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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Which is quicker?

Which is quicker?
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Momma
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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Nov 29, 2004, 04:38 PM
 
A G4, 1.5ghz Powerbook with 1GB of Ram

Or

A G4, 1.25ghz Tower with 2GB of Ram?

which one is quicker? both have the same speed ram, the only difference is the powerbook has an extra 25ghz and the tower has an extra gb of ram?

Thanks
     
solitere
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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Nov 29, 2004, 04:42 PM
 
Originally posted by Momma:
A G4, 1.5ghz Powerbook with 1GB of Ram

Or

A G4, 1.25ghz Tower with 2GB of Ram?

which one is quicker? both have the same speed ram, the only difference is the powerbook has an extra 25ghz and the tower has an extra gb of ram?

Thanks

I would bet on the 1.25 G4 tower. Lots of ram is a real speedbooster..
     
iREZ
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Nov 29, 2004, 06:11 PM
 
Not only that, but take a look at the HD speed, cache, and bus speeds. Alot of things distinguish which is faster but I would like to see a comparison of the two. I for one think the PB would be faster if it had a 7200RPM HD installed in it.
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
SEkker
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Nov 30, 2004, 12:55 AM
 
The tower is probably noticeably faster. The HD is likely MUCH faster -- unless you put a 7200 rpm HD in the PB -- and the tower probably has a better video card, a speed increase that might be lost if you are using a large monitor. If you are doing video work, the extra HD space will also manifest itself as a faster experience over a nearly full PB HD.

The extra RAM will make a difference, too.

I am not sure if there is not some difference in the CPU per se -- tower chips tend to run hotter and have more cache, etc., over their contemporaries in the PBs (but the PB CPU may be a newer chip, not sure from your description).

If you wanted to make the PB closer to the tower in speed, add RAM, an internal 7200 rpm HD and a FW800 external scratch HD.
     
Maflynn
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Nov 30, 2004, 08:22 AM
 
I would say the tower.
Laptops had to make certain sacrifices because of power consumption and heat, to that end they have Slower

Memory
FSB
Hard Drives
GPU
CPUs (they slip into low power mode if not manually adjusted)

Overall the PB architecture is built more for mobility then for raw processing power.

Mike
     
   
 
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