ObjectDock activity does require a fair chunk of CPU usage while it's active (zooming or swing icons or such, hiding and unhiding docks).  I think the pause you're seeing is ObjectDock waiting on CPU access to continue its activities. You bring up the dock - OD has full access to CPU, you click on a shortcut to open a program - the program takes the CPU while its loading and OD has to wait.  OD should return to normal after the program no longer demands the cpu (like when it's finished loading).

I'd hope that a dual core or quad core might alleviate some of that, but I don't have one so I don't know.  If the program being launched addresses both cores though, or if OD and the program are addressing the same core, the issue would remain.

Bottom line is that a CPU core can really only do one thing at a time, just really fast.  Two demanding programs at the same time, one is going to be waiting unless they each are being pointed to seperate indiviual cores in your dual core cpu (quite likely not the case most of the time).

I wouldn't your machine to be anywhere close to underpowered for OD.  I run it on a P4 2.8 hyperthreading and that's more than enough as well, although of couse I too get the "launch pause".

Ok so you experience the same thing? The temporary freeze when opening and closing? Also should note that I just have the free trial right now and not the purchased version. Not sure if there's any performace differance in the two. I really like this tool. It cleans up my desktop with a nice slick toolbar, but if there's no cure for this 10 second pause to multitask, it'll be getting the boot. I figured there might be some setting that could straighten it out. Oh, well, at least I didn't lose my 20 bucks yet..

rmhancock,you state you have a Dell.You do know that you may be able to install the Dell Dock,also developed by Stardock.I don't know about lag with it as I have a HP,but you may want to check it out.

Btw,I also get a slight lag,but it's far from the 5-10 seconds you say you are seeing.OD+ is a great program,imo .I used the free version then upgraded to Plus.In it's defense I must say there are many programs that will open slower when multi-tasking regardless of how many cores you have.

Nice! Thanks for the tip about the Dell dock. I'll be checking it out at home later. Looks decent though.

Yeah I can see how it might bog down when opening an Itunes for example. But for me it freezes just opening a Firefox or My Documents folder. Both which fire up super quick. I have a feeling it's some other issue rather than RAM or CPU power.. But oh well. Really cool program if it works for you. I might actually try it out on my XP laptop and see if there's any difference there.

Ya a 10 second solid pause doesn't seem right.  It's been awhile since I sat here and clicked on things and stared at the dock.  What I'm really getting is maybe a 1 second pause (if that) and maybe a few seconds of stuttering, and that stuttering is mainly if I'm scrolling back and forth along the dock to make it zoom while the app is loading.

Here are a couple of settings you can try in the OD configuration window to see if it helps.  I'm on ODPlus so the free might vary a little but it should be very similar:

Click on General on the left side, click on the Performance Options button about 2/3 down on the right side, make sure "Memory / Speed Optimization" option has "Optimize for performance" checked.  See if that helps.

Then also in the General section, click on the Troubleshooting options button and select everything.  Then unload and restart OD.  See if that helped.  If it did, you can narrow down what you've disabled. (A docklet that has a problem can cause a lot of trouble, might want to start there.)

You can also click on Appearance on the left side and make sure that the Background transparency slider is set all the way to the right on "Opaque".  That's about 3/4's down on the right side window.  That might make the dock slide a little smoother but I don't really think it'll address the launch pause.

Also, if you're running 64 bit XP or Vista, that could be causing a problem (not supported).  Or I suppose Windows 7 at this point.