Apple tells a fib

[lostcarpark]

Apple have just launched the G5 which runs off the amazing IBM Power4 chip. However, apparently it doesn't have quite the edge over the P4/Athlon that Apple would like us to believe.

Comments

[davidstewart.livejournal.com]

Those arguments have been discredited. See http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/03/06/24/2154256.shtml?tid=126&tid=181

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

First of all, I apologise for messing up the link to Apple (now fixed).

However, I don't think an article posted by an Apple Exec on SlashDot constitutes "discrediting". Have a look at the Spec2000 figures published by Apple. Now compare them to those posted on the Spec website.

You'll find the following for a 3.0GHz Intel P4:

	Apple	Spec
CINT2000	836	1056
CFP2000	646	1003
CINT2000 Rate	16.7	22.2
CFP2000 Rate	11.1	17.0

Claiming that they used a specific compiler makes no odds. Real software doesn't do that, and people just want the software they use to run as fast as possible on their computer. If they produced the fasted possible Mac benchmarks and compared them to previously published Intel benchmarks, nobody would accuse them oc cheating. But they couldn't do that, because such benchmarks would prove that they are still behind intel on raw speed.

But nobody really cares about benchmarks. High end Mac users are only interested in beating Intel for Kudos. They really just want faster Macs than they've got now, so they'll be happy. Low end Mac users are still goosed because IBM have shown no inclination to produce budget processors, or low power processors for laptops.

I really do hope that Apple are successful in all areas of the PC market. I think that a PC world dominated by Wintel (or even WinAMD) would not be good for consumers. Choice is good for everyone. And a strong Apple with a growing Linux community provides at least some choice.