Aperture exporting to email takes minutes not seconds - Is life too short?

Question

I'm writing this while I am exporting 5 images to email on Aperture. I am lucky that I am even able to write this as when I export images it slows down the entire computer and my typing is spluttering while I am doing this. The email has just appeared with the images just now - after about 4 minutes. Ocassionally they take less time but mostly they hang and hang on exporting and as I say slow my imac to a stop. The only adjustments I used in this batch (and most other batches)  are exposure, sharpness and dodge and burn.
I am not new to posting my Aperture issues here but just wonder does anyone see an Aperture appearing anytime soon that just " works" or should I just move away from it even though I love it (when it does occasionally work properly) and I am tied in to the system with over 100,000 images in the programme.
I do realise it seems to work for some lucky people whose system seems to be the perfect optimal system. - I would just love it to work for me.

Answer 1

Armagh Mac wrote:
 ...it seems to work for some lucky people whose system seems to be the perfect optimal system. - I would just love it to work for me.
It is not about luck, it is about strong hardware very carefully set up. When we lack the strongest hardware we do our best to develop optimizing workflows. Note that on weaker Macs like your iMac any one thing can bog down Aperture, so carefully implement every one of the suggestions below.
Some generic advice I posted in another thread:
Aperture is a heavy pro graphics app that is very demanding of hardware. Your Mac's CPU, GPU, i/o and RAM are all limiting to Aperture so we need to do what we can to optimize. Some steps:
• Set Previews to only be built manually, and only tell Aperture to build Previews when you are not otherwise editing in Aperture. I suggest setting the size of Previews to be the pixel dimensions of your display.
• Update the OS to the current 10.6.x version and Aperture to the current 3.x version.
• Keep the internal drive underfilled for speed, which sooner or later usually requires using a Referenced-Masters-Library with Masters on external drives. Back up originals before importing into Aperture or any other images app.
• The Aperture Library should be on an internal drive.
• Turn off Share Previews with iLife and iWork.
• Remember that HDs slow as they fill and keep the internal drive underfilled. Approx. 70% full _maximum_ is a good guideline.
• If page outs increase significantly during operation, max out RAM and/or try to run Aperture by itself. On my C2D MBP with its max of 3 GB RAM I always did a restart prior to a heavy Aperture session to clear any memory leaks and make sure no other apps were open. Browsers in particular will often suck RAM Aperture would otherwise be using.
IMO all Aperture users who can should routinely bump RAM to at least 8 GB.
• Some users have observed that it can take a new Aperture installation time (weeks) to stabilize on slow computers. So do not panic; and allow Aperture to continue background work by not fully shutting down the computer.
HTH
-Allen Wicks