Slow iMac 8.1 with Lion

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Level 1

4 points

Slow iMac 8.1 with Lion

I'd also like to state that my iMac 8.1 Gb RAM 2.4 GHz is very sluggish after Lion update. Codncuted all the usual cleanup but apart from faster startup after trashing the caches the rest of the performance is terrible.

On some occassions I empty the trash but don't get the audio for 5-10 seconds afterwards.

I use Aperture 3 and it has done to the dogs in performance.

Sometimes the cursor vanishes for a few seconds.

I'm not going to revert to Snow Leopard for a month or so to give Apple a chance to make improvements - but I really do hate being used to benchtest software for huge crprorations - do I look like a guinea pig!!

2008 iMac (8,1), Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jul 29, 2011 3:33 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jul 29, 2011 3:41 AM in response to dunk_c

If you just did the update Spotlight may still be indexing?

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Answer 2

dunk_c Author

Level 1

4 points

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

This is almost a week later. Even iPhoto is sluggish.

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Answer 3

Jul 30, 2011 3:09 AM in response to dunk_c

I have the 8,1 iMac too (with 4 GB RAM) and it's as fast as under Snow Leopard. I did an upgrade of the existing Snow Leopard installation. So whatever it is, there must be a reason why yours is slow.

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Answer 4

Jul 30, 2011 3:23 AM in response to dunk_c

Writing to you on the same config here. I was one surprised how snappy things got after the re-indexing. Aperture blazing. all the rest good. I did a dirty install on this box. Perhaps there is some app or process slowing things down. look in activity monitor and use the meter overlay to try and catch the baddie.

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Answer 5

dunk_c Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 30, 2011 4:14 AM in response to coocooforcocoapuffs

Hi Guys

thanks for the replies. Sorry for my garbled typing in the other emails - using iphone!

Can someone look a the the memory usage for Aperture 3. When running, as I simply click on photos in the film strip it steadily consumes the available memory until it is all gone - no green pie left! This may be normal - not sure.

Other symptoms are: the dock does not respond to mousover sometimes but doeseventually come back. Something is wrong but the cpu is not being hogged.

Should kernal_task be using 350mb ram? I see this when no other programs are running.

I'm not sure how to trouibleshoot this logically. My install was upgrade to last version of SL - straightforward, no hiccups.

Might have to call Apple support.

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Answer 6

dunk_c Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 30, 2011 4:40 AM in response to dunk_c

Apple Support closed tonight, so continuing..

Can someone explain what the inactive (blue) section of the memory pie chart is?

As I open and close programs this section get larger. From a restart it is 169mb. After opening and losing Aperture, iTunes and iPhoto, I end up with it at 510mb. The free memory moved from 2.7GB to 2.2GB. Don't know what is going on here.

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Answer 7

Jul 30, 2011 4:58 AM in response to dunk_c

I don't think any of that matters. U got 4gb ram right? I think these iMacs can actually take 6.

Message was edited by: coocooforcocoapuffs: in the config above, aperture is blazing.

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Answer 8

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jul 30, 2011 7:14 AM in response to dunk_c

Start with this article

Then, this one

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Answer 9

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jul 30, 2011 7:18 AM in response to dunk_c

Create a new User go to System Preferences > Accounts > "+" (make it an admin acct) and test the apps in this new account, if they work the problem is isolated to your User and not systemwide.

If the issue is limited to your user account try starting up Safe Mode

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455?viewlocale=en_US

(It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)

If your apps functions correctly that way, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items, and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items</font> and move whatever is there to the Desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving/Users/yourname/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.

Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.

If the problem is systemwide try re-installing. Lion will re-install in place and not touch your other files. But you should always have a backup.

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Answer 10

Jul 30, 2011 7:25 AM in response to dunk_c

Aperture 3 open but with no photos ..

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Answer 11

Jul 30, 2011 7:26 AM in response to Thebestplacehere

205mb

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Answer 12

dunk_c Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 30, 2011 3:40 PM in response to Thebestplacehere

Thanks everyone. The explanations of memory usage was worth a read. Probably all OK here.

Macjack - thanks for the guidance. I found and did the following:

Under my account login items: iTune Helper and PixelSync Helper were corrupted so I replaced them; I also removed an Arcsoft item, WD drive monitor.

There were no items in my Contextual Items directory to remove.

I'l see how this goes.

Lgin in as another administrator didn't show up much - Aperture libray empty for instance. Perhaps I can share the library to all users. Will try this if no improvement today.

I have Time machine back up and CCcloner backup should I need it.

Thanks

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Answer 13

Sep 28, 2011 1:23 AM in response to dunk_c

My iMac is too slow, but not right now. I used (since 10.3) to not to shut down computer, and for Lion, i must restart almost every day becouse of graphic slownest.

I use constatnly:

Safari, Mail, Skype, Adium, iTunes, Rapidweaver, Office, Pixelmator, Plex and mPlayerExtended. This programs are almost all time on. But, problem happends even if I dont use every one of them, only mail, safari and iTunes. This is all bundeled programs... I try to repair permisions, and verifying disk, and theres no errors. Everything is ok, only graphic is slow that i cannot work. On every animation (mission controll, fullscreen and even safari scroll) i get 3 to 4 fps which is anoying. Is there any solution for my problem?

Thanks

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Answer 14

Sep 28, 2011 1:31 AM in response to cikakosta

strange, I have the same machine with 4gb and it's a screamer with Lion installed. I am trying now to upgrade to 6gb ram so I can improve Parallels 7 performance, but even with that running, I can do everything...

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Answer 15

Sep 28, 2011 1:41 AM in response to coocooforcocoapuffs

Look, when i do fresh restart, iMac is significly faster then SnowLeopard in every way, but, during the day when i working, problem starts slowly, and there are loosing frames in more and more animations. It is so anoying to restart computer somethimes even 2 times per day only to resolve this issue. Last graphic update is not for this old iMacs, becouse i tried that... Also, theres 4gigs of Ram on this machine, and I thing, if there is some hardware problem, OS wouldnt work at all. If you have some suggestion, please, shere here.

Thanks

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