Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Snappy?? NOT!!

Snappy?? NOT!!
Thread Tools
Podolsky
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 09:05 AM
 
I have a 667 combo and it is simply way to slow. But, it is only 8 months old and I can't justify selling. The things that bother me are mostly screen drawing and windowing and I know there must be ways to speed those up. What are all the various tricks you use to speed OSX up? I am ready to try just about anything that wont jeopardize system stabiltiy.

Thanks
     
gravy
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: san francisco, ca
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 11:16 AM
 
Add more RAM <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />
     
euphras
Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Germany, 51°51´51" N, 9°05´41" E
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 01:11 PM
 
More RAM will not enhance the "Snappiability" further than only a bit (OK, sounds diffuse). The Ti�s of the second generation are suffering from the missing 3rd level cache and the Radeon Mobility 16 megs.

Pat


Macintosh Quadra 950, Centris 610, Powermac 6100, iBook dual USB, Powerbook 667 DVI, Powerbook 867 DVI, MacBook Pro early 2011
     
Roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 01:18 PM
 
I've got a 667 with 1 GB of RAM and I use FInal Cut Pro on it in Mac OS X. I don't think it is slow at all.
     
euphras
Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Germany, 51°51´51" N, 9°05´41" E
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 02:39 PM
 
Originally posted by Roelstation:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"> I've got a 667 with 1 GB of RAM and I use FInal Cut Pro on it in Mac OS X. I don't think it is slow at all.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Do You have a DVI Tibook, Roel? If yes: you lucky one! The 3rd level cache helps a lot!


Macintosh Quadra 950, Centris 610, Powermac 6100, iBook dual USB, Powerbook 667 DVI, Powerbook 867 DVI, MacBook Pro early 2011
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 05:53 PM
 
The RADEON Mobility won't matter much until Quartz Extreme is part of the occasion when Jaguar (Mac OS 10.2) is released. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 06:50 PM
 
I have plenty of ram and that isn't a variable anyway. I don't have the DVI version with the Level 3 and additional vram. So questions stands, if and how I can coax more snappyness out of this pb for the roughly 6 months I am stuck with it?
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 07:33 PM
 
I wanted one. I still want one. They're great machines. You don't need the additional speed. Spend your time using that wonderful computer for work or play rather than wasting your time trying to eke every possible ounce of power out of it. You have maxed out the RAM and spent enough time wondering how to speed it up. Getting a new hard drive might help out a bit (especially those new, IBM TravelStar 40GNX's), but if you really want more speed, sell it and get a 667-megahertz DVI PowerBook. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 07:40 PM
 
Still missing my point. I am looking for ways to speed up my existing system, not get new hardware. Let me help - are there ways to speed up or replace Aqua? Are their 3rd party products to enchance X? These kinds of things are what I am looking for. Yes, I know it is a great computer, yes I know there are faster components, yes the lastest gen PBs are even better.....

Thanks
     
CheesePuff
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Rochester, NY
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 07:48 PM
 
Just wondering... how much RAM do you have? You can always get more. Don't ever say "I have enough". (unless you maxed it )
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 07:54 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by CheesePuff:
<strong>Just wondering... how much RAM do you have? You can always get more. Don't ever say "I have enough". (unless you maxed it )</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">If he says he doesn't want to buy more hardware, that includes memory as well.
     
ddiokno
Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: The Valley of the Sun
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 08:06 PM
 
Hi Podolski,
You might want to check out <a href="http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool2.html" target="_blank">Tinkertool</a>. It lets you customize some of the different features of OSX that hog system resources...
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">* Enable or disable the Mac OS Desktop
* Disable the animation effect when opening files
* Show hidden and system files in the Finder
* Make the Finder a standard application with a "Quit" menu item
* Control display options for the Finder's column view
* Control the scaling options for the Desktop background image
* Set the Dock position and pinning
* Select the Dock animation effect
* Use transparent Dock icons to mark hidden applications
* Select different styles for display of the scrollbar arrows
* Control automatic play of audio CDs or DVDs
* Set the file format for screenshots
* Change the language for startup and login without having to reinstall the OS
* Select the default fonts used in Cocoa applications
* Activate transparent Terminal windows
* Control font-smoothing in most Mac OS X applications</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">not sure if this will help your particular issue, but it is a great application (better yet, it is free)
good luck,
dave
     
mrfett
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Boston
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 08:16 PM
 
you can also check out:
<a href="http://www.osxfaq.com/DailyTips/index.ws" target="_blank">http://www.osxfaq.com/DailyTips/index.ws</a>

there are some os x speed tips there.
     
Luca Rescigno
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 08:41 PM
 
There's a shareware and freeware software company called Unsanity (www.unsanity.com) that makes a small piece of software called Shadow Killer. All it does is remove drop shadows. I read a discussion of it on xlr8yourmac.com and according to many people's tests, it significantly sped things up even when using custom themes to remove transparency and stuff didn't help.

They have some other fun stuff, like Window Shade and Finder Sounds for OS X, but I think the $7 shareware fees for each of those is a bit steep, considering how small and minor they are.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 11:18 PM
 
Thank you all for the suggestions. I have 512mg ram and I use Tinkertool but I don't think that speeds anything up.

My complaints are with X and Aqua and the time for UI to build and respond. I am not a whiner and I do like this machine but it does feel slow. My OS is very stable. I have not mangled it anyway shape or form. The time for apps to launch their first time is pathetic. Entourage takes 8+ seconds to launch after a reboot. System Pref is very slow first launch and pokey most all the time. I like Aqua but the eye candy is wearing away at 6 months and now I want some snap but I don't want to buy the new 667 or the 800 because while they are better they are not significantly better. Apple should be able to engineer some some faster windowing schemes and faster app launching by now. Come on!!
     
Jean-Loup
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: montreal, canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 11:25 PM
 
Get your hands on Duality 3 and chose a skin with no transparency. That will help a bit combined with the other tips above, you should notice a speed up. I wouldn't worry too much though. In a few weeks 10.2 will be out and you will see a huge speed increase. I'm also VERY surprised that you find your system slow; I have a Ti 550 and I find it VERY fast in X. I actually "feel" it faster than my old G4 450dp for some very strange reason. Then again I have mucho RAM in this puppy (768).

If you were to decide on upgrading your hardware at ome point, getting a 5400rpm drive like the 60 gig Travelstar would also help speed things up a bit.

Another thing you could do is download Mac Janitor and run that...that may help too. And someone please tell this guy how to prebind...I forget the comand.

I hope this helps, let us know how it goes

JL
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2002, 11:37 PM
 
I have the janitor and pacifist and the system is well maintained. Shadow killer doesn't do much that I could tell but I am just trying it.

Thank you!
     
Mister T
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: A-Team Van
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 01:43 AM
 
Well MacWorld is like a week away, isn't Stevie supposed to show off Jaguar?

The people from this forum have tried bootlegs of it and said it flys. Maybe you just need to wait to hear what steve has to say at Macworld and if Jaguar is "Snappy" like a mofo, then you don't have to do anything except upgrade when he says it will come out.

I have the original Tibook 500 and i've grown used to the "un-snappiness". It doesn't really hinder me...it's not that bad IMO. (Photoshop7/Indesign2/Illustrator10)
<a href="http://www.jacktse.com/macnn/ass.html" target="_blank"> </a>
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 05:44 AM
 
I live with this 500-megahertz G3 "FireWire".

It's not "snappy", but it's usable. Stop rubbing it in.
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 07:23 AM
 
From what I hear the 500 IS snappier or at least almost snappy! My 667 is not though. I don't have a real huge problem with processor intensive performance. Rather, it is X, Aqua, and the UI that bogs me down.

I can't wait to see 10.2 as suggested above - so, my fingers are crossed that it will help. But come on, even if Apple could tweak X to make our machines run like a new PB, would they????? If they would they would build PB with upgradable CPUs but they don't - so I don't expect a lot of performance bump but I definitely am looking forward to .2!!
     
OzTiBook
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 07:30 AM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Podolsky:
<strong>..My complaints are with X and Aqua and the time for UI to build and respond. I am not a whiner and I do like this machine but it does feel slow.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">I have the same system as you (667/512), and while at its core its a fast machine, the Aqua UI does slow it down. Unfortunatly, as others have posted here, nothing can really be done until 10.2 is released. The Quartz Extreme and other general speed-ups apparantly make it significantly faster.
     
gravy
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: san francisco, ca
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 11:32 AM
 
Is there any way to speed up my microwave?
5 minutes seems like a really long time to
cook my frozen dinner. I swear sometimes
the world can't speed up fast enough to satisfy me.
Do remember waiting a half hour to cook a meal?
I just got my 550 ti upgrading from an 8600/200
now that was slow. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 12:28 PM
 
It is all relative, I totally agree. And it also a lot of perception. And for me that is the whole point. I was hoping to get more mileage from the is PB. I wasn't expecting at 6 months to be perceiving it as slow but I do and that is no lie. Sure it is stable, sure it is a joy to look at, yes Aqua is lovely but it is also S L O W! Sure if you are are coming from a PPC 200 a 667 G4 is going to feel parcecs faster. But that isn't my perception. My perception is one of under performing. Let's wait and see what X.2 has under the hood. I guess we already got some window cacheing rountines in a previous update. We'll know in a few days I guess.....
     
Todd Corzett
Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Irvine, Ca
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 12:40 PM
 
Something that might help, but is probably way overkill, would be to compleatly reinstall everything. Sounds to me like you have a system which doesn't crash (mostly I do a clean install to get rid of those types of things) but you could have stuff on there that causes lag problems. I always find that a computer is faster just after a clean install - before you've run upgrades and installed/uninstalled programs, etc...

You might also want to run some drive utilities and stuff to make sure there are no issues there - and while your at it defrag your drive.

If speed is a critical issue you could always go back to OS9 - probably not desired, but it seems to be much faster.

-Todd...
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 06:46 PM
 
A clean install is out of the question but I agree it might help a bit. But it is way to complicated at this point in time. I do run Disk Warrior weekly and overall my system is optimized. I am mostly talking about app launching, window drawing, and other UI types of functions. I have tried shadowkiller and several other things but I am looking for an impact that I can really detect and measure not when where it may feel a bit faster but gee I'm not sure.....

I recall one of the OS 8 that really sped up application launches. I note that in X the second launch is always 30% or more faster than intial launches. For that reason I keep my machine up as much as possible. A major gripe is Pref Panel it is dreadful, yes it is pretty but it is slow too.

I am waiting for a REALLY FAST powerbook one that I can stick with 18 months or more!! I know they will come. The 667 ain't it though and I thought it would be.
     
tooki
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2002, 07:07 PM
 
Sorry, Podolski, but 512MB isn't "plenty of RAM" in OS X. The more the better. OS X is perfectly capable of using up 300MB of RAM just in windows if you have a lot of things running, and it will slow down if it runs out of RAM and has to start swapping to disk.

Add to this the fact that Cocoa programs (being programmed with an Object-oriented programming language) are very RAM-hungry.

I strongly urge you to bump your machine to the maximum RAM it can take (1GB in your case), make sure you've run all the OS X updates, and that you keep Classic closed as much as possible (an unoptimized Classic system folder will cause Classic to use up most of the processor time, bringing everything to a grinding crawl).

tooki
     
phobos
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Athens, Greece
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2002, 04:00 AM
 
Tooki RELAAAAAAX!!!!!!!!!!!!
512MB is O.K for OSX. Yes it's memory hungry but please not so hungry.OSX does the same trick Windows do.It holds as much memory as it can on the start (to run the O.S as fast as it can) and after you start some applications it gives some of the memory back to your applications.
If he does some photoshoping and stuff like that than he needs more memory.But if he runs office explorer and light applications the more than 512MB of memory is a complete waste of money.
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2002, 05:43 AM
 
Chill out, tooki!

I run OS X on a 400-megahertz Pismo with 384 megabytes of SDRAM. It's fine for doing light Photoshop work and browsing MacNN. My 800-megahertz iMac ran fine with 256 megabytes of SDRAM. For God's sake, the eMacs and low-end iMacs come with 128 megabytes of RAM.

It's a processor bottleneck as well. Dual-processor, one-gigahertz Power Macs with 384 megabytes of SDRAM run OS X very well. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2002, 10:19 PM
 
I agree, while not ideal 512 should be okay and the kinds of things I am underwhelmed with won't improve dramatically if I go to 768 or one gig. But, I am going to put in a 512 and take it to 768 to show good faith and that I am not just a professional whiner. I am starting to think it may be more related to vram only being 15 and the other graphics chips being not really up to handling Aqua. But shadow killer didn't do all that much and hear that shadows are a lot of overhead.
     
iDaver
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Colorado
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 14, 2002, 01:44 AM
 
I run OS X on an iBook 600 and a PowerBook 667 and while the things you mention aren't truly "snappy" they simply don't bother me. If these things really bother you, perhaps you should boot under OS 9 most of the time until 10.2 comes out. I have a feeling that while the finder interface will be faster in 10.2, it's still not going to be perfect for everybody. Maybe someday when we're all using 5GHZ machines, X will have the feel of 9.
     
Jean-Loup
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: montreal, canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 14, 2002, 08:23 PM
 
You can also check if you need more RAM with <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=13636&db=mac" target="_blank"> this simple application </a> That will tell you if, in fact, you do need more RAM before you spend the cash for it. The thing that makes your 'puter slower in X if you don't have enough RAM is pageouts. Pageouts are a lot like the scratch disk used in PhotoShop. You wind up using your hard drive in place of memory. This is a vulgurized version of the truth but I think it conveys the "essence" fairly well.

So check with memory stick to see if you do have pageouts. If after a week or two you see you don't do not go waisting cash on RAM cause you will not see a difference.

I hope this helps.

BTW, if you feel it's too slow...you realy should back up a do a zero all of your drive. Rule of thumb from one Mac user to another: never, NEVER NEVER trust a factory formated drive. Any Mac you get, you should reformat the drive (zero all) and then install a nice clean system. It's a pain and it really hard to do when you get your new baby...but it's really worth it.

Wolf

<small>[ 07-14-2002, 08:29 PM: Message edited by: Jean-Loup ]</small>
     
ddiokno
Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: The Valley of the Sun
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 15, 2002, 06:20 PM
 
Hey Podolsky,
Just a thought... try the new <a href="http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/mac/macos-july-2002-update.html" target="_blank">ATI retail driver update</a>. I tried them the first time they released them and it made a huge difference on my Ti500, then one of the OSX updates erased any gains I saw, then a new update came out and it worked, but another X update broke it, and now this update makes things snappy just wanted to use the buzzword again... for instance on many of the pages I would go to, I could literally see the different parts of the page drawing, now the whole page pops up... anyway, its worth a try...
dave

*** edit typos ***

<small>[ 07-15-2002, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: ddiokno ]</small>
     
Brien
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Southern California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 15, 2002, 06:38 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Podolsky:
<strong>I have a 667 combo and it is simply way to slow. But, it is only 8 months old and I can't justify selling. The things that bother me are mostly screen drawing and windowing and I know there must be ways to speed those up. What are all the various tricks you use to speed OSX up? I am ready to try just about anything that wont jeopardize system stabiltiy.

Thanks</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Add RAM and run MacJanitor often (or leave your computer on all night). That seems to always help.
     
soonbaek
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 15, 2002, 07:21 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by ddiokno:
<strong>Hey Podolsky,
Just a thought... try the new <a href="http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/mac/macos-july-2002-update.html" target="_blank">ATI retail driver update</a>. I tried them the first time they released them and it made a huge difference on my Ti500, then one of the OSX updates erased any gains I saw, then a new update came out and it worked, but another X update broke it, and now this update makes things snappy just wanted to use the buzzword again... for instance on many of the pages I would go to, I could literally see the different parts of the page drawing, now the whole page pops up... anyway, its worth a try...
dave

*** edit typos ***</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">I didn't know the ATi Driver made difference...
I'm in same boat as the original poster, Podolsky. I have TiBook 550 non-combo model and it blows in OS X for me. I added a 512MB of RAM for total 768MB and also replaced the 20GB with IBM 48GH 5400RPM HD. Those two had a significant boost but I wanted more. Due to current financial situation, I sold my TiBook on eBay...

Besides HD upgrades, the single most effective speed increase was to enable "windows buffer compression"! This really helps, especially with low memory (&lt;256MB)
     
all the other names were taken
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 12:44 AM
 
Wait for Jaguar. It's supposed to be at least 40% faster, plus the speed advantage of Quartz extreme, if your computer's up to it.
     
soonbaek
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 12:53 AM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by all the other names were taken:
<strong>Wait for Jaguar. It's supposed to be at least 40% faster, plus the speed advantage of Quartz extreme, if your computer's up to it.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Only if it was true (at least 40% faster...)
     
all the other names were taken
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 01:02 AM
 
Also, if a 7200 RPM or faster Hard Drive ever comes out for a laptop, then get it.
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 05:20 AM
 
I doubt that'll happen in the near future. I think we're going to see something in the middle (6,300 RPM, anyone?) before a full-fledged, 7,200 RPM hard drive comes out for a portable.
     
mongoMac
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Michigan, MI
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 09:52 AM
 
Try running one of the library pre-binding apps. If you are having trouble with applications opening slowly this might do the trick for ya.

This one is XOptimize and it worked great for me. Improved all of the opening times for my apps by at least a little bit, then again, I wasn't having problems with slow apps in the first place.

<a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=10451&db=mac" target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=10451&db=mac</a>

Hope it works out for ya!!
PowerMac G4 733
640 MB RAM
http://homepage.mac.com/mungallc/Sites
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 16, 2002, 07:30 PM
 
Hey, thank you all so very much for this great collection of tweaks. This is exactly what I wanted. And while I haven't had the time to try them all, I have tried a few of them already and some helped out. My greatest hope is for a the new version of X which will possibly be available as early as tomorrow. Once that is installed we will all know a lot more. The rumors are that this update is meant to speed up the user experience. We'll all know more soon.

By the way, used the memory stick app to see about how often I got close to maxing out the 512 of memory and it didn't appear that ever did. I do run photoshop but not the native X version but the Classic version. It runs about as fast as you would expect it to on a 667 G4.

I am still dissappointed that my $3K investment didn't feel good even for 6 months. I am true Apple fan and not likely to bail anytime soon but for that price the UI should feel good for, well, 9 months or a year. ......
     
nana2
Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2000
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 09:52 AM
 
Why not install OS 9.x and try that? Sounds like all that pretty eye candy is slowing you down too much.
     
PBG4 User
Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Deer Crossing, CT
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 12:14 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by nana2:
<strong>Why not install OS 9.x and try that? Sounds like all that pretty eye candy is slowing you down too much.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">I have to concur with this. The few times that I reboot in 9.2.1 on my PBG4 500, it feels like I have a new computer again.

Unfortunately for me, the Rev. A PBG4's will gain nothing from Quartz Extreme, but hopefully will see some improvements due to the FreeBSD 4.4 update and the use of GCC 3.0 (both new for OS X).

There is much more than just QE and some new iApps in Jaguar. The whole base system is being updated.
20" iMac G5! :D AND MacBook 1.83GHz!
Canon Digital Rebel Kit + 75 - 300mm lens. Yum Yum! :D
Check out my OS X Musical Scales program
     
soonbaek
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 12:20 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Podolsky:
<strong>
I am still dissappointed that my $3K investment didn't feel good even for 6 months. I am true Apple fan and not likely to bail anytime soon but for that price the UI should feel good for, well, 9 months or a year. ......</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">I hear you... My advise is to sell your current PBG4 and wait 6 months for next revision. It seems Apple is going through growing pains at this stage. The OS is not optimized and the current hardware is too slow. I believe that 1Ghz G4 will be minimum for OS X. Have you guys tried opening iPhoto with 1500+ photos? It gets worse when you try to scroll it! I love OS X. It's the best OS on the market but it suffers from slow hardware. I know because my PBG4 550Mhz 768MB/48GB 5400RPM/DVD is slow.

Patiently waiting for next revision...
     
silverghost
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Bunch of Islands in the Pacific
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 04:18 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by soonbaek:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Podolsky:
<strong>
I am still dissappointed that my $3K investment didn't feel good even for 6 months. I am true Apple fan and not likely to bail anytime soon but for that price the UI should feel good for, well, 9 months or a year. ......</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">I hear you... My advise is to sell your current PBG4 and wait 6 months for next revision. It seems Apple is going through growing pains at this stage. The OS is not optimized and the current hardware is too slow. I believe that 1Ghz G4 will be minimum for OS X. Have you guys tried opening iPhoto with 1500+ photos? It gets worse when you try to scroll it! I love OS X. It's the best OS on the market but it suffers from slow hardware. I know because my PBG4 550Mhz 768MB/48GB 5400RPM/DVD is slow.

Patiently waiting for next revision...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Sorry but I have to disagree with you, I think the original poster should keep there PBG4 till at least jaguar comes out to make a better judgement of the OS and Hardware. Ive seen jaguar on a Pismo 500 w/768ram,48gigHD and its way faster; Oh and how do you know for certain that Apple will release new PowerBooks in 6 months? lately looks like apple's content to release new stuff when they please.

aloha
"In my madness my eyes are now open"
     
soonbaek
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 04:52 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by silverghost:
<strong>Sorry but I have to disagree with you, I think the original poster should keep there PBG4 till at least jaguar comes out to make a better judgement of the OS and Hardware. Ive seen jaguar on a Pismo 500 w/768ram,48gigHD and its way faster;

aloha</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">While there is hope for the Jagwire I still don't think Apple can all of sudden upgrade a machine that is barely useable to smokin' fast. If my PBG4 550Mhz OS X 10.1.5 is fast as OS 9 I wouldn't have sold it. However, as stated, I simply love OS X... Just that hardware is not ready.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Oh and how do you know for certain that Apple will release new PowerBooks in 6 months? lately looks like apple's content to release new stuff when they please.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Maybe I should expect sooner?

I have one other reason to wait... QE. From what I understand, the QE will use video card's accelerator, like in games, to accelerate and free CPU for other task. I think this is one of the best features and other OS will soon follow. However, the Radeon 7500 will smoke my PBG4 Rev. B's Radeon. I know that the Radeon is supported but look at Quake 3 benchmarks! The Radeon 7500 doubles the Radeon! It would seem the Radeon will be minimum requirement. This alone should be a indicator to sell right now and hold out till end of the year. Given Apple's HW track, it seems to release every 6-9 months. By that time, the PBG4 will have new graphic core or at very least 64MB DDR video RAM.

And I have ultimate reason to wait... $$$ I believe the current PBG4 800Mhz will be minimum. If I'm going to spend $3000.00, it should feel fast for at least 1 year.

Aloha!
     
Love Calm Quiet
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CO
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 07:14 PM
 
Podolsky...
Thanks for starting a great thread. I've learned a lot of helpful tricks.

Can you stand one more? You may or may not find this an issue on your PB, but on my DVI Ti, I like APM Tuner X (see VT). Gotta start it us each time you restart, but WTH (safety issues). It gives you more time before your drive parks its head. As long as your not sitting with the Ti on your lap, why not? Adds some snap for me!
TOMBSTONE: "He's trashed his last preferences"
     
silverghost
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Bunch of Islands in the Pacific
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 08:18 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by soonbaek:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by silverghost:
<strong>Sorry but I have to disagree with you, I think the original poster should keep there PBG4 till at least jaguar comes out to make a better judgement of the OS and Hardware. Ive seen jaguar on a Pismo 500 w/768ram,48gigHD and its way faster;

aloha</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">While there is hope for the Jagwire I still don't think Apple can all of sudden upgrade a machine that is barely useable to smokin' fast. If my PBG4 550Mhz OS X 10.1.5 is fast as OS 9 I wouldn't have sold it. However, as stated, I simply love OS X... Just that hardware is not ready.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Oh and how do you know for certain that Apple will release new PowerBooks in 6 months? lately looks like apple's content to release new stuff when they please.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Maybe I should expect sooner?

I have one other reason to wait... QE. From what I understand, the QE will use video card's accelerator, like in games, to accelerate and free CPU for other task. I think this is one of the best features and other OS will soon follow. However, the Radeon 7500 will smoke my PBG4 Rev. B's Radeon. I know that the Radeon is supported but look at Quake 3 benchmarks! The Radeon 7500 doubles the Radeon! It would seem the Radeon will be minimum requirement. This alone should be a indicator to sell right now and hold out till end of the year. Given Apple's HW track, it seems to release every 6-9 months. By that time, the PBG4 will have new graphic core or at very least 64MB DDR video RAM.

And I have ultimate reason to wait... $$$ I believe the current PBG4 800Mhz will be minimum. If I'm going to spend $3000.00, it should feel fast for at least 1 year.

Aloha!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Ok thats true with QE older systems without the 16meg vram minimum wont see to much of a gain, but the gain on older systems is still great; If i had the lotchie($$) id actually by a TIG4 800, oh well.

aloha
"In my madness my eyes are now open"
     
Podolsky  (op)
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 18, 2002, 09:50 PM
 
I don't know how I had it my head the JAG-U-R was going to be released during MWNY but clearly we will have to wait a few weeks. I was listening to SJ (how many times DID he say "cool" anyway??), going back and forth to Software Update and the Apple Store - all three venues were dissappointing! I think Apple got away with murder in NY - they really needed to debut a new Desktop or some major hardware but all they came up with was a bigger screen iMac and fatter iPod.

I loved the demo problems SJ was having ---- hmmm, lets see, no, uh, well let me try the back-up system........You gotta love that! I was very impressed with his cool, cool, very cool performance under some pretty buggy situations.....

More good suggestions for tweaking up X and I will try some of them over the weekend.

This thead has made me love the PB a bit more. I probably should sell it now and wait for another one but I am going to hang on to it, and when I buy a new one later this year, I will put this one under my sons pillow - he should get at least 3 months out of it before saying - where's the SNAP????
     
fmalloy
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 22, 2002, 09:37 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Jean-Loup:
<strong>Rule of thumb from one Mac user to another: never, NEVER NEVER trust a factory formated drive. Any Mac you get, you should reformat the drive (zero all) and then install a nice clean system. It's a pain and it really hard to do when you get your new baby...but it's really worth it.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Can you explain why this may be true? Somehow, I don't believe it...
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 22, 2002, 11:47 PM
 
It sounds like something old "wlonh" would do. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

I think it's too much trouble. Unless the machine gets dropped in shipment, your new Apple computer will be fine. Sony and Compaq notebooks however, come preloaded with a bunch of garbage. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />

Plus, you'd be deleting all of the cool music files Apple includes with its computers. <img border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" title="" src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" />
     
 
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:02 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,