Does the world’s sexiest desktop have a performance problem?
Fri, 10/30/2009 - 4:52am — Jonny Evans
1946
Disappointing reports claiming the 27-inch iMac may suffer performance problems have begun emerging, emanating from Apple’s Discussion Forums.
It's not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we've noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple's support boards.
The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, others complain there's a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down. There’s even reports these Macs ship with a corrupted Snow Leopard build installed on the computer.
“I just upgraded my 24" iMac to the new 27" iMacs that just came out. Well, now every flash-based site like youtube or hulu runs unbelievably slow. Looking at activity monitor, Flash is hitting about 100-110% of my cpu. It basically makes the browser unresponsive and the video is choppy,” one user claims on the Apple forums.
It must be stressed these reports do not claim all new 27-inch iMacs are so affected, it seems to be a problem (or series of problems) which afflict only some units at this time.
I wonder if all these iMac's with problems are once again, owned by employees of Redmond's very own secret society of anti-Apple internet trolls? Who knows? All I know, is that I never get any of these problems with my Macs. They always work flawlessly. I suppose there is only one way to find out, whistle down to your local Apple store and try it out? :D
You know... you're comment gets me thinking about just how far MS would go with some of these astroturfing techniques.
I try not to let myself go too far down the conspiracy theory road, but if I let my paranoia loose a little bit, I have to say that some things just seem suspicious.
I mean anyone can post on the support forums, issues can be made up, or real issues can be jumped on by astroturfers to make them seem more common than they are.
And also, the way that any significant issue just immediately becomes astroturfer-troll "Talking Points". Like the way the SL Guest account bug, which from what I understand is quite rare and depends upon unusual configs, gets mentioned in every troll thread, like most of the threads on Engadget.
Thinking along these lines, going off the deep-end, and considering the *billions* at stake in the game, what are the chances that astroturfers actually spent real money buying up Fart apps for the iphone for a few months, to keep them in the top apps category.
I mean really... were real people actually buying those apps? Weren't there free fart apps available?
But when countering the argument that iPhone has thousands and thousands of apps, the same meme comes back in the form of a talking point:
"Yeah, but how many fart apps and flashlight apps do you need?"
Hmm... sure I'm reaching. But I'd be really curious to see just how low these subterfuge tactics go.
Stop with the "it's not Apples fault" crap. It's one thing to be a fan boy, it's another to wear blinders.
I have a Nov '08 unibody MacBook and have seen a major slow down since I upgraded to 10.6. Most of the slow down has been related to Safari use. When I use Firefox I don't have the same performance issues. Although I have had some issues with waiting for the disk drive when using finder.
I maybe stretching things a bit but it seems that Apple has lost a little bit of its renowned attention to detail. For instance 10.6 has had more then a few significant issues, the one that is killing me is that I can no longer use my Airport Express to print to HP printers.
Another issue that has been bothering me is the truly lame update to the Touch.
If this is what happens to Apple after losing Jobs for only 6 months I fret to see Apple without him at all.
I noticed the same thing with Safari after upgrading to Snow Leopard. As my day job involves multiplayer game where the client runs flash I was worried why it suddenly ran so slow.
I am not 100% sure as for the reason, but making Safari run in 32-bit mode (available in Get Info from Finder) fixes this completely. Perhaps the flash plugin is only available in 32-bit mode and some expensive voodoo is required to get data between a 32-bit and 64-bit context.
For a lot of people this new iMac may also be their first time running Safari as a 64-bit application.
If it means anything I'm running 10.5.8 and Firefox runs circles around Safari. I've been pretty dedicated to Safari for the last three years but I think I'm going to start using Firefox until Safari is updated.
Apple includes the flash plugin with OS X (as does Microsoft.) Unfortunately, Adobe has been writing shit code for the mac for the last few years, and that's really what causing the vast majority of problems/complaints. Read here for a fix/explanation:
I have a 24" 2009 iMac and I've had this problem ever since I upgraded to 10.6. Running more than 2 instances of any video (youtube, hulu etc) makes the video choppy....it's been so frustrating. Maybe its the same cause? I'm running a 2.66ghz, 4gb ram, nvidea 9400m (and don't blame it on the video card, you fanboys).
Basically -- remove it, remove your com.adobe.flash10.plist, and re-install. Should fix Flash performance issues. Flash player BLOWS on Linux/OS X. Adobe puts zero effort these days into their non-Windows products. Sad, considering the long history which help make both companies. What used to be a symbiotic relationship has turned into a rather sour one.
flash is a BITCH. I think the internet should move to a different standard (anything except flash). Everything runs perfectly on my two year laptop except flash. HD on VLC runs great, but youtube HD never runs properly. Disappointed.
Ever since SnowLeopard I've had trouble with it forcing my disk to spin down and causing delays. This solved all the problems: ' sudo pmset -a disksleep 0 '
Not only iMac but I'm running my macbook pro with 24" LCD. When I watch hulu.com on 24" - the video gets real choppy. So I was forced to watch on my MBP full screen and it ran OK.
I am not happy with Adobe (not Apple) not providing new SW update for Flash even for 64 bits even before/after Snow Leopard came out.
People were seeing this after te mid 2009 update of MBPs - they linked it to the Seagate SMS at the time (both stock 5400rom and 7200rpm) as it was affecting a percentage of people. Plain old lack of access to HD at times (as demonstrated when looking at the logs, Activity Monitor). Give it a day or two and there will be more decent youtube video demonstrations of the problem.
People were seeing this after te mid 2009 update of MBPs - they linked it to the Seagate SMS at the time (both stock 5400rom and 7200rpm) as it was affecting a percentage of people. Plain old lack of access to HD at times (as demonstrated when looking at the logs, Activity Monitor). Give it a day or two and there will be more decent youtube video demonstrations of the problem.
apple has been f'ing up... no where to point the finger but themselves. The products still look amazing and have amazing/innovative features, but i have been having alot of problems with my MBP and flash as well. My iPhone is still dropping calls like thats its job. (i realize its ATT's fault... but its apples fault too for leaving them the exclusive and not giving us a choice)
i have many macs in my business ranging from 13" MacBooks to 8 core Pro's and everything in between. There are certain hardware and software configurations that seem to produce errors like this, although we haven't experienced anything since the 10.6.1 update. However, during testing of 10.6 beta builds we did run into a few issues with some machines:
iMac 24" 2.8, 4GB, 500GB, ATi HD 2600 Pro 256 (these machines had some flash video issues during 10.6 beta, but has since been resolved)
Mac Pro 8 core 2.93, 24GB, 2x1TB, ATi 4870 512 (playback issues with two displays under 10.6 beta. since resolved under 10.6.1)
We have recently purchased quite a few new iMacs that have already been deployed. Have not noticed this issue as of yet, and I doubt we will. It's interesting to note, however, that the problem we encountered was only on ATi video hardware, it is possible that this is an Adobe problem with them not building proper codec support. or a driver issue on certain hardware.
All that being said, we have had no issues with the new 27" machines running the 4850 card, we did not purchase any machines with the 4670 so i cannot speak to that configuration. I would be interested to know if that is the configuration with the majority of the issues.
i have many macs in my business ranging from 13" MacBooks to 8 core Pro's and everything in between. There are certain hardware and software configurations that seem to produce errors like this, although we haven't experienced anything since the 10.6.1 update. However, during testing of 10.6 beta builds we did run into a few issues with some machines:
iMac 24" 2.8, 4GB, 500GB, ATi HD 2600 Pro 256 (these machines had some flash video issues during 10.6 beta, but has since been resolved)
Mac Pro 8 core 2.93, 24GB, 2x1TB, ATi 4870 512 (playback issues with two displays under 10.6 beta. since resolved under 10.6.1)
We have recently purchased quite a few new iMacs that have already been deployed. Have not noticed this issue as of yet, and I doubt we will. It's interesting to note, however, that the problem we encountered was only on ATi video hardware, it is possible that this is an Adobe problem with them not building proper codec support. or a driver issue on certain hardware.
All that being said, we have had no issues with the new 27" machines running the 4850 card, we did not purchase any machines with the 4670 so i cannot speak to that configuration. I would be interested to know if that is the configuration with the majority of the issues.
at now, I'm on the "hate'em" side of fanboy-gauge...
I still can't believe why, with a monster laptop like a 17" last last generation is... I still have the sunny-beachy-spinball... even doing the most basic stuff... my PB12 sometimes is performing better than a machine with 10x power of the little 12" beauty!
IT IS Apple fault this time... no matter from which side you see this, it is AAPL fault... ambitious plan to delivery a superstable 10.6 (remember the screams: It will be faster, better, solid, reliable....), just have a look at your console... and you'll see the crap in there, and HOW MANY hidden reports it sends back home with the hangs and the crashes (which you don't see in any popup windows)...
I believe also the other lines have suffering the SL's problem... because IT IS a problem... I hope they will push out 6.2 soon... and you will see, as per magic, even the new iMarvelousMac will be able to give the best and don't let be used like an expensive external display...
P.S. Where is the Magic in the new Mouse?... so Far... I didn't found it...
My sister just got her iMac the other day. When I was setting it up and moving her files and such, I decided to go to Hulu and watch a short clip to see how well the video would play. I put it on the 480p setting and went full view. It was completely choppy and unwatchable.
I put it back to the normal setting and back to the small screen and it was still slightly choppy.
Who sold you the disk Adobe or Apple? APPLE sold you a disk that has faulty software. APPLE allowed software to be shipped with faulty programs. You can't blame Adobe.
This is the lack of paying attention to detail that Apple has been displaying lately.
I have a 2006 MBPro 17. Upgraded to 10.6.1. No problems of note with Flash or anything else. Safari works fine and is faster than before. Some anomalies but they are minor, they don't get in my way and I am content to wait for 10.6.2.
The new iMac is a hell of a lot of computer for the money. If there are problems like those noted here, they should be fixed rsn as these are critical to Apple's moves to strengthen the desktop computing line.
Horizontal bars that flickr across the screen and the screen occasionally blacking out completely.
This vid shows the exact same problem I was having with my new 27" screen. Took it back to apple with a video I shot on my phone and they gave me a new computer.
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It's that Microsoft viral marketing team again...
I wonder if all these iMac's with problems are once again, owned by employees of Redmond's very own secret society of anti-Apple internet trolls? Who knows? All I know, is that I never get any of these problems with my Macs. They always work flawlessly. I suppose there is only one way to find out, whistle down to your local Apple store and try it out? :D
You know... you're comment
You know... you're comment gets me thinking about just how far MS would go with some of these astroturfing techniques.
I try not to let myself go too far down the conspiracy theory road, but if I let my paranoia loose a little bit, I have to say that some things just seem suspicious.
I mean anyone can post on the support forums, issues can be made up, or real issues can be jumped on by astroturfers to make them seem more common than they are.
And also, the way that any significant issue just immediately becomes astroturfer-troll "Talking Points". Like the way the SL Guest account bug, which from what I understand is quite rare and depends upon unusual configs, gets mentioned in every troll thread, like most of the threads on Engadget.
Thinking along these lines, going off the deep-end, and considering the *billions* at stake in the game, what are the chances that astroturfers actually spent real money buying up Fart apps for the iphone for a few months, to keep them in the top apps category.
I mean really... were real people actually buying those apps? Weren't there free fart apps available?
But when countering the argument that iPhone has thousands and thousands of apps, the same meme comes back in the form of a talking point:
"Yeah, but how many fart apps and flashlight apps do you need?"
Hmm... sure I'm reaching. But I'd be really curious to see just how low these subterfuge tactics go.
Are you for real?
Are you for real?
Stop with the "it's not
Stop with the "it's not Apples fault" crap. It's one thing to be a fan boy, it's another to wear blinders.
I have a Nov '08 unibody MacBook and have seen a major slow down since I upgraded to 10.6. Most of the slow down has been related to Safari use. When I use Firefox I don't have the same performance issues. Although I have had some issues with waiting for the disk drive when using finder.
I maybe stretching things a bit but it seems that Apple has lost a little bit of its renowned attention to detail. For instance 10.6 has had more then a few significant issues, the one that is killing me is that I can no longer use my Airport Express to print to HP printers.
Another issue that has been bothering me is the truly lame update to the Touch.
If this is what happens to Apple after losing Jobs for only 6 months I fret to see Apple without him at all.
flash in 64-bit safari is very slow
I noticed the same thing with Safari after upgrading to Snow Leopard. As my day job involves multiplayer game where the client runs flash I was worried why it suddenly ran so slow.
I am not 100% sure as for the reason, but making Safari run in 32-bit mode (available in Get Info from Finder) fixes this completely. Perhaps the flash plugin is only available in 32-bit mode and some expensive voodoo is required to get data between a 32-bit and 64-bit context.
For a lot of people this new iMac may also be their first time running Safari as a 64-bit application.
If it means anything I'm
If it means anything I'm running 10.5.8 and Firefox runs circles around Safari. I've been pretty dedicated to Safari for the last three years but I think I'm going to start using Firefox until Safari is updated.
In this case, it actually really isn't.. kind of.
Apple includes the flash plugin with OS X (as does Microsoft.) Unfortunately, Adobe has been writing shit code for the mac for the last few years, and that's really what causing the vast majority of problems/complaints. Read here for a fix/explanation:
http://macosxpress.com/troubleshooting/flash-player-sucks-on-mac-os-x/
I have a 24" 2009 iMac and
I have a 24" 2009 iMac and I've had this problem ever since I upgraded to 10.6. Running more than 2 instances of any video (youtube, hulu etc) makes the video choppy....it's been so frustrating. Maybe its the same cause? I'm running a 2.66ghz, 4gb ram, nvidea 9400m (and don't blame it on the video card, you fanboys).
Flash is the problem. Flash on anything but Windows is the Suck
http://macosxpress.com/troubleshooting/flash-player-sucks-on-mac-os-x/
Basically -- remove it, remove your com.adobe.flash10.plist, and re-install. Should fix Flash performance issues. Flash player BLOWS on Linux/OS X. Adobe puts zero effort these days into their non-Windows products. Sad, considering the long history which help make both companies. What used to be a symbiotic relationship has turned into a rather sour one.
Yes, same here! Those of us
Yes, same here! Those of us using youporn.com and redtube have known about this problem since the day 10.6 came out.... Lol
flash is a BITCH. I think the
flash is a BITCH. I think the internet should move to a different standard (anything except flash). Everything runs perfectly on my two year laptop except flash. HD on VLC runs great, but youtube HD never runs properly. Disappointed.
this problem came with 10.6
this problem came with 10.6 for us - on two different macbookpros.
Disks Spinning Down
Ever since SnowLeopard I've had trouble with it forcing my disk to spin down and causing delays. This solved all the problems: ' sudo pmset -a disksleep 0 '
Solution
I wrote about this issue some time ago when testing 10.6...
http://idaytoday.blogspot.com/2009/08/snow-leopard-aka-golden-master-fir...
Around 5th paragraph...
Not only iMac
Not only iMac but I'm running my macbook pro with 24" LCD. When I watch hulu.com on 24" - the video gets real choppy. So I was forced to watch on my MBP full screen and it ran OK.
I am not happy with Adobe (not Apple) not providing new SW update for Flash even for 64 bits even before/after Snow Leopard came out.
People were seeing this after
People were seeing this after te mid 2009 update of MBPs - they linked it to the Seagate SMS at the time (both stock 5400rom and 7200rpm) as it was affecting a percentage of people. Plain old lack of access to HD at times (as demonstrated when looking at the logs, Activity Monitor). Give it a day or two and there will be more decent youtube video demonstrations of the problem.
People were seeing this after
People were seeing this after te mid 2009 update of MBPs - they linked it to the Seagate SMS at the time (both stock 5400rom and 7200rpm) as it was affecting a percentage of people. Plain old lack of access to HD at times (as demonstrated when looking at the logs, Activity Monitor). Give it a day or two and there will be more decent youtube video demonstrations of the problem.
apple has been f'ing up... no
apple has been f'ing up... no where to point the finger but themselves. The products still look amazing and have amazing/innovative features, but i have been having alot of problems with my MBP and flash as well. My iPhone is still dropping calls like thats its job. (i realize its ATT's fault... but its apples fault too for leaving them the exclusive and not giving us a choice)
apple.... meh! i love em and hate em!
i think this is an certain configuration issue
i have many macs in my business ranging from 13" MacBooks to 8 core Pro's and everything in between. There are certain hardware and software configurations that seem to produce errors like this, although we haven't experienced anything since the 10.6.1 update. However, during testing of 10.6 beta builds we did run into a few issues with some machines:
iMac 24" 2.8, 4GB, 500GB, ATi HD 2600 Pro 256 (these machines had some flash video issues during 10.6 beta, but has since been resolved)
Mac Pro 8 core 2.93, 24GB, 2x1TB, ATi 4870 512 (playback issues with two displays under 10.6 beta. since resolved under 10.6.1)
We have recently purchased quite a few new iMacs that have already been deployed. Have not noticed this issue as of yet, and I doubt we will. It's interesting to note, however, that the problem we encountered was only on ATi video hardware, it is possible that this is an Adobe problem with them not building proper codec support. or a driver issue on certain hardware.
All that being said, we have had no issues with the new 27" machines running the 4850 card, we did not purchase any machines with the 4670 so i cannot speak to that configuration. I would be interested to know if that is the configuration with the majority of the issues.
i think this is an certain configuration issue
i have many macs in my business ranging from 13" MacBooks to 8 core Pro's and everything in between. There are certain hardware and software configurations that seem to produce errors like this, although we haven't experienced anything since the 10.6.1 update. However, during testing of 10.6 beta builds we did run into a few issues with some machines:
iMac 24" 2.8, 4GB, 500GB, ATi HD 2600 Pro 256 (these machines had some flash video issues during 10.6 beta, but has since been resolved)
Mac Pro 8 core 2.93, 24GB, 2x1TB, ATi 4870 512 (playback issues with two displays under 10.6 beta. since resolved under 10.6.1)
We have recently purchased quite a few new iMacs that have already been deployed. Have not noticed this issue as of yet, and I doubt we will. It's interesting to note, however, that the problem we encountered was only on ATi video hardware, it is possible that this is an Adobe problem with them not building proper codec support. or a driver issue on certain hardware.
All that being said, we have had no issues with the new 27" machines running the 4850 card, we did not purchase any machines with the 4670 so i cannot speak to that configuration. I would be interested to know if that is the configuration with the majority of the issues.
which side...
Amen,
at now, I'm on the "hate'em" side of fanboy-gauge...
I still can't believe why, with a monster laptop like a 17" last last generation is... I still have the sunny-beachy-spinball... even doing the most basic stuff... my PB12 sometimes is performing better than a machine with 10x power of the little 12" beauty!
IT IS Apple fault this time... no matter from which side you see this, it is AAPL fault... ambitious plan to delivery a superstable 10.6 (remember the screams: It will be faster, better, solid, reliable....), just have a look at your console... and you'll see the crap in there, and HOW MANY hidden reports it sends back home with the hangs and the crashes (which you don't see in any popup windows)...
I believe also the other lines have suffering the SL's problem... because IT IS a problem... I hope they will push out 6.2 soon... and you will see, as per magic, even the new iMarvelousMac will be able to give the best and don't let be used like an expensive external display...
P.S. Where is the Magic in the new Mouse?... so Far... I didn't found it...
-
gpy
get a new mac mini, mine
get a new mac mini, mine rocks!
Not just flash, quicktime
Not just flash, quicktime too.
Open up a hd video and play it on a new imac - 110% cpu.
Now do the same on the brand new mac mini's - only 7% cpu.
What's going on?
Hmm...
My sister just got her iMac the other day. When I was setting it up and moving her files and such, I decided to go to Hulu and watch a short clip to see how well the video would play. I put it on the 480p setting and went full view. It was completely choppy and unwatchable.
I put it back to the normal setting and back to the small screen and it was still slightly choppy.
Lame.
This is NOT iMac's problem! I
This is NOT iMac's problem! I have the wary same problem on my MacBook Pro 4,1. Flash is slow as hell on 10.6. Maybe 10.6.2 will address this issue.
flash has always been a problem for me on my macbook
youtube videos stutter / skip frames, etc etc... it seems worse on 10.6, but it wasn't great on 10.5 or 10.4 for me.
sadly, you know what makes it run better?
bootcamp
and i @#$%^&ing hate it. it's absurd that apple/adobe can't get their act together and fix this.
Why are blaming Apple hardware for Adobe's flawed plugin?
The Snow Leopard DVD and apparently the new Macs contain a bad version of Flash. Adobe, not Apple, writes its own Flash plugins.
This was reported the day of Snow Leopard's release. You can get an upgraded version of Flash from Adobe's website which solves all these problems.
Please stop inventing hardware problems which don't exist.
Who sold you the disk Adobe
Who sold you the disk Adobe or Apple? APPLE sold you a disk that has faulty software. APPLE allowed software to be shipped with faulty programs. You can't blame Adobe.
This is the lack of paying attention to detail that Apple has been displaying lately.
I have a 2006 MBPro 17.
I have a 2006 MBPro 17. Upgraded to 10.6.1. No problems of note with Flash or anything else. Safari works fine and is faster than before. Some anomalies but they are minor, they don't get in my way and I am content to wait for 10.6.2.
The new iMac is a hell of a lot of computer for the money. If there are problems like those noted here, they should be fixed rsn as these are critical to Apple's moves to strengthen the desktop computing line.
Surprised no one has mentioned the 27" screen flickr yet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhXW6DHoT88
Horizontal bars that flickr across the screen and the screen occasionally blacking out completely.
This vid shows the exact same problem I was having with my new 27" screen. Took it back to apple with a video I shot on my phone and they gave me a new computer.
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