1:1 preview render - so slow u can't believe it

I have LR 2.0 on a Powerbook G4 with 2GB ram and a 250GB HD (90GB still free).
I experience extreme slowness in the use of the 1:1 preview, it takes sometime 40-50sec, sometime even 1 minute, before the 1:1 render is done and in fact this makes the 1:1 enlargement unusable (imagine reviewing tens of files with this problem).
Can anyone suggest me if there is a solution to this which is (at least for me) a big issue?

G'day Fabio,
Sorry for my delay in replying to your post.
Your work on your website is wonderful.  Only commercial work I do is corporate head shots and some products.  But this is Adobe forum so back to Lightroom matters.
I am not sure if I have "good experience with Lightroom"... like most people, I do what works and keep on doing it.  So, please don't think I am an expert.
When I first started using Lightroom, I kept all the photos in the Lightroom and I nearly did run out of my hard drive space.  What I do now is, once I delivered my work to clients (ie. made the sale and not likely to get any reprint orders), I export the job as high res jpg files (so it is easy to view them later in Adobe Bridge or any other image browsing app.) and save my Lightroom changes to the folder containing my raw files and remove the job (folder) from the Lightroom.
Now let me explain how I do, what I said above in more detail (sorry if I am telling you what you already know).
To Export Images
Step 1/ In 'Library' module, I choose the job/folder I want to export.
Step 2/ On my keyboard, I press [Command] + [ A ] to select all the images.
Step 3/ Right-Click with mouse on one of the images select.  A contextual pop-up menu appears.  Choose EXPORT > EXPORT...
Step 4/ I export using the following settings:
               JPEG
               sRGB
               Quality - 10
               Resolution - 300 Pixels Per Inch (No resizing)
               Sharpen - Matte Paper
Step 5/ Press [ Export ] button.
To Save Lightroom chances to the folder containing Raw files
In Lightroom, when adjustments are made in the 'Develop' module, Raw files are never touched.  Instead, set of instructions (let's call them 'adjustment file') are stored along with preview of images in the catalogue file (...I think).  Since I find it difficult to keep a track of catalogue file that relates to my specific job, I want these 'adjustment files' to live (stored) with my Raw files, in raw folders for each job.
If you want to do this too, here is how I do it.
Step 1/ In 'Library' module, I choose the job/folder I want to export.
Step 2/ On my keyboard, I press [Command] + [ A ] to select all the images.
Step 3/ On my keyboard, I press [Command] + [ S ] to Save all the 'adjustment files' to the raw folder.  These are referred as 'side-car' or 'xmp' files by experts.
To confirm everything was done properly, go and check the folder containing your raw files.  You should see *.xmp file for each of your raw files you have made adjustments in the Lightroom.  If you open these files using a TextEdit or Notepad, you will see that it does contain instructions on how to adjust raw files.
This way, in the future, if you want to import these raw photos again in to the Lightroom (or on to another machine with Lightroom on it), your photos will be displayed WITH all your adjustments intact.
At this point, if I want to reduce the size of the Lightroom Catalogue file, I remove the job/folder from the Lightroom.
If you want to keep your '1:1 Previews' for less period so that your catalogue file does not get too big, goto the menu:
LIGHTROOM > CATALOG SETTINGS...
Choose [ File Handling ] tab and change the setting next to AUTOMATICALLY DISCARD 1:1 PREVIEW: ONCE A WEEK or something suitable for you.
In terms of your computer running slow... I am not 100% sure if it is your computer, limited memory or what but, there is something you can try... might take overnight for you so don't do it when you need your computer to work.  goto the menu:
LIGHTROOM > CATALOG SETTINGS...
Choose [ General ] tab and click on [Relaunch and Optimise ] catalogue file option.  It might speed things up OR your computer will blow up!    
Finally, starting the 1:1 preview at 11am and not finished at 3:30pm is crazy!
I just did a import and timed it for you so you can see the speed on another machine.
My machine is: MacBook Pro 2.8Ghz, 4GB of Ram, 320GB 5,400rpm HD.  I have mine connected to Apple 30" Cinema Display.  When I did this test, I had my Video card set to 'Better Battery Life' (slower graphics card) rather than 'Performance' but I don't think it made that much of a difference, if any.
I imported 100 x Nikon D700 Raw Files (each about 8 to 10MB in file size) in to the Lightroom 2.4 with 1:1 Preview setting.
- Importing 100 x raw files to the catalog took 12 seconds
- 1:1 Preview of the first raw file took 61 seconds after importing
- 1:1 Preview of 2nd and subsequent files took about 5 to 6 seconds each
- Completed Importing and 50 x Raw file 1:1 Preview - 5min 12sec from the start
- Completed Importing and 100 x Raw file 1:1 Preview - 9min 4sec from the start
I hope this helps Fabio!
Paul

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    When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
    Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
      1. Carbon Copy Cloner
      2. Data Backup
      3. Deja Vu
      4. SuperDuper!
      5. SyncTwoFolders
      6. Synk Pro
      7. Synk Standard
      8. Tri-Backup
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
    Additional suggestions will be found in Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
    Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
    Additional Hints
    Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
    Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
    Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
    Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
    Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu.  Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
    Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.

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