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Re: Startup time
joemikeb #31168 09/11/14 09:48 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
Just to add some perspective, this is quoted from the user's manual of my April 2010 15" MacBook Pro:

Originally Posted By: Apple
Putting Your MacBook Pro to Sleep
If you’ll be away from your MacBook Pro for only a short time, put it to sleep.

Shutting Down Your MacBook Pro
If you aren’t going to use your MacBook Pro for a couple of days or longer, it’s best to shut it down.

…no commentary, only those terse statements.

Don't forget that with laptops battery life is a primary consideration. That might have something to do with Apple's recommendation.

Good thought.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Startup time
deniro #31169 09/11/14 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
Many years ago, many, I recall reading that if your browser seems slow, you should delete the cache.

The problem with browser caches is that the browser caches everything, until eventually it takes the browser longer to see if it has something in cache than it would to download it fresh.

This is a bug in the browser, one that I believe all modern browsers have addressed. On the one hand, every time they wanted to check if something was in the cache, they scanned the whole cache sequentially. Sequential searches slow down disproportionately the more things there are to search. (If you have ten times as many things in your cache, each search takes ten times as long. Each and every search. It adds up.) On the other hand, with internet connections getting faster and faster, less and less is gained from a successful cache hit.

But there are faster ways to search than sequentially. Browsers now typically cache data in a database rather than in individual files, and a database search (if the database is set up correctly) is just as fast no matter how many items are in the table. What was once good advice may no longer be.

There are some things that really benefit from being cached. For example, it's common for a website to have a single javascript file and a single CSS file shared by every page on the site. Caching the page itself buys you little, especially if the page's content is dynamic, but caching the JS and CSS files pays off handsomely, even over a fast connection.

Re: Startup time
deniro #31171 09/11/14 11:40 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
I looked at SSDs at Other World Computing. Impressive, though I noticed that they did their testing on laptops rather than desktops, and on Photoshop and big graphics apps which I don't use.

$150 may be a little steep for me. I don't know. I'd like to know how dramatic the difference would be on my particular computer.

How many gigs of SSD will that $150 buy you as opposed to how many you need? That's a real consideration with SSDs.

I've got to think that Apple's push towards SSDs has been designed with cloud, rather than local, data storage in mind.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Startup time
tacit #31172 09/12/14 12:02 AM
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Originally Posted By: tacit
Originally Posted By: Ira L
I have experienced Dropbox connecting slowly, but that is a reflection of the Internet connection after startup. And what you are describing, for me at least, happens after startup; the computer is accessible and usable while Dropbox is doing its thing.


So "startup" might be a bit misleading. The slowdown I experience happens immediately after boot but before the system becomes usable. The Desktop appears, the Dropbox menu item pops up in my menubar, and....my computer is essentially unusable for the next minute or so. In theory, it has finished booting, but in practice I get the spinning beachball if I try to do anything. It isn't until the Dropbox menu icon changes to the green checkmark icon that the computer starts responding.


When I had an "extremely slow by anyone's standards except dial-up" Internet connection (as opposed to my current "OK but slow compared to others" connection) I did experience something similar to what you describe. Hence, I attributed it to the speed of connection rather than a Dropbox issue. If I recall from some of your previous posts, you have a blazingly fast Internet connection, so my supposition may be incorrect.

Let's hope this all gets sorted out before 10.10 is officially released.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Startup time
Ira L #31174 09/12/14 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted By: Ira L
Let's hope this all gets sorted out before 10.10 is officially released.

In the current Yosemite beta the latest Dropbox does not complete launching and at the same time kills all internet I/O. As you say, Lets hope this all gets sorted out before Yosemite is officially released.

The fact Dropbox can do this is making me reconsider using Dropbox altogether. It appears to be coming in at too low a level for my comfort.

Last edited by joemikeb; 09/12/14 06:02 PM.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Startup time
joemikeb #31175 09/12/14 06:04 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: Ira L
Let's hope this all gets sorted out before 10.10 is officially released.

In the current Yosemite beta the latest Dropbox does not complete launching and at the same time kills all internet I/O. As you say, Lets hope this all gets sorted out before Yosemite is officially released.

Dream on. (And don't forget to fix the other typo. smirk )

Re: Startup time
grelber #31292 09/24/14 06:19 PM
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Just kicking it around. Purchasing is not an option now due to, among other things, a severe recent increase in my back and leg pain, w/possible surgery not far down the road. I stand all the time now. God I hate this space bar.

I did decide to do a lot of font cleaning and found an excellent resource if you have never seen it.

Font Management in OS X (by Kurt Lang)

Including this:

Quote:
At times, Font Book's database can become corrupt. Usually from opening too many fonts, or fonts that are damaged. When you activate fonts with Font Book using the original method, not only are all fonts you've ever activated copied to the Fonts folder chosen in its preferences, but those fonts are also added as entries in its database (Library sets do not copy the fonts, but still do become entries in the database). Font Book uses this database to keep track of which fonts are active and which are not. The more there are, the longer it takes for your Mac to start up as Font Book must compare each font to the information in the database during startup to determine if a given font should be on or off. If the database becomes damaged, it can take a very long time for your Mac to start up to the desktop. If it's really mangled, your Mac may not finish booting at all. Another symptom of a damaged database is not being able to activate or deactivate fonts from Font Book's interface.

Re: Startup time
grelber #31295 09/25/14 12:34 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: Ira L
Let's hope this all gets sorted out before 10.10 is officially released.

In the current Yosemite beta the latest Dropbox does not complete launching and at the same time kills all internet I/O. As you say, Lets hope this all gets sorted out before Yosemite is officially released.

Dream on. (And don't forget to fix the other typo. smirk )

No need to dream. Dropbox works in Yosemite Beta 3. There are however some new problems when waking from a deep sleep.

Last edited by joemikeb; 09/25/14 12:35 AM.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Startup time
ganbustein #31387 10/03/14 12:38 AM
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Sounds kinda like starting and stopping a rolling train. The grind is in bringing it up to speed and stopping it again. The object in motion will necessarily be strained by getting it up to speed from a standstill and then stopping it again. My two cents, which I'm certain is what it's worth.

There is pressure by ConEd to not drain energy just for the convenience of having electronics ready to go all the time; they call it seepage. It's minor, but here electricity is expensive. I have notice a drop in my energy bill by unplugging things like microwaves and other devices. It's not a big deal if the times indicators blink when plugged in. Who cares, the coffee doesn't have to be made before I wake up. This being said,I would rather have a drive that lasts longer by avoiding spin-up.

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