New Intel Core Duo iMac 2X SLOWER than Old iMac G5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay guys, talk about a disappointment! I just picked up a new 20" Intel Core Duo iMac from the Apple Store and after transfering everything over from my old 20" iMac (still keeping all the data on my old iMac though) I ran a startup test.

The Core Duo iMac clocked in at 75 seconds exactly from desktop to login screen restart.

The iMac G5 clocked in at 38 seconds (!!!!!) exactly from desktop to login screen restart.

What in the hell is going on here? The only thing I could think of that would be in the G5's favor is the 2GB of RAM it has over the 512MB in the Intel iMac. Would this really make that big of a difference and actually make the Intel iMac start up in its touted 18-second time if it has 2GB of RAM?

This really makes me want to return my new iMac right now and go back to the G5.

zap2 said:

2Gb of RAM in your old iMac? Well that has something to do with it. IF you dead set on the fact that your G5 is faster then that intel iMac

I'll trade ya

Click to expand...

Well, the more I test it, it looks like it's definitely faster performing tasks. But still, the startup is slow. Any idea why that would be?

munkees said:

My iMac DC 20" boot 28 seconds, 1 GB memory, it so fast at booting

Click to expand...

Hmmmm... it must be the 512MB of memory I have. I'm buying two 1GB sticks tonight and will have them next day aired so hopefully I'll startup in 18 seconds once those are in.

jsfpa said:

You said you transfered your files over. Did you do the transfer using the firewire connection? I'm wondering if you have something loading at start up that uses Roseta from your old setup. As far as the memory issue goes, I don't remember how fast it started up but it was most definitely sluggish once it was up and running. What a difference an additional gig of ram made. I've since maxed it out to the full 2 gig.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, yeah that would definitely be a good possibility. But what do you think it could be that it's needing to use Roseta at startup? Anyway I can find out and fix it?

About the memory, yeah I'll have the 2GB of RAM installed by the end of next week so hopefully that will speed things up.

jsfpa said:

You could always start from scratch, reinstall from your install disk and install your software manually. I would wait to see what the memory upgrade dose. I originally did the firewire thing but decided to do a fresh install of everything.

Click to expand...

That would be such a bitch.

I seriously have so many settings, passwords and other stuff that doing a fresh install would take days if not weeks because of all of the stuff I would have to setup again. It would just be too much of a hassle to where after spending all of that effort to go a little bit faster in just a few months I'd be back in the same spot.

When is someone going to invent a computer where it doesn't start to sputter after a few months? Seriously, that would be great. There is just too many computer repair people out there.

emaja said:

There's more to life than boot times my friend.

So what? I reboot my machine when there is an OS update that requires it which amounts to about every 6 weeks. I am no uptime freak, but right now I am sitting at over 10 days.

Run some apps, render some video, do something that actually stresses the speed of the CPU and not the access times of the hard drive and then tell us which one is faster.

Click to expand...

Running Apple Mail I've got to give the Intel iMac its props! My iMac G5 would take almost a millennium to refresh the inbox and scroll my sent e-mails and the Intel iMac does it as Steve Jobs described it "scrolls like butta'."

Cubert said:

Dude,
What log-in items do you have? It's probably one of those.

Click to expand...

Dude, why the hell would it be a log-in item if it's the startup it hangs at. As in when it first starts up and opens the Apple logo. That stuff is all about the initial processes the computer needs to make to get itself going, not the startup programs that are user created.

I do appreciate your trying to help though.

jsfpa said:

Mine doesn't sputter ever, at least not since I've gone Mac.

I'm sure your going to be much happier with the memory upgrade.

Click to expand...

Just wait a few more months. Guarenteed it will start slowing down. Every computer on the planet does.

Artful Dodger said:

Since you said you were getting more ram for the Intel try pulling out the ram in the G5 and see what you get (giving that 512MB). As far as the Intel iMac goes I have 18-20 sec. startups and 10-15 sec. shut downs. That's with 2GB Ram and it's been fine on startup.

Click to expand...

Hmmm. Well I'm really hopin' the 2GB of RAM handles this then. You think it'd be worth it to Apple to include at least 1GB of RAM so people think their machines are faster considering most don't know crap about upgrading memory like this. Like my mom, she has no freakin clue you can upgrade stuff.

That would be pretty amazing though to go from 75 seconds restart to 20 seconds restart with just 1.5GB of memory more. We'll see what happens.

As far as taking memory out of the G5, I have two sticks of 1GB so it still wouldn't match up the my Intel iMac's 512 so I'm not sure it would be worth the effort.

umgolfer said:

When I go away on vacation..that's about it. Otherwise it is put to sleep. I've been doing this for about 4 years now and love it. I put the WinXP machines I use at work to sleep, and they freeze half the time....

Click to expand...

Are you telling me you've had the same Mac for 4 years? All of the computers I've had, Mac or PC, after two years I'm finished with them. They get so damn slow I just say screw it and buy a new one. I realize I can do a fresh install but how could I stand the thought of even doing that when brand new technology is out there waiting for me to buy it?

TAV said:

You blindly migrated everything from a PPC machine to an intel box and wonder why your cold boot speeds are slow? Whacha say we boot that intel machine and check the activity monitor before you play around. Tell us what APs are running on your nice, neat intel machine. More importantly, what PPC stuff has mysteriously found it's way into your start-up/active processes.

Click to expand...

First off, what was I suppose to do? Manually move everything over? Also what are APs? Active Processes? Please clairfy what you're saying.

TAV said:

Sorry - yes- shut down the intel machine completely. Give it a minute or two and do a cold start. Then let us know what active processes you have running in your activity monitor. My guess is that your slower boot times are related to PPC start-ups from your G5 migration. I'm using a 512 ram stick now in my intel 20" (pulled the others out) just to compare.

Click to expand...

Okay. Got the same boot time and after doing what you said I found the following active processes:

pmtool
kernal_task
update
WindowServer
UniversalAccessApp

Anything out of the ordinary there?