OS X Lion is incredibly slow (even after index)

Clean install .... I still remember the TV Ad from Apple when windows "obliged" users to do a clean install of 7 over vista ....

Now I will be obliged to do the same (oriented by 3 "apple genius") trying to make my i7 usefull. Maybe is time to Apple say "sorry, faithfull users and defenders. I made a mess and now you are experiencing a big shame".

Another user here with the same problem. Upgraded from Snow Leopard. Painfully slow, when before it was a breeze.

I'm going to do the reboot, the disk repairs, and the other tweaks, and hope for the best.

But really Apple... we shouldn't have to.

Apple has issued update 10.7.1 that put the zip back into my Macbook. Before that it was just plain awful. This update is packed with bug fixes and I think installing it will be the best 6.4 minutes of your day.

I had very similar problem. Lion was running OK (but little slow) at the beginning since I have upgraded. But a few days later, my Mac (Mid-2010 iMac) saddenly became painfully slow. Doing any click / key input takes several minuites. Booting up takes 1 night (not sure exact time, at least it took more than 1 hour).

I used Disk Utility to repair the disk but it reported as no problem. Then I brought it to Genious Bar then sent to Apple for repair. They examined and replayced internal HDD. 3 days passed so far and my iMac is running fine. Very smooth much closer to the days of Snow Leopard.

I have been having similar issues so I phoned Apple support who said this was quite widespread and being reported by a lot of new Lion users, in short my fix was to buy 8GB of RAM and upgrade, it all now works perfectly. Not a great solution but for under $100 I get to future proof my Macbook, boost the perfomance and it stops me having to spend hours trying to figure out something they will probably bring a patch out for in the coming months anyway. Happy days 🙂

Thanks Pete - interesting that Apple admitted to you this is a "widespread" problem.

Has anyone tried just reinstalling Lion without doing a clean install - just an upgrade reinstall on top of itself? (And do you know how to do this without it wiping all settings?) I just wonder if this would smooth things out.

AppleIIme wrote:

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Has anyone tried just reinstalling Lion without doing a clean install - just an upgrade reinstall on top of itself? (And do you know how to do this without it wiping all settings?) I just wonder if this would smooth things out.

You just install it, settings etc won't be changed ... but the world is not perfect so I would back up first

I have never NOT done a clean install of a new OS and Lion was no exception. I've had no issues with speed on a late 2009 iMac and a slightly earlier Mac mini. I did install OnyX (usual warnings apply) on both and on the mini used it to turn off the effects of some of the more graphic heavy bells and whistles.

As much as Apple talks about just doing an upgrade, I've seen far too many people (both Mac and Windows) over far too many years experience major problems by trying to upgrade to want any part of it.

I can confirm - uninstalling both Snapz Pro X and the kernel extension fixed my system - even if they claim it is OS X compatible it slowed my new MacBook Pro down to being almost unusable, even if I have an SSD and 8GB Ram. Mostly seemed to create problems with Graphics, youtube etc.

Use the Snapz Pro X uninstaller if you have the same problem.

Hi, thanks for the instructions. But when I reboot with ALT pressed, I only see one option:

"Mac"

Nothing else. No "disk repair" etc are you suggest. What am I missing?

I really do not wish to install the OS clean and then mess around with moving all the data and settings again. An upgrade should be seamless, that's why it's an "upgrade".

Thanks for any pointers!

I'm also having similar issues (24-inch, 2009, 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) since upgrading from Snow Leopard. I tried the "permissions fix" which identified and fixed many, many permission errors (...and also identified the ARDagent issue as well - that's a separate topic that I encourage all to look-up). That seemed to fix things for a few days, but now it's running slower than ever. However, I think it has something to do with FILEVAULT as I noticed I'm still running the legacy version. I understand Apple has made some major changes to a replacement version. The trouble is when I go to switch off Filevault, it tells me I don't have sufficient space on my home drive....

... so, it looks like I might have been a bit sloppy with some directories and I noticed a DOWNLOAD directory that seemed unnecessary there, so I copied it back to my iMAC-HD, and then trashed the original directory on the home drive. When I went to delete the trash, the pop-up told me there are about 42,000 items to remove - like, WHAT!? WHat's going on here, sure I haven't downloaded so much over the last 3-years?

I have been moving some files around trying to free up some space, but that was a surprise.

Anyway, I can't change to the new FILEVAULT, or even turn the old version off until I free up some space apparently. Is this related to Lion running like its taken a triple dose of valium?

I'm still running Snow Leopard on my old macbook (from where I've sent this), and I won't be upgrading until I've sorted out the iMac.

Thank you, APierce24 and xraydoug! Just got done verifying/repairing permissions and let my computer finish indexing, and my computer is now blazing fast! Hoping that this is a permanent fix.

I'm experiencing slow/laggy performance with my late 06 macbook core 2 duo. With Snow Leopard and 3gb ram, it felt snappy like a brand new laptop. Since updating to lion responsiveness has been a huge dissapointment. Is the consensus that a clean install will clear this up?

firewalk13 wrote:

I'm experiencing slow/laggy performance with my late 06 macbook core 2 duo. With Snow Leopard and 3gb ram, it felt snappy like a brand new laptop. Since updating to lion responsiveness has been a huge dissapointment. Is the consensus that a clean install will clear this up?

I would add more Ram first, in my opinion 4G is a decent minima, I upgraded to 8 and Lion is faster than Snow Leopard was with 4, I never used less than 4 since Leopard.

Unfortunately, my MB only supports 3gb max (recognizes and actually uses). Bus limitations i believe.