Freelance photographer Rob Galbraith has run a series of comparison tests on four computers, two Macs and two PCs, performing tasks associated with digital photography. (To pick one at random: Convert 25 D1X photos to JPEG using Batch (10 MP output size) in Nikon Capture 3.5.) The results show that a 3GHz PC is dramatically faster than Apple's fastest two-processor 1.25GHz G4 Mac -- which is not exactly news. What's interesting is that an obsolete 1.8GHz Dell with half as much memory is also faster than the Mac in a lot of the tests. The fourth machine, a Macintosh Powerbook G4/800MHz with a a gigabyte of memory, is just embarassing, often taking three or four times as long to perform tasks. The main area where the Mac comes close is when using Adobe Photoshop, which is optimised for the Mac. Apple boss Steve Jobs uses Photoshop for the so-called "speed comparisons" he ritually performs for the Mac faithful.
No app-based comparison is beyond criticism, of course, but these are based on real-world digital media processing, where the Mac is frequently claimed to be more equivalent to, or even better than, a PC. Also, the main PC in the test is not to Apple's disadvantage. It's an Alienware Area-51m portable. It would be interesting to see how that compared with a system more like the Mac -- a dual Xeon set-up with lots of cache, for example, a hot graphics card and a big screaming hard drive. (If someone compared a top-of-the-line dual processor PC workstation with a Mac notebook, of course the Mac fans would scream foul.)
While the tests are interesting, It's even more worth flicking though the discussion that follows the comparison. Usually the MacLoonies turn these things into flamefests, but in this case you get an intelligent discussion with some serious professionals making good points on both sides. Although this is a Mac forum, the PC gets a pretty fair hearing, instead of the usual cartoonish misrepresentation based on ignorance and wishful thinking.
None of this will persuade most or even many of the participants to switch from Macs to PCs, nor should it. Speed is only one factor, and isn't necessarily the most important. In fact, if someone wants to choose their computer -- PC or Mac or Acorn RiscPC -- for completely irrational or even stupid reasons, that's fine, too. You pays your money and you takes your choice. But for my money, an honest appraisal is worth a lot more than the pseudo-religious ravings that all too often pass for arguments in this market.
