why is osx 10.8.2 so slow?

Maybe this will help:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4408794

Your experience is not normal. Something is wrong with your computer. See:

Understanding upgrade nightmares

Mac Performance Guide

I'm running 10.8.2 on an old 2009 MBP, 2.53Ghz. Admittedly my HD is a 7200rpm platter instead of the original 5000rmp one, and I upgraded the memory from 4 to 8GB sometime ago. Still, I doubt that would account for the difference. Both Safari and iTunes open within a few seconds (less than 5), so if you and your friend are experiencing waits of nearly a minute, something is wrong.

The best way to find out is examine Console after startup and see what error messages are being logged. If nothing seems amiss, and if you really haven't installed any 3rd party s/w and the machine is 'virginal', I'd

i. Reinstall the OS, and if that didn't solve it

ii. Take it back to the store if its in warranty. Could be a hardware fault.

Message was edited by: softwater

The system itself since Lion is very memory consuming. I don't think there is a real problem with your hardware or software, it is the operating system what is causing this. On my Mac Mini 2011 I upgraded exactly therefore to 16 GB. 4 GB was unusable, 8 GB was ok but more than 3 applications open was so slow as with 4 GB, now with 16 GB I have a fluent system.

The slow load times are a result of a F**k up by Apple

As I said already, what you are seeing are not normal. I don't see any of that, and neither do any of the other experts on these forums. You have a problem somewhere.

However, unless you are willing to stop cursing and ranting and take some action, you're not going to solve that problem. You say you have tried "everything" at the links I gave you, but I'm very doubtful that that is the case.

4 GB is perfectly sufficient for some people. It all depends on what they're doing with their computers, and what software they have running. (Not just actively running, but also components of software running in the background as kernel extensions or faceless processes.)

Both of the links I provided above describe a simple test that can be done to determine whether or not your RAM is sufficient for the tasks you are performing. You only need to add more RAM if that test indicates that you could benefit from more.

You are right. But most people tend to open more than Mail.app or Safari.app. You can't work fluent with Mac OS X 10.8.2 if you are using an application like Photoshop or even another browser like Firefox.

surogat70 wrote:

it is the operating system what is causing this.

That's a ridiculous conclusion to reach. If it was normal for a 4GB system to take nearly 1-minute to open Safari or iTunes the howls of protest would have been clogging the forums — and apple's customer service lines — long long before now.

There is no way a properly functioning install of 10.8.2 will take a minute to load either - or both - of those apps, given the spec' of the OP's machine. Therefore, there's something wrong with his system.

Suggestions have already been made as to what action the OP could take. Anyone saying 'that's to be expected' is not doing much to help the OP solve the problem.

If this is a common problem and it is known that Mountain Lion is more memory demanding than prior OS versions, than it is of course helping. Depending on the amount of tabs to open in any browser at start it will take more time to start it, than with one blank tab. So it will also take much more time to open applications.

The OP was talking about 45-60 seconds, what is not surprisingly for a system which is assumedly heavy swaping virtual memory. I don't want to negate your effort to help this user but it also not helpful to say all others with 4 GB experience not this behavior.

You can't work fluent with Mac OS X 10.8.2 if you are using an application like Photoshop or even another browser like Firefox.

Well, of course you're not going to be able to use Photoshop effectively on 4 GB of RAM! That's like saying a standard-sized garage is too small because you can't park a bus inside it.

2 GB is actually the minimum, and I've talked to plenty of folks doing their normal day-to-day tasks on 4 GB. And as I have said, there's no reason to tell someone to unilaterally upgrade the RAM without doing the test I mentioned. Upgrade the RAM if the test shows you need to. Otherwise, you're wasting your money.

The OP was talking about 45-60 seconds, what is not surprisingly for a system which is assumedly heavy swaping virtual memory.

The only way having 4 GB of RAM would cause lengthy startup times is if there is third-party software installed that is demanding unusually huge amounts of RAM at startup. There really shouldn't be any page outs happening during startup otherwise. RAM is almost certainly not the cause of that particular problem, so let's please stop barking up that tree.

surogat70 wrote:

If this is a common problem and it is known that Mountain Lion is more memory demanding than prior OS versions, than it is of course helping.

It isnt a common problem. That's what I and Thomas have been trying to tell you. The fact that these forums have frequent threads about ML being slow is an accretion of different causes having the same effect. i.e., in plain English, many things will slow down any OS, and each user has to figure out what is going on in their case. To blame it blandly on 'the way the OS works' is simply false and unhelpful. It's not the OS, its the OS in combination with something else the user has on their system, or on hardware.

How do I know it's not inherently the OS? Because not only have I tested ML since its first beta release, not only have I (along with many others on these forums) helped to solve the 'slow running' complaint from many users by tracking it down (more often than not) to outdated or incompatible 3rd party software, but - as I have already said - if it was inherent to the OS the chorus of complaints would be deafening.

Both for the OP and yourself (your complaint that your system was only barely usable with 8GB sounds like you have some problems you're not aware of), you might also try this free analytical tool from etresoft (another ASC forum member). This can help see what's being loaded on your system at boot up time and to identify problems. If you're not sure what you're looking at when you see the results, post them in a thread for advice.

Here's the link to that free tool:

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

gmd12 wrote:

I have tried all these solutions. They do not speed things up!

The poor performance of your MacBook Pro is most likely a result of third party software you installed. Fix it.

I doubt you followed anyone's advice, so it is not likely you will follow anyone else's either.

I just read almost all the posts, with a bit of interest.

After installing the new OP ma Mac has been slow.

I'm not an expert and I don't know what console can do for me. To be honest I don't want to know and I should not know. Regardless of what I'm using my computer for.

All your rambling got to no conclusion, so if you don't know how to solve the problem please don't reply to the posts.

Thanks.

But I found this from another discussion and the first part worked very well, everything went suddenly fast.

Tomorrow I'm gonna verify the disk permission too.

Try this:

system preferences - startup drive - select your drive as the start up drive then restart. if that doesn't do it for you, then go to disk utility and verify your disk permissions - if errors are found - repair them then restart your macbook once the repair is done.

'Sorry for typos'

hi, i came here for the same problem and downloaded the app you suggested. i dont want to hijack this thread, but i would like you to look at it if you dont mind. how can i arrange that?