Are G4 processors really this slow?

[sindows]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
People who claim to have used G4 laptops in Leopard and say that it was "fast" or "snappy" are either lying or don't know what those terms mean.

I had a 12" PowerBook, 1.5 GHz G4, 1.25 GB of RAM. Nothing wrong with it. Ran Tiger at marginally acceptable speeds. Installed Leopard, ran like crap. I've subsequently had a bunch of people on the internet say I'm nuts because their PowerBook G4s were fine under Leopard. I think my standards are just higher. Only way to really explain the phenomenon.

Anyway, sindows, I answered a resounding "no" after reading only the title of your thread, but upon reading the post, that just reinforces it. G4s suck under Leopard, no two ways about it. And honestly they were never that great under Tiger either.

Sadly, PowerBook G4s use DDR, not DDR2, which is both more expensive and available in lower capacities. 2x1 GB is the best you can do with DDR, and it'll cost a bit (not too much but more than DDR2 would be, maybe around $60). It'll help some but the fact is the G4 is an embedded processor that was never designed to go into personal computers and it's just a crappy CPU overall.

I can't take "facts" from you as my Powerbook does take ddr2 ram. Look it up if you need to. On my Powerbook, Leopard runs no slower than Tiger but there is something wrong with mine as its not running as quick as it should be.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: sindows

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
People who claim to have used G4 laptops in Leopard and say that it was "fast" or "snappy" are either lying or don't know what those terms mean.

I had a 12" PowerBook, 1.5 GHz G4, 1.25 GB of RAM. Nothing wrong with it. Ran Tiger at marginally acceptable speeds. Installed Leopard, ran like crap. I've subsequently had a bunch of people on the internet say I'm nuts because their PowerBook G4s were fine under Leopard. I think my standards are just higher. Only way to really explain the phenomenon.

Anyway, sindows, I answered a resounding "no" after reading only the title of your thread, but upon reading the post, that just reinforces it. G4s suck under Leopard, no two ways about it. And honestly they were never that great under Tiger either.

Sadly, PowerBook G4s use DDR, not DDR2, which is both more expensive and available in lower capacities. 2x1 GB is the best you can do with DDR, and it'll cost a bit (not too much but more than DDR2 would be, maybe around $60). It'll help some but the fact is the G4 is an embedded processor that was never designed to go into personal computers and it's just a crappy CPU overall.

I can't take "facts" from you as my Powerbook does take ddr2 ram. Look it up if you need to. On my Powerbook, Leopard runs no slower than Tiger but there is something wrong with mine as its not running as quick as it should be.

It does? Crud, I should have figured that my 12" PowerBook was limited in ways that other PowerBooks were not.

The G4 still sucked.

 

[umrigar]

http://www.everymac.com/system...werbook_g4_1.5_12.html

The PowerBook G4/1.5 12" features a 1.5 GHz PowerPC 7447a (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit and 512k on chip level 2 cache, 512 MB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM, a 60 GB (M9690LL/A) or 80 GB (M9691LL/A) Ultra ATA/100 hard drive (5400 RPM), either a slot-loading 8X "Combo" drive (M9183LL/A) or 8X "SuperDrive" (M9184LL/A), built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme (802.11g), and NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 (4X AGP) graphics with 64 MB of DDR SDRAM.

http://www.everymac.com/system...ook_g4_1.67_15_hr.html

The PowerBook G4/1.67 15" (Double Layer SuperDrive/High-Resolution) features a 1.67 GHz PowerPC 7447a (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit and 512k on chip level 2 cache, 512 MB of PC2-4200 DDR SDRAM, an 80 GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive (5400 RPM), a slot-loading 2.4X dual-layer "SuperDrive", a Firewire "400" and "800" port, built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme (802.11g), and ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (4X AGP) graphics with 128 MB of DDR SDRAM

note that the 7447a processor dropped the L3 cache used by previous models. ex: PowerBook G4/1.0 17" (Al) features a 1.0 GHz PowerPC 7455 (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit, 256k on chip level 2 cache, and 1.0 MB level 3 cache -- 256k "on chip" level 2 cache that runs at processor speed and a 1 MB level 3 cache (static DDR SDRAM) with 3.2 GBps throughput (2:1).

the level 3 cache really helps; it's in the better G4 desktops, except where Apple chose to cheap out on the low end models.

but yeah... the G4 was good at the time, but it's showing its age now.

try Ubuntu linux on it - a coworker of mine put it on his & he loves it.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ha! So DDR2 didn't go into any G4!

 

[teiresias]

Sort of tangent question to this topic. I have an old iBook G4 (I think it's the last model, and I added some RAM to it). It's currently running Leopard since that's what was on it when I bought it. It's definitely usable but just a bit hesitant at times. I'm wanting to put Tiger on it and see if it makes it any more snappy - anyone know a good source for getting a Tiger disk (either one that's a generic Tiger disk or one that's specifically an iBook installer disc for my particular model) other than Ebay - or am I stuck on the dreaded Paypal conspirator?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Ha! So DDR2 didn't go into any G4!

It shows it right there... PC2-4200, right in umrigar's post. I think that is DDR2-533 if I am not mistaken.

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: sindows
Just to update, I did find a local Mac shop that sold used Powerbooks and there is definitely something wrong with my laptop. I used a 12" 1.5Ghz with 512Mb ram and everything on it works better than mine. Itunes and GarageBand would load nearly instantly while on my Powerbook, they would both take the better part of 5-7 seconds. If I were to use Apple+N to open new windows in Safari, there were noticeable pauses with my laptop while the one I used opened new windows instantly. Keep in mind that I have 1Gb ram and a 1.67Ghz processor.

Now what is going on? I reinstalled Tiger and it still isn't as fast as that Powerbook I tried out. I have a couple days of applecare left and I need to solve it...

Well umm... take it to the Genius Bar NOW or call 800-APL-CARE?

Originally posted by: teiresias
Sort of tangent question to this topic. I have an old iBook G4 (I think it's the last model, and I added some RAM to it). It's currently running Leopard since that's what was on it when I bought it. It's definitely usable but just a bit hesitant at times. I'm wanting to put Tiger on it and see if it makes it any more snappy - anyone know a good source for getting a Tiger disk (either one that's a generic Tiger disk or one that's specifically an iBook installer disc for my particular model) other than Ebay - or am I stuck on the dreaded Paypal conspirator?

Honestly, not worth the trouble. Leopard uses a bit more RAM than Tiger, but I wouldn't say it's less "snappy".

 

[umrigar]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Ha! So DDR2 didn't go into any G4!

It shows it right there... PC2-4200, right in umrigar's post. I think that is DDR2-533 if I am not mistaken.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item...omputing/4200DDR2S1GB/

1.0GB (1024MB) PC4200 DDR2 SODIMM 200 Pin Memory Module 128x64 533MHz for *NEW October-2005* PowerBook G4 'Aluminum' 15" & 17" 1.67GHz Models using DDR2 *ONLY*.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Ha! So DDR2 didn't go into any G4!

It shows it right there... PC2-4200, right in umrigar's post. I think that is DDR2-533 if I am not mistaken.

God, I fail.

But to be fair, he did post "PC2-4200 DDR SDRAM," not DDR2.

 

[ColdFusion718]

Yes, they're slow compared to modern CPUs.