Anyone else having over 2 minute boot times?

[helios16v]

I decided to time my Mac mini this morning when I got up, boot time to login screen was 1:16, boot time from login to desktop screen when dock and menu bar appeared was 0:59.. Is this normal for my Mid 2011 Mac mini?

I had some over heating issues while running Finally Cut X and I had to switch back to iMovie. The fan would start going full speed until the Mac mini would get so hot it would shut off, wouldn't turn back on until it was cooled, and then gave me a warning message when it booted back up a few hours later.

I brought it in and FutureShop said they ran it through 40 hours of "Yes Command" and couldn't find anything wrong with it, even though in the browser history they just watched YouTube for two 8 hour shifts during their open hours.

They told me nothing is wrong with the computer and gave it back which was when I stopped using Finally Cut X and started using iMovie again, the big problem now is it takes over 2 minutes just for it to turn on.

It's also so slow that it can't even play a 720p YouTube video in Full Screen, if I try to go 1080p the whole computer freezes up for about 30 seconds to a minute before I can exit full screen.

I can't play any games, not even Facebook games without it lagging out and the fan going up to full speed but FutureShop won't send it to Apple under warranty because it functions, just doesn't function well which isn't a good enough reason to send it away to be repaired or replaced.

Any idea's on what I should do? I have warranty until January 2014 and I'm kind of hoping the new Mac mini will be released before then with the 4th gen Intel chipset, so if Apple says it needs to be replaced, FutureShop will have to give me a new one.

Any idea's on what tests or approach should I take to try and get this resolved?
These boot times I provided are from a clean install of 10.8 GM and fully updated to 10.8.4 yesterday morning. I don't even have iLife back on this yet and this is how slow it is.

EDIT:
If it helps, I also have it running on it's side now with the bottom cover removed, this is how I've been able to get it through the day and I made a little 5v USB fan out of an old PC Case fan I had laying around.
The Mac mini is on it's side, the bottom access cover is removed, the usb fan is pointed towards the bottom of the Mac mini and this is how it stays on with the fan at a tolerable level. Right now, only an hour and a half after being on, and only Chrome being opened to make this post and stream online radio, the fan is already quite audible and I can hear it just under the sound of the radio at an easy listening volume.

 

[SpinalTap]

I am looking forward to the next iteration of the Mac Mini...

My current 2009 Mac Mini takes around 1m 30sec to boot up. Compare that to the 2012 Mac Mini with Fusion drive which takes just 12 seconds to fully boot up (I timed it in my local Apple Store).

What is more, on said 2012 Mac Mini Fusion, apps launched near-instantaneously.

Even so, you appear to be only running 4Gb RAM on your Mac Mini. While this will not affect boot up times, it will have a significant effect on running applications. I suggest increasing the amount of memory. Crucial is the place to go at reasonable prices.

 

[QWERTYMac7]

FWIW my mid range 2011 MM has two internal 750 GB HD's - one, the boot drive, is Seagate's hybrid drive with 32GB of solid state chips on the drive.

I boot up in 27 seconds. It's slick.

Got the idea from the MBP section of this forum.

 

[SpinalTap]

The Seagate SSHD is now available in a 1Tb variant, and is significantly cheaper than the SSD alternative.

The 'purist' is likely to mock the SSHD compared to installing an SSD - but that's because they've already spent their money on a relatively lower capacity SSD, or they haven't honestly evaluated the merits of an SSHD from Seagate.

Your money, your choice.

 

[Micky Do]

My current 2009 Mac Mini takes around 1m 30sec to boot up.

Likewise for my early 2009 Mini, with 5 GB of RAM and Mountain Lion installed. It was quicker (about 30 seconds) when I first got it, running Leopard.

Still, it is not a bother for me. The only time the computer is shut down when we have a power cut; actually that's fairly frequent here in Phuket! When i do boot, i just set it alight and go off to make a pot of tea.... so no worries.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Boot in safe mode. If that's also slow, then I'd pursue hardware issues. If Safe Mode is fast, you have something in your config slowing things down, check your Login Items in System Preferences>Users & Groups.

 

[blanka]

+/-10 seconds on the same mini with SSD, and 20 on the 7200rpm Scorpio. Can't say exactly since I have a login screen.

 

[fricotin]

10-15 seconds with Fusion drive and 16G memory.

 

[iAppl3Fan]

The Seagate SSHD is now available in a 1Tb variant, and is significantly cheaper than the SSD alternative.

The 'purist' is likely to mock the SSHD compared to installing an SSD - but that's because they've already spent their money on a relatively lower capacity SSD, or they haven't honestly evaluated the merits of an SSHD from Seagate.

Your money, your choice.

i have used both. sshd is a step up but ssd is still the way. my sshd gets little use now with my 1 tb ssd.