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clebin · Apr 2, 2001, 01:46 PM

Being on these forums, I'd been getting the impression that a faster machine wouldn't make much difference to OS X. It nearly put my off buying a new Mac.

Why? Because of messages like "I have a dual-533 with 1gb of RAM and it runs like crap". I was on the virge of saying "I'll wait until MacWorld" which probably would have led to more waiting again...

Having struggled to get by with a G3/266 Rev.1. I pictured us all in the same boat, and since placing the order for a Powerbook G4 (something I've waiting for years for) I've had this irrational paranoia about it.

It was like when I bought my first Mac. I'd only ever seen really slow, awful Macs at university, but somehow inspired I decided that a new Mac with OS 8 would be that much better. The night before it arrived, I had a dream that when I booted it up it was exactly the same. Thankfully, the G3 was an entirely different kettle of fish to those PPC601 machines.

So the Powerbook arrived today - 500Mhz/20gb/256mb - and within an hour I had OS X up and running. And history thankfully repeated itself. OS X feels like a whole new system and it's transformed my own steadily increasing pessimism.

If you're scraping by with an old machine and thought about upgrading, don't be put off by high-end owners telling you their tales of misery and decide to play the waiting game yet again. There really is a major performance boost to be had.

If (and only if) you want to upgrade, UPGRADE!

Perhaps I'm the only one who's been feeling this, but I wanted to make the point.

Chris

gorgonzola · Apr 2, 2001, 01:52 PM

I'd like to also add that that was the most positive OS X post that's come out of Chris in months. If he's that positive about it, it's probably true.

This is definitely good news.

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JeffZPgh · Apr 2, 2001, 01:54 PM

I think the performance complaints are overly dramatic even on lower end machines. My 400mhz iMac (w/192MB RAM) zips along just fine under OS X. According to some of the posts I read here before I got the machine and installed the OS, I was going to be miserable with that setup. I like it just fine, and am glad I didn't fork out more dough for faster hardware.

Jeff

Gametes · Apr 2, 2001, 01:55 PM

Actually, if you have a 300MHZ iAnything don't bother upgrading, as OS X is already great on these machines. Well, unless of course you think the iBook was meant to do Dream Weaver and Photoshop and Maya all at the same time, in which case you should have bought a PowerSomething in the first place, you delusional cheapskate.

Lord Kronos · Apr 2, 2001, 02:04 PM

Mac OS X is just fine on faster machines, although it's not perfect yet, and lacks some good Quartz support.

I believe you should wait till MWNY, you'll get new hardware and new software. I guess Mac OS X v10.1 will be amazing on a dual-9xx...

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"Ein kleiner Mensch stirbt - nur zum Schein"

[This message has been edited by Lord Kronos (edited 04-02-2001).]

gorgonzola · Apr 2, 2001, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by Gametes:
Well, unless of course you think the iBook was meant to do Dream Weaver and Photoshop and Maya all at the same time, in which case you should have bought a PowerSomething in the first place, you delusional cheapskate.

LOL

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Brit Ben · Apr 2, 2001, 02:14 PM

Happily, I agree, I have recently moved from a Pentium III 800 to the G4 500, and OS X satisfies my desire for a powerful, functional UNIX platform on the road, with a good GUI for presentation work ( I work in High Tech Marketing) Flash flies on this baby, and I can't wait for an OS X version of the authoring package. One observation, if you have to use the classic environment for any apps, extra memory makes a huge difference.

Congrats to apple on an awesome combo.

The_Equivocator · Apr 2, 2001, 02:29 PM

I'm running OS X off of a 400 mhz G4 (PCI Graphics) with 128 megs of RAM and OS X runs wonderfully. I get occasional slow downs when I have OmniWeb, AIM, Mail, and SoundJam MP running at the same time, but I bet some extra RAM would clear that up nicely. I am extremely happy with OS X and have nothing but high hopes for the future.

Apr 3, 2001, 12:50 AM

I think the problem with reports of sluggishness from owners of fast machines, eg Dual Processor 533 Mhz, is that they only perceive things like resizing a Finder window.

This is not entirely fair for these machines as the nVidia drivers aren't done yet so the poor OS has to do much of the heavy lifting in software.

The drivers will be finished, and when they are, these fast machines will scream.

JB72 · Apr 3, 2001, 01:35 AM

OT but...

I'm waiting till we see a new PowerMac case and dual 733+ before I buy a new main (FCP) machine. I've waited long enough already, I'm sure I can wait till these wants get met. But If we don't see it at MWNY, I'm going to panic.

Also, waaaay OT, don't you think it's weird that there is this US-China trouble just after Gorgonzola gets back? He seems so good natured here, but I think it might be a front for his true trouble stirring nature

.

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JB71.34.1b

Dock Perverts still rule OK?

clebin · Apr 3, 2001, 06:12 AM

Originally posted by gorgonzola:
I'd like to also add that that was the most positive OS X post that's come out of Chris in months. If he's that positive about it, it's probably true.

This is definitely good news.

I like to think that I have a healthy cynicism

Good to have you back.

I'm still ecstatic with my new, bank balance destroying purchase. I know speed will still be high on Apple's list of priorities given the amount of feedback they must have had. If it was confined to low-end users they might be tempted to just leave it and watch the hardware sales come in.

Its main flaw is the Finder. But if something's going to cheer you up, it's this - a more multithreaded Finder was one of the improvements in OS 8, and look at what else they achieved with 8.0 and 8.5!

In 2 years, pretty much a complete modernisation of the Mac environment, nearly all of OS X's missing features and tons of rewritten code. All this on an ancient, badly constructed house of cards like System 7.

Chris

gorgonzola · Apr 3, 2001, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by JB72:
Also, waaaay OT, don't you think it's weird that there is this US-China trouble just after Gorgonzola gets back? He seems so good natured here, but I think it might be a front for his true trouble stirring nature .

SHHHHHH! *quiet*!

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the oddball newsletter
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it's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything

berglua · Apr 3, 2001, 07:51 PM

I looked at it the other way. I used OS X compatibility as my justification for a new Mac. There was really nothing wrong with my old 7600/G3, it's ugly old Stylewriter 2400, external Zip and Apple ColorOne scanner. With 9.1 on it, it actually ran pretty good, and did pretty much anything I asked it to.

But OS X is the future of the Mac, so a new machine was "required." And despite what others have posted, I have found X to be just fine on my new 533 dualie. Oh sure, it'd be nice if the sound didn't cut out, but they'll fix that one of these days.

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berglua
G4-533MP/384/40

"I make a living baby-sitting a LAN of ~50 Wintel machines. If my employer used Macs (like I do at home) I'd be out of a job!"

davidski · Apr 3, 2001, 08:10 PM

I am running OS X on a Pismo 400, 384 RAM, and just slapped in - OK, gingerly placed in - a new 20GB IBM Travelstar, and I am basically very happy with the performance.

I could have easily missed it, but I can't recall one negative post from a Pismo owner. Either OS X works well on this notebook, or Pismo owners are just a good-natured bunch! Go OS X on Pismo!