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Mac mini (Late 2014) very sluggish, is there a firmware I need?

I have this old Mac mini (Late 2014) it runs a single app just fine, but add a second one and it gets real pokey and the system stalls and becomes unresponsive as well as both the apps... I sometimes have to force quit all the apps and even the system to get it back going... very frustrating

Is there a firmware for this model?I upgraded the operating system to Monterey when this all began to show up, I since downgraded back to Catalina which was an upgrade from High Sierra. I never had any troubles with High Sierra.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 7, 2023 6:25 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 7, 2023 6:34 PM

To see if Firmware & such is up to date, get SilentKnight...


https://eclecticlight.co/lockrattler-systhist/


Other than that...


We need to see what all is running, a report from this will not display any personal info...


EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/


Thanks for Old Toad’s etrecheck instructions…

Slow iMac 2017 - Apple Community


Use the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...


Similar questions

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 7, 2023 6:34 PM in response to iBookRevA

To see if Firmware & such is up to date, get SilentKnight...


https://eclecticlight.co/lockrattler-systhist/


Other than that...


We need to see what all is running, a report from this will not display any personal info...


EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/


Thanks for Old Toad’s etrecheck instructions…

Slow iMac 2017 - Apple Community


Use the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...


Oct 8, 2023 9:13 AM in response to iBookRevA

Posting the EtreCheck report here give us computer details you have not shared, like storage configuration and possible software conflicts.


Minis in 2014 had three storage configs:

  • a standard mechanical hard drive;
  • an optional Fusion( hybrid) drive;
  • and an optional solid-state drive (SSD).


Those drive options are at the heart of ~95 percent of "Slow Mac" complaints here.


A factory SSD or a healthy Fusion drive should not feel sluggish even with a newer macOS version. The slow factory-standard mechanical drive is almost always the culprit. However, Fusion drives can have issues that slow performance.


Software conflicts are rife, given the amount of useless "utilities" sold by fear marketing.


Posting the EtreCheck report here is how the utility was conceived and intended to work, We senior contributors have interpreted thousands of EtreCheck results and can quickly spot issues that may not be apparent to non-technical users.


Best of all, you get diagnostic confidence in a very limited support setting. Without EtreCheck, all we can do is give you generalities; with it we can give diagnoses based on data, not guesses. That is otherwise not possible in a setting ( this one) where we can neither see, touch, nor remotely access your Mini.


Oct 8, 2023 12:16 PM in response to BDAqua

Downloaded the utilities from the Electric Light Company web site and the first one I've tried was SilentKnight. When I ran it (on my M1 2020 MacBook Pro) I get the posted report. Of interest was iBoot needing updating. Went to the menu and selected "Download Named Update." In the "name" field I tried "iBoot." Search was done and the second screenshot came up. Not sure where one goes from here.



Oct 8, 2023 6:05 AM in response to BDAqua

Quite often, I'll spend time here without even logging in, just reading posts that catch my interest. This was one of those, and once again I learned something new. Read the article up on "The Electric Light Company" regarding SilentKnight, silnite, LockRattler, SystHist & Scrub. Never knew these utilities existed. Thanks, BDAqua.


Mac mini (Late 2014) very sluggish, is there a firmware I need?

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