Empirical Test: Powerbook G4 1Ghz vs P4 desktop

splinemodelsplinemodel
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
One of the computers I use quite often is a Dell 1.6GHz P4 with 512MB of Rambus RAM and an Nvidia GeForce3 card.



I also own a Powerbook G4 (the last titanium).

1 GHz Motorola 7455

1 GB RAM (PC133)

ATI Radeon 9000 Pro Mobility



The powerbook drives the 1280x854 screen as well as a spanned 1280x1024 LCD panel. The Dell drives a single 1280x1024 LCD panel.



I was doing some work in Matlab on the P4 and looking at a PDF when I noticed how slow it was compared to the Powerbook. On the powerbook, the PDF file scrolls very smoothly, and accurately drags with the hand, even when iTunes and various other apps are running simultaneously.



Real world performance:

Powerbook G4: 1

P4 1.6Ghz Desktop: 0



I will run some more in depth tests later on, and also with a P4 2.4 Ghz with more or less the same specs.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Is the P4 plugged into the wall or not? If it isn't plugged in, the CPU probably downclocks to 1.2GHz (which for a P4 is incredibly slow). This is hardly a justificatino for slow performance- many people (myself included) would like to have good performance when not plugged into a wall.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    krassykrassy Posts: 595member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    Is the P4 plugged into the wall or not?



    t thought that is a desktop????
  • Reply 3 of 4
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Krassy

    t thought that is a desktop????







    Sorry folks, busy day at work. Either way, make sure the P4 is plugged in
  • Reply 4 of 4
    krassykrassy Posts: 595member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny





    Sorry folks, busy day at work. Either way, make sure the P4 is plugged in



    *lol*
Sign In or Register to comment.