A new version 4.8.0 of Daedalus has been released which brings significant performance improvements. From the release notes:
This Daedalus release integrates the latest version of cardano-wallet, which supports Cardano node v1.33.0. This latest Cardano node version brings a significant performance improvement.
For computers with less than 16GB of RAM, a new splash screen is displayed, with an option to enable an alternative configuration of the Cardano node runtime system (RTS), which can reduce memory usage, and a reminder about the recommended hardware requirements for Daedalus.
This version also includes minor fixes and user interface improvements.
https://iohk.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416804490393
Those of you who have been running Daedalus for a while will know that it is a full node wallet, which means you are keeping a full copy of the blockchain on your computer. That’s great for decentralisation and security but comes with a performance penalty, and that has become more obvious in recent months as Cardano use, and therefore blockchain size, has grown rapidly.
The Daedalus team have moved to using node 1.33.0 under the covers (the same node version we run on the stake pools), and this manages the blockchain storage and checkpoints much more effectively.
Be prepared for a 2-3 hour wait the first time you start after the upgrade, as the node rebuilds the local blockchain database. Once that’s done, the Wallet will start and run much better.
We’ve seen some growing pains for Cardano in recent months as usage has dramatically increased, however be patient, there are scaling improvements coming this year (as part of the Basho phase) that will resolve the current congestion.
The foundations are strong and secure, and provide the basis for the system to scale out with improvements in layer 1 and new solutions in layer 2. High demand is a ‘nice’ problem to have, and the solutions are all known and trusted computer science scaling approaches.
To upgrade follow the notification in Daedalus.