Performance and stability in 10.4.7

Question

I've had numerous performance and stability issues since the 10.4.7 update. Most noticeable are:
1) It often take a long time to focus on windows. When I click on, say, a Terminal window, the window raises immediately but is not active for about 1-2 seconds. (The close/minimize/maximize lights on the titlebar remain gray and the window is inactive.) During this time, the Terminal process is takes 50-90% of the CPU, and then the SystemUIServer process hogs the CPU for the following 1-2 seconds. This behavior is not exclusive to the Terminal process; it happens to other windows too.
2) When the system has been on screensave for a long time (say, >1 day), it becomes unresponsive to keyboard and mouse input and won't wake up. I usually have to power down the computer and reboot.
Has anyone else noticed this with the current OS? Could it be my fault somehow? If not, is it likely to be fixed in 10.4.8?
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1.5 GB memory

Answer 1

1) It often take a long time to focus on windows. When I click on, say, a Terminal window, the window raises immediately but is not active for about 1-2 seconds. (The close/minimize/maximize lights on the titlebar remain gray and the window is inactive.) During this time, the Terminal process is takes 50-90% of the CPU, and then the SystemUIServer process hogs the CPU for the following 1-2 seconds. This behavior is not exclusive to the Terminal process; it happens to other windows too.
This is unusual. My 10.4.7 is pretty instantaneous. It could be a sign that you are using something in the background that eats up the signal for graphics redraw. What third party software do you have installed? What peripherals do you have installed? Have you installed any Dashboard Widgets.
2) When the system has been on screensave for a long time (say, >1 day), it becomes unresponsive to keyboard and mouse input and won't wake up. I usually have to power down the computer and reboot.
Screen Saver or Energy Saver? Big difference here. Energy Saver could create such a situation especially with third party USB devices that are unfamiliar with Mac OS X's Energy Saver methods and send back signals expecting to receive back power and not getting it just as the machine wakes from sleep. If it is a Screen Saver, which Screen Saver? Have you tried to see if this happens without any pictures in your Pictures folder?
Is your data backed up? Diagnosing issues which result from force shutting down may require hard drive repair utilities. And the same issues that come from that can have caused the freezing and slowdown you are experiencing, as well as show up on a hard drive that is dying. So it is critical your data is backed up before we diagnose further. See my FAQ on backing up:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html