11-25-2007, 10:34 PM

I have a 2.8Ghz, 4Gig RAM, using Leopard 10.5.1. I calculated my start up time today, it is 34 seconds. I find it a bit slow, as I have run Windows XP within 30 seconds before with poorer hardware spec than my current iMac.

Would like to ask everyone here what is your start up time? Is mine normal? or is it too slow? Is there anyway to hasten it? Thanks a lot.

11-25-2007, 11:48 PM

My two cents:

Originally Posted by seasurfer

I have a 2.8Ghz, 4Gig RAM, using Leopard 10.5.1. I calculated my start up time today, it is 34 seconds. I find it a bit slow, as I have run Windows XP within 30 seconds before with poorer hardware spec than my current iMac.

First of all, pitting the load times of two very different operating systems against each other as if they were equals or even using the two in some vague point of comparison is completely irrelevant. The hardware specs they are running makes no difference either, because the software works and uses said hardware in totally different ways.

Additionally, any boot time for any computer running any OS that is less than a minute is pretty darn good. The four second variance you listed is far less time than it would for you to read this post, thereby making it a fairly negligible variance in my book. Four seconds of your time is not going to make or break a thing. Even sixty seconds of your time is not going to cause you any major delays or "waste" any time.

Lastly, the Mac OS is really meant to be running all the time. There is little need to ever actually shut down the computer completely. If you are going to be away for an extended period of time, simply put the computer to sleep. That way when you return, a tap of the keyboard or mouse will bring the computer back to a state of readiness almost instantaneously.

11-25-2007, 11:56 PM

Very well said DB. I have had endless discussions with people who feel a computers speed is it's Boot Time. Nothing can be farther from the truth. I have seen very messed up XP systems take 3 minutes to boot but once there they would rip or encode Video way faster than some other systems that booted in 20 seconds. Booting speed rarely has anything to do with CPU speed in most cases.

I have a AMD 64 Gaming system with XP SP2 that I keep very simple and clean and it boots in 10-12 seconds to the desktop. But I have a Mac Mini Core Duo 1.66Ghz and it boots up just as fast, 10-12 seconds. No joke. I run no startup programs and run Onyx or MainMenu to keep the OS running smooth. The slowest booting mac is my iBook G4 and even it's 45 seconds. I am more concerned what happens once at the desktop when doing real work!!

11-26-2007, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Very well said DB. I have had endless discussions with people who feel a computers speed is it's Boot Time. Nothing can be farther from the truth. I have seen very messed up XP systems take 3 minutes to boot but once there they would rip or encode Video way faster than some other systems that booted in 20 seconds. Booting speed rarely has anything to do with CPU speed in most cases.

I have a AMD 64 Gaming system with XP SP2 that I keep very simple and clean and it boots in 10-12 seconds to the desktop. But I have a Mac Mini Core Duo 1.66Ghz and it boots up just as fast, 10-12 seconds. No joke. I run no startup programs and run Onyx or MainMenu to keep the OS running smooth. The slowest booting mac is my iBook G4 and even it's 45 seconds. I am more concerned what happens once at the desktop when doing real work!!

How do you make it boot in 10-12 seconds? Please teach me your method.

Actually the reason I brought up this post is because I feel that my newly bought iMac seems a little slow, it is just my feeling.

11-26-2007, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

My two cents:



First of all, pitting the load times of two very different operating systems against each other as if they were equals or even using the two in some vague point of comparison is completely irrelevant. The hardware specs they are running makes no difference either, because the software works and uses said hardware in totally different ways.

Additionally, any boot time for any computer running any OS that is less than a minute is pretty darn good. The four second variance you listed is far less time than it would for you to read this post, thereby making it a fairly negligible variance in my book. Four seconds of your time is not going to make or break a thing. Even sixty seconds of your time is not going to cause you any major delays or "waste" any time.

Lastly, the Mac OS is really meant to be running all the time. There is little need to ever actually shut down the computer completely. If you are going to be away for an extended period of time, simply put the computer to sleep. That way when you return, a tap of the keyboard or mouse will bring the computer back to a state of readiness almost instantaneously.

But the question is why am I starting slow? I understand this has nothing to do with speed. But why am I starting up so slow?

11-26-2007, 12:18 AM

Some systems just boot up faster, but do check for startup items in Users. Run MainMenu and run the scripts. If you leave it on 24 a day they will run on their own.

For some reason that Mini always was fast at booting up. Way faster than my G5 iMac in fact.

For the record it takes 4-5 more seconds for Leopard to boot to the desktop than Tiger. More going on. Does not bug me in the least.

11-26-2007, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Some systems just boot up faster, but do check for startup items in Users. Run MainMenu and run the scripts. If you leave it on 24 a day they will run on their own.

For some reason that Mini always was fast at booting up. Way faster than my G5 iMac in fact.

For the record it takes 4-5 more seconds for Leopard to boot to the desktop than Tiger. More going on. Does not bug me in the least.

Thanks for replying me.

Where to run Main Menu and the scripts? Thanks.

11-26-2007, 01:20 AM

Well my old 512K mac from way back in the 80's. I had it in the 90's though. And it started up in like 15 seconds or less. No joke. The same for the SE I had. Kinda funny that. But back on topic. My imac from pressing the button till the desktop (time taken to type my password removed) is about 30 seconds which I think is rather good. This is with 2 GB of ram. When it had only one it took about 40 seconds.

11-26-2007, 08:37 AM

Lots of ram will make a computer start up slower. It has to be tested/counted before it is used.
My neighbor's iMac has 512 and it restarts in 10 seconds. My iMac has 2GB and takes at least 20 seconds to boot.

11-26-2007, 11:24 PM

Can someone kindly teach me how to check what is run during start up? and how to close it down? Thanks in advance.

11-27-2007, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by seasurfer

Can someone kindly teach me how to check what is run during start up? and how to close it down? Thanks in advance.

i could but not answerin peoples questions saves my 10-15 seconds per post.

11-27-2007, 02:18 AM

Originally Posted by Fallooza

i could but not answerin peoples questions saves my 10-15 seconds per post.

Fallooza, always funny!

You open System Preferences, Accounts and look for the Login Items tab. Those are the apps that are starting up with OSX.

11-27-2007, 09:03 AM

After a restart, launch Terminal and enter the command "top"...

$ top

That will tell you every running process, prior to you launching any.

11-27-2007, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

My two cents:


Lastly, the Mac OS is really meant to be running all the time. There is little need to ever actually shut down the computer completely. If you are going to be away for an extended period of time, simply put the computer to sleep. That way when you return, a tap of the keyboard or mouse will bring the computer back to a state of readiness almost instantaneously.

This is 'true-ish' with all computers. Hard drives are designed to be running all the time. However, computers do need to be shut down and restarted on occasion to reset/drain the memory and clear it from any errors. Depending on how much you use your computer. Typically I would do a shut down ever month for just a couple of minutes.

I know some computers do have trouble with the sleep process though.

Does the iMac just have a monitor sleep function or is it a CPU/hardrrive/monitor sleep?

11-27-2007, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Airborneforest

Does the iMac just have a monitor sleep function or is it a CPU/hardrrive/monitor sleep?

Both actually. You can set it just to shut off the display, but sleep on a Mac puts it all to sleep. Internet drops, lights on my USB 2.0 Hubs go out. Wakes up quite fast though.