Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
Originally posted by: Stan
Not to start a flamewar, but why are Macintosh computers, as well as Linux so slow to open programs compared to Windows?
Example: iCal on a mac mini takes 12 seconds to load. System preferences takes like 20. etc.
It just seems like apps load so much faster in Windows. I have Windows and Linux installed on my laptop and Firefox and Thunderbird seem to load ~5 seconds quicker in Windows.
Its not just one or two apps. It seems like everything is kinda laggy on a Mac, or in Linux. After switching back to Windows it seems snappy.
The Mac Mini has a slow hard drive (4200 rpms) as well as being memory starved (256 or 512MB RAM). You can
increase the Mini's performance by replacing the drive with a faster internal unit or by using a USB or Firewire external hard drive. Would that make it as fast as Windows? Hard to say, but a worthy upgrade none-the-less.
As for Windows/Linux, Windows' registry does make things much speedier and Linux doesn't have an equivalent (and likely never will). Gnome has a similar registry, but since it doesn't control the entire OS like Windows' does, it only has so much of an impact. KDE also preloads some apps for a speed boost, but usually only apps that are part of the desktop suite (eg, konqueror, but not firefox).
Most of the apps in Linux store their configs in text files located in various directories (/home, /etc, etc). Accessing various text files scattered about the filesystem takes time and depends greatly on the seek speed of the hard drive. That is why the speed crown goes to Windows (but usually only for initially starting the apps).
While the Windows Registry does make for speedier startups, it gets bloated over time (and slows down), and it can get corrupted enough to totally wreck the OS.
EDIT>> Added link