RE: [MLUG] apple?? mac?? Opinions please???

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004, F Vernon Green wrote:

> While I hear all these good things about the worlds "fastest
> computer" I just don't see it.

The fastest of anything relies heavily on what benchmarks you're
using.  The system that got this label was a dual processor model
benchmarked at fp-intensive linear algebra.  For a lot of scientific 
computing jobs, that's the only thing that counts.  For most people, 
all one does is surf the web, read email, and do light word 
processing stuff.  In all honesty, those things don't really need a 
dual processor machine or a fancy memory bus, so I wouldn't expect 
much of a speed gain.  Also:
 
> I don't know if the OS from Apple is the problem, maybe they are much much
> better if you put Linux on them. 

Another issue is that the compilers available for PowerPC systems 
have, until recently, been pretty non-optimal.  IBM's latest 
compilers apparently speed things up pretty alarmingly (as in: 
30-50% for lots of code).  Linux might be better if the 
graphic-intensive aspect of Mac OS X isn't useful, but since you're 
kinda stuck with gcc there as well, I wouldn't count on it.

> I will have to admit that programs that are specially written for the Mac
> experience may have some benefit. Mainly in the area of video editing, he
> could render a 2 minute video clip faster than I could. Launching browser
> programs, word processing programs, and just opening and closing Windows
> were way slower. 

None of these are exactly apples to apples comparisons, in all 
likelihood.  I also find launch time metrics especially odd, since 
in *my* world you just launch something once, and then keep it 
running for weeks or months or however long it is before you need to 
update the system software.   Opening and closing windows being 
slower I'm not sure what to say about.
 
> This is just my experience. The bosses son went home with his tail
> between his legs as well since my 1.9 gig Pentium costs about half
> of what he paid for that Mac.

Very few people need anything like the fastest computers we can
build, in all truth.  And if he bought the mac to be the fastest on
his block to launch a web browser...I'm not sure what to say.  If 
he's unhappy with it, I'd be glad to take it off his hands. :-)

jking


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