Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

imovie '11 now really slow

imovie has recently got really slow, about 1 minute to load with events and projects loading one by one in slow time. Also slow to open a project with an additional wait with "loading project' while it actually opens.
I dont have too many projects, 5 in total, though there is a lot of source video in events - but no more than there was a couple of weeks ago when t was working nice and fast. 4GB RAM and a few hundres GB of hard disk space available.
Any ideas?

iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 2, 2011 8:31 AM

Reply
25 replies

Jun 15, 2011 2:03 PM in response to Timwillows

Had same problem for the last few weeks. It took ages (around a minute or so) to open iMovie and load all the projects. Interestingly another affected application was Word, which also was very slow to open.


I realised the problem stared around the same time I installed Windows on a Boot Camp partition. I removed it, rebooted computer, and iMovie loads within around 30 seconds. Word also speed up.


Can't explain it, but glad it's sorted 🙂 Wasn't using Windows anyway 🙂

Jul 14, 2011 7:19 AM in response to Timwillows

IMOVIE 11 😢 Brings tears to my face literally...I have a 2008 Mac Pro with 24GB Ram 4 Tb HD which i use to store video if i could. My computer software is all up to date with the latest updates and i think that's were the problem began ?. I now run Motion 5 64 bit and imovie runs in 32 bit, i am wondering when they will bring out an update to let IMOVIE 11 Run in 64 Bit Mode so it can take full advantage of the 8 cores ex...as it stands it only uses a fraction and runs like a SNAIL, i can't have fun with programs that one day decide to drag out my experience which was suppose to be a Happy One. This would be ok if it's just me but a lot of people are having the same problem, APPLE PLEASE SORT OUT THIS DEFECT.

Jul 14, 2011 7:29 AM in response to muzicfromcapalaba

I don't think you understand what 64-bit means.


32-bit application can use 8 cores just as well as 64-bit. The difference is in amount of memory that can be addressed (used). 64-bit would be required to benefit from amount of memory that you have.


Notice however iMovie is not targeted at Pros with 24 GB of RAM. In fact, I'm pretty certain it's not going to be any faster, as it appears it's not pefroming any video-cashing that could benefit from additional memory (I could be wrong, this is just a general observation). Probably isn't optimized to use more than 4 cores.


ALso, you did not mention what sort of video you are working with (full HD?) on 2008 processor, which probably isn't best either.

Jul 14, 2011 7:41 AM in response to Timwillows

Hey Thanks for your reply DaninDub, I was at the apple store today with with the box while they ran test & Test, one of the chaps that i was talking to said it's only using a fraction of what i had to provide in the box, Motion 5 was taking advantage of all 8 cores but i'm sure he said IMOVIE was not, the funny thing is..IMOVIE use to run like lightning when first installed 2011 edition ? and that was working with HD 1920 X 1080 Film, it had no problem at all but gradually got sicker and so on, and now is slow as, i can only think it's from the updates.😟

Jul 27, 2011 4:38 PM in response to Timwillows

I just bought a brand new 2.7 with 500Gb to substitute my dual processor windows vaio notebook. At the beggining imovie 11 worked fine, but when the movie passed 20 minutes long, imovie 11 performance started to go down quickly. It´s doing so bad now, that I´m thinking to return to my old notebook with my Vegas software!! I really don´t know what to do either.

Jul 30, 2011 1:47 AM in response to Timwillows

😠 IMOVIE 11 SLOW like it's impossible to work with. ... as i said i have a computer which should run like EXTREME... and imovie runs like a snail and it's got to the point where the program now just sits in the corner taking up space. WHY are so many people having the same problem with "IMOVIE 11" having said that, the new Final Cut X runs like a dream,Fast and accurate,while the new Motion runs like a snail as well, Sounds to me like anything that has a M in it beware.

OK i run a 2008 Mac Pro-3.1 Version 10.7 Lion, and i'm pretty sure a Leopard is faster than a Lion.

2 x 2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon

Memory 24 GB

Hard Drive's 4000 GB barely used.

Graffix- NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT

Cinema HD

That's a quick run down on my unit, to look inside you would think it was new as i always keep it clean and

free of dust build up. But must also point out that there was a time when IMOVIE use to run like lightning and

that was still using large quantities of HD 1920 x 1080. and now i in the boat with the rest of you guy's that are having problems. I like IMOVIE and enjoyed working with it. Please do something to sought out this problem apple.

imovie '11 now really slow

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.