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Article:
  The Disaster-Free Upgrade to Mac OS X
Subject:   400MHz PB - Slow finder
Date:   2001-05-10 08:11:30
From:   pcacace
It seems even with 10.0.2 and 576MB RAM that the finder is sluggish and unresponsive on this PowerBook. Yet every other feature works as advertised. I can honestly say that I have not had a single problem since upgrading.


The speed issue can be easily overlooked when working exclusively on one machine - but after switching between OS 9.1 and Windows 98 (*groan*) throughout the day, it is clear that X (on this machine) can't perform in a real work environment yet.


Can this speed isssue be the difference between the G3 and G4?
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  • Derrick Story photo 400MHz PB - Slow finder
    2001-05-10 11:10:41  Derrick Story | O'Reilly AuthorO'Reilly Blogger [Reply | View]

    Seems to me that some people are more sensitive to speed differences than others. But I think at this point, Mac OS X is slower than what you're used to on Windows and OS 9.

    What I've done to help with this (I hate slow computers too!)is much like what I used to do in the early PowerPC days.

    Turn off everything I don't need such as File Sharing, AppleTalk, and even Classic when possible. I keep my open application load to a minimum (even though it sounds like you have plenty of RAM). You can easily close apps right from the Dock by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on them.

    The other thing that I've noticed that really affects performance is my networking configuration. On my PowerBook, I'm constantly switching between Airport networks with different TCP/IP configs.

    I had noticed that things were really slowing down when I switched from one environment to another. So I changed my set-up from using "Automatic" in the "Location" option in the Network System Prefs to creating specific Locations with unique settings.

    After I did that, overall performance improved.

    Don't know if any of these tips are useful to you. Maybe someone else has something to share.
    • 400MHz PB - Slow finder
      2001-05-10 13:52:49  pcacace [Reply | View]

      Thanks for some good suggestions - I try to keep the system as lean as possible as well.

      So far the just-released 10.0.3 has made the Finder much faster - especially in column view. There is a noticeable difference that I did not see with 10.0.2. Hopefully each update will push OS X performance even further.