1986 Mac vs. 2007 AMD Dualcore. Fight!
By Jonathan on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 10:57 PM PST In Computer, Game Related Science
There’s a really interesting article up by Hal Licino over at Hub Pages comparing a Mac Plus from 1986 to a modern PC with an AMD Dualcore processor. In a crazy experiment, he took the two machines and ran them through a series of tests to determine how the new technology stack up to the old. Of course the 86 Mac can’t perform some of the more complicated tasks of today (like play WoW), but that wasn’t the point of the test. The idea was to see how technology has progressed in terms of the simple, everyday tasks that people of both eras performed. Thus, he tested the computers based on how they ran different functions in Microsoft Word, Excel, and the time it took the machine to boot.
So which computer won? Believe it or not, the Mac just barely beat out the AMD. What this shows is, though computers today can perform more complex tasks, the simple tasks require much more effort on the processor. This is because modern computers have to run through much more code with many more features. The processors may be more powerful, but they’re weighed down by how many functions software companies heave upon them.
It’s definitely one random experiment, but with some fascinating results.
Can’t get to the site with the article. Now the question is…did he turn off all the unnessecary processes in windows.
I run my windows with 18 processes(including firewall and anti-virus….no printing as I currently have no printer connected), instead of the 30+ which you have after a fresh install of windows.
Regardless, MAC’s still suck
Just curious how he’s running Word and Exel on the ‘86 Mac.
dont know how they did..
but its true.. even my pentium I can outperform my new p4 pc in some simple task.