Is Mac OS X meant to be so slow?
Hey guys, just got my new Macbook today 
(The 2.16GHz model)
But I'm having issues with speed, I did my research so I knew that things wouldn't be that quick until I got a RAM upgrade, but opening iPhoto (the older version) is a real pain - it takes ages to get all my photos open (I don't even have too many of them - less than 50). I can't believe I'm going to have to get more RAM just to view my photos (say it ain't so!), I'm wondering is this type of sluggishness common place (on 1GB RAM) or do I need to take a trip to my nearby apple shop?
Other than this I'm finding the OS quite excellent (except for the fact my modem doesn't want to work with it). Thanks for any help!
(The 2.16GHz model)But I'm having issues with speed, I did my research so I knew that things wouldn't be that quick until I got a RAM upgrade, but opening iPhoto (the older version) is a real pain - it takes ages to get all my photos open (I don't even have too many of them - less than 50). I can't believe I'm going to have to get more RAM just to view my photos (say it ain't so!), I'm wondering is this type of sluggishness common place (on 1GB RAM) or do I need to take a trip to my nearby apple shop?
Other than this I'm finding the OS quite excellent (except for the fact my modem doesn't want to work with it). Thanks for any help!
Comments
Hey guys, just got my new Macbook today
But I'm having issues with speed, I did my research so I knew that things wouldn't be that quick until I got a RAM upgrade, but opening iPhoto (the older version) is a real pain - it takes ages to get all my photos open (I don't even have too many of them - less than 50). I can't believe I'm going to have to get more RAM just to view my photos (say it ain't so!), I'm wondering is this type of sluggishness common place (on 1GB RAM) or do I need to take a trip to my nearby apple shop?
Other than this I'm finding the OS quite excellent (except for the fact my modem doesn't want to work with it). Thanks for any help!
It isn't suppose to be, but it is. Launching applications in Mac OS X is painfully slow at times. Apps like Calculator or Dictionary should instantly launch.
The bright side is that you can run many more apps at once than what Windows users can, so its kinda of a trade-off...
Dave
Could it have something to do with your version of iPhoto not being Universal binary? What version of iPhoto are you running?
I have no idea what either of you two are talking about, but iPhoto on my G5 iMac starts up in under 7 seconds, including the loading time, and we have over 6300 photos in it. Calculator and Dictionary are up in just over 1 second. Granted I have 2GB of RAM, but even when we had 1GB it was just as snappy.
Could it have something to do with your version of iPhoto not being Universal binary? What version of iPhoto are you running?
Launch calculator on a Windows box with 1 GB of RAM compared to your 2 GB machine and you will see what we mean....
I have no idea what either of you two are talking about, but iPhoto on my G5 iMac starts up in under 7 seconds, including the loading time, and we have over 6300 photos in it. Calculator and Dictionary are up in just over 1 second. Granted I have 2GB of RAM, but even when we had 1GB it was just as snappy.
Could it have something to do with your version of iPhoto not being Universal binary? What version of iPhoto are you running?
Could that be the problem? I'm running the iLife '06 version, it's awfully slow like Dave said. To load up all the photo's takes a good while, even scrolling down to see the next set of photos invokes the beachball. Maybe because there are some videos amongst the photos aswell? But this really shouldn't be a problem.
It isn't suppose to be, but it is. Launching applications in Mac OS X is painfully slow at times. Apps like Calculator or Dictionary should instantly launch.
The bright side is that you can run many more apps at once than what Windows users can, so its kinda of a trade-off...
Dave
There is something wrong. My 1.5Ghz G4 PB with 1GB launches calculator faster than my work XP box, 2.4Ghz P4 w/ 2Gb.
OS X 10.2 and earlier were slow, 10.3 a lot faster, 10.4 downright zippy in comparison.
You never gave any real times for us to consider ("ages" is a pretty subjective term in that context
But I've also got a 1.5 G4 runing OSX 10.4.10 and with a couple thousand photos in the catalog it takes 10-15 seconds to launch (512MB ram) and scrolls through the thumbnails with no hesitation. (iLife '06 version)
My 2.16 iMac will have iPhoto up and running in just over 5 seconds (2GB ram) and never shows a beachball even when editing.
Before you take the machine back though, find your discs and re-install the system. See if things improve.
iMac CD 2GHZ, 2GB RAM
iPhoto 6.0.6: 2sec to open app, 4sec to load 7884 pics
Calculator: <1sec (1 bounce)
Dictionary: <1sec (1 bounce)
You're kidding right? My old Casio calculator watch is super snappy too.
I don't use a watch myself.
I occasionally start up my G4 running OS9, just to remind myself of how snappy and responsive it was compared to OSX. They still have a long, long way to go, in my opinion.
You mean that OS that required a couple hours maintenance a week to keep it operating without several freezes and 5 minute reboots per week? That snappy OS?
Yeah, I'll take your snappy window resize, cult maintenance effort, and trump you with maybe 10 minutes of user maintenance per month instead and rarely rebooting at all.
Loving the Mac OS now, but I'm wondering if there's anything I should do (programs I should install) starting off. Don't have internet access on the Macbook at the moment so just had to install a few things like the latest iTunes, Quicktime, OS 10.4.10, and such. I will run the updater tomorrow. I remember hearing something about calibrating the battery? (Thanks again!)
This doesn't really affect the battery, but it "calibrates" the software that monitors the battery ... this will make the % charge / time remaining counter much more accurate. As battery's degrade over time, it might be worth doing this every few months to keep your battery monitor "accurate".
I've managed to temporarily solve the problem, iPhoto is running quicker now. I'm going to upgrade to '08 versions of iLife (and iWork) soon so hopefully Ireland is right and my new iPhoto will be quite speedy...at least it was when I tried it out in the Apple Store, which is why this situation left me somewhat perplexed.
There's one common strategy that solves both slow app startup times and slow reboot times:don't quit your apps, and don't shutdown your computer. Just close documents you don't need anymore, put the computer to sleep when you feel like shutting it up, and reboot when Software Update needs it. If you don't run out of memory, you aren't giving up any performance by keeping things "running" in the background. The unused stuff is actively getting cycled into swap so it doesn't fill up the memory.
It took a good while for me to get used to this way of doing things when I started using OS X, even though I knew it was more efficient. By failing to manage memory intelligently, Windows trains people to micromanage their own memory by shutting down and restarting apps. Well, the window = application concept in it might be a reason too.
I wanted to post some speeds, so you have a point of comparison.
iMac CD 2GHZ, 2GB RAM
iPhoto 6.0.6: 2sec to open app, 4sec to load 7884 pics
Calculator: <1sec (1 bounce)
Dictionary: <1sec (1 bounce)
Okay. Let me explain what is happening on both my MacBook and iMac...
When I click on the calculator app, address book app, or the terminal app in my dock the application icon bounces up and each apps load before the icon bounces back down (both under a second). But there is a short delay (milliseconds) to when I click on the shortcut and when the application launches.
On my Windows box at work, I have calculator, address book, and command promp shortcuts in my Quick Launch toolbar in my task bar. When I click on any of those apps, they instantly appear (zero delay). While we are talking milliseconds there is definitely a noticable delay between my Windows machine and my Macs. To explain it a different why, on my Windows box it's like selecting a different window that already open. It just happens.
When you start looking past these very simple apps, and comparing larger more complex apps, in general Mac apps launch slower than their Windows equivalent.
FireFox launches faster in Windows
iTunes launches faster in Windows
Word 2003 launches faster in Windows than Pages 08 does on the Mac.
Mac only applications like GarageBand and iDVD are pathetically slow to launch.
I just think in general, Mac apps launch slower...
Dave
I am not kidding. OS9 was responsive, whereas OSX is like wading through mush.
Eyecandy & background processes cost you. MS-DOS was super snappy too ...