Comparing processor and RAM speeds: MAC vs WIN

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Level 1

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Comparing processor and RAM speeds: MAC vs WIN

I'm considering purchasing a MacBook Pro and I would like to know how the processor speed and RAM speed compares on the MAC vs. my current Windows machine.

1. My PC's processor speed is rated at 2.8 GHz, and the MacBook Pro I'm looking at is 2.0 GHz. (My PC is a Dell Dimension 4700 with an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 520).

How do the two processors compare if they would be running the same program (all things being equal)?

2. I have 512 MB of RAM on my Dell (DDR2 SDRAM at 400 MHz). If I consider the 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro, apple.com lists the Mac's RAM at 667 MHz.

How do the two compare (again, all other things being equal)?

Can one really just compare the numbers or does Windows and Mac's rate their numbers differently?

Thanks for any help...

Posted on Apr 15, 2006 8:31 PM

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Answer 1

MarcoOS

Level 1

10 points

Apr 16, 2006 10:33 AM in response to curcun

1. My PC's processor speed is rated at 2.8 GHz, and
the MacBook Pro I'm looking at is 2.0 GHz. (My PC is
a Dell Dimension 4700 with an Intel Pentium 4
Processor 520).

Centrino's core is much more efficient then the Pentium 4. Plus you'll get 2 cores and shorter pipelines. The Pentium 4 is pretty goot in rendering and in single-process jobs, but the Core is usually much better in most tasks.

How do the two processors compare if they would be
running the same program (all things being equal)?

2. I have 512 MB of RAM on my Dell (DDR2 SDRAM at 400
MHz). If I consider the 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro,
apple.com lists the Mac's RAM at 667 MHz.
How do the two compare (again, all other things being
equal)?

You'll have a slightly faster ram bus.

Can one really just compare the numbers or does
Windows and Mac's rate their numbers differently?

Usually is pretty complicated to compere systems with different OS. However it is now possible to put winddos on a mac, benchmark it and... find out that the new macbook is the fastes lapotop you can buy!

Just hope I've been useful!

Marco

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

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Answer 2

Apr 15, 2006 8:41 PM in response to curcun

Compairing processor and RAM speeds is not really a trivial task. My recommendation to you is to go into the Apple Store and take it for a spin together with some of the tasks you expect to do on the machine.

Intel processor numbers are not a measure of performance. Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor family, not across different processor families. See http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number for details

The MBP is one of the quickest machines out there today, and its also running underneith one of the most efficient operating systems available.

Golan.

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Answer 3

ender78

Level 1

5 points

Apr 15, 2006 8:55 PM in response to curcun

You can blame years of the "Megahertz Myth" marketing from Intel itself for the confusion. In the good old days, one could use clock speed as a measure of performance. The only way you can really get a feel for speed is to look at benchmarks of the different processors. There are many benchmarking tools out there. Run the test suite on your machine and then compare it to other machines on the site [some are likely to be Core Duo processors]

Short answer is that the 2.0GHz Core Duo is likely in the top 5 if not top 10 for all Intel Desktop processors.

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Answer 4

hmcl34

Level 1

8 points

Apr 15, 2006 10:00 PM in response to ender78

It's a moot point, processor and RAM speeds.

On a Mac, EVERY program responds to Command-W to close a Window, EVERY program has Page Setup... under File; on Windows they call it "Print setup", "Page setup", or "Printer setup" - every program is different.

Another thing, check out the top bar on your screen. On Windows, there is a 1 cm gap between the top of the screen and for instance the File menu.

On a Mac, File menu is on the top of the screen. Mousing to File and dropping down the window, is 0.5 seconds faster on a Mac than a PC.

Not saying that processor speed is not important, but there are countless examples why Macs are much faster in everyday use.

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Answer 5

Apr 15, 2006 10:10 PM in response to curcun

I have a 3.0 GHz HyperThread CPU / 533 MHz FSB system running Linux. The iMac 2.0 GHz Core Duo with a 667 MHz FSB beats it handily—about 50% faster, even on applications that are mostly single-threaded (specifically, a Java program that's single threaded with the usual separate thread for garbage collection).

The memory bandwidth advantage of the Intel Macs is a very significant factor.

Randall Schulz

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Answer 6

Phil Ta

Level 6

10,400 points

Apr 15, 2006 10:12 PM in response to curcun

It's a hopeless comparison.

In terms of raw speed, meaning you do benchmarks running Windows on both computers, the MBP will likely be better than the Dell - faster processor, more RAM, faster RAM, maybe a better video card.

Then there are differences between Windows and OS X. Some things may be faster in one over the other. For example, Office and Adobe applications will run slower on the MBP because the programs have to be emulated (nothing you have to actually do as a user, it happens in the background). Software that has been written for Intel Macs, however, will be fast as a function of the raw speed mentioned above.

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