[alligator]

I have a Dell laptop for work (1.7 GHz) and a 1.33 GHz PowerBook. Is there an easy program that I can use to compare the speeds? There's no question the PB is smaller, easier to use, and feels about 100 times better. I'd just like to brag to my friends that my PB is faster (in whatever sense) than the Dell.

Any ideas?

[azdude]

Originally posted by alligator:
I have a Dell laptop for work (1.7 GHz) and a 1.33 GHz PowerBook. Is there an easy program that I can use to compare the speeds? There's no question the PB is smaller, easier to use, and feels about 100 times better. I'd just like to brag to my friends that my PB is faster (in whatever sense) than the Dell.

Any ideas?

Easy, sure... I suppose.

You could crunch a few Folding or SETI units:

http://folding.stanford.edu/
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/help.html

[SplijinX]

Drop both off your roof. Since your Powerbook has a smaller footprint, it will endure less drag, and therefore hit the ground faster than your Dell. Let me tell you, both will go pretty fast, but I have no doubt your Powerbook will come out ahead.

[Luca Rescigno]

I don't know about Folding, but SETI has zero optimization for anything and thus will perform on a linear scale based on clock speed. So the 1.7 GHz Dell will do a work unit about 27% faster than the 1.33 GHz PowerBook.

However, Distributed.net's RC5-72 will be much faster than the Dell. It's hugely optimized for PPC processors, especially the G4. Your PowerBook should crunch RC5 work units nearly ten times faster than the Pentium 4! Even so, that doesn't really mean much, other than that RC5 is highly optimized for G4s.

AMD processors are much faster in RC5 than Intel ones, but they still fall behind the G4 as far as optimizations go. But you should be able to outpower the Dell in any function that is fully optimized for AltiVec - for example, certain Photoshop filters (generally the ones that Apple uses as "comparison benchmarks"). Also, if the Dell has a poor video card, you might be able to beat it on the G4-optimized version of Quake III. PCs tend to do a little better than Macs in Quake III, but it's amazing how well a fully optimized G4 will run. If the Dell has shared video memory, for instance, the PowerBook should be able to beat it.

You can always take comfort in knowing that the PowerBook is thinner, lighter, has a better screen, is much more efficient in terms of your workflow, and will sell for a much higher percentage of its original cost.

EDIT: You sure it'll drop faster? Maybe if you hold them edge-on, the inch-thin PowerBook would truly slice through the air. But with that big flat wide screen, it might have a larger footprint than, say, a 14" Dell.

Then again, I don't know how big the screen is on either machine. The 1.33 GHz speed has been offered on all three screen sizes (though alligator implies it is "smaller"), while 1.7 GHz Dell laptops have probably been offered with 14", 15" and even 16" screens.

[SplijinX]

True, true. I used "small" as an assumption that it might be a 12" Powerbook.

All joking aside, I doubt there is any fair comparison. You could make a case for either, things will naturally run faster that the other if they are optimized for a particular processor.

Games tend to run faster on PCs, while most graphics designers tend to use Apple's even though Adobe software exists on both platforms. I'm sure there are plenty of threads if you do a search on this topic - just seems childish and a whole lot of wasted effort for nothing.

[DL_AMG]

Try this...if both PC & Mac have Photoshop.
Open a same 5mb graphic photo and do Blur filter on it at 100% distortion. You can see who finish faster.

I also like the drop from the roof idea.

[SplijinX]

Originally posted by DL_AMG:
Try this...if both PC & Mac have Photoshop.
Open a same 5mb graphic photo and do Blur filter on it at 100% distortion. You can see who finish faster.

I also like the drop from the roof idea.

Haha, you definitely wouldn't have to sit around and wait, and I'm sure you'll have quite a crowd watching.

[alligator]

Okay, I dropped both off of my downtown skyscraper. My only problem is that I can't see which one hit the ground first.

Man, you should have seen how angry that guy was that got hit with the Dell.

By the way, I'm comparing a 12" PowerBook with a Dell Latitude D400. There is no comparison. I'd take the PowerBook anyday (regardless of operating system, which also favors the Mac). The screen is the same size, but the footprint of the two computers is very different. The keyboard feel, the case (plastic vs. Al), and the locking mechanism make the PowerBook better.

Just out of curiosity, where might I get a huge image file (like 5 MB+) so I can do a test like the above poster described?

[Luca Rescigno]

Want big images?

2.10 MB JPEG image from Hubble

3.39 MB TIFF image from Hubble



Oh yeah, and if you want real jaw-droppingly huge pictures, try here:

OMG 61-110 MB images?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Yes... they have a similar image available in both 61 MB JPEG format and 110 MB TIFF format. Not for the faint of heart.

[alligator]

I don't have any settings when I use the blur tool - how do you set the distortion?

[t4r1q]

Use Smart Blur

[incubusdaemon]

put both on a table unattended and watch with a hidden cam from around the corner. I'd bet a dime to a dollar the mac gets stolen first. It's faster, faster at being stolen that is!

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by SplijinX:
Drop both off your roof. Since your Powerbook has a smaller footprint, it will endure less drag, and therefore hit the ground faster than your Dell. Let me tell you, both will go pretty fast, but I have no doubt your Powerbook will come out ahead.

lol

[rambo47]

If you're looking for a straight numbers comparison, then Photoshop tests or something like distributed computing should do. There's a discssion on benchmarking over at the Battlefront at Ars Technica with links to benchmarking applications, as well as some hard numbers for comparison.

Don't overlook the intangibles when you make a comparison. How comfortable are you working with each notebook/platform? Does the style and design of one or the other count for anything with you? If not, then a simple numbers comparison would be all you need. Personally, I overwhelmingly prefer the design of my PowerBook and Mac OS X over anything "Windows". No big surprise, considering I'm posting on a Mac forum, huh? Those things for me outweigh differences in benchmark numbers.

[tkmd]

This question is easy- I went through it with my friend who wanted to by a PC notebook. Clock for clock, the Pentium will be faster in most programs that are cross platform. Yup the Pentium -M is a faster chip. But he bought a PB why? Because for all practical purposes, the Dell will be lock into the windows world. World of spyware, adware, installation wizards and an OS that you end up fighting with is not worth the extra 10% in speed. He is happy.

[alligator]

No question about it, the PowerBook (1.3) blows away the Dell (1.7) in useability and design. I'm not disputing that. I just wanted to see how they compared.

I ran the Photoshop blur test on a 60 MB file. My G5 (single 1.8) won hands down. My Dell desktop (1.7) came in second, and no surprise, my PowerBook (1.3) came in third. I actually expected the PowerBook to give the Desktop a run for its money, but it just didn't have the speed. On an interesting side now, the PowerBook opened Photoshop faster than the Dell desktop could.

I'll try to rerun the tests with my Dell laptop at work - this is fun!

[macaddict0001]

the powerbook is still better than the dell and at some tasks it will be faster I'm guessing that the dell had more ram?

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by alligator:
I have a Dell laptop for work (1.7 GHz) and a 1.33 GHz PowerBook. Is there an easy program that I can use to compare the speeds? There's no question the PB is smaller, easier to use, and feels about 100 times better. I'd just like to brag to my friends that my PB is faster (in whatever sense) than the Dell.

Any ideas?

Who cares about speed as long as the powerbook is fast enough for your needs?
You mentioned some advantages of your powerbook compared to the Dell. All are sufficient to throw away the Dell without hesitation. Your friends will always come back to speed comparisons as soon as a new intel processor is out. Stop this senseless discussion and talk about the overall usability of a computer.
Dells do not compare to powerbooks. If you want real competion compare with Thinkpads (T40/41). There it starts to make sense. But not with crappy Dells.

[chabig]

1. Put both laptops to sleep. Then open the lids and see which one wakes faster.
2. Connect to a wireless network. Then switch to a different wireless network. On which machine can you do this faster?
3. Connect them both with an ethernet cable. Try to set up Windows file sharing so you can see the Dell from the Mac. Then set up the Mac so you can see files form the Dell. Which setup was faster and easier?
4. Now connect to the Dell from the Mac and browse files. Do the same from the Dell. Which machine was faster and easier?
5. Open about 10 web pages in separate windows. On which machine is it faster and easier to find a specific web page? (think Expos�)

Chris

[riotge@r]

My PowerBook kicks my Dell Centrino based laptop in the a$$ in photoshop. How much RAM do you have in each computer? You can also try Unreal Tournament.

[DL_AMG]

Originally posted by chabig:
1. Put both laptops to sleep. Then open the lids and see which one wakes faster.
2. Connect to a wireless network. Then switch to a different wireless network. On which machine can you do this faster?
3. Connect them both with an ethernet cable. Try to set up Windows file sharing so you can see the Dell from the Mac. Then set up the Mac so you can see files form the Dell. Which setup was faster and easier?
4. Now connect to the Dell from the Mac and browse files. Do the same from the Dell. Which machine was faster and easier?
5. Open about 10 web pages in separate windows. On which machine is it faster and easier to find a specific web page? (think Expos�)

Chris

Sorry change this topic a bit...how you share files between PC and Mac? Just had the 1st Mac and try to share all my MP3s from PC to Mac and tried it over the weekend...no success.
I tried PtoP and Network...can't see each other at all.
Can u provide a short run down step so I can try it...or u have faster way to do it...like connecting either net cable to each other...which I haven't tried.

[macaddict0001]

you have to have filesharing on