PPC apps on an Intel Mac

[Luis Ortega]

I understand that PPC apps need to run in something called Rosetta on Intel Macs and that they perform less well compared to Universal Binary apps.

My question is does having PPC apps on an Intel Mac affect the overall performance of the computer or just the PPC app running?

If you are running a mixture of PPC and Universal Binary apps at the same time, does it affect performance of the Universal Binary apps or make the system less stable?

I see a lot of free programs on magazine cover disks for the Mac but they never say whether they are PPC apps or not. I also read about some utilities like Superduper on these forums that look interesting, but since these have been around for a while, are they likely to be PPC or Universal Binary?
How can you tell without installing the thing?

Coming from Windows, I have learned that installing a lot of small, free or inexpensive apps that you come across on cover disks or the internet is a sure way to make your system unstable because some of them are poorly written and cause conflicts.

What is the advice on using PPC apps or the little apps and utilities that come on cover disks or from the internet on an Intel Mac?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

 

[Much Ado]

Only the PPC apps are affected.

Basically, they will run a bit slower because they aren't native. That's it. It won't drag down your whole system, but if you have a PPC app open it is going to use more resources.

 

[chas0001]

If you right click on the application and choose Get Info it will tell you whether the app is PowerPC, Intel only or Universal.

I would not even worry about resources being used by rosetta when running PPC apps on an Intel MAC. Most apps should have a Universal version unless they are no longer supported or written by Microsoft.

 

[xUKHCx]

To answer the question about having lots of small apps installed i over the course of my mac lifetime have installed literally thousands of applications and pretty much always have 200+ installed at any one time. There is no noticeable difference from a clean install. Sure one app my crash but it generally doesnt bring the whole system down or lead to an overall general slowing down.

 

[Luis Ortega]

Thanks everyone. That sets my mind at ease about installing a few of those little utilities that people keep talking about.