Month: June 2005

I got a very sweet deal from my coworker James on a six-month old 12″

1.33 GHz PowerBook, which is only slightly slower than the current

top-of-the-line 12″ model (which is almost identical, except for the

1.5 GHz processor). The end result: I get a great and portable

development machine, cheap, and Wendy gets her first Mac in ages — my

old 12″ 867MHz model with WiFi-G, the RAM maxed out and hot sexy tech

support from Yours Truly.

The PowerBook had the stock 256MB RAM and could take a single PC2700

SODIMM up to 1GB in size. Maxing out the RAM in your computer is the

most cost-effective way to maximize its performance, so I started

looking about for places in town where I could purchase it.

Although I didn’t expect to buy the RAM at CPUsed,

one of the higher-profile Mac stores in Accordion City, I gave their

price list a look-see. When it comes to RAM, CPUsed is good for

determined what the “rip-off price”; if you’re paying the CPUsed price,

you’re getting ripped off.

The CPUsed price, according to their online price list: CDN$399.

Next: Carbon Computing, where those disgruntled with CPUsed tend to migrate.

Their price: CDN$449. Holy crap, someone beat CPUsed at their own game!

Compusmart, who have a branch just down the street from my house, charge CDN$620 for Hewlett-Packard brand RAM.

On a lark, I decided to call the new Apple Store at Yorkdale Mall, which opened just over a week ago.

Their price: CDN$625. That’s only four bucks less than the basic Mac Mini!

Fortunately, I never expected to purchase the RAM from any of the

aforementioned vendors. I just wanted to see how high the price for the

RAM I wanted could go.

The next step was to visit NewEgg.com to see how low the price could be. Their price: US$118, or CDN$147, plus shipping and possibly some duty (here’s their entry for the RAM).

Some Googling found what I was looking for: a 1GB KingMax RAM stick for CDN$176 from Canada Computers (where I bumped into the worried Mac fan from this entry). Some more Googling found generally positive reviews from other PowerBook users, so I bought my RAM from there.

The PowerBook is running just fine, showing a whopping 1.25 GB of RAM — the most I’ve ever had in any computer.

Thus far, it works like a charm!

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For the technical and curious, here are the speed results reported by XBench:

• Results    133.32

   

• System Info 
• Xbench Version        1.1.3
• System Version        10.4.1 (8B15)
• Physical RAM        1280 MB
• Model        PowerBook6,4
• Processor        PowerPC G4 @ 1.33 GHz
• L1 Cache        32K (instruction), 32K (data)
• L2 Cache        512K @ 1.33 GHz
• Bus Frequency        167 MHz
• Video Card        GeForce FX Go5200
• Drive Type        Hitachi IC25N060ATMR04-0
• Memory Test    133.32   
• System    148.06   
• Allocate    696.69    454.45 Kalloc/sec
• Fill    153.86    1224.72 MB/sec
• Copy    81.12    405.61 MB/sec
• Stream    121.24   
• Copy    118.69    867.59 MB/sec [altivec]
• Scale    120.48    889.14 MB/sec [altivec]
• Add    123.87    792.75 MB/sec [altivec]
• Triad    122.06    745.76 MB/sec [altivec]

The recent announcement that Apple will switch from PowerPC to Intel chips had at least one Mac user worried: while pickup up some RAM at one of the computer shops along College Street West’s “Geek Row”, I overheard a guy say that he was a bit worried about it.

“I’m afraid it’s going to change the Mac experience,” he said.

I reminded him that the usability of the Mac didn’t lie in the

underlying processor, but in its operating system and user interface. I

cited the example of the Palm handhelds and compatible units, where

different models use different processors.

“The difference you will notice is faster machines, and since Intel can

actually manufacture chips in volume, you probably won’t be waiting as

long for your new computer order,” I said. “Who knows, Macs may get

cheaper, too. Economies of scale and all that.”

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I don’t know if this guy would be a typical example of the Mac faithful

— a sometimes rabid group whose love for the Mac sometimes crosses the

bounds of rationality.

(Don’t get me wrong — I rather like the Mac platform. In fact, I’m making this entry on my new 12″ PowerBook.)

Apple spent years touting the superiority of the PowerPC chip, so this

sudden turnabout, while sensible from a technical point of view, may

seem like heresy to the Mac faithful. The Apple marketing team has an

interesting challenge ahead!

Perhaps they could recruit the Simpsons, as Intel did back in the days of the Pentium II [775K, QuickTime]…

This ad could be an allegory for what will happen to Apple’s computers. Click to the view the movie.

Just a quick reminder that my current abode is available for rental

this July 15th. If you want more details, check out this

blog entry!