Leaving apps open - performance issues

[Mhaddy]

I like to keep some of my most commonly used applications open in different Spaces all the time. These include Coda, iTunes, Bridge, Mail, iCal, Aperture, Firefox, and so forth. However, I find that after my MP goes to sleep or has just been on for a while with these apps open, OSX will lag and I will notice a severe performance hit that was not present while I was actively using the computer. The MP will eventually "get up to speed" and things will be back to normal, so I'm wondering if this is just a caching problem, normal operation, or otherwise?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Part of the problem may be Firefox, which tends to demand more memory the longer it's left running but eventually corrects itself. It's odd that you experience this issue both from sleep and just in normal usage, though that makes me suspect that some background operation is the root cause - iDisk syncing, for example, if you use MobileMe.

 

[ghking]

It's odd that you experience this issue both from sleep and just in normal usage, though that makes me suspect that some background operation is the root cause - iDisk syncing, for example, if you use MobileMe.

or time machine for that matter

 

[apfhex]

It's probably RAM. If you don't have enough, the computer will slow down as it has to page the virtual memory to and from the hard drive.

 

[Mhaddy]

Sorry I should clarify -- when I say "has just been on for a while with these apps open" -- it is just with my computer sitting at idle w/o my interaction with it (the precursor to it sleeping). While I'm actively using the computer, I don't notice the slowdown.

I will try always quitting Firefox though, as I've noticed in the past (unrelated note) that it has either prevented my Mac from sleeping or has inadvertently woken it up.

I don't have MobileMe, only ChronoSync (which runs once a day at 4 am). Only 2GB of RAM with hopefully another 4GB under the tree this year.