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Does It Still Start Up In 30 Seconds?

N

nakile

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
151
0
One of the things people seem to like about the Intel Mac is the boot up time. In around 30 seconds your on the desktop.

Does it always stay that way? Or after you've been using it for a year are you setting at your desk for three minutes going "Ok... Uh huh.... Oh, the login sound.... Programs are loading now.... Ok... Uh huh..." waiting for it to startup?

I know that Windows and OS X are two different things, but I don't see how it could keep that snappy startup time forever.
 
depending on what you have starting up at login/reboot/whatever (such as drivers), no it won't. but if you don't really install anything and just keep using it, i don't see why it wouldn't start up in ~30sec.
 
OS X doesn't degrade over time as windows does. In seven years of using macs, I have never re-installed the OS, only upgraded when a new version was released. And I still have my seven+ years old PowerMac running daily, with the latest OS!
 
I don't mean to hijack, but my mac actually slowed down on start up. With a new user account, when you log in, it takes about 2 seconds for the desktop to pop up, but on my main user account it takes 5 to 10 seconds to get to desktop from when you log in.. anyone know why or how to fix this?
 
My Macs have taken longer to start up, of course. On my new MacBook, booting up was lightning fast. It wasn't like that on my previous MacBook (which was a lemon) after 1 year of use, likely because of how much crap was on my system.

Don't get me wrong, though. My Macs have never booted up slowly, but they do slow down when compared to an empty untouched system.
 
No offense, but why the heck do you guys shut down your Mac anyways? Still thinking like it is a Windows OS? You don't need to shut down and (re)start a Mac unless you are applying patches and updates that require a restart.

When you are done using the Mac and want to turn it off, just put it to Sleep. Near-instant on and off ;)

And no, there is no registry in the Mac, so the start up times and general speed of the OS will not degrade after a year of application installs and uninstalls. Only thing that affects that is how many start up apps you have set up to run once you log in.
 
Words of wisdom from the man himself. I don't shut down my Macs, save to use Ultimate on my iMac or install updates. I do keep my 575 off most of the time, but if you knew the LC 575, you'd do the same. :D Good times with that machine. I remember running 3D games on it (like Titanic: Adventure Out Of Time :p) when I was six and wondering, "Why does it run so slowly?" NO GRAPHICS CARD AT ALL. Not even one that steals from the main processor. I still use it every so often simply because it rocks. Ahh, Clarisworks... how I remember thee...
 
Gandhi said:
No offense, but why the heck do you guys shut down your Mac anyways? Still thinking like it is a Windows OS? You don't need to shut down and (re)start a Mac unless you are applying patches and updates that require a restart.
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I don't shut down my Windows machine. I put it in hibernation. Bad idea. After about two months of no shutdown, I rebooted and explorer was corrupted. No desktop would show up. Did a repair reinstall with my SP1 disc then tried to upgrade to SP2. It wouldn't let me. Now I have SP1 and half my programs and other Windows things are broken. And even in hibernation it takes a minutes to boot.

Made me decide to get a iMac. :p

Gandhi said:
And no, there is no registry in the Mac, so the start up times and general speed of the OS will not degrade after a year of application installs and uninstalls. Only thing that affects that is how many start up apps you have set up to run once you log in.
Click to expand...
Great. I knew that could be the only thing that would slow it down. I don't have very many programs on my Windows startup. Just Norton and a firewall and I won't really be needing those with OS X. My boot time should be good.

But like you said, I'll most likely just put the thing in standby. Only thing I don't like about standby is my computer is in the same room I sleep in. So you have this big green flashing light while your trying to sleep. :(
 
nakile said:
Only thing I don't like about standby is my computer is in the same room I sleep in. So you have this big green flashing light while your trying to sleep. :(
Click to expand...

Not on Macs ;) On the laptops, you have a soft-white LED that pulses, and on the iMac, there is a light sensor that detects when the lights are out in the room and the computer assumes it is night and you have gone to sleep, and the soft white pulsing LED shuts off so as your sleep is not disturbed :D
 
I think Mac's do slow down and degrade over time, but nowhere near to the extent that Windows XP computers did, not sure how Vista holds up as I haven't had Vista installed for very long.
 
I've had my mini for a little over a year, and it has slowed down a bit, but the boot time is still around 30 seconds. The only slow down comes when i log in, and have to wait for everything to load. On the whole, it doesn't slow down that much.
 
NJuul said:
OS X doesn't degrade over time as windows does. In seven years of using macs, I have never re-installed the OS, only upgraded when a new version was released. And I still have my seven+ years old PowerMac running daily, with the latest OS!
Click to expand...

Lucky you. I have had my iMac since March of this year and on two occasions I had to reinstall because system folders (or contents of those system folders) had magically disappeared. So I would go to run, say Photo Booth, and my computer would lock up because its looking for files in a system folder that is completely empty. Kinda creepy and annoying. :confused:

OP: Mine still boots up in under or around 20 seconds everytime and I install A LOT of stuff on my computer and put it through a lot of abuse in that sense. :apple:
 
Well, my old MB still started up fine when I still had it, ~30 sec. My new MBP starts up incredibly, a little less the 30 sec most of the time. I'd love to get one of those little flash drives that goes in my express card slot (16 Gb, full OSX install, plus Apps) and see how fast that baby starts up my MBP :D
 
Does OSX have a login sound?

I must have missed something...

Edit: Looking at the sounds system preference really amazes me. We only have ONE SOUND setting: the alert sound.

That is how simple it has to be, and quite frankly I don't miss all the other crap that is left behind.
 
pknz said:
I think Mac's do slow down and degrade over time, but nowhere near to the extent that Windows XP computers did, not sure how Vista holds up as I haven't had Vista installed for very long.
Click to expand...

I don't think Macs are afflicited, unless you install a lot of apps that require kernel extensions...

Since there is no such thing as a Windows registry (IMO stupidest **** ever conceived) all the crazy apps you install and try out would at most create little .plist files in your Preferences and Application Support folders. The presence of these files do not hinder your system performance one bit.
 
Father Jack said:
So do I ..... I have the nearest thing to Clarisworks (Appleworks V6.2.9) running on my MacPro, Mac Mini and MacBook ;)

Happy Days :)
Click to expand...

i run it all the time.. its the best app to use, i was using it about 2hours ago for my multimedia project!!! runs way faster than neooffice and word.

Tallest Skil said:
....but if you knew the LC 575, you'd do the same. :D Good times with that machine.
Click to expand...

aaahh what an awsoem machine, dad stole one from work until they forces him to take it back. i used to play simcity2000 and lemmings (COLOUR!!!:eek: ) what a machine

Gandhi said:
No offense, but why the heck do you guys shut down your Mac anyways? Still thinking like it is a Windows OS? You don't need to shut down and (re)start a Mac unless you are applying patches and updates that require a restart.

When you are done using the Mac and want to turn it off, just put it to Sleep. Near-instant on and off ;)
Click to expand...

your mac actually does slow down in the sense of logging on, such as loading your whole desktop and starting startup items (of which i have 120items on my desktop and about 10 items in startup). then theres all the other stuff such as virtual memory allocation blaablaablaa.

i just had 15days uptime, and i decided to take my laptop to school to do some work...put it to sleep properly, waited for it to cool down. at school, open the lid press power button (deep sleep) and BAM!!! wakes up and shuts straight down... there goes my uptime!!! bboy was i angry.
current uptime: 53mins :(

Edit: oh and my mac still starts up in 30seconds
 
Gandhi said:
Not on Macs ;) On the laptops, you have a soft-white LED that pulses, and on the iMac, there is a light sensor that detects when the lights are out in the room and the computer assumes it is night and you have gone to sleep, and the soft white pulsing LED shuts off so as your sleep is not disturbed :D
Click to expand...
Heh. Wow. I can't help but think Apple has thought of everything with their computers.

It's the little things like that that make a computer great.
 
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