When Apple first introduced its new line of PowerMacs they carried the ad "World's fastest personal computer". Soon after the G5 PowerMacs arrival complaints were sent to The Advertising Standards Authority. Later it was decided that this ad was misleading to consumers. Apple recently updated its PowerMac line, but the ASA still isn't happy.
A complaint against Apple's claim that its Power Mac G5 was the "world's fastest personal computer" has been upheld by the UK's advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the G5 was not the fastest computer "in all circumstances for all applications". Two other complaints about the G5 ad were rejected. The ruling comes as Apple rolled out a new range of G5 computers.
Expert advice
The ASA said the complaints against the G5 magazine ad came from members of the public in Middlesex and Monmouthshire. There were three objections to the ad:
News source: BBC News
A complaint against Apple's claim that its Power Mac G5 was the "world's fastest personal computer" has been upheld by the UK's advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the G5 was not the fastest computer "in all circumstances for all applications". Two other complaints about the G5 ad were rejected. The ruling comes as Apple rolled out a new range of G5 computers.
Expert advice
The ASA said the complaints against the G5 magazine ad came from members of the public in Middlesex and Monmouthshire. There were three objections to the ad:
- that the machine was "the world's fastest personal computer"
- that it was "the first with a 64-bit processor"
- and that "the systems built around the G5 can shatter the 4-gigabyte memory ceiling that limits every other PC on earth".
News source: BBC News
Hello All,
We are currently looking to recruit trialists, for a trial of a new Internet Browser Toolbar. The trial is scheduled to begin around the end of June and will run until everyone has completed their script.
There are however a couple of requirements you need to be aware of:
*We only require trialists who have Windows 2000 or XP (if you have
anything different please advise)
*We are only looking for 100 trialists mixed across all tiers, so
recruitment will be done on first come basis.
I hope you would like to participate in the trial, and if so, please reply to this mail to advise.
thanks
NTL
Um, if you don't expect responses to any comment you make on a discussion board, then you shouldn't discuss anything at all
But I understand what you're saying.
What a douche bag.
Not to mention any app compiled with GNU C compiler. Come on guys, do you really expect everyone to spend money on the IBM compiler just to get optimized code to compare against the Intel compiler?
Using GNU C on both platforms is fair IMNSHO and even GNU C compiler is optimized for X86 compared with the PowerPC platform.
On paper, Intel p4 chips are impressive but that does not matter in the "real world" where people run Operating systems and software. In the "real world" people multi-task and that is where the OS (XP) fall flat on its face. It would not matter if this machine was a Ghz faster (3.2 instead of 2.2) it would still be slow.
XP is crap, deal with it. I accepted it but I also accept that MS is the dominant player on X86 and I get on with my life.
Hardware is only part of the equation. The OS is more a more important factor in determining the speed of a system than the hardware itself.
You've already stated that at your workplace you run Windows and you are a software developer. In the "Real World" you run Windows on an x86 box...where does a OS-X and Apple fall into *your* "Real World"? Obviously not in a place that matters in *your* "Real World".
You should give the new and improved Atari 5200! It overclocks nicely.
And score.
Thanks for the tip.
If XP is crap, why has no one done better?
And if you even begin to claim that OS X is a superior desktop OS, workstation OS, or server OS, you're delusional.
The ASA people are just insane, and the other companies jealous.
I partially agree with "fact" number 2, but I'm not quite sure how they got number 3. The definition of "personal computer" must be really precise and I'd love to see what it is.
-Something used personally
-Something that you love and cherish and take as a member of the family
-Something that makes derogitory insults, PERSONAL insults. Hasn't your computer ever screamed "IN YO FACE, BIATCH!"
I'm sure that was the 3 point system they used when considering these adverts
IN YO FACE, BIATCH!!!!11
1100 Dual 2.0 GHz Apple G5/Mellanox Infiniband 4X/Cisco GigE / 2200
10280
17600
4
PowerEdge 1750, P4 Xeon 3.06 GHz, Myrinet / 2500
Dell
9819
15300
straight from the top 500 list. interesting, isn't it?
2500 xeon's clocked 1000mhz faster than 2200 g5's still couldn't keep up.
o, and here's the amazing opteron:
6
Opteron 2 GHz, Myrinet / 2816
Linux Networx
even more chips than intel's offering, and still a few spots down.
Do you know _all_ specs about those machines? Do you know what bang-for-the-buck they deliver? Do you know what compiler/ OS/ libs all those machines used? Well, me too... ;-)
The G5 was most likely compiled using an IBM compiler - you know, the PPC970 is very similar to the G5, so IBM has a well developed and proven compiler; Intel does, too (ICC). But what about the Opteron? It could have used GCC (most likely GCC 3.2 or 3.3, PGI sucks and Pathscale wasn't available back then). Well, GCC wasn't optimized for AMD64 back then, updating and recompiling the system, using a new 2.6.x kernel and GCC 3.4 or Pathscale compiler could increase the performance, by at least 10%...
Even a 20% improvement for the Opteron wouldn't put it above the G5 though (in a performance/processor comparison). The Opteron supercomputer had 2816 processors and the G5 only had 2200, for a difference of 616 processors (about a 28% difference). Even if the two computers had exactly the same ranking, the G5 is still the faster processor, even though both run at the same clock speed.
Last edited by 26908 on 12 Jun 2004 - 22:51
BTW, the G5 even uses some AMD technology (HT Link), and it was developed by IBM, not Apple. Apple knows jack about CPU's...!
MS is the worst offender. Not to mention Intel's Faster Mhz = faster performance.
Do you think people really thought XP would make them fly? That's a tad bit different than a commerical with a screen with text staring you right in the face stating that the G5 is the worlds fastest personal computer.
Somebody says something bad about Apple, and the Mac fanatics charge to the rescue spewing the usual "Yeah, well MS DID THIS!! They are WORSE!!"
Please. Apple openly lied...or at least exaggerated a whole hell of a lot. I suppose I could sue MS because XP doesn't have me floating around the block like the people in the commercial were, but then again, I never actually believed that I could, because I'm not retarded. I can't think of an ad where Intel openly stated ever producing the worlds fastest microprocessor off hand, but if you can, I'd be happy to read about it assuming you can get me a link, ok?
Lies, damn lies and marketing.
It's interesting that you focused on my "flying example" and totally ignored my assertion that MS makes claims that development time is reduced just by running a certain OS on your servers. I'm sure VS running on an XP machine will not work any better if the fileserver runs Windows 2003 instead of windows 2000 server unless if they are suggesting 2003 should be used because 2000 server is more likely to crash and cause data loss.
What OS you run on a file server will not speed up the ability of developers to churn out code either.
Why is it interesting? It's obvious you chose the flying example to sensationalize your viewpoint. Therefore, people are going to focus on it.
Development time can be reduced just by running a certain OS on your servers. The point is that Microsoft doesn't say that it ALWAYS happens, no matter what your situation. There's a reason they show case studies instead of just claiming things.
so i guess when someone flies to the rescue spewing "blah blah" it is okay for you to come flying to the rescue for ms spewing that it's bs?
maybe you should take your own advice.
What OS you run on a file server will not speed up the ability of developers to churn out code either.
You missed the point. I'm sure the ad doesn't say that having a win2k3 file server made the difference.
They probably said that using Windows Server System technologies had a marked improvement in productivity at a specific firm. I don't find that hard to believe at all, given my experience with Server 2003. Windows Sharepoint Services alone can really help team-based operations get work done. Improvements to Offline Files and IntelliMirror may have helped some developers get more work done on the road or at home. Exchange 2003 and Biztalk 2004 can do wonders for intra-site communication and workflow.
Though to be honest, I think the biggest difference is startup time. I don't know if you ever ran a win2000 system, but god damn they took forver to boot up! I bet companies save days on the year just because 2003 starts up so much faster
First off, I will openly say I like Apple computers. However I don’t hold a bias toward them as I use my PC primarily and own an older Mac for fun. I use my PC because it does everything I need it to do. I can’t do everything I need to on my Macintosh as OS X versions of many of my programs do not exist.
It surprises me that Apple would take such strong wording to their new top rung G5’s. But you should consider this; you can’t compare PC’s and Macs conventionally, only with tasks. (I.e. run Photoshop scripts and such)
Understand that Apple has full control over the design of their hardware, software and operating systems, so they have the advantage to be able to produce computer systems that have very little bottlenecks. PC’s are made by everyone, even their users. And Microsoft (as well as others
“the Word’s Fastest Personal Computer” is very boastful. Byte for byte, they aren’t. Close, but no. They are very efficient though. Due to their proprietary architecture, the system and OS sing in harmony so there is very little to slow it down. They can make better use of the power that they have. I mean, what is a “fast” anyway. That’s such a lame term to use on a computer. The G5’s are lover on GHz’ because they don’t need ‘em to be efficient. They move more information at once….albeit slower. But the resulting “speed” is higher. But they don’t have to run Windows either. If you can get a PC to “run a Photoshop action script” at the same “speed” you have a computer that costs about the same as a matching G5. The GHz will be higher but in the end the speed is the same.
“the First with a 64-bit Processor….” No…sorry….that credit goes to SUN Microsystems in 1991 for their R4000 Series. However, Apple had the first “PERSONAL COMPUTER CLASS” 64-bit Computer. That can be taken with a grain of salt as some folks, myself included, used 64-bit SUN workstations as desktops once or twice with Solaris or any other SPARC capable version of *NIX. Even though Apple had the “first” they were quickly outshined by the AMD Opterons…..but those are Workstation/Server-class
“the systems built around the G5 can shatter the 4-gigabyte memory ceiling that limits every other PC on earth" …. Now come on Apple, you’re better than that. TYAN make a motherboard for dual and quad AMD Opterons, which have memory banks for EACH processor…..8GB of RAM Each Processor. Plus they are all connected by Hyper-Transport channels so the system effectively had have 16GB for dual systems and 32GB for quads. But, yet again, that’s for Workstation/Server class machines. Hyper-Transport was innovated my AMD and licensed to IBM for the Power5 architecture. The Dual-G5’s have it too.
Honestly, the world of advertising is as sketchy as the world of politics. Apple is using vague “technically correct” claims, is just another tactic to sell units. Everyone is guilty of that. The bottom line is that the G5’s are excellent APPLE COMPUTERS and if you use Macintoshes and can do your work just fine on them, go right ahead. They are a bit more expensive, but they have a very high customer satisfaction rating and are very efficient, stable, (cough*proprietary*cough), machines.
For everyone else, myself included…Keep your systems up to date.
How are they any more proprietary than Dell, for instance? Both use motherboards that are designed to only fit their cases. Both use standard, off the shelf drives. Both use similar video cards (when Dell bothers to actually use one, usually they use onboard Intel video). Apple uses their own OS, is that what you are considering "proprietary"?
-The Opteron was released and very widely available several months before the G5 was even announced.
-The Athlon 64 was officially announced later than the G5, but shipped first because Apple had to delay G5 shipments.
-Apple hardware and software is no longer proprietary as it once was. Nearly everything in the G5 chassis is PC technology. The G5 is derived from the Power4 chip. Apple uses SATA, USB, AGP, PCI, UDMA, DDR SDRAM, and countless other PC-first technology.
-There are countless 32-bit Xeon systems that support more than 4GB of memory. They use Microsoft/Intel's PAE (Physical Address Extension) technology which has been around for many years. Though I think PAE only allows for 4GB *per CPU*.
-Apple has yet to release a system that supports more then 4GB per CPU.
-32-bit PAE systems are limited to 4GB of memory per process/application.
-Apple's G5 systems STILL have this limitation. However, it is an OS limitation, as Panther is not truly 64-bit.
-Apple also claimed that they had the first "Desktop" PC that could support more than 4GB of memory. However, the only launch system that supported more than 4GB of memory was the Dual 2GHz G5 system, which starts at $3000 (and costs $8000 with 4GB of memory). Hardly a "desktop" system.
I thought they said "the first desktop/end-user computer with 64 bit processor"
even tho their statements are sometimes far fetched, i still like em. I always will
im very happy with my mac, as well as my pc. Both are good for what they can do.
[SIZE=14]What a load of bs Apple says
I want a G5 more than ever now...
I just hope to hell that Apple folds before my son starts school.
I want my son to learn a PC in school, not some donated inferior MAC. Otherwise, he'll start his first job and not know what the hell he his doing.