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From: Ed Shea <eshea@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us>
Subject: Re: Angry, very angry, at Apple Computer Corp.
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On Thu, 9 Nov 1995, Aron S. Spencer wrote:

> (A copy of this message has also been posted to the following newsgroups:
> comp.sys.mac.advocacy,
> comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.lang.dylan,alt.computer.consultants)
> 
> In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.951109122814.3415B-100000@mail>, Ed Shea
> <eshea@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us> wrote:
> 
> :On 9 Nov 1995, Nanno van Haaften wrote:
> :
> :> Try running several graphical & DTP packages (pagemaker, photoshop etc) 
> :> on a Pentium 120 (32Mb) or on a PMac 7500/100 (32Mb) when I tested this:
> :> The Powermac was generally 1.5 times faster as the Pentium 120!
> :> 
> :> 
> :But how "visible" is that increase in performance to the average user.  
> :That is to say if the system does things in 1.5 seconds as opposed to 1 
> :second, it's probably not going to be noticable to most people.  On the 
> :other hand if the task takes an hour on the Mac vs 1.5 hours on the PC, 
> :that difference is noticable.   
> :
>    Typically, on Photoshop, operations like blurs and filters take
> something on the order of a minute or so, although it can be much longer
> on large and complex images. This means that on a PowerMac 8500 (PPC 604 @
> 120 MHz, as opposed the the above mentioned 7500, a PPC 601 @ 100 MHz),
> doing a gaussian blur on an image will often save you a minimum of 30
> seconds, and on particularly large and complex images, it will save you
> hours. The Pentium Pro may improve things, but I have yet to see any
> Photoshop benchmarks for it.
> 
> -- 
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> |                                   |                                   |
> |   Aron S. Spencer                 |   mailto:aspencer@nando.net       |
> |   Radix Consulting, Ltd.          |   (919) 596-0152 phone            |
> |   1716 Virgil Rd.                 |   (919) 596-0081 fax              |
> |   Durham, NC 27703-9614           |   CIS: 75407,125  AOL: Asspencer  |
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> 

Just playing a little devil's advocate here on benchmarks.  First, saying 
something is 50% better than something else tells me little.  Tell me 
absolutes. My wife always says "But I got it for 25% off."  I'd like to 
know how many dollars are going out of the checking account.

As far as your point is concerned, Aron, it proves at best that the 
Mac/Photoshop combination is faster.  But is what percentage, if any, of 
that improvement is due to the software.  Is the Mac version optimized 
for the PowerPC chip? Is the PC version 386 code (i.e. not optimized for 
the Pentium)?

Obviously a if you're running only Photoshop that might be enough.  If I 
have to run other software combinations, I'd need a better benchmark.  

 Ed Shea
eshea@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us

