diff --git a/src/colors.rs b/src/colors.rs
index 53b12f6..07ab9bd 100644
--- a/src/colors.rs
+++ b/src/colors.rs
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ impl Colors {
 }
 
 pub static COLORS: LazyLock<Colors> = LazyLock::new(|| {
-  // check for NO_COLOR once at startup
+  // Check for NO_COLOR once at startup
   let is_no_color = env::var("NO_COLOR").is_ok();
   Colors::new(is_no_color)
 });
@@ -45,14 +45,37 @@ pub static COLORS: LazyLock<Colors> = LazyLock::new(|| {
 #[must_use]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn print_dots() -> String {
-  format!(
-    "{}  {}  {}  {}  {}  {}  {}",
-    COLORS.blue,
-    COLORS.cyan,
-    COLORS.green,
-    COLORS.yellow,
-    COLORS.red,
-    COLORS.magenta,
-    COLORS.reset,
-  )
+  // Pre-calculate capacity: 6 color codes + "  " (glyph + 2 spaces) per color
+  const GLYPH: &str = "";
+  let capacity = COLORS.blue.len()
+    + COLORS.cyan.len()
+    + COLORS.green.len()
+    + COLORS.yellow.len()
+    + COLORS.red.len()
+    + COLORS.magenta.len()
+    + COLORS.reset.len()
+    + (GLYPH.len() + 2) * 6;
+
+  let mut result = String::with_capacity(capacity);
+  result.push_str(COLORS.blue);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.cyan);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.green);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.yellow);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.red);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.magenta);
+  result.push_str(GLYPH);
+  result.push_str("  ");
+  result.push_str(COLORS.reset);
+
+  result
 }
diff --git a/src/desktop.rs b/src/desktop.rs
index 7d3733a..561be03 100644
--- a/src/desktop.rs
+++ b/src/desktop.rs
@@ -1,30 +1,37 @@
+use std::fmt::Write;
+
 #[must_use]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn get_desktop_info() -> String {
   // Retrieve the environment variables and handle Result types
   let desktop_env = std::env::var("XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP");
-  let display_backend_result = std::env::var("XDG_SESSION_TYPE");
+  let display_backend = std::env::var("XDG_SESSION_TYPE");
 
-  // Capitalize the first letter of the display backend value
-  let mut display_backend = display_backend_result.unwrap_or_default();
-  if let Some(c) = display_backend.as_mut_str().get_mut(0..1) {
-    c.make_ascii_uppercase();
-  }
-
-  // Trim "none+" from the start of desktop_env if present
-  // Use "Unknown" if desktop_env is empty or has an error
-  let desktop_env = match desktop_env {
-    Err(_) => "Unknown".to_owned(),
-    Ok(s) => s.trim_start_matches("none+").to_owned(),
+  let desktop_str = match desktop_env {
+    Err(_) => "Unknown",
+    Ok(ref s) if s.starts_with("none+") => &s[5..],
+    Ok(ref s) => s.as_str(),
   };
 
-  // Handle the case where display_backend might be empty after capitalization
-  let display_backend = if display_backend.is_empty() {
-    "Unknown"
-  } else {
-    &display_backend
-  }
-  .to_owned();
+  let backend_str = match display_backend {
+    Err(_) => "Unknown",
+    Ok(ref s) if s.is_empty() => "Unknown",
+    Ok(ref s) => s.as_str(),
+  };
 
-  format!("{desktop_env} ({display_backend})")
+  // Pre-calculate capacity: desktop_len + " (" + backend_len + ")"
+  // Capitalize first char needs temporary allocation only if backend exists
+  let mut result =
+    String::with_capacity(desktop_str.len() + backend_str.len() + 3);
+  result.push_str(desktop_str);
+  result.push_str(" (");
+
+  // Capitalize first character of backend
+  if let Some(first_char) = backend_str.chars().next() {
+    let _ = write!(result, "{}", first_char.to_ascii_uppercase());
+    result.push_str(&backend_str[first_char.len_utf8()..]);
+  }
+
+  result.push(')');
+  result
 }
diff --git a/src/release.rs b/src/release.rs
index 2f1338c..d9ec4c9 100644
--- a/src/release.rs
+++ b/src/release.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use std::{
+  fmt::Write as _,
   fs::File,
-  io::{self, BufRead, BufReader},
+  io::{self, Read},
 };
 
 use nix::sys::utsname::UtsName;
@@ -8,21 +9,26 @@ use nix::sys::utsname::UtsName;
 #[must_use]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn get_system_info(utsname: &UtsName) -> String {
-  format!(
-    "{} {} ({})",
-    utsname.sysname().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown"),
-    utsname.release().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown"),
-    utsname.machine().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown")
-  )
+  let sysname = utsname.sysname().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown");
+  let release = utsname.release().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown");
+  let machine = utsname.machine().to_str().unwrap_or("Unknown");
+
+  // Pre-allocate capacity: sysname + " " + release + " (" + machine + ")"
+  let capacity = sysname.len() + 1 + release.len() + 2 + machine.len() + 1;
+  let mut result = String::with_capacity(capacity);
+
+  write!(result, "{sysname} {release} ({machine})").unwrap();
+  result
 }
 
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn get_os_pretty_name() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
-  let file = File::open("/etc/os-release")?;
-  let reader = BufReader::new(file);
+  // We use a stack-allocated buffer here, which seems to perform MUCH better
+  // than `BufReader`. In hindsight, I should've seen this coming.
+  let mut buffer = String::with_capacity(1024);
+  File::open("/etc/os-release")?.read_to_string(&mut buffer)?;
 
-  for line in reader.lines() {
-    let line = line?;
+  for line in buffer.lines() {
     if let Some(pretty_name) = line.strip_prefix("PRETTY_NAME=") {
       if let Some(trimmed) = pretty_name
         .strip_prefix('"')
diff --git a/src/system.rs b/src/system.rs
index f90c912..21b2b2f 100644
--- a/src/system.rs
+++ b/src/system.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::{
   env,
+  fmt::Write as _,
   fs::File,
   io::{self, Read},
 };
@@ -12,18 +13,26 @@ use crate::colors::COLORS;
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn get_username_and_hostname(utsname: &UtsName) -> String {
   let username = env::var("USER").unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown_user".to_owned());
-  let hostname = utsname
-    .nodename()
-    .to_str()
-    .unwrap_or("unknown_host")
-    .to_owned();
-  format!(
-    "{yellow}{username}{red}@{green}{hostname}{reset}",
-    yellow = COLORS.yellow,
-    red = COLORS.red,
-    green = COLORS.green,
-    reset = COLORS.reset,
-  )
+  let hostname = utsname.nodename().to_str().unwrap_or("unknown_host");
+
+  let capacity = COLORS.yellow.len()
+    + username.len()
+    + COLORS.red.len()
+    + 1
+    + COLORS.green.len()
+    + hostname.len()
+    + COLORS.reset.len();
+  let mut result = String::with_capacity(capacity);
+
+  result.push_str(COLORS.yellow);
+  result.push_str(&username);
+  result.push_str(COLORS.red);
+  result.push('@');
+  result.push_str(COLORS.green);
+  result.push_str(hostname);
+  result.push_str(COLORS.reset);
+
+  result
 }
 
 #[must_use]
@@ -31,8 +40,13 @@ pub fn get_username_and_hostname(utsname: &UtsName) -> String {
 pub fn get_shell() -> String {
   let shell_path =
     env::var("SHELL").unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown_shell".to_owned());
-  let shell_name = shell_path.rsplit('/').next().unwrap_or("unknown_shell");
-  shell_name.to_owned()
+
+  // Find last '/' and get the part after it, avoiding allocation
+  shell_path
+    .rsplit('/')
+    .next()
+    .unwrap_or("unknown_shell")
+    .to_owned()
 }
 
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
@@ -49,11 +63,16 @@ pub fn get_root_disk_usage() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
   let used_size = used_size as f64 / (1024.0 * 1024.0 * 1024.0);
   let usage = (used_size / total_size) * 100.0;
 
-  Ok(format!(
+  let mut result = String::with_capacity(64);
+  write!(
+    result,
     "{used_size:.2} GiB / {total_size:.2} GiB ({cyan}{usage:.0}%{reset})",
     cyan = COLORS.cyan,
     reset = COLORS.reset,
-  ))
+  )
+  .unwrap();
+
+  Ok(result)
 }
 
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
@@ -70,7 +89,7 @@ pub fn get_memory_usage() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
       let mut split = line.split_whitespace();
       match split.next().unwrap_or_default() {
         "MemTotal:" => {
-          total_memory_kb = split.next().unwrap_or("0").parse().unwrap_or(0.0)
+          total_memory_kb = split.next().unwrap_or("0").parse().unwrap_or(0.0);
         },
         "MemAvailable:" => {
           available_memory_kb =
@@ -92,10 +111,15 @@ pub fn get_memory_usage() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
   let (used_memory, total_memory) = parse_memory_info()?;
   let percentage_used = (used_memory / total_memory * 100.0).round() as u64;
 
-  Ok(format!(
+  let mut result = String::with_capacity(64);
+  write!(
+    result,
     "{used_memory:.2} GiB / {total_memory:.2} GiB \
      ({cyan}{percentage_used}%{reset})",
     cyan = COLORS.cyan,
     reset = COLORS.reset,
-  ))
+  )
+  .unwrap();
+
+  Ok(result)
 }
diff --git a/src/uptime.rs b/src/uptime.rs
index d5253d6..bd2cc39 100644
--- a/src/uptime.rs
+++ b/src/uptime.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::{io, mem::MaybeUninit};
+use std::{fmt::Write, io, mem::MaybeUninit};
 
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "hotpath", hotpath::measure)]
 pub fn get_current() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
@@ -16,21 +16,21 @@ pub fn get_current() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
 
   let mut result = String::with_capacity(32);
   if days > 0 {
-    result.push_str(&days.to_string());
+    let _ = write!(result, "{days}");
     result.push_str(if days == 1 { " day" } else { " days" });
   }
   if hours > 0 {
     if !result.is_empty() {
       result.push_str(", ");
     }
-    result.push_str(&hours.to_string());
+    let _ = write!(result, "{hours}");
     result.push_str(if hours == 1 { " hour" } else { " hours" });
   }
   if minutes > 0 {
     if !result.is_empty() {
       result.push_str(", ");
     }
-    result.push_str(&minutes.to_string());
+    let _ = write!(result, "{minutes}");
     result.push_str(if minutes == 1 { " minute" } else { " minutes" });
   }
   if result.is_empty() {