New iMac. Not impressed with the speed.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

First of all, hello everyone and greetings from the Ukraine. I've been a long time reader and now a first time poster

So I've finally bought my first Mac (iMac) few days ago and I love mostly everything about this computer, OSX, apps and the whole simplicity. But a few things have come out that I've never thought of.
Sometimes there is a small but noticeable lag, f.e. when I click on the "Application" folder in the dock. It looks like a small render lag.
The next thing is how Google Chrome runs on my system. When I try to load a heavy loaded page with a lot of flash banners it scrolls extremely slow, even after the whole page is loaded. I tried Firefox, Opera and Safari. Safari is the best one but there is still a noticeable lag. Mac AppStore runs pretty slow too while I do the long list scroll.

I am kind of disappointed because I thought with that kind of a configuration that I have (Quad Core 2.5 GHz i5, 4 Gigs of RAM, AMD 6750 GPU), the system will scream! Comparing to Windows it looks like there are no GPU drivers installed, but my games still runs fine on a Mac (I played Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 with no problems).

Should I say that's a software issue (Chrome/Flash/OSX) and maybe apps are not ready for the quad-core era?

Sorry for the long post but hope you'll help me guys

bobtomay · Jul 1, 2011

You should be saying "Hello Flash" and "Thank you, Adobe".

Best I can suggest is to grab ClicktoFlash.

BrianLachoreVPI · Jul 1, 2011

I don't know - something sounds odd to me. The fact that you're seeing lag even with mundane actions isn't normal. Have you installed any SW that might be running in the background? I have a quad core iMac, i7, and I don't see any lag doing any of the activities you've described. I'd suggest taking a shot of your activity monitor and posting it in this thread - and if noone sees anything out of the norm - perhaps visiting the Apple Store. Increasing the RAM isn't a bad idea either.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

bobtomay said:
You should be saying "Hello Flash" and "Thank you, Adobe".
Best I can suggest is to grab ClicktoFlash.

Thanks for the suggestion. That is great find.

BrianLachoreVPI said:
I don't know - something sounds odd to me. The fact that you're seeing lag even with mundane actions isn't normal. Have you installed any SW that might be running in the background? I have a quad core iMac, i7, and I don't see any lag doing any of the activities you've described. I'd suggest taking a shot of your activity monitor and posting it in this thread - and if noone sees anything out of the norm - perhaps visiting the Apple Store. Increasing the RAM isn't a bad idea either.

The CPU activity is really low on my system while browsing the web or doing some general tasks. I did a fresh install of the Snow Leopard from the Apple provided DVD, updated the system and only installed a few apps like Skype, Twitter and Flash from the Adobe web site.
Here is the screen: http://localhostr.com/file/IH6Zhbg/Screen shot 2011-07-01 at 3.11.34 PM.png

And what is "SW"?

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

Plus I ran Apple Diagnostics from the included DVD, checked my ram and my hard drive. Did the GeekBench with the result of 7200 (normal to any other mid2011 iMac).

robduckyworth · Jul 1, 2011

Repair your disk permissions through Disk Utility.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

robduckyworth said:
Repair your disk permissions through Disk Utility.

Thank you but I did that already. I guess it helped a little bit but not that much. How often I have to do this?

robduckyworth · Jul 1, 2011

not alot. every month or so. you could try doing a repair disk by booting from the install discs.

EvenStranger · Jul 1, 2011

Since this is a new unit, and most of the issues appear to be network based, try this - open System Preferences->Network and click the gear icon at the bottom of the window. Select Set Service Order and make sure Ethernet and Airport are at the top of the list, Bluetooth and Firewire at the bottom. Apple typically lists Bluetooth at the top of the list, so all network requests attempt to pass through Bluetooth first, fail, and then move on to one of the other ports. By moving it to the bottom of the list, you lower its priority, hopefully speeding things up a little.

baggss · Jul 1, 2011

raider360 said:
First of all, hello everyone and greetings from the Ukraine. I've been a long time reader and now a first time poster
So I've finally bought my first Mac (iMac) few days ago and I love mostly everything about this computer, OSX, apps and the whole simplicity. But a few things have come out that I've never thought of.
Sometimes there is a small but noticeable lag, f.e. when I click on the "Application" folder in the dock. It looks like a small render lag.
The next thing is how Google Chrome runs on my system. When I try to load a heavy loaded page with a lot of flash banners it scrolls extremely slow, even after the whole page is loaded. I tried Firefox, Opera and Safari. Safari is the best one but there is still a noticeable lag. Mac AppStore runs pretty slow too while I do the long list scroll.

I am kind of disappointed because I thought with that kind of a configuration that I have (Quad Core 2.5 GHz i5, 4 Gigs of RAM, AMD 6750 GPU), the system will scream! Comparing to Windows it looks like there are no GPU drivers installed, but my games still runs fine on a Mac (I played Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 with no problems).

Should I say that's a software issue (Chrome/Flash/OSX) and maybe apps are not ready for the quad-core era?

Sorry for the long post but hope you'll help me guys

Silly as it may sound, double the RAM. I have a Mid-2010 i3 iMac and it came with 4Gb of RAM. When I doubled it to 8 things suddenly became a lot snappier. These days with Apps like Safari, Mail, Handbrake and iTunes open the machine uses about 4Gb of RAM to run. The extra 4 makes the difference.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

robduckyworth said:
not alot. every month or so. you could try doing a repair disk by booting from the install discs.

Thanks. Gonna do that.

EvenStranger said:
Since this is a new unit, and most of the issues appear to be network based, try this - open System Preferences->Network and click the gear icon at the bottom of the window. Select Set Service Order and make sure Ethernet and Airport are at the top of the list, Bluetooth and Firewire at the bottom. Apple typically lists Bluetooth at the top of the list, so all network requests attempt to pass through Bluetooth first, fail, and then move on to one of the other ports. By moving it to the bottom of the list, you lower its priority, hopefully speeding things up a little.

Done that. Thank you. Hope that helps.

baggss said:
Silly as it may sound, double the RAM. I have a Mid-2010 i3 iMac and it came with 4Gb of RAM. When I doubled it to 8 things suddenly became a lot snappier. These days with Apps like Safari, Mail, Handbrake and iTunes open the machine uses about 4Gb of RAM to run. The extra 4 makes the difference.

I thought about doing that a little bit later. My wallet feels so light right now

so my next buy would be a RAM and the SSD.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

I just came back from the store and played with the same iMac model as I have and with the i7 MBP. They have the same problems as I mentioned before. I guess Mac users are just used to them and the guy at the store told me that he have never even noticed that before...

Stanley · Jul 1, 2011

You're not running antivirus, autosaving, keylogging and all sorts of other add-ons are you?

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

Stanley said:
You're not running antivirus, autosaving, keylogging and all sorts of other add-ons are you?

Nope, that is a completely naked system without any kind of stuff like that.

While I see that lag the CPU gets about 15-20% of usage, so that's seems like a render/driver/software issue to me. Nothing else is running in the background.

chscag · Jul 1, 2011

I thought about doing that a little bit later. My wallet feels so light right now so my next buy would be a RAM and the SSD.

Adding memory to an iMac is a snap, however, I would seriously think twice about adding a SSD. Opening up an iMac and adding a SSD is something you need to look into before deciding that's what you want to do.

Take a look at the procedure for swapping out a hard drive in an iMac at the iFixit: The free repair manual web site.

raider360 · Jul 1, 2011

chscag said:
Adding memory to an iMac is a snap, however, I would seriously think twice about adding a SSD. Opening up an iMac and adding a SSD is something you need to look into before deciding that's what you want to do.

Take a look at the procedure for swapping out a hard drive in an iMac at the iFixit: The free repair manual web site.

Yup, I saw few disassembly videos on a YouTube and that's not a problem for me. The only thing I have to worry about is the warranty; I just don't wanna loose it, so I guess I might wait a bit...

Lifeisabeach · Jul 2, 2011

I have the last-gen iMac with an i3 and 4 GB RAM, and I simply don't have the issues you are experiencing. And no, as a Mac user I'm not simply "used" to it. Have you updated to 10.6.8 yet? If not, do so. If you have, download the 10.6.8 Update Combo and apply that. Sometimes that helps iron out little bugs from prior updates.

baggss · Jul 2, 2011

raider360 said:
I thought about doing that a little bit later. My wallet feels so light right now so my next buy would be a RAM and the SSD.

For $42, it's not going to hurt your wallet:

OWC 1333DDR3S04S 4.0GB (2x2.0GB Kit) PC3-10600 DDR3... in stock at OWC

raider360 · Jul 3, 2011

baggss said:
For $42, it's not going to hurt your wallet:
OWC 1333DDR3S04S 4.0GB (2x2.0GB Kit) PC3-10600 DDR3... in stock at OWC

Thanks

I'm not in the U.S. right now, but I'll definitely get one of those when I'll get back there in August.

lifeisabeach said:
I have the last-gen iMac with an i3 and 4 GB RAM, and I simply don't have the issues you are experiencing. And no, as a Mac user I'm not simply "used" to it. Have you updated to 10.6.8 yet? If not, do so. If you have, download the 10.6.8 Update Combo and apply that. Sometimes that helps iron out little bugs from prior updates.

Thanks for the reply. I did a fresh install once again, downloaded and applied this update. Still no speed difference.
So I must say the system in general is fast but not super fast. The Application stack opens fast if there is not so many apps. When the folder starts to grow, folder opens up with a small delay for the first time. The next time it's fine.
I guess I act like crazy and maybe there are no problems at all... $:\$
I'll try to record a video and show you what I mean.

baggss · Jul 3, 2011

raider360 said:
Thanks The Application stack opens fast if there is not so many apps. When the folder starts to grow, folder opens up with a small delay for the first time. The next time it's fine.
I guess I act like crazy and maybe there are no problems at all... $:\$
I'll try to record a video and show you what I mean.

I see a small delay when I open the application stack from the dock. Say, less than 1 second or so. That is simply the Window UI rendering the menu to display. Once it is rendered it will be fast but after a period of time the system will dump that render from memory and it will eventually have to do it again.

I don't think that's anything unusual or unacceptable. Now it it were a 4 or 5 second delay I would agree it's a problem. Maybe I'm just used to it but I see similar delays on Windows boxes I use (both at work and at home) and it doesn't really bother me.

New iMac. Not impressed with the speed.

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