User account performance and setup
Hi,
I have a MB Core Duo 2006 model (old I know!) and have tried using user accounts in the past, but have been concerned by the hit they may have on performance (my MB has been slowing down a lot recently). My wife and kids all use the same computer and I have resorted back to everyone using the same account as Fast User Switching had become very slow. Ive just installed an SSD however, and now FUS has sped up, so Im considering whether to start using user accounts again as the benefits I feel could be great.
So, what Id like to know is, if one user leaves loads of applications and programs open and running in one user account, and a second user comes along and needs to use the computer and fast switches to their account, what sort of perfomance hit can be expected? Or does the activity on the first account all get paged to disk as it were and therefore does not occupy any RAM/processor time? If there is a performance hit, what sort of level are we talking about and what can be done to minimise it?
Further to this, my wife and I currently both share the same user account's iTunes for wifi syncing our iOS devices so we can both access the pool of stored apps, media, etc. that we have built up over the years. Is there anyway of ensuring that regardless of which account is open at any one time, all iOS devices will be synced correctly to our single iTunes library as I dont want to have to maintain multiple iTunes libraries??
Finally, how does Time Machine deal with constant user account switching?
Many thanks,
Rich.