|  By David
Engstrom
Sunday, June 1, 2003
Below we take an initial look at the relative performance of Apple's new 17 inch 1 GHz PowerBook.
The performance tests below only stress the processor and memory systems, not the drives or graphics systems.
We are working on more extensive benchmarks which we should have posted some time this week.
We can tell you that in drive performance, where drive activity was the main factor, the PowerBook turned in a score that was slightly more than half the score of our reference machine, a Power Mac Dual G4/1 GHz Tower.
On screen graphics were very smooth on the PowerBook, and its score for window redraws was similar to our reference machine.
In game performance we saw mixed results. In games that take good advantage of dual processors the PowerBook lagged substantially behind our reference machine. However in some of our other game tests, the 17 inch PowerBook turned in performance that was about equal to the Dual G4 Tower. The message seems to be that it really depends on the game and how it responds to your particular hardware. Just keep in mind that there is wide variation.
If you are working in a production type environment, using Photoshop and similar applications, or if you are using iMovie or Final Cut Pro on more than a casual basis, and you think that the 17 inch PowerBook can take the place of a Tower machine ... you probably should think again. The PowerBook is fine for casual and moderate use of processor intensive applications, but the Tower is still the workhorse. If getting jobs done as quickly as possible is your goal, then bypass the PowerBook ... despite its allure. It's only a Siren's song your are hearing ...
Again, we will have more detailed performance numbers later on this week.
Difference and similarities in processor, memory & graphics systems of each machine
| |
PowerBook G4/867 12" Screen |
PowerBook G4/867 15" Screen |
PowerBook G4/1 GHz 15" Screen |
PowerBook G4/1 GHz 17" Screen |
| Processors |
G4/867 |
G4/867 |
G4/1 GHz |
G4/1 GHz |
| L2 Cache |
256k @ 867 MHz |
256k @ 867 MHz |
256k @ 1 GHz |
256k @ 1 GHz |
| L3 Cache |
None |
1 MB DDR |
1 MB DDR |
1 MB DDR |
| Bus Speed |
133 MHz |
133 MHz |
133 MHz |
167 MHz |
| Memory |
640 MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (640 MB max) |
1 GB PC133 SDRAM
(1GB max) |
1 GB PC133 SDRAM
(1GB max) |
1GB
PC2700 DDR SDRAM
(1GB max) |
| Graphics Card |
NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go
32MB DDR SDRAM
4x AGP |
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
32MB DDR SDRAM
4x AGP |
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
64MB DDR SDRAM
4x AGP |
NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go
64MB DDR SDRAM
4x AGP |
| Drive |
40GB Ultra ATA/100
4200rpm |
40 Ultra ATA/66
4200rpm |
60 Ultra ATA/66
4200rpm |
60GB Ultra ATA/100
4200rpm |
| CD Drive |
Combination drive
CD read - 24x
DVD read - 8x
CD R - 24x
CD-RW write - 10x
SuperDrive option |
Combination drive
CD read - 24x
DVD read - 8x
CD R - 8x
RW write - 8x |
"SuperDrive"
CD read - 24x
DVD read - 6x
DVD write 1x
CD-R write - 8x
CD-RW write - 4x |
"SuperDrive"
CD read - 24x
DVD read - 6x
DVD write 1x
CD-R write - 8x
CD-RW write - 4x |
| Operating System |
10.2.3 |
10.2.1 |
10.2.1 |
10.2.4 |
| Price |
$1,799 |
$2,299 |
$2,799 |
$3,299 |
See our Specs & Features page for more details ...
"Real World" Tests
Both of the tests below were timed with a stopwatch.
The times were then converted to percentages, relative to
the Power Mac Dual G4/1GHz, which is set to 100%. For all scores, higher
numbers are better.
Certain of the functions of Photoshop can take special performance advantage of the G4 processor, and will also use dual processors, if they are present
The test above will use dual processors, but data does not get to more than one processor fast enough to saturate both chips. Thus you have the Dual Processor G4/1GHz Tower turning in a score not much higher than that of the 17 inch PowerBook. The PowerBook was using 100% of its single processor, while the Tower was only using 50% of each of its processors. A case where two heads are not much better than one.
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