I dunno guys, I was thinking about getting a ProStar. Apple's computers are underpowered and expensive. They dont even have a 7200rpm disk option.
Here are the specs of the machine I have honed in on, Apple doesn't offer half of the stuff in this beast:
# Intel® Pentium®4 Processor with HT Technology Extreme Edition 3.4 Ghz at 800 Mhz System Bus # 17" 1680 x 1050 WSXGA+ GlassView LCD with Super-Wide Viewing Angles Active Matrix Display # PCI Express™ 16x ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X800 Graphics # 256 MB GDDR3 Video Memory # 1024 KB On-Die L2 Cache, 2MB L3 Cache for Extreme Edition # 1024 MB PC2-4200(533MHz) Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM Memory # SATA 150 60GB 7200 RPM # 100GB 5200 RPM secondary HD # Hardware RAID 0 or RAID 1 Highly Data Transferring and Security # Built-In Digital Video Camera # Built-In TV Tuner with Remote Control # Built-In 7-IN-1 Flash Memory Card Reader # Wireless 802.11g Turbo/108 Mbps LAN # 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Lan and 56K Fax/Modem # Full Size Keyboard with Numeric Keypad # Double-Layer DVD±R/RW Burner* # External USB 1.44 MB FDD # 1 DVI Video Port, 2 IEEE1394 FireWire Ports # 4 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 Serial Port, 1 Parallel Port # 1 PS/2 Port, 1 TV-Out Port, S-Video Input and Output # 4 Speakers Stereo System with Subwoofer # Intel® High Definition Audio Compliant Interface # 8-Channel External Audio Output, SRS WOW # Front Panel Audio DJ with Separate Power Switch # Built-in Touchpad Pointing Device with Scrolling Slider # Microsoft® Windows XP Home Edition # Carrying Bag and AC Adapter Included
The architecture's completely different, my little powerbook smokes my AthlonXP powered desktop in photoshop and premiere. If you're looking at something that high-end though, at least check out the Powermac G5s, the water-cooled dual 2.5Ghz model would kill your Pentium.
XP Home? That's like letting a 5 year-old drive a Porsche. Go with RedHat.
Macs are just so much sexier looking, doesn't that count for anything anymore?!
Touche, Im actually going to format it and put Gentoo Linux on it. But you are wrong about a lot of that. Read up on SPEC benchmarks, the G5 isnt that fast. Apple got a lot of heat for trying to submit forged SPEC benchmarks when the G5 came out. It is fast, but thinking that its faster than a PC, adobe has even admitted that their products run much faster on PC.
The G5 benchmarks were just sad, I'm sorry to break this to you:
"Apple's test results are invalidated by severely lopsided testing conditions," InfoWorld's Tom Yager writes in his Web log. "Among them, Apple used a prototype G5 running its special GNU compiler and an unreleased version of OS X. The Dells used shipping hardware, vanilla GNU compilers and Red Hat 9. None of this would be a problem if Apple and Veritest didn't claim the tests were objective. An apples-to-apples test, so to speak, would require that Dell, like Apple, be allowed to tune its systems and software for best-case performance. Dell's published results on the SPEC site--regarded as the definitive repository for SPEC results--are best-case. They're far better than the results cited by Veritest in the Apple report."
Sure enough, in each of the benchmarks in which Apple claims victory over the Pentium 4- or Xeon-based systems, various Pentium 4, Xeon, and even AMD Athlon XP systems actually beat the G5 routinely when the tested systems have been properly configured, and don't have features turned off.
What's most bizarre about all this, of course, is that Apple makes good products. Let's be clear on this point: Mac OS X is excellent, and the Panther release, while not overly exciting, looks solid. And the company's hardware is of tremendous quality (I own two Macs and an iPod), with the PowerMac G5 clearly continuing this trend. And there are still excellent reasons to pick a Mac over a PC in certain situations. But Apple has been stretching the bounds of credibility with its performance claims for years now, and this latest example is, by far, the most bold. This situation, ultimately, is an embarrassment for both Apple and its customers. Perhaps the company needs to think its claim that the PowerMac G5 is the "world's fastest computer." Quite clearly, that is not the case.
I never saw that, you're right, I just go off experience with my video stuff... macs always seem to run faster and are far less error-prone. Getting linux tweaked well enough to match them in speed and reliability was never my thing; it can be done, it's just more effort than I choose to exert. A friend of mine does it professionally, so it's worth his time, but I'm not making a living off it and subsequently don't care quite as much.
Trust me, I'd take something more powerful any day, even if it were in a cardboard box... I think of it as an added bonus when it's liquid-cooled and wrapped in aluminum. I could say the same about girls who have a chance to work at JPL and give it up to help family (and as an added bonus look nice), but calming_apple seems to have a good thing going here, I'm not going to encroach.
I enjoy reading your stuff though, I find it extremely fascinating.
Tweaking *Nix really has nothing to do with it, most of the apps benchmarked in tests dont run on *nix (adobe apps etc), and SPEC measures raw CPU power, no OS is running during the test..
heh I'm nit picky, but im trying to pry that fallacy completely from your cold dead fingers.. no string attached :)
It's tough, I know, I have a lot of Mac faithful friends..
Here are the specs of the machine I have honed in on, Apple doesn't offer half of the stuff in this beast:
# Intel® Pentium®4 Processor with HT Technology Extreme Edition 3.4 Ghz at 800 Mhz System Bus
# 17" 1680 x 1050 WSXGA+ GlassView LCD with Super-Wide Viewing Angles Active Matrix Display
# PCI Express™ 16x ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X800 Graphics
# 256 MB GDDR3 Video Memory
# 1024 KB On-Die L2 Cache, 2MB L3 Cache for Extreme Edition
# 1024 MB PC2-4200(533MHz) Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM Memory
# SATA 150 60GB 7200 RPM
# 100GB 5200 RPM secondary HD
# Hardware RAID 0 or RAID 1 Highly Data Transferring and Security
# Built-In Digital Video Camera
# Built-In TV Tuner with Remote Control
# Built-In 7-IN-1 Flash Memory Card Reader
# Wireless 802.11g Turbo/108 Mbps LAN
# 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Lan and 56K Fax/Modem
# Full Size Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
# Double-Layer DVD±R/RW Burner*
# External USB 1.44 MB FDD
# 1 DVI Video Port, 2 IEEE1394 FireWire Ports
# 4 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 Serial Port, 1 Parallel Port
# 1 PS/2 Port, 1 TV-Out Port, S-Video Input and Output
# 4 Speakers Stereo System with Subwoofer
# Intel® High Definition Audio Compliant Interface
# 8-Channel External Audio Output, SRS WOW
# Front Panel Audio DJ with Separate Power Switch
# Built-in Touchpad Pointing Device with Scrolling Slider
# Microsoft® Windows XP Home Edition
# Carrying Bag and AC Adapter Included
Reply
XP Home? That's like letting a 5 year-old drive a Porsche. Go with RedHat.
Macs are just so much sexier looking, doesn't that count for anything anymore?!
Reply
The G5 benchmarks were just sad, I'm sorry to break this to you:
"Apple's test results are invalidated by severely lopsided testing conditions," InfoWorld's Tom Yager writes in his Web log. "Among them, Apple used a prototype G5 running its special GNU compiler and an unreleased version of OS X. The Dells used shipping hardware, vanilla GNU compilers and Red Hat 9. None of this would be a problem if Apple and Veritest didn't claim the tests were objective. An apples-to-apples test, so to speak, would require that Dell, like Apple, be allowed to tune its systems and software for best-case performance. Dell's published results on the SPEC site--regarded as the definitive repository for SPEC results--are best-case. They're far better than the results cited by Veritest in the Apple report."
Sure enough, in each of the benchmarks in which Apple claims victory over the Pentium 4- or Xeon-based systems, various Pentium 4, Xeon, and even AMD Athlon XP systems actually beat the G5 routinely when the tested systems have been properly configured, and don't have features turned off.
What's most bizarre about all this, of course, is that Apple makes good products. Let's be clear on this point: Mac OS X is excellent, and the Panther release, while not overly exciting, looks solid. And the company's hardware is of tremendous quality (I own two Macs and an iPod), with the PowerMac G5 clearly continuing this trend. And there are still excellent reasons to pick a Mac over a PC in certain situations. But Apple has been stretching the bounds of credibility with its performance claims for years now, and this latest example is, by far, the most bold. This situation, ultimately, is an embarrassment for both Apple and its customers. Perhaps the company needs to think its claim that the PowerMac G5 is the "world's fastest computer." Quite clearly, that is not the case.
link to the article
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I never saw that, you're right, I just go off experience with my video stuff... macs always seem to run faster and are far less error-prone. Getting linux tweaked well enough to match them in speed and reliability was never my thing; it can be done, it's just more effort than I choose to exert. A friend of mine does it professionally, so it's worth his time, but I'm not making a living off it and subsequently don't care quite as much.
Trust me, I'd take something more powerful any day, even if it were in a cardboard box... I think of it as an added bonus when it's liquid-cooled and wrapped in aluminum. I could say the same about girls who have a chance to work at JPL and give it up to help family (and as an added bonus look nice), but calming_apple seems to have a good thing going here, I'm not going to encroach.
I enjoy reading your stuff though, I find it extremely fascinating.
Reply
heh I'm nit picky, but im trying to pry that fallacy completely from your cold dead fingers.. no string attached :)
It's tough, I know, I have a lot of Mac faithful friends..
Reply
I know who to ask for advice next time I buy a comp though, damn.
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