Macbook runs very slow WWGRMD

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012). It's been rock solid but over the years has turned painfully slow. I suspect the new OS on old hardware has just bogged it down. I'm not sure how much info is going to a local or foreign government but Malwarebytes and Bitdefender virus scan reports are clean.

For those with more expertise in these matters - does more RAM sound like a useful move?

Here is the device summary: 

High Sierra OS, v 10.13.6

2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processor

4gb 1600 MHz DDR3 ram

 Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

Total Number of Cores: 2, L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB, L3 Cache: 3 MB

paying keen attention.  I don't even know what spec/year I have as it's so slow I bought this amazeballs chromebook more than a year ago but I'd like to start using my older Macbook again to learn coding as I originally intended. 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

Khanacademy.com lets you learn in any browser...

To the OP, max the ram out if you can. Then do what everyone is telling me to do and swap to an SSD. 

My Macbook is from early 2015.  It has a slightly faster processor (2.7 GHz) and newer graphics, the main difference appears to be it has 8 GB memory instead of 4 GB.  It still runs nice and fast.  It is running on Yosemite 10.10.5, that may be another difference that affects the speed.

More RAM is likely going to help. It shouldn’t be that slow, honestly Mac hardware hasn’t improved speed wise for quite a while.

I assume it has an SSD? Might help to spring for a bigger/newer one if you have it open for the RAM. 

Also, I’d check the activity monitor to see if there is anything running in the background that’s taking up a lot of CPU. 

I ordered RAM to double what I have up to the maximum that’ll fit. Worth a try for $45. If that doesn’t make a big difference I will upgrade to an SSD next. Thanks for the responses. 

If it doesn’t have an SSD, that’ll make a huge difference. 

Modern OSes are always grabbing tiny files and writing little log bits and bobs to the drive. Like, absolutely constantly. You wouldn't believe the improvement an SSD will give you. Even the highest performance spinning drive doesn't compare at all to an SSD's random read/write speed. For large files there's not an enormous difference, but little ones it's night and day. So your computer's speed can be doubled with an SSD, especially compared to the average low-performance laptop spinning drive.

$85 for a 500gb Samsung: https://www.microcenter.com/product/502941/860-evo-500gb-mlc-v-nand-sata-iii-6gb-s-25-internal-solid-state-drive

Samsung is the standard for good performance, reliable SSDs.

Do back up your data, though. Regularly. SSDs do not fail gracefully.

My 2012 MacBook is full of as much RAM as will fit and has a SDD for applications and a big fat HDD in place of the old optical drive for bulk storage. This is a fairly common setup, actually. It’s a quick little bugger, and that drive setup is a big contributor. It’s a newer/quicker processor than yours, but I haven’t noticed any significant difference in performance with the new OS installations. It’s on the latest release. 

Is there anyway to run a "lean" OS with all the networking stuff etc you do not need removed ?

I also vote for SSD.  I have a mid-2012 Macbook Pro too and that sped it up considerably more than adding RAM did.  If yours takes a couple minutes to completely start like mine did, this will help a lot.  Operating systems nowadays are just so bloated.

I got mine from Other World Computing that came with a small USB connected housing to turn the old HDD into portable storage.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

IME OS X is pretty lean, compared to some of the other bloatware that's floating around. Usually slowdowns I'm seeing is because something is running in the background that probably shouldn't, assuming enough RAM and a reasonable fast SSD.

The again I'm typing this on a Frankenstein'd 2009 Mac Pro, which isn't that great a benchmark.

I have the same laptop, but with 16GB of RAM, runs great. Try that first, then go with a SSD if you still aren't happy.

According to Apple, the max RAM for this one is only 8gb. I had only four gb all these years so doubling that should help. If it’s still too slow I’ll spring for a SSD. 

I have a mid 2012- maxed out ram at 16 gb and did the ssd thing.  Running like a champ on the latest OS. I'm not a power user or anything, but certainly don't have any slowness issues.

OHSCrifle said:

According to Apple, the max RAM for this one is only 8gb. I had only four gb all these years so doubling that should help. If it’s still too slow I’ll spring for a SSD. 

Here's my exact system specs from the "About This Mac" window:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

If yours matches, I'd try the full 16GB of RAM, it works in mine.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

The virus is the OS,

Install Linux on it!

In reply to bentwrench :

Is this a Linux vs BSD debate? (I thought MacOS was basically a pretty GUI running under BSD.)

In reply to OHSCrifle :

FYI:  Crucial indicates that you should be able to go to 16GB.

https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/macbook-pro-%2813-inch-and-15-inch%2C-mid-2012%29

I would do that and while waiting for parts to arrive, I'd look at what is running in the background or what might have changed to cause the issue you're noticing.

In reply to Stefan :

I have had really bad experiences swapping non-Apple hardware into my Imacs.

In many cases Apple has conveniently altered a standard spec item enough so that only their parts will work.

In other words be prepared to return any non-Apple memory or hard drives meant for your MAC.

I am not a Linux FanBoi just an end user that has been defecated on.

When I plugged an SSD with the appropriate adapter into my IMAC suddenly my cooling system sounds like a 747 taking off. Apple doesnt use the temp sensor in every smart drive made, they have their own.

When I plugged in a full boat of the best memory into my IMAC it refused to boot. I guess Crucial memory is not good enough for a MAC.

bentwrench said:

In reply to Stefan :

I have had really bad experiences swapping non-Apple hardware into my Imacs.

In many cases Apple has conveniently altered a standard spec item enough so that only their parts will work.

In other words be prepared to return any non-Apple memory or hard drives meant for your MAC.

I am not a Linux FanBoi just an end user that has been defecated on.

When I plugged an SSD with the appropriate adapter into my IMAC suddenly my cooling system sounds like a 747 taking off. Apple doesnt use the temp sensor in every smart drive made, they have their own.

When I plugged in a full boat of the best memory into my IMAC it refused to boot. I guess Crucial memory is not good enough for a MAC.

Ok. Allow me to clarify my post:

I WAS MERELY POINTING OUT THAT CRUCIAL STATES THAT YOU CAN PUT 2 8GB MEMORY STICKS IN THE SYSTEM.

So, whomever you get the parts from, wasn't the point (aside from the fact that Crucial is a highly respected vendor that often is OEM provider for many manufacturers and does their own testing, validation, etc).

Considering the number of people who successfully build Hackintoshes using non-Apple hardware, I'd say your experiences are anecdotal at best and if you feel more comfortable getting parts directly from Apple, go for it, but don't get your feathers ruffled when others have actual data proving you might be wrong.

Another vote for an SSD.

At this point, I'd rather have an Intel-i3 with 1 Gb of Ram and a fast 500Gb SSD than an i5 with 500 Gb of Ram and a platter drive for normal use. 

Between us the Duke family has 3 active Macs going back as far as a 2010 MacBook Pro.  The newest are 2014 models and I just put away my 2004-ish PowerBook 17, which still ran when parked.

All of those have had various HD swaps, battery replacements, RAM upgrades, etc. of which exactly ONE was an actual Apple-branded product.

We've never had the slightest issue with non-Apple commodity parts.  OWC, Newer Tech, and others have all worked great.  The only genuine Apple part we used was the proprietary video card replacement for our 27" iMac, because it is a bizarre configuration only made by Apple.  Not coincidentally that was the only part I haven't replaced myself, in fact.

This is the one I have. 13” mid 2012 non retina display 

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP649?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

dculberson said:

In reply to bentwrench :

Is this a Linux vs BSD debate? (I thought MacOS was basically a pretty GUI running under BSD.)

It's more complex than that - the userland tools are largely BSD, but the kernel is actually a Mach kernel that speaks BSD-ish to the userland.