[CS-FSLUG] Macs and Memory

[Timothy Butler]

> I suppose being new the the Mac platform I'm making a lot of
> incorrect assumptions, I suppose the lack of a dual core processor
> could be the bottleneck because when I look at page ins/outs there
> are usually 0 outs. If I'm not mistaken that means that inactive
> programs are being cached to disk, but nothing is being pulled back
> out into active memory.

	Yes, that's the big thing. For example, I notice I'm doing a lot of  
page-ins/outs. But that's because I usually have Photoshop and some  
other hefty stuff open that happily fills up even 1.5 GB. I need to  
upgrade. I'd love to boost this PowerMac up to 8 gigs, but the cost  
is too much. ;-)

>
> I think that's sound advice, I'm more and more convinced that while
> the processor is adequate and the memory is adequate, the lack of a
> better multithreading support is what's causing the apparent lack of
> speed. That said I was also hoping that the drivers would
> substantially improve with Leopard and that I would get better
> performance with that. I think what I'll do is save up and plan for
> an upgrade in summer 2007 after leopard is released.

	I'd expect that should work out well. Multithreading is a big deal,  
as I said, since most Mac apps are dual processor aware. During times  
that previous processor generations fell behind in speed versus  
Intel, Apple often fixed the problem by switching over to dual  
processor configurations, so this had the happy effect that Mac  
developers have expected average users to have dual processors for  
some time now. I think, for example, when the PowerPC seemed to be  
stuck at around 400-500 MHz for awhile, they switch the PowerMacs,  
and (IIRC) even the PowerBooks over to dual CPU configs.

>
> Perhaps I'm used to being a little spoilt by affordable PC hardware,
> right now my main desktop computer has 2GB of ram and a 256MB NVidia
> GeForce FX 7600 video card, it's probably unfair to expect my Mac
> Mini to compare to that.

	Right. The Core processors are the same ones going into PC's, the  
memory is the same, the video cards, etc., so you really can't expect  
much of a speed advantage. The hardware is well built, which adds  
some cost (especially on the laptop side, with things such as  
aluminum cases and illuminated keyboards), but since the basic  
components are mostly the same, speed wise, you need to compare it to  
the exact same specs on a Windows PC.

	-Tim




---
Timothy R. Butler | "Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher
tbutler at ofb.biz   | is bound in  his  way to  be a lover of myths  and
www.uninet.info   | poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in
timothybutler.us  | being big with wonder."
                                                      -- Thomas Aquinas