On Sat, 2004-12-04 at 02:58, Chad Perrin wrote:
> Are you saying that Mac hardware is currently benchmarking better than
> PC hardware,
Sorry, I've gotta answer this.
When _not_ plugged into the outlet, PC notebooks typically slow down
_under_ 1GHz in performance so they use less than 20W. Otherwise, the
battery wouldn't last 30 minutes.
Motorola G3/G4 800-1200MHz and IBM processors G5 (PowerPC 970) 1400MHz
processors are capable of sub-20W operation at their _full_ speeds. And
even the old G3 blows away the P4 MHz for MHz.
IBM-Apple really need to get those G5 PowerBooks out. The PowerPC 970
at 1.4GHz 2 years ago uses about 1/3th the juice of a typical P4 of the
same Int/FP performance. They should be able to do 1.6-1.8GHz today.
> and Mac laptops have magically grown a second button for the integrated
> pointing device?
And how many PC laptops have the _standard_ 3 buttons for X?
Many don't the last time I checked, or a "proprietary" 3rd button that
doesn't work/tied to a specific instance of Windows.
It's very, very difficult to find a sub-5 lbs. PC notebook sub-$1K, one
that doesn't have crappy video.
For sub-$1K, you can not only get a sub-5 lbs. iBook, but you can get
one with some decent ATI/nVidia graphics.
I just bought one of those $899 Toshiba M35X-S109 notebooks at Best Buy
(the only reason I did it is because I waited in line for the $400
instant rebate the day after Thanksgiving).
The M35X-S109's Celeron M 1.4GHz is _no_faster_ than the P3 850MHz in my
Toshiba 2805-S402 that is over 3.5 years old, and can be slower on
battery. And the integrated 64MB UMA i855GM graphics is about 1/4th the
speed of the 2805-S402's original, 16MB nVidia Go Mobile at
OpenGL/DirectX in Windows (not even looking at Linux yet ;-).
And neither are sub-5 lbs (the 2805 is 8lbs., the M35X is 6lbs.). The
only sub-5 lbs., sub-$1K PC notebook I've seen is that ViA C3 (at only
3.3lbs.!). Most sub-5lbs. PC Notebooks are $1.5K plus, and still lack
any good video.
I can get an iBook G4 for around $800-900 with a 32MB ATI Radeon video
controller. It weights 4.6 lbs. And it's a crapload less proprietary.
One can even get powersave to work under LinuxPPC.
Not the same for today's Linux/x86 notebooks. And the PC notebook
accessories are quite costly compared to the iBook's. And add in the
fact that no one outside HP is directly supporting Linux, and Apple's
aren't half bad.
You'd figure Apple couldn't compete with the economies-of-scale of the
PC. On the desktop, which is "open," this is true. But in the
Windows-version-specific world of the PC notebook 2003+, this is a whole
new ballgame. The Proprietary PC notebook keeps Apple competitive.
Especially when you unplug that A/C and go to battery. You just remove
about 50-75% of the PC notebook's performance.
-- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal Cost of Ownership (SCO) for Windows being less than Linux Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) assumes experts for the former, costly retraining for the latter, omitted "software assurance" costs in compatible desktop OS/apps for the former, no free/legacy reuse for latter, and no basic security, patch or downtime comparison at all.----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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