Applications Responding Slowly on iMac with Intel

[jeremy_swinson]

I just purchased the new iMac with the Intel processor. (I am also a
new Mac user.) When I am using Microsoft Office, everything is
responding slowly. For example, it can take 30-45 seconds to launch
Excel. Also, when I'm executing certain actions within the
applications, I sometimes get the "beachball" icon and everything is
moving slowly overall. Applecare has no anwers for me, and I've taken
the computer into the store for a diagnostic and everything came out
clean with respect to my hardware. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[CyberTaz]

You didn't specify, but I'm assuming you're running Office 2004. Even
so, it *does not run native on the IntelMac systems, but employs the
Rosetta emulator (even though Apple says it isn't one). I haven't
worked with that config, myself, but the reports I've seen indicate
that there should *not* be any noticeable degradation in performance if
all is as it should be otherwise. I'm pretty sure you're dealing with
an OS software issue, not hardware, but it's surprising that wasn't
checked out at the same time.

Make sure you have the latest updates for Office as well as Mac OS -
even tho it's a new system, updates come out frequently... sometimes
while the unit is still on Apple's loading dock waiting to be shipped.

Also, use Disk Utility to Repair Disk Permissions before & after any OS
updates and after any program installations/removals. Post back with
your results as well as whether this is occuring with any other
(non-Office) programs you may have.

A couple other things to check in the meantime - If you have iDisk make
sure you do not have it set for automatic synch & that Spotlight isn't
set to index your files. Both can be handled through AppleMenu>System
Preferences.

HTH |:>)

 

[Andrew Chiang [MSFT]]

Hello Jeremy,

I'd consider that to be abnormal. (Not that these are official benchmarks)
On my 20" 2 ghz Intel iMac Core Duo with only 512 megs of RAM, Excel 11.2
launches and is ready for use in <7 seconds after I've run and quit it at
least once. Do you have a lot of running apps which are actively doing
something at the time? What if you reboot, launch Excel, quit Excel
(Command-Q), then launch it again?

After trying CyberTaz's suggestions, if you're still having issues. I'd run
Activity Monitor (found in Applications/Utilities). Select All Processes in
the drop down near the top and then sort by % of CPU. Make a note if what's
chewing up CPU time (if any).

I'd also run top to see how much your machine is swapping/paging: See
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html under "Determine how much paging
your system is performing" for instructions.

I'd be curious to know if the number within parenthesis right before
pageouts is consistently high (say 25 or greater) while you're hitting
slowness. The numbering I'm referring is 25 in this example:
7420(25) pageouts

If you want more help on top's command line switches, do a "man top" [w/o
quotes] while in Terminal.

Let us know what you find out.

Andrew