1.25 GHZ 15" PB--Overall Performance
Well you may know I may be in the market sooner than I thought. This is not another "I have a gazillion white spots" or "my latch looser than Madonna" thread. I'm curious to hear from owners about the speed and overall performance. Specifically, compared to a Pismo 500MHZ if you've used one. Would it be worth it to upgrade now...or wait until the next Rev. The clockspeed difference doesn't seem signifcant enough.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Comments
I don't really have anything to compare it to except my 733MHz QS. I think the biggest speed hit is from the slower HD
As far as "not being enough difference in clockspeed" between the 1.25GHz PowerBook and a 500MHz TiBook...
Isn't that like a 250% increase? HOW is that "not enough"? It's more than doubled...damn near 3x.
Hardcore power user, huh?
Less than a year ago, most here would've killed for the features AND power in a G4 tower (1.25GHz, FireWire 800, 64MB ATi, USB 2.0, 2x SuperDrive, Gigabit Ethernet...not to mention sexy slot-loading drive, widescreen display and illuminated keyboard).
We now have ALL that (and then some) in a LAPTOP, for crying out loud! And, not some 2" thick, 9lb. idiot hunk of gray/indigo plastic with buttons and knobs all over it and a stupid-ass "Intel Inside" sticker on the palmrest.
What more do you want?
Photoshop, opens quickly, and operates smoothly, far far better than my iMac
iTunes, runs perfectly, volume controls don't lag, imports music very quickly(both from a CD or into the library from another location)
iPhoto, smooth, it was a little slow doing some things, but overall it was great.
iChat, runs great
quicktime, runs great
Warcraft3, all settings maxed, it ran smoothly
UT2k3(demo) 800x600 max, ran smooth, not perfect, but pretty darn good.
that's about all I've used thus far....oh yeah, PANTHER FEELS SNAPPY!
The 64M vid card is as good as most desktops, and better than 90% of other laptops.
I'm still testing optimized code, but for quick-and-dirty runs, having a really fast machine is nice. For longer, production runs, I have MP machines, so these things don't need to be as fast on a per-processor basis. Waiting 5 minutes for a test versus 20 is nice, however.
I think that the 1.25GHz offers about the best performance trade-off compared with current desktops (especially of the same price-point) as anytime in Apple's history. That may change with more and more G5-optimized apps, but especiall for graphics stuff, this PB is as good as it gets.
Originally posted by machem
Hey FM2002, thought you fell into Lake Michigan or something. How's the PB --- no worries?
I think that the 1.25GHz offers about the best performance trade-off compared with current desktops (especially of the same price-point) as anytime in Apple's history. That may change with more and more G5-optimized apps, but especiall for graphics stuff, this PB is as good as it gets.
Haven't fallen into the lake yet...just busy lately. Powerbook is great except for the fact that I haven't gotten it repaired yet. Just too busy to be without it for a few days. I am going to try to get it fixed before I go to Italy in January. But yeah...this is definitely one of the best overall PBs out there. To think that maxed out Pismos cost 4 grand when they came out, you can get this puppy for around two and half is just amazing.
I couldn't even use my Pismo for design because of its weak performance...I was forced to use my Dual G4 Desktop. Now, my desktop is a Printer RIP and the AlPB is my main machine for design and everything else as well.
Besides, the backlit keyboard is reason enough.
I have the 15" 1.25 GHz AlPB. It's a very nice machine. Me had the 500 Mhz iBook before. Memory is maxed on both machines. The diff between the two is VERY noticeable. Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. No defects, thank god. And the graphics card is superb for gaming. The only minus is the AE reception. The iBook had a MUCH better reception.
The last Powerbook that I owned was a 500 mhz Pismo...damn fine laptop running OS 9. I loved it, spent $3800 on it, but sold it. I simply needed the money (and I loved the OS X public beta, but felt it was slow on the machine).
Then I switched to an 800 mhz Athlon system that I built & overclocked. I won't get into the reasons, but they were mainly financial. I was happy with the speed increase (which was noticeable).
After probably weeks beating my head against the wall dealing with Microsoft & a motherboard failure, I bought an 800 mhz ibook g3. I absolutely LOVED Jaguar. Switching back to the Mac was like heaven and Quartz Extreme was so welcome. Jaguar was actually what I consider to be the first useable version of OS X...
I felt the speed of the iBook to be on par with the Athlon...with the Athlon feeling snappier while using Windows XP...but the iBook being more welcome to work with (OS X baby).
Then I purchased Apple's Soundtrack application. It would not run on a g3! Damn. I had never owned software that told me it my computer was not fast enough.
So I sold the ibook.
I just purchased a 1.33 Ghz 17" Powerbook. I opted for the regular 4200 RPM HD as the 5400 RPM HD took weeks longer to ship. I also bought an extra 512 MB RAM to bring the total to 1 GB RAM.
It came preinstalled with Panther.
I must say that I have never owned a computer this nice (or fast). It is gorgeous and the speed is VERY VERY noticeable. I honestly can't even imagine working on my old Pismo after touching this machine. It feels so there and ready, and Panther is very snappy. I don't even like looking at the iBooks now.
Having never owned a G4, I can honestly say that Altivec Optimization is awesome. Seriously. On any program that really matters, it feels like night and day over the g3.
For example, on my uncles 900 mhz G3 ibook with 384 MB RAM, I was running the Altivec Fractal Carbon demo. I was getting scores in the neighborhood of 600 Mega FLOPS.
See this thread from Spymac as a reference.
You can download the application from Dauger Research HERE.
With the 1.33 Ghz G4 on the 17", my score was 5.6 GIGA FLOPS. Think about that man, that's a 933% increase...and we were talking about a 900 mhz G3 (that's not too far behind in clock speed...but lacking Altivec which is what was being tested) versus a 1.33 Ghz G4.
Now think about every Photoshop action or OS X task that uses Altivec. Think of all the Pro Applications. I am having a hard time thinking of one that doesn't...do you even like to listen to iTunes???
As for an Xbench score comparison, I would say that the average Pismo scores a 40-43...the only Panther result for your system that I could find was 45.
The 17" Powerbook I just got scores a 120.
Take a look HERE.
That's a 267% increase. By the numbers.
As you can see, that is scaled more to the increase in clock speed...But I feel like the system value and enhancement over the Pismo is far superior that number. In terms of raw speed, I believe it to be higher as well (mostly due to Altivec optimization and the sheer number of Apps that are optimized).
Also, don't forget that you will be able to take advantage of Quartz Extreme (which is the feature that made Jaguar sooo niceee)...the Pismo can't do this. You'll go from a 8 MB ATI Rage to a 64 MB DDR ATI Radeon 9600 mobility. I cannot overstate this fact...that is a multiple generation improvement.
Also, system bus increases and all the "little things" like Airport Extreme, Built in Blue Tooth, Fire Wire 800, USB 2.0 and even a back-lit keyboard add up. As does the screen realestate and sexy, all-aluminum 1" enclosure.
If you do any kind of work, the screen realestate is AWESOME.
And with it, you get Panther. If Jaguar shall be remembered for Quartz Extreme, Panther shall double be remembered for Expose.
Expose is worth it alone.
Really, the numbers don't even begin to do justice.
Now, the 1.25 Ghz G4 15" Powerbook and the 1.33 Ghz G4 17" Powerbook are roughly on par with each other performance wise. I don't really think that much of a difference exists...
I really recommend going into an Apple Store, if you can, to check out these amazing machines for yourself.
Chances are your wallet will be much lighter, or your debt load will increase.
Good luck.
8)
I said "$$$$ it" last night and ordered a new one.
15.2" /SuperDrive/1.25GHZ
80GB 5400 RPM
one 512MB module
Pro Shoulder Case
Apple Care
Thanks for all the help. I wanted to wait it out, but I really couldn't. My machine had a new battery 3 months ago, so it's not that. It's some problem with the power port itself, not the cord, which is also pretty new. Not worth it. Alubook, here I come. Ships in 5-7 days, express.
BTW, when it comes, I'll move everything off my Pismo, send it in (it is still under Apple Care until March, I think) and then sell it. $300-500 will be nice.