Leopard SLOW on PB

Hi all,
I posted a similar thread about this time last year, when Leopard was introduced. I found it to be painfully slow on my 1.25 AL PB. Unfortunately, none of the tips really got me anywhere, so I went back to Tiger (which runs GREAT on my PB) and left it at that. It's now been nearly a year, and there have been several updates to Leopard, so I thought I'd give it another shot. This was a fresh install of 10.5, then all the updates installed bringing it to 10.5.5. It is still PAINFULLY slow! I've disabled Spotlight indexing, Dashboard, and used Cocktail to trim down anything I don't need. Now, I know others have said that they installed Leopard on their G4 machines (some even older and slower than my PB) and said they've had no problems or slowdowns at all. I've ran XBench with both 10.4.11 and again with 10.5.5, and found some interesting results. Scores for nearly every category relating to processor, memory, and graphics performance was cut IN HALF after the installation of Leopard. I'll throw some numbers out for example....
CPU Test
Floating Point Basic - 1.04 GFlop/sec (Tiger), 585.79 MFlop/sec (Leo)
AltiVec Basic - 6.41 GFlop/sec (Tiger), 3.17 GFlop/sec (Leo)
Floating Point Library - 6.62 MFlop/sec (Tiger), 3.82 MFlop/sec (Leo)
Thread Test
Computation - 1.10 MFlop/sec (Tiger), 622.03 KFlop/sec (Leo)
Memory Test
System Copy - 394.66 MB/sec (Tiger), 193.25 MB/sec (Leo)
Quartz Graphics Test
Open GL Spinning Squars - 90.02 Frames/sec (Tiger), 43.44 Frames/sec (Leo)
User Interface Test - 273.76 refresh/sec (Tiger), 34.48 refresh/sec (Leo)
Overall Total - 50.69 (Tiger), 20.60 (Leo)
These are just some examples that show the most extreme differences, but the score for every category (with the exception of the disk tests) showed a significant drop with Leopard. A let a friend upgrade her 1.33 GHz 12" PB with my Leopard disk (I have the family license), and her PB was also affected with dismal performance after the upgrade. So, I know it's not just my computer, and how others with PBs and other G4 machines can say that they've noticed no performance difference makes no sense to me.
To get to my point...there has to be something going on here with the OS that's causing such a disparity in the numbers. What on earth is going on with Leopard to cause my systems performance scores to be reduced by half? There are no processes hogging any processor time (and yes, I looked system wide, not just "my processes"), I made sure there we no applications running, with the exception of XBench, and I made sure the processor speed was set to highest under the power prefs. Keep in mind, I'm not basing this solely off the XBench numbers. I can clearly see the performance problems even in normal, everyday tasks. Simply opening a new window, moving the pointer over the Dock with magnification turned on, moving a window around the scree...all are rough, jagged movements with visibly noticeable dropped frames. Opening any of the "i" applications takes a lifetime compared to Tiger (for example, iCal takes 6 hops to open on Leo, on Tiger it was 1 hop)
If anyone knows what could be causing this, has any solutions, or can tell me that Leopard just wasn't designed to run on such old, outdated equipment, I'd really, really appreciate the input. Thanks much in advance for any replies!
G

I tried leopard on my pb also, and wondered why the drop in performance is so dramatic. On my G5, I can set performance to highest with Leopard, but I can only select "better performance" on the laptop.
I wonder if Leopard is throttling down the cpu even when its set for "Better".
Is there a way to measure the actual cpu frequency?

Similar Messages

Mac os x leopard slow

I've had my Mac for over a year now. It's a Mac OS X 10.5.4 leopard. Lately, it has been acting up (freezing and being really slow). I tried deleting a lot of applications that were not necessary. Apparently that didn't work. How do i get my Mac to become faster and not freeze so much?

Hi
This is the server forum. You'd get more feedback if you post here:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=235
Tony

Safari on Snow Leopard slow

I have loved safari 4 and have used it dedicatedly on leopard with ad block for the last 1 year. However, since I upgraded to snow leopard, and not having ad block, I feel safari is extremely slow. Is anyone else experiencing such a speed drop?

I have the same issue. Pages that were nearly instant before are now exceedingly slow (www.google.com, for example, takes about 7 seconds). I have several other computers on the same network that are either running Leopard or Windows that don't have this problem, so it's not a DNS issue. I've also verified that my network connection isn't saturated.
I've tried the following:
* Resetting Safari
* Emptying the cache
* Repairing permissions
* Deleting all subfolders of ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari
* Deleting Downloads.plist, History.plist, and LastSession.plist
* Removing everything from both the system and account copies of the InputMethods and Internet Plugins folders
This should essentially be a clean install of Safari, but it is still exceedingly slow. Note that it's not consistent: it will load a page quickly then, 5 seconds later, the same page will take a very long time to load.
Sometimes, most of the items on the page will come in nearly instantaneously, but suddenly the page will stop loading for a good 5 to 10 seconds. Once that time elapses, the rest of the page suddenly downloads.
Does anyone have any ideas?

Results are in: Leopard slower then Tiger on PowerPC

Xbenched this yesterday. Dual booting on a 12" PowerBook...both Leopard and Tiger boot have Dashboard disabled and are running iStat Menu. Though the back end is slight faster, check out the User Interface and Graphic entries...finally explains why I "felt" that Leopard is slower then Tiger on this machine..it is!
Tiger first:
Results 43.43
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.4.11 (8S165)
Physical RAM 1280 MB
Model PowerBook6,4
Processor PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz
L1 Cache 32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 512K @ 1.33 GHz
Bus Frequency 167 MHz
Video Card GeForce FX Go5200
Drive Type TOSHIBA MK6025GAS
CPU Test 66.60
GCD Loop 102.38 5.40 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 43.53 1.03 Gflop/sec
AltiVec Basic 262.70 10.47 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 76.86 2.54 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 39.20 6.83 Mops/sec
Thread Test 54.31
Computation 53.32 1.08 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 55.33 2.38 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 32.79
System 28.50
Allocate 110.05 404.13 Kalloc/sec
Fill 27.15 1320.16 MB/sec
Copy 16.85 347.95 MB/sec
Stream 38.61
Copy 42.49 877.53 MB/sec [altivec]
Scale 44.19 912.98 MB/sec [altivec]
Add 36.82 784.25 MB/sec [altivec]
Triad 33.04 706.91 MB/sec [altivec]
Quartz Graphics Test 58.78
Line 51.99 3.46 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 59.49 17.76 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 60.43 4.93 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 66.27 1.67 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 57.54 3.60 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 64.96
Spinning Squares 64.96 82.41 frames/sec
User Interface Test 35.36
Elements 35.36 162.31 refresh/sec
Disk Test 27.34
Sequential 51.31
Uncached Write 46.48 28.54 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 42.94 24.30 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 81.00 23.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 48.05 24.15 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 18.64
Uncached Write 6.51 0.69 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 37.23 11.92 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 52.46 0.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 66.12 12.27 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Leopard is here:
Results 38.30
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.1 (9B18)
Physical RAM 1280 MB
Model PowerBook6,4
Processor PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz
L1 Cache 32K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 512K @ 1.33 GHz
Bus Frequency 167 MHz
Video Card GeForce FX Go5200
Drive Type TOSHIBA MK6025GAS TOSHIBA MK6025GAS
CPU Test 68.24
GCD Loop 108.63 5.73 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 43.91 1.04 Gflop/sec
AltiVec Basic 265.00 10.56 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 77.25 2.55 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 40.70 7.09 Mops/sec
Thread Test 47.78
Computation 55.94 1.13 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 41.69 1.79 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 35.50
System 32.91
Allocate 217.07 797.16 Kalloc/sec
Fill 29.10 1415.13 MB/sec
Copy 19.16 395.66 MB/sec
Stream 38.54
Copy 42.76 883.27 MB/sec [altivec]
Scale 43.93 907.62 MB/sec [altivec]
Add 36.47 776.79 MB/sec [altivec]
Triad 33.10 708.10 MB/sec [altivec]
Quartz Graphics Test 69.27
Line 57.49 3.83 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 71.05 21.21 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 63.90 5.21 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 72.39 1.83 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 88.92 5.56 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 62.08
Spinning Squares 62.08 78.76 frames/sec
User Interface Test 20.86
Elements 20.86 95.72 refresh/sec
Disk Test 24.68
Sequential 40.70
Uncached Write 35.34 21.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 32.79 18.55 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 69.06 20.21 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 40.00 20.10 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 17.71
Uncached Write 6.30 0.67 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 33.58 10.75 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 48.26 0.34 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 60.08 11.15 MB/sec [256K blocks]

The Leopard interface is definitely more graphics intensive (and I have heard suggestions that Leopard transfers more work to the graphics card than earlier versions of OSX). I guess at some level of hardware any processing efficiencies will be outweighed by the load on the graphics card. In other words, can you be sure that your results would replicate on a PPC machine with a more powerful graphics card and more VRAM?

Just upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard - slow slow slow

macbook has slowed - molasses in winter slow.
slow to switch aps, slow to save, aps freezing requiring force quit.
have 1Gb ram and plenty disk space - 15Gb+

Snow Leopard should work fine on your system. First, if you're still at 10.3, install the 10.6.8 combo update from: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399 . Use Disk Utility to repair permissions, then install the combo update, then repair permissions again.
Next, you have 15GB empty hard drive space ... you want 10% to 15%+ free for systems usage. If it's below 10%, then you need to free up space, otherwise the system will crawl.
Download Smart Utility from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php . It will give you insight into the health of your hard drive.
Run the Apple hardware test to see if there are any obvious hardware issues. Find the original OS X disks, and insert the one that says 'AHT Version x.x' in small print on the label. Reboot holding the alt/option key down (might work holding the D key down too), choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted choose the extended test. While in the extended test, you might push command and L to make it loop several times. Sometimes hardware issues don't show up on one run.
This FAQ may help too: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html

Anyone else find Leopard slow?

Is it just me or is Leopard so slooow?
I have a dual core MacPro with a gig of ram.
Radeon X1900 video card with 30 and 23 inch cinema displays (I found the firmware update for that and updated it)
World of Warcraft for example is virtually unplayable it is so slow.
Luckily I had a full back up HD that I can boot from in Tiger.
Anyone else think Leopard is slow?
Looking forward to Cheetah

i'd have to agree. EVERYTHING on my macbook pro got slower. whether we're talking about restarting, starting, logging in, opening stuff,...just everything is slow. i dunno what to do.. hopefully there will be some software updates. i think that EventAgent thing should be adressed too. thats person up there^ isnt the first person i've heard talking about that. so yea. just keep your fingers crossed and hope there is some nice software updates coming our way.

Leopard slower

Whay does leopard seem SO much more choppy, and sluggish than tiger? I am using a fully upgraded MacBook, why is it so slow, it lags when I just drag windows around.
Any suggestions?
Message was edited by: Manikc

Here are a few things to consider.
(1) Have you left the Mac running for long enough for Spotlight to fully do it's job? It can take 6-8 hours for large enough volumes, so if you are shutting down and restarting frequently, this process may have gotten dragged out a bit. Be aware that Spotlight can work in the background for longer than it takes for it to become usable in the Finder. Given your limited memory, things can run slow when Spotlight is hard at work.
(2) How is progress going with Time Machine? During the initial backup (and subsequent backups of really large files like the Entourage mail database), Time Machine can slow things down.
(3) If you use a mounted iDisk, go to System Preferences --> .Mac --> iDisk and turn off iDisk Sync. Until Apple polishes this feature with a maintenance release, this may (may not) cause you some minor trouble if it is mounted.
Assuming that all of the above checks out, I like the suggestion posted earlier to add more memory. That could have an impact on performance. I don't know what model you have, but you might want to consider upgrading to at least 1 GB of RAM if possible.
Finally, _if all else fails_, consider making a good clone backup of your system (I like SuperDuper!) reformatting your hard drive, and doing a clean install. The deal is that Leopard is faster and more responsive, so if your system is sluggish, there is some problem that can be fixed.

Snow Leopard slower than Leopard??

Hi
On 5 year old macbook with 1GB ram leopard was upgraded to snow.
Since the upgrade the macbook is going slower... What can be the reason for this?

Under some circumstances it's may be possible that Snow Leopard appears slower than Leopard. One technique to boost power in Snow Leopard is to transfer compressed data from the hard drive in to the RAM, Cache and CPU environment. Apples ulterior motive behind this idea was, that in the past the CPU performance grow bigger than the transfer performance from hard drives. In other words Apple thought that the additional benefit of transfer data quicker from a hard drive yield more profit than the cost the CPU have to "pay" to decompress the data. In an old system, e.g. with a single core CPU, this benefit maybe isn't present and the result maybe turns in the opposite direction and you notice a decrease of system performance.
Bye Tom

Snow leopard slower than ever

Hello there,
Since I've installed Snow Leopard ( one year ago...) my mac is slower than ever at the launch ( more than 40 seconds).
I did my best to clean it with Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner, OnyX. ( It fixed my problem of the multicolored circle which was boring me on iPhoto or When i was on Internet...).
I've checked and fixed the disc, it looks ok.
I've delted the soft which started at the launch
I'd like to upgrade my mac to Lion... but first I need to find what makes it slow.
What's wrong please?
Looking forward hearing from helpers

Check this out... Closing down is very fast... here are the errors for the launch
How can i do? Thanks

Leopard Slower than Tiger?

I've noticed a definite difference in start-up time - Leopard 27-28 seconds, Tiger 16-17 seconds. Also general navigation and reaction times seem slower to me. Anyone else notice this? And is this to be expected?

Hi tksuther;
Journaling is a process of keeping track of data being written to a disk. It provides protection in case of sudden shutdown of the system so that the disk can be restored to a valid state.
When journaling was introduces to OS X, I did some very extensive testing in an effort to see if journaling was taking up noticeable amounts of resources on the system. After doing my testing I discovered that the difference between disk with journaling turn on or off was so small I could not realistically measure it. The difference was smaller then variability in the test on the disk. Hence I say that it not measurable and I alway leave it turned on.
Allan

CS-18 Internet Stick and Mac OSX Snow Leopard Slow

CS-18 Internet Stick Firmware R1.10
Macbook Pro 8,1
Snow Leopard 10.6.7
I'm having slow and dropped connections. I've noticed that there is a firmware update for PC but not Mac. if there is a possiblity that this will solve the problem should I try the update on a PC.
Thx

I've found a partial fix.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3773
Downoad speeds are still only

Snow Leopard slows to a crawl...

I have a two-year old iMac that I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Since then the system runs incredibly slow, as though the processor's time is suddenly being hogged by something. After a complete shutdown things work better for awhile. Also it seems to backup and sync with MobileMe more often, which will also slow things down quite a bit.
On my relatively new MacBook Pro the upgrade has worked great. Significantly faster all around.
Is anyone at Apple reading these posts?

Same here, It is so slow it is unusable.
It is so slow my network won't even start (ir it migh be anither problem).
It is not frozen, if you stay long enough you may notice something moving every half hour or so.
My machine is brand new, the only 2 apps I installed are Skype and VmWare Fusion. Unplugged all external devices, power in that is it. Rebooted twice (takes almost 20minutes) still no go.
I am new to Mac so I am definitly good at troubleshooting on Mac OSX.
Dissapointed... I bought a Mac because they simply work...

Snow Leopard slowing system

After installing Snow Leopard in my MacBook Pro I noticed many of my applications are slow, including Safari. Furthermore, I had the issue in iTunes with the iTunes store access. Still is not fixed. Sometimes my system just hangs and I need to Force to quit the applications for not responding, especially Safari. I noticed that Safari is hanging with no response many times after installation of Leopard. I downloaded the latest upgrades from the Apple Support help page, but the issue is still there. The Response when the system is booting is slow as well. In addition, I use Parallel software to run Windows applications and is very slow after the upgrade. (previously was stable and working properly). Is anybody has an idea how to fix this issue?

I'm having the same problem after upgrading my iMac to Snow Leopard. At first I thought it was caused by lack of memory after noticing in the Activity Monitor that I had left only about 28MB of RAM left (Leopard 10.5 used less than 1GB most of the time). I installed two Crucial 2GB DD3 1066Mhz memory modules and the sluggishness resolved moderately. Also noticed that Snow Leopard now consumes a lot more memory after upgrading to 4Gbs. The Activity Monitor now shows that it is consuming more than 2Gbs of memory. Well at least there's a bit more than 1GB available. I ran Disk Utilities and Tech Tool Deluxe and everything seems to be fine.
What irony, I switched from Windows to OS X because I was sick and tired of dealing with problems after each upgrade and now am having problems with my iMac after upgrading it or I should say... degrading it. I feel I should do a clean install but then it will be a nightmare having to install everything back. I guess I have to wait until someone comes up with a solution.

Leopard slowed down performance on my G5

Not sure how to fix this, need some basic advice. I just loaded Leopard into my Power PC G5 and it's moving through applications, etc like molasses in January. Do I need to upgrade anything?

Hi! A couple of things may be slowing it down. One is spotlight which may be indexing drives and also Time Machine which takes a few hours for the initial backup. There could also be some temp files created that haven't cleared themselves. I usually recommend letting it run for at least 24 hours without sleeping to give it time to catch its breath. You could also have some apps that aren't Leopard compliant but those should have been checked for compatibility before loading Leopard. Usually though incompatible apps produce worse results than just a general slowdown. Tom

Mac Leopard slow

I just installed leopard on a brand new macbook pro (17) and it is excrutiatingly slow on safari.
I had a macbook pro 15 inch previous without leopard and it was much quicker surfing.
Any suggestions what I can do?
Thanks

Do you notice the slowness elsewhere besides Safari? Is Spotlight still indexing your drives, or have you started a Time Machine Backup at the same time?
Best,
Jonathan
from Mac Tips Daily! & Thinkmac.net

Leopard SLOW on PB

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for