What makes a "fast" machine? (was Re: [G4] MDD Config)

[Peter Webster]

Speed, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, .

I have an old Sawtooth, 500 MHz, 1 gig of SDRAM, running OS 10.3.9,
with an external LaCie 120 gig firewire drive, and a 17" Apple Studio
monitor: all rescued from being tossed out as being "old and slow."

I can do everything I want to: PhotoShop, Canvas, write, all on the
original Rage128 Pro and have no lag or problem.

Google earth won't load, but who cares? How often do I need to find
and see a latte-store in Uzbekistan?

It is a comfortable, stable, fast-enough machine, and Apple's built-in
design sense and good construction keeps the unit looking good and
running well.

To quote a wise man: "Maybe I'm just fond of the older machine."


PMW



On Jan 17, 2008 9:08 AM, John Niven <senseamp at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Frank Sudore <fsudore at mac.com> wrote:
> > to be honest I think the former machine was faster.
> > Just my 2¢
> > Frank
>
>
> I have every simpathy Frank, but statements like this
> always make me wonder. I think this is a topic that
> could/should be explored by the computer industry.
>
> I think there is a difference between how "experts"
> and "the industry" define fast, and the experience of
> the average user (in which I include myself).
>
> When you are at home, and surfing the web, and you
> click on a link, you have to wait while the page
> loads. Even if you have cable, sometimes that's the
> slowest link. So it won't get any better with a newer,
> faster 'puter, will it?
>
> My main machine at home is a dual 450GHz G4 tower.
> When my wife needed a new 'puter, I bought her an
> Intel iMac. Admittedly this was to:
>
> 1) Stop her moaning about "old" computers.
> 3) We liked that form-factor.
> 2) It looks really cool!
>
> But on the occasions that I've used it, it seems slow
> or at least not significantly faster. Which is
> surprising when you consider how much more "powerful"
> the Intel cpu are claimed to be.
>
> So I wonder if anybody has ever done a study of what
> factors influence a users perception of how "fast" a
> computer is? I wounder how significant are things
> like:
>
> 1) How much cache ram and main ram?
> 2) Disk speed / type?
> 3) video card?
> 4) number and speed of cpu?
>
> In my case the iMac is standard, but my G4 has 1Gb of
> ram (twice the iMac's) and runs from a U160 SCSI disk
> hung from a ATTO PCI controller. The G4 also has a
> flashed eBay ATI RADEON 9200 video card.
>
> I guess if you edit video or do intensive photoshop
> work then your experience maybe different.
>
>
>
>
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