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Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up?
An anonymous reader writes "Computers take too long to boot up, and it doesn't make sense to me. Mine takes around 30 seconds; it is double or triple that for some of my friends' computers that I have used. Why can't a computer turn on and off in an instant just like a TV? 99% of boots, my computer is doing the exact same thing. Then I get to Windows XP with maybe 50 to 75 megs of stuff in memory. My computer should be smart enough to just load that junk into memory and go with it. You could put this data right at the very start of the hard drive. Whenever you do something with the computer that actually changes what happens during boot, it could go through the real booting process and save the results. Doing this would also give you instant restarts. You just hit your restart button, the computer reloads the memory image, and you can be working again. Or am I wrong? Why haven't companies made it a priority to have 'instant on' desktops and laptops?"
It's called hibernation. Use it. Laptops and desktops have had it for years. I never turn my Windows machine down. I always send it in hibernation. My computer has been running for a month like this. Next time I actually reboot is probably when I BSOD or install a new driver.
As for TVs, and VCR, they are wayyyyyyyy simpler. That's the reason they turn on so quickly.
And about 3 seconds after I hit a key on the keyboard to wake it back up.
If I do a complete shutdown, powerup to the Mac OS X login screen is about 15-20 seconds.
Yes, this is on a new Intel iMac with the Core 2 Duo.
I really am amazed by the bootup time of my new iMac.
I finally upgraded my underpowered 1.25GHz G4 Mac mini to a whopping 20" Core 2 Duo iMac.
Bootup time to the login screen is exactly 15 seconds from a cold start. When I enter my password, it only takes 5 seconds until I get a usable desktop where I can launch Safari and Adium.
I love my Mac. I love Apple. It's really a wonderful operating system to go with wonderful hardware.
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