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skacoreimplore · Mar 21, 2007, 06:53 PM

right now i have a stock C2D 2.0 white macbook

it seems to feel slower than my old PM MDD dual 1.25 with 1 gig ram

do i need to upgrade the ram of my macbook to feel the full potential? upgrade the harddrive to a 7200 rpm? is this normal? thanks

Mac Write · Mar 21, 2007, 08:00 PM

(typing this from my MDD DP 1.25GHZ, Radeon 9800Pro 256MB 1.79GB RAM) go to 2GB RAM min and a 7200RPM drive would/could also help as well. But the biggest thing is using Universal or Intel only optimized apps. I tried my moms MacBook C2D 2GB/80GB and it felt almost the same as my MDD. Scary a 5 year old top of the line system from them 2002 can kick the snot out of a higher end consumer notebook of 2007.

skacoreimplore · Mar 21, 2007, 08:13 PM

yeah i expected more out of the macbook but i guess the 5400 RPM HD and 1 gig of ram are bottlenecking the system

peeb · Mar 21, 2007, 08:29 PM

1 gb is not enough for rosetta apps. That, and your slow(ish) drive, will cause problems.

Big Mac · Mar 21, 2007, 08:34 PM

PPC4ever

pcguy1 · Mar 21, 2007, 11:17 PM

You have to break this down to be fair

Laptop hd is going to be slow compare to any decent desktop hd, this will effect stuff like program launch.
Memory is always important when u don't meet min requirement, 1G should be ok, 2G will be good as of 2007.

As for cpu, there is no comparison, it is Ferrari(C2d) vs Kia(Any G5, and G4? is not even in the same planet), to think otherwise is nut.

peeb · 12:21 AM

? Your car analogy is lost on me, the problem is that the computer is trying to run an emulator, and a program at the same time, in not enough ram, with a relatively slow hard drive. Of course a computer with the processor for which this program was written is going to be faster for that task.
Right now, if you depend on software that is not yet universal, you should play with the machine with the software you want to use before making a purchase.

skacoreimplore · Mar 22, 2007, 07:29 AM

well since everything is emulated now, when will things all be native? i plan on putting 2 gigs of ram in here, maybe a 7200 rpm HD soon to.

pcguy1 · Mar 22, 2007, 09:36 AM

Not everything is emulated, only if you use old sw with new machine.

MrMacbookMan · Mar 29, 2007, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by Mac Write

(typing this from my MDD DP 1.25GHZ, Radeon 9800Pro 256MB 1.79GB RAM) go to 2GB RAM min and a 7200RPM drive would/could also help as well. But the biggest thing is using Universal or Intel only optimized apps. I tried my moms MacBook C2D 2GB/80GB and it felt almost the same as my MDD. Scary a 5 year old top of the line system from them 2002 can kick the snot out of a higher end consumer notebook of 2007.

I love my macbook and all, but I wouldn't call it a "higher end consumer notebook".

chefpastry · Mar 31, 2007, 10:10 AM

I was trying to usw a Mac Book (2GHz Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo) with 2GB RAM as a replacement for my dual 1.25GHz MDD with 2GB RAM while waiting for my Mac Pro to show up. I ran the exact same apps (most of which were Universal apps) and it definitely felt a bit more sluggish than the old MDD. For some reason, there seemed to be much more paging than with the MDD. I have no idea why...

hldan · Mar 31, 2007, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by chefpastry

I was trying to usw a Mac Book (2GHz Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo) with 2GB RAM as a replacement for my dual 1.25GHz MDD with 2GB RAM while waiting for my Mac Pro to show up. I ran the exact same apps (most of which were Universal apps) and it definitely felt a bit more sluggish than the old MDD. For some reason, there seemed to be much more paging than with the MDD. I have no idea why...

Okay, everything should match between both computers. You have to be running Tiger on both, have ram between the both of them match as closely as possible and running the same apps side by side to compare them. When comparing apps they have to be Universal for the MacBook and you can use the same ones on the PowerMac.

Speed tests to do side by side:
Launch the same apps from a cold start and a relaunch. The iLife apps are the best.
Start up each Mac from a cold boot.
Restart each Mac.
Launch iTunes and rip a CD and time the encoding on each.
Resize windows on Safari, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto to test response time and smoothness.

Technically even with lower ram and the slowest Core Duo processor the MacBook should kick the crap out of the PowerMac but if it's fails running faster than the PowerMac from the above tests then it may be wise to do two things. Make sure that the MacBook is not indexing your HDD. If you have moved files onto your MacBook from the PowerMac then it takes a long time to fully index and it slows performance into several beachballs. If it's not indexing then you should do an Archive and Install to create a new system folder for the MacBook.

chefpastry · Apr 1, 2007, 01:14 AM

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to test it as you've suggested. But, believe me, my old MDD with 2GB of RAM FELT quicker than my Core Duo MacBook with 2GB of RAM. Also, when I replaced the MDD with the MacBook, I used Migration Assistant to move the contents of my MDD over to the MacBook. All the same apps. All the same settings. I even used it with the same monitor with the built-in LCD disabled.

hldan · Apr 1, 2007, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by chefpastry

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to test it as you've suggested. But, believe me, my old MDD with 2GB of RAM FELT quicker than my Core Duo MacBook with 2GB of RAM. Also, when I replaced the MDD with the MacBook, I used Migration Assistant to move the contents of my MDD over to the MacBook. All the same apps. All the same settings. I even used it with the same monitor with the built-in LCD disabled.

Okay, I'm sure why you don't have time to place your MacBook along side your MDD and just do a few simple tests that would take all of 10 minutes but anyways, that's your problem, you used Migration Assistant. Your MacBook is indexing and it does take quite a long time when you migrate files from your old Mac to your new Mac. That's what I mentioned earlier, if you transferred files from your old Mac to your new one Tiger will index those files on your MacBook and it takes a long time. Had you installed them one by one it would index during installation and your Mac would run fine. If you put the MacBook to sleep or shut it down it does not index. It can only index while your Mac is up and running. It's best just to leave it up and running all day for several hours if you want to get throught that indexing operation. When it's completely done you will wreap the benefits of the Intel speed.

chefpastry · Apr 1, 2007, 01:30 PM

It would actually take quite a bit more than 10 minutes. My MDD is now a file server with a bunch of external drives attached and no monitor. I also don't want to pull out my Mac Pro to make room for the MDD or the MacBook.

I used the MacBook for approximately 3 weeks before my Mac Pro arrived. Whatever indexing that OS X needed to do should've been done. It just flat out felt slower...

hldan · Apr 1, 2007, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by chefpastry

It would actually take quite a bit more than 10 minutes. My MDD is now a file server with a bunch of external drives attached and no monitor. I also don't want to pull out my Mac Pro to make room for the MDD or the MacBook.

I used the MacBook for approximately 3 weeks before my Mac Pro arrived. Whatever indexing that OS X needed to do should've been done. It just flat out felt slower...

Well, good luck 2 U. If you still feel uneasy about it then when you have time I would recommend reformatting your HDD on the MacBook and run it without installing anything and see how it's performing. One last note (because I am running out of ideas) check how much HDD space is left on the MacBook after migrating all those files. Computers will slow down when hard disk space is low. I would say anything below 10 GB may cause some slow downs. Take care.

pyrite · Apr 2, 2007, 01:49 AM

max out the ram and it will crap all over your PPC machine, unless you're running Rosetta apps... then it will be about the same after slow launch