Is my Macbook Pro more powerful than similar spec Powermac?

[Frigate]

My beloved PowerMac G5 is nearing the end of it's useful life as I really need an Intel Processor to be able to test in Windows, but as much as I'd love a new Mac Pro it's just not happening at the current prices.

It suddenly occurred to me through that my Macbook Pro may actually be equally or even more capable than my PowerMac? I bought it secondhand for use in the occasional meeting and it hasn't had much use but I've found a gizmo which would mean I could run my two 20" displays from the Macbook Pro, and in this set-up I could easily use it practically as my everyday machine.

So enough of the rambling, my question to you brainy people, would my Macbook Pro (17" 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 3GB RAM, Model ID 2,1) run equally fast or better than my PowerMac (G5 Dual 2.3 Processor, 4.5GB RAM) in everyday use? I guess running mainly Adobe apps but also VMware Fusion. 3GB RAM seems pretty puny? Are Notebooks really designed to be on all day everyday, would it overheat?

Thanks for any input

 

[BlueRevolution]

Why not find out for yourself? Run a benchmarking too such as Geekbench on both computers and see what you come up with. I would guess that the laptop is faster by a small margin. Be sure to post your results though!

Your MacBook Pro can definitely handle everything you describe, but you should already know that because you have it in front of you.

Are Notebooks really designed to be on all day everyday, would it overheat?

Sure. My iBook is 8 years old and currently has 30-odd days of uptime.

Computers, both laptops and desktops, are designed to shut down automatically if they become too hot.

 

[eXan]

My beloved PowerMac G5 is nearing the end of it's useful life as I really need an Intel Processor to be able to test in Windows, but as much as I'd love a new Mac Pro it's just not happening at the current prices.

It suddenly occurred to me through that my Macbook Pro may actually be equally or even more capable than my PowerMac? I bought it secondhand for use in the occasional meeting and it hasn't had much use but I've found a gizmo which would mean I could run my two 20" displays from the Macbook Pro, and in this set-up I could easily use it practically as my everyday machine.

So enough of the rambling, my question to you brainy people, would my Macbook Pro (17" 2.33 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 3GB RAM, Model ID 2,1) run equally fast or better than my PowerMac (G5 Dual 2.3 Processor, 4.5GB RAM) in everyday use? I guess running mainly Adobe apps but also VMware Fusion. 3GB RAM seems pretty puny? Are Notebooks really designed to be on all day everyday, would it overheat?

Thanks for any input

Your MBP is way faster and no, it won't overheat.

 

[xUKHCx]

Why not find out for yourself? Run a benchmarking too such as Geekbench on both computers and see what you come up with. I would guess that the laptop is faster by a small margin. Be sure to post your results though!

You can browse Geekbench results here: http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2009/01/mac-performance-january-2009/

Which should give you a pretty good idea from a comparison point of view

Similar spec-ed computers

Power Mac: 2075
MacBook Pro: 2949


There will be differences between a benchmark score and real world usage so why not do a standard task that you do everyday on your computer and see how long it takes then repeat on the other.

Heavy disk thrashing would favour the Power Mac however the speed of the MBP could easily make up for it, all depends on the tasks but I would suggest that in almost all circumstances the MBP would come out on top (and probably by a reasonable distance).

 

[Frigate]

Thanks for your replies, looks like I can happily ditch the PowerMac, have posted the Geekbench scores below (PowerMac left, Macbook Pro right) which pretty much tally with the results posted on the Geekbench site. I'll run some Photoshop tests to confirm but it looks very positive...

 

[madog]

Short answer: Yes.

Long Answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.