Depended Proccessor Questions

Re: Depended Proccessor Questions

If your problem is games, the iBook is of no help.

I would suggest getting a better video card, and updating the processor in your PC. Figure out which motherboard you have, and find out how fast of a proc you can put in there. Make sure to get one with more cache (on board memory for the proc). Also make sure that you have an AGP slot for the new video card, and not PCI.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

Above URL is a good place to find best prices for PC hardware.


Don't spend more than $100 for the video card. (GeForce4 MX 440 (128MB) will cover your needs just fine)

Don't spend more than $120 for the processor.

A nice place to buy from, customer service wise, and for timely delivery is:

http://www.newegg.com/

I am not affiliated with any of the above, just a happy customer

Also, check into getting more RAM (256MB minimum) and a faster hard drive (7200rpm).

 

Just a thought: you may want to consider a used/refurbished powerbook if you're interested in gaming with a Mac portable. The 800Mhz Tibook from last spring can be had for about the same price as the top of the line ibook and will give you better oomph for gaming. Although the video card is the same (32 meg ATI 7500), I think that the G4 processor with 1meg L3 cache and better screen are two reasons why this choice may be a better one value-wise.

 

i think my 700mhz ibook is about as fast as a 1ghz p3, maybe a little faster for some things. It works well with games, but the 800mhz ibook has twice the vid card memory which would certainly help a lot for games. Its a great computer for the price, though obviously i would recommend the powerbooks if you have the money

 

Just for a bit of a comparison, i have a 1GHZ P3 laptop with an original radeon 8mb card, that does OK with games, and a 500mhz g4 desktop with a radeon 8500, and the mac blows the pc away at quake, but its most likely the video card. The 2 comps are comporable in performance, with the pc only slightly faster, so an 800 or a 700mhz g3 should be as good as or better than a P3 933. But I have to make the same suggestion as the others, for games, you really need a powerbook, even a 667mhz G4 is better at some things than a 700mhz G3. I suggest saving up for the 867 mhz with radeon 9000 if you want to do any real gaming, or a 1ghz. Its costly, but well worth it.

 

I think an iBook would be faster than what you describe, but I think you have a major problem with your system. If you dont want to bother messing with your current computer, then by all means, get an iBook and enjoy. But its still worth fixing your current system. I suspect a memory leak, or some background application hogging the CPU.

 

I have my trusty iMac DV 400MHz machine, and I've always felt that it compares well to a 600MHz P3 (at some times less, others more, the only real setback is the video card).

So, I believe your performance with an iBook may be on par with your desktop machine, though the hard drive in the iBook is rather slow, and Mac OS X is anything but snappy. I don't think you'd regret the purchase, but I doubt you'd see any performance increase.

 

I suspect a sound card driver problem. Try disabling sound on your system (e.g. in Device Manager) and see if that makes the clicking-on-a-unit faster. If you have sounds enabled for menu clicks and app opens, turn it off.

Other things you could do: Check your virtual memory configuration. Defrag the hard drive. What kind of CD-ROM are you using? Not some ancient 2X I hope?

I have a P3 733 which is OK for games. It doesn't lag on starcraft as you describe.

Your motherboard is not going to accept a P4 2.4GHz, you'll have to replace it and get new RAM, etc. You're probably talking $500 to make the PC faster. Replacing the CD-ROM and sound card might be quick, cheap upgrades.

 

another note about the iBook:

no need to worry about startup time. most people start it once, and then just close it when they are not using it. sleep mode actually works on a Mac! open it up, screen comes to life, and your network connection comes back on in 2 or 3 seconds (nice to not have to be connected to network while sleeping).

you really should go to a local Apple Store (if there is a "local" one for you) and check them out. i am sure the staff would let you test out some of your concerns.

remember, if u buy a Mac, get the most RAM you can afford. OS X utilizes it well. 256MB should be a bare minimum for a good experience. 640MB (max) is recommended, IMO as a PC type who uses an iBook from time to time.