
 
justa1972 said:
I don't want to go into an Apple v PC debate - suffice to say I'm a very happy Apple user even if it is" bottom of the range"
Click to expand...

Yea im just saying its a weak CPU and no amount of RAM of changing anything is going to do anything about it.

To run lightroom very well you need more than double its computing power at least
 
Caerus said:
Yea im just saying its a weak CPU and no amount of RAM of changing anything is going to do anything about it.

To run lightroom very well you need more than double its computing power at least
Click to expand...

This really - nothing to do with PC vs Mac, so much as Lightroom being very processor-intensive and your processor is old and relatively slow. Having an SSD will make the machine more responsive compared to HDD, but if it's taking a long time to make changes and it's not accessing the disk to do that then an SSD won't help.
 
technically you could upgrade the cpu, I do think the imacs are socketed, but that's a hell of a lot of work with a lot of risk


if you do indeed have usb 3, it would be a no brainer to run off an ssd- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX...words=1tb+m.2&qid=1559761052&s=gateway&sr=8-5 with a external enclosure would be a really great combo- clone the mac's internal drive to the ssd, then set the ssd as your boot drive and use the internal drive as storage- that way since you now have your OS on an external drive, if you buy a new mac in the coming year, you can plug your external drive into that and have everything running as normal
 
Either way, I doubt you’ll be able to upgrade your o/s to the next version. I believe your imac model’s highest o/s is Mojave. Might have to bite the bullet. But you should still be able to sell it on for a reasonable price.
 
Stephen L said:
Either way, I doubt you’ll be able to upgrade your o/s to the next version. I believe your imac model’s highest o/s is Mojave.
Click to expand...
iMac 2012 and later are supported in the upcoming macOS Catalina.
However, if a Mac is not supported by the latest version of macOS it's not the end of the world, as Apple still support older OS's by supplying security and critical updates for two further years.
So a 2012 iMac should be supported for another 3 years (assuming macOS 10.16 drops this model) - ie. supported thro 2021 (unless Apple's policies change in the future), possibly longer.
 
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I have a late 2012 Mac Mini and the USB ports are 3.0 and I think there is a big speed jump between 3.0 and 3.1. Apple just says USB 3 which is a bit misleading.
(I think USB 3 isn’t much better than FireWire 800 which the Mini also has.)
 
TonyHall said:
iMac 2012 and later are supported in the upcoming macOS Catalina.
However, if a Mac is not supported by the latest version of macOS it's not the end of the world, as Apple still support older OS's by supplying security and critical updates for two further years.
So a 2012 iMac should be supported for another 3 years (assuming macOS 10.16 drops this model) - ie. supported thro 2021 (unless Apple's policies change in the future), possibly longer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification re Catalina; however I wasn't talking about support. I was talking about the ability to install and run. But I agree - it isn't usually necessary to run the latest and greatest o/s.
 
sphexx said:
I have a late 2012 Mac Mini and the USB ports are 3.0 and I think there is a big speed jump between 3.0 and 3.1. Apple just says USB 3 which is a bit misleading.
(I think USB 3 isn’t much better than FireWire 800 which the Mini also has.)
Click to expand...

very very very wrong
usb 3 is about 6 times slower than firewire

usb 3 is 5gb/s (that's gigabits- so 8 bits in a byte, 5 gigabits=625 megabytes /second), firewire 800 is well...800 megabits=100 megabytes /second

usb 3.1 is 10gb

since a sata SSD tops out at about 550 megabytes /second, even usb 3 wont be bottlenecking the drive
 
domart said:
very very very wrong
usb 3 is about 6 times slower than firewire

usb 3 is 5gb/s (that's gigabits- so 8 bits in a byte, 5 gigabits=625 megabytes /second), firewire 800 is well...800 megabits=100 megabytes /second

usb 3.1 is 10gb

since a sata SSD tops out at about 550 megabytes /second, even usb 3 wont be bottlenecking the drive
Click to expand...
Not sure about “very very”...... but you write “usb 3 is about 6 times slower than firewire
usb 3 is ............... 625 megabytes /second), firewire 800 is ..........100 megabytes /second”

Did you mean faster?
 
Thanks for all the replies
Stephen L said:
Either way, I doubt you’ll be able to upgrade your o/s to the next version. I believe your imac model’s highest o/s is Mojave. Might have to bite the bullet. But you should still be able to sell it on for a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Yes I think you are right !

I'm going to buy a new one - trouble is which one ?

Definitely the 27" but which spec ?
 
justa1972 said:
Thanks for all the replies


Yes I think you are right !

I'm going to buy a new one - trouble is which one ?

Definitely the 27" but which spec ?
Click to expand...
Whatever you get, don’t buy one with more than its base memory. Far cheaper to add extra memory once you have it, from the likes of Crucial. And get an SSD drive. Don’t need to max that one either. Use it just for the o/s and programs. Put data on an external drive.
 
Stephen L said:
Whatever you get, don’t buy one with more than its base memory. Far cheaper to add extra memory once you have it, from the likes of Crucial. And get an SSD drive. Don’t need to max that one either. Use it just for the o/s and programs. Put data on an external drive.
Click to expand...

The SSD drives are sooo expensive ! I was thinking that the 1TB fusion drive would be quicker than by current hard drive
 
justa1972 said:
The SSD drives are sooo expensive ! I was thinking that the 1TB fusion drive would be quicker than by current hard drive
Click to expand...

A 1TB SSD is around £80-£100 now, and a case to use is as an external drive will be around another £20.
 
justa1972 said:
The SSD drives are sooo expensive ! I was thinking that the 1TB fusion drive would be quicker than by current hard drive
Click to expand...
Fusion drives in reality are as fast as the slowest component - the spinning discs. Also their shelf life, because of their mechanical components, is theoretically shorter. Don’t spoil the ship.
 
Problem is having an external SSD drive kind of defeats the purpose of an all in one computer
 
justa1972 said:
Problem is having an external SSD drive kind of defeats the purpose of an all in one computer
Click to expand...
Where do you store your backups then?

Anyway, my external drives are all mechanical as they don’t need the speed. The internal one is SSD.
 
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Stephen L said:
Where do you store your backups then?

Anyway, my external drives are all mechanical as they don’t need the speed. The internal one is SSD.
Click to expand...

On an external HD but it’s not connected all the time
 
rob-nikon said:
Thanks for the link. Thats really useful. I have a late 2012 with 8GB RAM thats isn't slow but isn't that fast either. I've been think of getting an external SDD to run off for a while.If it helps eek out a little longer life out of it that would be good, otherwise I would be left with an external SSD which isn't the worst thing.
Click to expand...

I got around to buying an external SSD and I’m amazed how much faster start up, log in and opening programs is. It was easy to clone the internal hard drive but I think I will soon wipe the internal hard drive and SSD to install a clean copy of the latest OS Mojave.

I ended up going with a 250TB Samsung T5 portable SSD advised on this article:

https://fstoppers.com/hacks/speed-your-older-imac-booting-external-solid-state-drive-356892

The Samsung T5 portable SSD is very small and should be easy to hide at the top of the stand at the rear. When it’s placed at the back it won’t even be noticeable. One thing that’s its highlighted is my next iMac will definitely need to have a SSD.
 
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