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KeilwerthSX90R · Jan 18, 2004, 01:48 PM

I just got a 1 Ghz 17" Powerbook and OS operation seems much smoother with apps loading a lot faster than my dual Ghz MDD powermac. The powermac has almost a GB more RAM and both are running 10.3.2. Why would that be? I'm not complaining just making an observation. Do they have different chips?

Josh

Link · Jan 18, 2004, 06:24 PM

That definately isn't right.

Dual 1ghz through efficiency should be giving you as much (I'd expect more) throughput as a single 1.4ghz..

Definately isn't right. Especially since your dual ghz has more ram...

perhaps a pram wipe, a disk defrag, or an OS archive/reinstall is in order? Something's seriously screwed up there.

djohnson · Jan 20, 2004, 03:08 PM

It sound like when you upgraded to 10.3 that you did not do the clean/archive install. When I put 10.2 back on my beige G3, I did this and it feels a lot faster. Mind you it isnt G5 or even G4 speed, but it does the trick.

Tenacious Dyl · Jan 20, 2004, 05:05 PM

I dunno.. i agree...

I have a iMac 17 inch, with 64 megs of ddr video, 1 ghz processor, and 768 ddr ram

My new Al 12inch Pbook has only 32 megs of ddr video, 1ghz, and 768 ddr ram.

So it is *equal* in most areas, and slower on video....

Note also that I have a lot more smaller programs running in the background on my Al Book, and yet.. my Albook I would say responds and loads up about 30% faster.

Why?

laieboy · Jan 20, 2004, 05:32 PM

my 15" AluBook will rip a DVD at least twice as fast as my Dual 1Gig MDD...go figure

Big Mac · Jan 21, 2004, 02:00 AM

If the last poster is comparing a superdrive to a combo drive, that would explain the difference.

eddiecatflap · Jan 21, 2004, 02:40 AM

..my brothers pb17 feels a lot faster than my imac 17

..just wish he'd bought a g5

Simon · 03:06 AM

I have a 1GHz iMac (768 RAM, 64MB GF4MX) at home and a 1GHz 12" PowerBook (768 RAM, 32MB FXGo5200).

The iMac feels a tad faster, especially in graphics, but otherwise they are rather similar.

The iMac's HD is definitely faster, but the PowerBook's wakes from sleep speedier (the iMac shows the spinning ball for about two seconds while it wakes the disk, the PB doesn't show it) which is what I would expect.

maximage · Jan 21, 2004, 10:57 PM

Alot of people here need to also look at the Level 2 and 3 cache, the iMacs have a smaller Level 2 than the PowerBooks and powerMacs which either have a bigger Level 2, or a Level 3 as well.

MacGallant · Jan 22, 2004, 12:30 AM

Originally posted by KeilwerthSX90R:
I just got a 1 Ghz 17" Powerbook and OS operation seems much smoother with apps loading a lot faster than my dual Ghz MDD powermac. The powermac has almost a GB more RAM and both are running 10.3.2. Why would that be? I'm not complaining just making an observation. Do they have different chips?

Josh

The new G4 Powerbooks have 512kb L2 cache
your Dual G4 MDD has 256kb L2 per cpu and 1mb L3 per cpu. So maybe the larger L2 cache in your Powerbook is the reason for it being faster than your tower.

hyteckit · Jan 22, 2004, 12:33 AM

Hehe... my Dual G4 1.25GHz has:

256KB L2 per CPU
2MB L3 per CPU

laieboy · Jan 22, 2004, 01:19 PM

Originally posted by Big Mac:
If the last poster is comparing a superdrive to a combo drive, that would explain the difference.

both drives are 2x superdrives!

DBvader · Jan 22, 2004, 02:55 PM

Thats weird. My Dual 867 with 1 GB RAM feels significantly faster than my sister's 1GHz Al Powerbook.

Not only in responsiveness, but application speed as well.

I would reccomend a clean install on your powermac. After fixing the disk and permissions on my Panther install last week, my commputer has felt like lightning. Its much more responsive than my roomate's freshly formatted PCs (windows is rediculously fast when its cleanly installed with no other apps to mess up the registry) running at 1.8 and 2.4 GHz.