Launch Time Experiment under 10.1.3
After placing the dock on the bottom of the screen and keeping it fully expanded, I did an experiment and found some interesting results.
1. Turned off all other apps besides Finder (which had no window open, it was just "active" like always).
2. Turned on the seconds display on my menu clock.
3. Launched app when seconds reached zero or a multiple of 10, then rounded up to the next second when all windows, palettes, etc. were displayed and ready for use.
Here's what I found on my G4/500 (1GB RAM, 7200 RPM drive):
APP............Time 1.......Time 2.......Time 3
AI 10.0.1......9 Seconds....9 Seconds....9 sec
ID 2.0.........10 seconds...5 seconds....5 sec
GL 6.0.........15 seconds...12 seconds...12 sec
Mozilla .9.9...6 seconds....6 seconds....na
Entourage X....4 seconds....4 seconds....na
Painter 7.1.3..8 seconds....4 seconds....4 sec
That last one REALLY surprised me. I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but the last time I quit, I saved a custom palette set beforehand. So I don't know if maybe selecting fewer open palettes and then saving that as the default will allow the app to launch much more quickly, or what...but something changed. P7 is usually dog-slow when launching - until now anyway (or at least under those circumstances noted above). Also interesting to note how InDesign and Painter launch times get cut in half after initial loading, but Illustrator and most of the others do not.
Admittedly the more apps that are running beforehand will have a big effect (I think) but still the results were interesting. Have to see how 10.2 aids in the responsiveness of app launching and overall performance. Also curious (like everyone else) to see how PS 7 fares.
Stupid UBB formatting thing - can't use blank spaces. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]
[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]</p>
1. Turned off all other apps besides Finder (which had no window open, it was just "active" like always).
2. Turned on the seconds display on my menu clock.
3. Launched app when seconds reached zero or a multiple of 10, then rounded up to the next second when all windows, palettes, etc. were displayed and ready for use.
Here's what I found on my G4/500 (1GB RAM, 7200 RPM drive):
APP............Time 1.......Time 2.......Time 3
AI 10.0.1......9 Seconds....9 Seconds....9 sec
ID 2.0.........10 seconds...5 seconds....5 sec
GL 6.0.........15 seconds...12 seconds...12 sec
Mozilla .9.9...6 seconds....6 seconds....na
Entourage X....4 seconds....4 seconds....na
Painter 7.1.3..8 seconds....4 seconds....4 sec
That last one REALLY surprised me. I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but the last time I quit, I saved a custom palette set beforehand. So I don't know if maybe selecting fewer open palettes and then saving that as the default will allow the app to launch much more quickly, or what...but something changed. P7 is usually dog-slow when launching - until now anyway (or at least under those circumstances noted above). Also interesting to note how InDesign and Painter launch times get cut in half after initial loading, but Illustrator and most of the others do not.
Admittedly the more apps that are running beforehand will have a big effect (I think) but still the results were interesting. Have to see how 10.2 aids in the responsiveness of app launching and overall performance. Also curious (like everyone else) to see how PS 7 fares.
Stupid UBB formatting thing - can't use blank spaces. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]
[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]</p>
Comments
<img src="graemlins/surprised.gif" border="0" alt="[Surprised]" />
Add to the list:
LiveMotion 2.0
Check this out...when iTunes is running - 28 seconds! When it's not running, 14 seconds. Can you say "needs work?"
[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]</p>
During this test, was this after a re-boot to make sure that any program you might have used prior was not still in memory?
My Entourage also takes 4 second to launch and I also have a gig of RAM - but I have a 700MHz G3. I guess that's the power of a G4! Maybe it's your hard drive. I am sure Apple uses 5400rpm HDs in the iMacs - not 7200rpm.
I am going to test a few myself! After a re-boot of course.
[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: Patchouli ]</p>
As far as app launching speed, I've noticed no real differences between having it fully extended along the right edge (top to bottom) vs. when it was extended along the bottom of the screen. I notice the Dock itself is more responsive now, but nothing with the apps as of yet.
I hadn't restarted before my earlier test, but I had started a new login session if I remember correctly. When I was speaking of "apps running beforehand", I meant before I clicked a given Dock icon. So in my hypothetical example, other apps would still be running - and thus would naturally bog things down - that's what I avoided during my experiment.
[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ? ]</p>
Too many apps are badly written and will take processor cycles and memory resources even when idle. It's so aggravating to see an app taking up 7% of processor cycles when you haven't used it in a day, and it shouldn't be doing anything in the background. It's bad coding, and I hate it.
So there.
I imagine with the next generation of Power Macs (assuming they use faster bus speeds and RAM) than many of the app launch times I noted above would be literally cut in half, or more....