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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Slow processing

poetguy - Oct 25, 2006 - 4:18 am

I have a few questions related to speed, and how fast things happen or should happen.

First of all, what determines the speed at which a cd is imported? Mine seem to fluctuate between .5 and 2. Does that sound about right?

My other speed questions are more related to the processor and or my browser. I seem to be seeing much for of that spinning pinwheel of late. Why is taking my machine longer to do simple operations. For example, if I open a help window, it takes 5-10 seconds, opens blank, the fills with the proper info. When I minimize iTunes, there is hesitation before execution. Finally, some sites--like MSNBC, my home page on Firefox--seem to take forever to load, again, with lots of the spinning pinwheel.

What determines the speed on which a computer and its applications run? What can I do to improve that? I do regular maintenance: Disk Warrior monthly, clean caches weekly, repair permissions, etc. I don't get it.

kellhound1 - Oct 25, 2006 - 10:22 am

Hello,

First of all, an audio CD is imported by default settings in your import program (such as iTunes or Windows Media Player). These programs will rip a CD for best audio performance. The slower the rip the better the quality (sometimes). The speed you mentioned (0.5 to 2.0) is rather slow and unusual. This may be due to a few factors:

1. The CD is damaged and cannot be read correctly. To compensate the import program has to rip slower to read the backup information contained in all audio CDs.

2. The program you're using is not up-to-date.

3. Your computer is slow due to various circumstances, thereby releasing fewer resources to burning or ripping a CD.

Now, to your other question about processor speed and its influence on applications:

The processor speed will determine how quickly your computer can crunch numbers. Remember, all a program is is 1s and 0s. The faster the processor, the faster a common task will be completed. For instance, a G4 will compute a basic function faster than a G3. If you, let us say, open iMovie using a G4 computer and then have another computer with the same configuration but a G5 processor, the later processor will work and complete the task faster.

But, unfortunately, many people believe that all one needs to have a fast computer is a fast processor. This is only part of the equation. A faster processor will mean little if there is insufficient RAM.

RAM (Random Access Memory) allows your processor to handle multiple tasks at the same time. I've noticed your system profile states you have 1GB of SDRAM running on a 733MHz PowerMac tower. This is sufficient memory to complete most common tasks such as word processing or internet browsing or using iTunes. 1GB will allow you to do all these functions simultaneously will no problems.

But you must also remember that whenever you update a piece of software (like iTunes) the requirements are bound to change. For instance, iTunes 5 required less RAM than the current iTunes 7 does. This is because the newer versions come bundled with more features which require more RAM. Consider that if you updated all your basic software (i.e., iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, etc.) and ran them all at once, your processor would be pushing hard and RAM allocation will be nearing its zenith.

Now, to answer your concerns about Help Window and iTunes lag, as well as the "spinning beachball of death":

This is usually related to three factors:

1. Processor speed

2. RAM

3. Hard drive maintenance

I will have to assume from the information you provided about your system that all three are in play in your situation.

733MHz, though ample to run most basic programs, will find it difficult to support many of the newer "basic" programs like iMovie, which still requires a considerable amount of processor resources. There is no way for you to upgrade your processor now unless you take your tower to a 3rd party Mac-specific computer upgrader, and that is usually rare to find.

1GB of RAM is sufficient for your common tasks. But it is becoming more and more apparent that users should consider upgrading RAM every few years if they intend to keep their machine and still run more complex applications. 2GB of RAM is quickly becoming the standard for users. Now, there is no immediate need to go out and buy RAM for your Mac, but it might be good to consider this option if you plan to keep your machine.

Finally, disk maintenance is a very key issue. Most users will not bother cleaning their hard drives because Mac OS's rarely show any lag. For instance, a PC user will usually defrag a hard drive once a month to run Windows optimally. Mac OS also has a similar options under Disk Utility. Run Disk Utility (it is preinstalled on your computer in Mac OSX), select the hard drive which runs your OS and click on Repair Disk Permissions.

I would also like to suggest a few freeware options for you so that you have greater information about your system:

Onyx is a freeware utility which allows you to clean your hard drive and do many other maintenance jobs. It is highly recommended for all users, and should be utilized once every two months or so. Simply Google "onyx" and download from the first hit.

You can also download iStat, a widget you can find either on the Apple website or through Google. This will tell you exactly how much RAM is being used, how hard the processor is running, and the fan speeds on your machine.

If you have any further questions feel free to reply.


Sincerely,
Vishad
macosx.com

poetguy - Oct 26, 2006 - 2:51 am

Hi, Vishad

Let me say one thing about your reply: Holy crap! What a fabulous response, thoughtful and well written. I've had good experiences whenever I used macosx.com, but this one, as they say, takes the cake. Thank you.

Yes, I would like to pursue your response with you. In fact, I wanted to send you a picture of my iStat (thanks for that tip) chart, as well as a list of the apps I generally have open, but I couldn't find a way to get them on this response template. Any suggestions on how to do that? I'd like your take on iStat numbers, if you're interested,kind of take me through them and explain exactly what they mean. Can you spot areas that might be part of the problem?

I will read your response over again and see what sort of questions it might generate with me. But for now, let me say that movies is not a problem, since I have enough distractions in my office. I have absolutely no plans, desires to downloador play a movie. Music? That's a whole different ballgame. I keep my iTunes music file on my external drive, about 50 GB worth of music and podcasts. Might that be a drag on the processor? Might it be at least partly responsible for the delay when I try to work with iTunes, giving me the spinning beachball of death when, for example, I want to scroll down my playlists or switch from one playlist to another?

Anyway, enough for now. Thanks again for a helpful response, Let me know if there is a way to import pictures to this template. Otherwise I suppose I can type out the info.

Paul

kellhound1 - Oct 26, 2006 - 12:28 pm

Hello Paul,

First of all, thank you very much for your kind words. And remember: flattery will get you everything.

Feel free to send any additional information or screenshots to the following E-mail address:

vishadmacosx@gmail.com

As for your response regarding iTunes:

No, that is rarely ever an issue. If there IS such an issue the usual cause is the external hard drive itself; either it is damaged or cannot communicate with the host computer because of software failure or hardwire connection error.

Even if you play a very large playlist from your hard drive scratch disk it will not slow down your computer or cause iTunes to behave as slowly as you have mentioned. True, accessing the stored information on the external drive will be slow if the drive speed itself is low. For instance, if your external drive runs at 7500rpm, you're fine. If it runs much slower (as with older external drives) accessing information becomes more difficult. The box your hard drive came in will describe at what speed it runs; you can also check the instruction manual. You might also glean this information through the Mac OS Disk Utility.

Have you tried to repair the disk permissions on your machine? You can do this by launching Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder under Applications), selecting the hard drive running the OS, clicking on the Repair button.

Have you downloaded and installed Onyx? As I said before, this is a very useful utility to cleaning out the hard drive. Once downloaded and installed, you can run the utility. Click on the Maint tab. You will be asked to enter your password. This will be the system password for your computer; that is, if your administrative password is "Lucky" you will enter that here.

Once the password has been successfully entered the Maintenance options will pop up. Simply click on the Execute button and wait for the utility to finish. This process might take several minutes, and the status bar may seem to freeze. Do not worry. Onyx is just sorting through the files. Perform the same actions under the Cleaning tab.

Remember to disable the automatic sleep option on your machine, if you have it set up. You don't want your computer falling asleep during the cleaning process because you'll most likely have to do a hard reboot and start the process again.


Sincerely,
Vishad
macosx.com