New MacBook Pro: Safari very Sluggish

Question

I just purchased a brand new 2.2 Mh Core 2 Duo for digital audio recording. It has OS 10.5. I am really disappointed at how slow Safari is. It takes about 5 times as long for it to pull up a page than my year old Vista machine. Is this normal? I thought this thing would smoke!
Mike

Answer 1

Mike,
Another poster has pointed you to the Safari forums, but I'll add a bit here, too.
With just one or two exceptions (which I'll note), Safari should be just about instantaneous. I certainly is for me on my Macbook Pro, and it was close to this even when I was using a G4 Powerbook. In short, you are correct in thinking that it should and will "smoke."
If you don't have the same experience, something is wrong. Is this a connection speed problem? Is it that Safari and its interface are actually running slowly, or is it something else entirely? Do you get the SBOD (spinning Beachball of Death) when this occurs? Is it that Safari loads slowly when launched, or when you have been using it for a minute or two? Really, these questions are all rhetorical; one's you should be asking yourself while you troubleshoot the problems.
If this is a connection problem, there may be some conflict with your router. Is your router a wireless-"n" router? If so, it may be conflicting with Apple's implementation of the "n" standard; it is still in "draft" stage, after all. I have also seen many problems with "speed booster" routers.
If Safari, itself is running slowly, this might indicate a bad factory installation. Hey, it happens, and all too frequently (regardless of manufacturer). A format, then reinstallation from your "Software Restore" disks might be in your immediate future. Look on the bright side: It is a great way to learn a little about OS X, and its way better to do it now, rather than later when you'll also have to deal with user data.
Now, I have noticed that Safari can take a few moments to launch, then open its first page. Typically, this slight delay is immediately after a system startup. Any subsequent launches are close enough to immediate that the difference means nothing, and the first page loads very, very quickly. My homepage is the CNN website, and there's always plenty of graphics, and I'm sure JAVA and Flash embedded there. This would probably explain why it is slow to launch that first time for me, because it also has to load all of those plug-ins.
But as I stated, it is lightning fast after that initial hesitation, and remains so for as long as my computer is booted.
Scott