How Many Folks Out There With Macs??

[Thoran]

Speach recognition has come a long way... I've got a $40 Sidewinder Game voice for my pc that basically provides user independant voice recognition with no training. I was impressed.

I understand the MAC owners defense of the nameplate... (circle the wagons mentality), but claims of the significant performance advanteges of G4 systems over equally clocked PC systems is debatable.

http://www.heise.de/ct/english/02/05/182/

This site provides some spec results for equally clocked 1ghz boxes (G4 and P3)... and the results are a wash. Keep in mind that the Intel P4 is slower than the P3 at the same clock speed, design tradeoffs that supposedly opened the P4 up to much higher clock rates than the P3 would have been capable of.

This doesn't run the same test using a 1ghz Athlon (Which is very close to the P3 at the same clock).

This doesn't negate any benchmark where G4's are faster... code/compiler efficiency play a big part as well as OS design, but in terms of straight hardware potential, Athlons XP's at 1500mhz and above, and P4's at 2ghz and above will be significantly faster than anything that Apple has to offer at this point.

Another fairly balanced article, that at least makes an effort towards unbiased testing (although it IS a MAC site)
http://www.lowendmac.com/myturn/01/0910.html

In the end the biggest problem I've got with MAC's is the price. The top of the line performance might be debatable... but the dollars spent per performance increment is certainly not.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Thoran: Speach recognition has come a long way... I've got a $40 Sidewinder Game voice for my pc that basically provides user independant voice recognition with no training. I was impressed. I understand the MAC owners defense of the nameplate... (circle the wagons mentality), but claims of the significant performance advanteges of G4 systems over equally clocked PC systems is debatable. http://www.heise.de/ct/english/02/05/182/ This site provides some spec results for equally clocked 1ghz boxes (G4 and P3)... and the results are a wash. Keep in mind that the Intel P4 is slower than the P3 at the same clock speed, design tradeoffs that supposedly opened the P4 up to much higher clock rates than the P3 would have been capable of. This doesn't run the same test using a 1ghz Athlon (Which is very close to the P3 at the same clock). This doesn't negate any benchmark where G4's are faster... code/compiler efficiency play a big part as well as OS design, but in terms of straight hardware potential, Athlons XP's at 1500mhz and above, and P4's at 2ghz and above will be significantly faster than anything that Apple has to offer at this point. Another fairly balanced article, that at least makes an effort towards unbiased testing (although it IS a MAC site) http://www.lowendmac.com/myturn/01/0910.html In the end the biggest problem I've got with MAC's is the price. The top of the line performance might be debatable... but the dollars spent per performance increment is certainly not.

Well I'm not sure exactlly what you said...

...but if your saying Apple screwed the pooch in 1984 and didn't open the MAC for licensing, and bring some competition in the market place to bring the price down, I'd Amen that

Originally posted by John D Harris: quote: Originally posted by Thoran: Speach recognition has come a long way... I've got a $40 Sidewinder Game voice for my pc that basically provides user independant voice recognition with no training. I was impressed. I understand the MAC owners defense of the nameplate... (circle the wagons mentality), but claims of the significant performance advanteges of G4 systems over equally clocked PC systems is debatable. http://www.heise.de/ct/english/02/05/182/ This site provides some spec results for equally clocked 1ghz boxes (G4 and P3)... and the results are a wash. Keep in mind that the Intel P4 is slower than the P3 at the same clock speed, design tradeoffs that supposedly opened the P4 up to much higher clock rates than the P3 would have been capable of. This doesn't run the same test using a 1ghz Athlon (Which is very close to the P3 at the same clock). This doesn't negate any benchmark where G4's are faster... code/compiler efficiency play a big part as well as OS design, but in terms of straight hardware potential, Athlons XP's at 1500mhz and above, and P4's at 2ghz and above will be significantly faster than anything that Apple has to offer at this point. Another fairly balanced article, that at least makes an effort towards unbiased testing (although it IS a MAC site) http://www.lowendmac.com/myturn/01/0910.html In the end the biggest problem I've got with MAC's is the price. The top of the line performance might be debatable... but the dollars spent per performance increment is certainly not.

Well I'm not sure exactlly what you said...

...but if your saying Apple screwed the pooch in 1984 and didn't open the MAC for licensing, and bring some competition in the market place to bring the price down, I'd Amen that [/QUOTE]I was a MAJOR APPLE fan in the early and mid-80's
untill Steve Jobs screwed its customers by selling us the Apple IIGS with promises of support and a long product life only to junk the whole platform with no notice to concentrate solely on the Mac's left millions of us gasping and with no where to go put to the PC. Ill never do business with Apple again, at least not until Jobs is dust in the ground.

I did notice some of the praise for Macs had more to do with the OS than the hardware, if you dont like MS products don't dis Intel, use Linux [img]smile.gif[/img]

[/)eathKiller]

The only problem I have with PCs is microsoft and their god-awful operating system. What I'd like to see is a 5 gighx PC with Mac OS X2.5 on it! Then and only then would I buy a pc! But M$ had a contract that if a computer company was to use THEIR OS, then the user wasn't entitled to buy their computer with any other OS installed, and Windows doesn't allow for other OS's to be installed over it, AAAND to make matters worse, no MAC OS can run on a PC!!!

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by MagiK:

I was a MAJOR APPLE fan in the early and mid-80's
untill Steve Jobs screwed its customers by selling us the Apple IIGS with promises of support and a long product life only to junk the whole platform with no notice to concentrate solely on the Mac's left millions of us gasping and with no where to go put to the PC. Ill never do business with Apple again, at least not until Jobs is dust in the ground.

I did notice some of the praise for Macs had more to do with the OS than the hardware, if you dont like MS products don't dis Intel, use Linux [img]smile.gif[/img] [/QB][/QUOTE]
OH Lord NO! MagiK I've got a Slide rule brain, and you want me to learn another opperating system? "Hale" My head will explode

[Charean]

Thank you for the links... have them marked for future reference. I am fortunate to be close enough to the only Apple Store in Texas (in Plano) so I have found quite a bit of software there.

ToB has not been released in Mac yet ... but I am waiting.

I have been a PC user for many years... and so far I have noticed that it IS easier to use... after you get used to a new system. I have OSX, and since it is based on UNIX, it is only a matter of time until the hackers have it totally customized and lots more software is out. It is pretty and with a 22" monitor, the picture is sharper than any PC monitor out there (I came very close to getting a maxed out Gateway... but the flat screen monitor left me cold).

Yes, there is tons more software out for PC... however, what Mac has is better quality and has NO compatibility issues with other software or hardware... something that was a constant pain with Windows. That alone was worth it to me.

Thank you all for the nice support of Mac. This is my first, and so far I am enjoying it very much.

[Thoran]

Originally posted by John D Harris: Well I'm not sure exactlly what you said... ...but if your saying Apple screwed the pooch in 1984 and didn't open the MAC for licensing, and bring some competition in the market place to bring the price down, I'd Amen that

Basically what I said is:
Apple is a competitive performer but expensive. [img]smile.gif[/img]

IMO Wintel needs more competition, so hopefully Apple can continue to be a thorn in their side. And Linux is showing more and more potential as time goes on.

[ 04-15-2002, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: Thoran ]