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Proccessor/Returning
- Thread starter pcuserx
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Re: Proccessor/Returning
The "low MHz G4" might be faster than a 700 MHz G3. It depends on what you are running. It depends on the amount of cache the G4 has as well. Too many unknowns to answer your question. Like is it a PowerMac vs. an iBook? That could affect things as well.
Maybe you should try some things out in a store before you buy the iBook.
Depending on where you buy the iBook, there will be some length of time for returns. The may also be a restocking fee.
The "low MHz G4" might be faster than a 700 MHz G3. It depends on what you are running. It depends on the amount of cache the G4 has as well. Too many unknowns to answer your question. Like is it a PowerMac vs. an iBook? That could affect things as well.
Maybe you should try some things out in a store before you buy the iBook.
A 700MHz 750fx (G3) could probably put up a pretty good fight against a 1GHz P3. That's about equivalent to an original (Willamette) 1.4-1.5GHz P4.
Well, for $999, about the fastest processor you are going to get on the PC side (new, that is) is either a celeron (gag) or a 850mhz P3. I haven't seen a P4 get that low in price unless it's a discontinued model. Anyway, I'd rather get an AMD XP over a low mhz (or is that ghz?) P4-M.
I'm still a PCer as my iMac comes Saturday but...as far as laptops..
Dell has a 1.8 Ghz P4 laptop for 949....PIIIs are not common in laptops any more..
Dell has a 1.8 Ghz P4 laptop for 949....PIIIs are not common in laptops any more..
the G3 700 is probably the same speed as the 1Ghz PIII . Now is that was a 700mhz G4, then in alot of areas it would preform around a P4 1.6-1.8ghz.
The real power of the Macs is the dual processing and G4 optimizations, neither of which the iBooks have (the only model to have neither).
The real power of the Macs is the dual processing and G4 optimizations, neither of which the iBooks have (the only model to have neither).
Dude, are you insane? No. It couldn't. A g4 could, in the infamous spec[INT|FP]s, keep up with a similarly clocked p3 (depending on cache, rev, blah, blah). With altivec'd ops, it would pull well ahead, but most day to day operations for non graphic junkies isn't/hasn't been altivected. The g3 lacks altivec AND has less cache than the g4. A p3 1 ghz would handily trounce a g3 700 mhz machine. (And would run much hotter, and suck more power, and force you to use Win/Lin/BSD)
The g3 is a decent low power portable chip, but keep some perspective on the whole thing.
cheers,
prat
It's going to be slower. At a raw hardware level, it is less raw performant, but will suck far less power and thus will be much more of a mobile solution than a 1 ghz p3. (My ultralite dell running debian lasts about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on usage. An iBook will do a lot more.)
OSX is also slower than other OS's on comperable hardware because *it does a ton of cool but computationally expensive sh*t*. One thing you will notice with OSX is that a busy application won't slow most of the rest of your system down, unlike OS9 and win(XP|2000).
All in all, if I were you, I'd go with the 800 Mhz ibook, and buy an aftermarket 512 dimm to stick in it. That will be a great day-to-day mobile platform. You will notice some sluggishness in CPU intensive stuff though, especially if you are working with graphics a lot. Web/Email/Word processing will all work great.
Cheers,
prat
Actually, the G3 has MORE cache (although no L3, but the 12" PB doesn't have that either), and SPEC doesn't use Altivec, so the G3 will match the G4. Anyway, both the G3 and the G4 do HORRIBLY in SPEC, so that's not what I'm comparing (on the other hand, I'm not comparing RC5 either, it's too Mac biased). Also, Intel's SpeedStep "technology" slows down P3/P4 laptops when they're not plugged in. An iBook would have a much harder time against a desktop P3.
I could easily be off by a bit (especially about the equiv. P4 MHz), but I don't thing the G3 would be "trounced".
The bottom line is, if you are even considering a g3 processor, speed is not a huge priority. It will be zippy enough, that's for sure. Go ahead and get it, and enjoy it. It's a good machine.
The 750FX is a much more efficient processor then then any G4 itteration. In fact the 750FX even supports DDR busses. Plain and simply the FX has a shorter pipeline and does more with it's clock cycles. In the end I believe the 750FX is 1.1-1.5 times as fast in normal CPU operations then even the 7455 G4. To put this into context the 7455 G4 is about 1.2-1.4 times as fast as a P4 again in normal cpu operations. This is not to say that an FX will perform 2x as fast as a P4 though the math just doesn't work that way. In the end though the limiting factor for all of the processors is the system they are used in. Unfortunately Apple has chosen to hobble the FX and use it in the iBook with a slow bus, slow memory, slow hard drive, slow vCArd, etc.. This in the end is too much and even an equal MHz P4 or G4 will stomp the **** out of the FX because of the system they are in. I know for sure that all the G4 systems have better architecture then the iBooks but it could be that there are laptops with as bad or worse architecture then the iBook with P4 or P3s in them thus making the FX the better option.