by , 10:00 AM EDT, October 6th, 2003
Computerworld has released the second part of a review of the Power Mac G5 by Ken Mingis. Part 2 is called, "Second look: Apple's dual 2-GHz G5 by the numbers," and it offers just that, some numbers. The review looks at the performance of the dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 as compared to a dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 tower and a 1 GHz 17" PowerBook. Though it doesn't offer what many people are hungry for, a comparison between the G5 and a PC, the comparison between Macs gives Mac users a good frame of reference for judging if a G5 is right for them. From the review:
Here's what I measured: startup and reboot times, launch times for several typical applications and the times needed to process a variety of tasks, including photo manipulation using Photoshop 7, 3-D renderings created with Bryce, and digital video transitions inserted into movies using Apple's iMovie editing program.
Note: These small tests aren't meant to be all inclusive or the final word on the G5's processing power. These are the kinds of duties that a day-to-day user might appreciate. More detailed data on how the G5 performs under serious strain should come from several tests now being conducted at Computerworld 's behest by Bob Freeman, a bioinformatics consultant at Freeman Consulting. Freeman is a Boston-based programmer and software developer. Those results should be ready soon.
We didn't want to lift the numbers from Computerworld, so read the full article for all the details. As a teaser, the magazine found that Photoshop launched in 8 seconds, and relaunched in only 4 seconds. Safari would relaunch in 1 second. Photoshop and Bryce tests offered significant performance boosts over both G4 models, as well. The full article is a good read.