iMac i7 with SSD slower to boot than MBP with HDD? SOLVED

[RPhoto]

My friend just picked up a 27" i7 with 8gb ram, SSD and 2tb second drive.

However, he said to me he didn't think it booted as quick as his 2009 MBP which has a 7,200rpm HDD in. SO we did a quick test and sure enough the iMac boots up in 49 seconds and the MBP in 39 seconds.

The iMac certainly seems very quick to launch apps (CS5 etc) but we both thought boot time would be at least on par with the MBP and certainly not slower. Neither of us have had experience of SSD before so didn't know what to expect - although from seeing past videos on YouTube showing SSD booting faster in MBP we just figured it would be the same for the new iMac 😕

 

[Cindori]

You have to measure boot time from when spinning wheel starts.
Before that is just efi checking for hardware, which takes longer the more hardware you have.

Also you have to account for programs launching at background

 

[xraydoc]

You have to measure boot time from when spinning wheel starts.
Before that is just efi checking for hardware, which takes longer the more hardware you have.

Also you have to account for programs launching at background

Agreed. The RAM self-test takes longer with more RAM. If the MBP has only 4GB and the iMac has 8GB, that can easily explain the difference.

 

[Vylen]

Different hardware etc etc..

You should be testing booting off the iMacs SSD compared to its HDD.

 

[RPhoto]

Ah ok. I know programme wise both machines have the same, but RAM on the MBP is only 4gb, so I guess with the iMac having 8 then that is it.

Both tests were started from the initial pressing of the on button. So the more ram you have the slower you boot then?!

Like I say I think we just expected more after seeing side by side tests on YouTube with SSD being faster but that was with identical systems I guess.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Once booted up, load up System Preferences, Startup Disk and make sure to choose the SSD drive as the startup disk. I think if you don't do this then the iMac will first scan for suitable boot volumes before deciding on one to start up with.

 

[RPhoto]

Once booted up, load up System Preferences, Startup Disk and make sure to choose the SSD drive as the startup disk. I think if you don't do this then the iMac will first scan for suitable boot volumes before deciding on one to start up with.

Quick update to say thanks, that was the issue. The iMac now boots in 18 seconds 🙂