Apple computer speeds (3 Viewers)

[jm1234567890]

MS word on emacs...768 mb of ram....

ie when i hit the key it sometimes lags...and when i mean touch typing I mean normal average typing speed. I mean anyone who has normal tpying skills would have the emacs lagging...

oh yeah, i see the lag in emacs now. That isn't too bad, haven't noticed it in word. i'll try on friends powerpook with same ram when i get chance.

@fatmuscle: you know what i mean

 

[Slidey]

The confusion is valid: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html

 

[snapperhead]

Anyone running a mac out there with microsft word...does word lag on your computer? As in typing at a decent touch type rate...does the typing lag...like the spell checking is not fast enough to keep up with your typing.
the emacs at unsw do it and its fucking annoying...otherwise apples get the thumbs up

I actually think that is a Word thing (one of the reasons why I dont use Word unless I have to- it was the only program to crash an uncrashable system!!)

running ibook @ 900 MHz, 386 MB RAM and OS 10.3.9....no lag at all and it screams along (this would be my slowest mac ATM-quickest is an eMac at 1.25 Mhz and 1 Gig RAM......lovely)
Actually just to go off topic for a moment-am going to upgrade my Sawtooth to 1.8 Mhz- now that should be interesting!

I honestly think that the main factor in most of the statements here (the positive and the negative) are the public Vs private Use (with the exception of the G5 that crawls...that doesnt make sense)
ie.... computers in a lab (no matter what the platform) will always be "bad" compared to a computer at home to to overuse and abuse (esp. in a computer lab setup) and computers in a public lab Vs a specialist lab will always be different as well due to the users

My opinion..the reason why its quicker and more stable is because of the *nix core and the tighter software controls that Apple puts on software developers. Apparently (keeping in mind Im not a programmer) there is no room for sloppy code + Mac users tend to be more fanatical!!
LOL

/opinion

 

[neo o]

Word is VITAL for people out there that do some level of word processing. People like me who are chained to their desks.

People who don't use Word often use Open Office (I own Word, but just use Open Office instead). It's a free, more modern version of word that has a few more features where it counts and isn't made with 15 year old code.

http://www.openoffice.org/

It's open source too. <3 open source.

Once I get Linux installed I'm going to be free from Microsoft, bWAhahaHahHA.

 

[wanton-wonton]

Once I get Linux installed I'm going to be free from Microsoft, bWAhahaHahHA.

It's not that great, I don't think...

I once installed RedHat 9 (I downloaded around 700mbs x 6 CDs, i think it was, I forget) and I didn't know how to use it properly...Good experience though.

 

[wanton-wonton]

I find it hard to believe that microsft could not code word etc so its works normally on osx :\

It's the only thing wrong with those damn apples for me.

(you see neo. Back to normal. Apples = left wing?)

There are Word for MacOS computers, I'm fairly sure

 

[fatmuscle]

you can't expect to know how to use Linux in 1 day.
It does take time to get used to.

 

[snapperhead]

Are you talking about no lag on word or no lag on the machine?

both...I used Word at work on my laptop last year (for writing reports) cause I had to.
Moved to Open Office at the end of last year and have never looked back....

Wouldnt say it (Word) was vital as there are alternatives out there (eg iWork-the new Apple suite) is Word friendly. It just doesnt do all the things that Word does at the moment)+ the old Appleworks did word documents better than word!!

Try Open Office. If you dont want to download it, there are resellers out there who will sell you a CD for around $3 (I got mine off a reseller on Ebay and I noticed he is selling an updated CD)
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=189&item=5768773022&rd=1

 

[McLake]

That the eMacs are running so smoothly at 1.25GHz.

Note, due to the way a PowerPC works, you should DOUBLE the speed to get a comparable Wintel speed. So 1.25GHz is more like 2.5GHz.

Also, note that MacOSX does a lot of threading in there OS to make things faster (on a dual core system).

Also, they have control of (most) hardware, and can take advantage of that.

The OS is also designed better.

Anyone running a mac out there with microsft word...does word lag on your computer? As in typing at a decent touch type rate...does the typing lag...like the spell checking is not fast enough to keep up with your typing.
the emacs at unsw do it and its fucking annoying...otherwise apples get the thumbs up

"Word" seems to crash a lot, or take ages to close. I stopped using it. I plan to get "Pages"

 

[snapperhead]

"Word" seems to crash a lot, or take ages to close. I stopped using it. I plan to get "Pages"

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4607&item=5187273129&rd=1

best $35 you will ever spend!!

LOL

 

[JimmyK]

Note, due to the way a PowerPC works, you should DOUBLE the speed to get a comparable Wintel speed. So 1.25GHz is more like 2.5GHz.

If this is true, the powerbook im getting in two weeks will be faster and hence better than my Desktop PC!!
Desktop PC: AthlonXP 3000+, 512Mb RAM (dual channel 256mb x2)
PowerBook: 1.67Ghz (3.34Ghz if doubled) with 512Mb of RAM and Superdrive (DVD burner) which is somthing my desktop hasnt got!!

 

[withoutaface]

I find open office is fine for doing basic stuff on, but the second I try to make a graph or something similar it's far too difficult to use.

 

[fatmuscle]

It just takes a while to get used to.
If you force yourself to use it, then it's good.

I'll admit i've had compatibility issues when starting out with Word and then opening in OO.

 

[waddle_828]

ive always wondered why they dont use faster processes etc even tho they are designed differently dosent this just mean they could be using the same sorta hardware levels / speeds but acheveing more with it?

murf

it has alot to do with making their processors have better performance on more than just clock speed, kinda like amd...
macs also tend to run alot faster cos of mac os x, they wa it is programmed it isn't as resource hungry as win xp and manages the resource allocation to programs better...

 

[jm1234567890]

I think there is a good chance that apple could do well in the future since they have total control over OS and hardware.

The Cell processor could very well be the replacement for the G5, since it is being developed by sony, toshiba and ibm for the PS3 and some high power servers. The current G5 is also developed by IBM, so it could make sence that the Cell processor will replace it.

Now, the Cell processor is some beast, 4Ghz+, 16 core vector processor. MacOSX already limitedly supports vector algorithms from the altivec extensions on G4 and G5. So I don't think it would be hard to take advantage of this. Unlike windows which is 100% scalar.

Only time will tell, but wintel is in trouble.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

The word that comes with apple isn't quite as good, however there is a great feature for making "notes", that i'd recommend to anyone ( i don't get why it doesn't come with the windows version? )

 

[JimmyK]

I think there is a good chance that apple could do well in the future since they have total control over OS and hardware.

Thats how apple originally lost their partial dominance - although they seem to be going OK these days.

Apple does have an advantage over MS in that they dont have to support millions of different bits of software - this makes Apples generally more stable with less compatability problems.

 

[kewpid]

Live word count in Word severely hampers its performance. If you turn that off you might see less lag.

But all in all Word is just a 'slow' app in general. It suffers from a lot of incremental bloat, and is written in Carbon instead of the newer Cocoa framework.

 

[redslert]

Live word count in Word severely hampers its performance. If you turn that off you might see less lag.

But all in all Word is just a 'slow' app in general. It suffers from a lot of incremental bloat, and is written in Carbon instead of the newer Cocoa framework.

according to this blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/rick_schaut/archive/2004/02/10/70789.aspx

there is no difference between the two in terms of performance

 

[Soma]

You shouldnt compare the processor speeds of a mac to a pc. 1.25Gig on a mac is a lot faster than a 1.25 Pentium.