[hui]

When Apple say, Dual 1.42GHz PowerPC G4, does that mean that there are 2 x 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 processors (thus in total, a processor speed of 3GHz), or is there only 2x 700MHz which makes the total processor speed to be 1.42GHz?
Have been confused about this and would like clarification. Many Thanks

[The Placid Casual]

It means there are 2 x 1.42 Ghz G4s in the machine, with as you say, nearly 3 Ghz of processing power...

However, it is not really that simple when it comes to the speed of the machine, as most applications can't use the dual processors... they have to be programmed in such a way as to be 'dual processor aware'. Very few are, and if they aren't, they can't use the full potential of the machine.

This makes comparisons with an actual 3ghz chip difficult...

But in theory there is nearly 3ghz of chip in the machine...

Hope this helps,

Peace,

Marc

[scottiB]

OS X, though, does use two processors even if the apps don't. OS X can assign each app to a separate processor.

Will it equal 2.8 Ghz? No, but it can handle many tasks simultaneously (max the memory).

I have a DP 800 will never, ever, ever return to a SP machine--unless Apple stops selling them.

[hui]

Thanks for the clarification now.

[derekn]

This is a bit hard to clarify usually, just went by Barefeats.com and they hvae some benchmarks of a single processor system versus a dual processor one. DP is really the way to go in most cases.

http://www.barefeats.com/pm1000.html