OSX performance on the new IMacs?

msu2k · January 18, 2002 1:37PM

I'm a current PC user that has been considering a move to Macs and am admittedly intrigued by the new IMacs. I have seen a post or two on boards about OSX being "sluggish" on the new IMacs. Does anybody have enough experience with them (or an equivalent Powermac) to comment on OSX's performance with that processor speed?

A "sluggish" OS would be a deal breaker for me I think and the idea of switching back and forth between 9 and X seems like a headache.

cytri · January 18, 2002 1:41PM

OSX runs fine on my Cube 450 mhz.... which is supposed to be slower...

I have tried the new iMac 800... and I can't say that OSX is sluggish....not at all....

antaisce · January 18, 2002 2:03PM

[quote]Originally posted by MSU2k:

I'm a current PC user that has been considering a move to Macs and am admittedly intrigued by the new IMacs. I have seen a post or two on boards about OSX being "sluggish" on the new IMacs. Does anybody have enough experience with them (or an equivalent Powermac) to comment on OSX's performance with that processor speed?

A "sluggish" OS would be a deal breaker for me I think and the idea of switching back and forth between 9 and X seems like a headache.<hr></blockquote>

ADD RAM!!!! That`s all and will perform well

imacfp · January 18, 2002 2:08PM

First, OS X is not slow on a DV iMac with enough RAM. Second, the new iMacs are much more powerful than the G3 iMacs so they should run OS X very well.

msu2k · January 18, 2002 2:10PM

[quote]Originally posted by imacSE:

First, OS X is not slow on a DV iMac with enough RAM. Second, the new iMacs are much more powerful than the G3 iMacs so they should run OS X very well.<hr></blockquote>

What is your definition of enough RAM (for a new IMac obviously)?

[ 01-18-2002: Message edited by: MSU2k ]

antaisce · January 18, 2002 2:12PM

[quote]Originally posted by MSU2k:



What is your definition of enough RAM (for a new IMac obviously)?

[ 01-18-2002: Message edited by: MSU2k ]<hr></blockquote>

384 MB plus, depends on what you do...

imacfp · January 18, 2002 2:16PM

[quote]Originally posted by antaisce:



384 MB plus, depends on what you do...<hr></blockquote>

About that although it will be okay with 256. 512 would be best though. My new iMac is coming with 512.

eman · January 18, 2002 6:23PM

I'm on a new imac right now at Palisades and OS X runs great on the new iMacs.

thegelding · January 18, 2002 6:32PM

EmAn---check the profiler...how much ram and what os is it running...thanks g

damn i'm jealous...does that screen glide? is the image beautiful..g

ps..i'm happy for you and hate you all at the same time

wish mine would ship soon...

[ 01-18-2002: Message edited by: thegelding ]

imacfp · January 18, 2002 6:51PM

[quote]Originally posted by thegelding:

[QB]

ps..i'm happy for you and hate you all at the same time

wish mine would ship soon...

]]/QB]<hr></blockquote>

I second that.

I want my new computer so bad!

idude · January 18, 2002 9:37PM

OS X runs great on the iMac. I was at the Apple Store last Sunday. They had X on their iMac, and it was quite peppy. I don't even think they had it upgraded from the stock 256mb. I'm comparing it to my 500mhz iBook though, so my comparison might not be too accurate. Good luck on your purchase.

eman · January 18, 2002 10:20PM

[quote]Originally posted by thegelding:

EmAn---check the profiler...how much ram and what os is it running...thanks g

<hr></blockquote>

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I didn't check this time, but the first time I saw them there I checked. 256MB RAM and OS 10.1.2.

neomac · January 19, 2002 11:53AM

MSU2K,

256MB RAM is just right for OS10. LCD iMac run OS10 really well and they already come with 256MB. No worries.

ferro · January 19, 2002 12:30PM

I have had a little experience playing around with the LCD iMac at the apple store in the mall of america... Only thing I have noticed about the user experience was the "Genie Effect" seemed to be a little lacking... wasnt that fast... I have an iBook(dual) and mine was more fluid... other than that i didnt notice anything strang...

this experience comes from alot of over the shoulder viewing and personal experience too... the effect was a little choppy... I am not sure what would cause that... or what that might say about the system itself...ram, etc...

E PLURIBUS UNIX

-----------------------------

eman · January 19, 2002 1:13PM

Well I didn't notice the lag in the Genie Effect.

murbot · January 19, 2002 2:17PM

I think most people are planning on doing at least what I am going to do - drop another 256 MB of RAM into it.

512 should be good for most people.

powerdoc · January 20, 2002 12:01PM

i have downloaded mac os 10.1.2 : this os is now mature. It work fine, and i wish to not use mac os 9 anymore;

I tune 2,03 is fine, i photo, i movie either there is now sufficient printer's drivers.

Mac os 10 works fine on my G4 533 with 384 mb ram. 256 Mb is the minimal, but with os 10 the more you will have ram the better it will;

considering that the new imac is faster than my computer, i doubt you will find it slow.

Os 10 is supposed to be slow with the beige G3. Os 10 is very great, you can ear a CD while playing an another music,and the mac will mix the 2 sound. I even try to play simultaneously too songs with too different programs on the same CD : it works(of course there is many blanks because the CD cannot read simultanously 2 partitions) but there is no crash.

xool · January 21, 2002 12:58AM

[quote]Originally posted by MSU2k:

I'm a current PC user that has been considering a move to Macs and am admittedly intrigued by the new IMacs. I have seen a post or two on boards about OSX being "sluggish" on the new IMacs. Does anybody have enough experience with them (or an equivalent Powermac) to comment on OSX's performance with that processor speed?

A "sluggish" OS would be a deal breaker for me I think and the idea of switching back and forth between 9 and X seems like a headache.<hr></blockquote>

I feel that my Ti 500 runs OS X acceptably, albeit a bit slow at times. However the iMacs I tried at MacWorld we snappy! IE opened FAST!! Didn't use it much though...

matsu · January 21, 2002 10:19AM

OSX might be acceptable to some on slower machines but you're going to want a very snappy OS coming from the windows world. 10.1 seems to do the trick but we don't really know what will be needed for 10.1 plus native versions of the big apps (filemaker, photoshop, quark etc...) as many of these won't be available in a mature form (preliminary bugs worked out, minimal driver issues, you now, somethiing a little beyond the more like 'final beta' versions it has now become customary for software companies to release as complete shipping product)

My typical skepticism makes me think that we won't really know what's needed for OSX use untill not only OSX but all the major apps too have been out for a few months. Looks like you'll need a minimum of 256MB RAM (with 512 to be sure) and a 700-800Mhz Cpu. The older superdrive 733's and DP533's in the lab seem to be OK with OSX. It doesn't seem to me like any of the current laptops will be a 100% lag free in OSX, so I'm waiting on that, but if an 800Mhz iMac G4 is close to a 733PowerMac it should run fine.

I'm not sure why (or I cant articulate it properly), but I really think that OSX was concieved with an entirely different performance metric in mind. Something like G4's about twice their current speed, or scary fast (as yet unseen) G5's. As if it needed to run decently on the current generation to kick start compatibilty, drivers, apps, developer and user interest... etc etc but that it is really intended for something we haven't seen yet. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]

eman · January 21, 2002 10:56AM

[quote]Originally posted by Xool:



I feel that my Ti 500 runs OS X acceptably, albeit a bit slow at times. However the iMacs I tried at MacWorld we snappy! IE opened FAST!! Didn't use it much though...<hr></blockquote>

How fast is snappy? The iMacs I tried opened IE in 2 bounces which is the same as my 500MHz iBook.

corvette · January 21, 2002 11:37AM

The powerbook 667 is blazing fast in osx.

OSX performance on the new IMacs?

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