Compatibility: Macs can run all the same software that PCs run. The software thats made for mac can be run natively on the mac side. The software thats made for PC can be run through a program called VirtualPC that basically installs windows on your computer and allows you to run all the windows apps. MS office is made for both Mac and PC so yes you can run MS Office natively in mac. Yes you can take a floppy from a PC and put it in a mac and have it work. The reverse however is not true. PCs still do not read mac floppies or other media. The long and short of it...Macs can do everything a PC can do as well as all the Mac stuff. You cant loose.
Speed: Judging a computers speed by its MHZ is a common consumer misconception. Mhz only tells you how fast the switches in the processor are vibrating. In fact a Mac running at 400Mhz is about as fast as a PC at 500Mhz. The reason for this is that the PowerPC architecture that apple uses is much more effecient at processing instructions. PC users will deny this until they turn blue in the face but its true. The Pentium processor is still based largely on OLD CISC technology. They havent changed it because theyre attempting to be backward compatible with everything. The PowerPC processor is fully RISC and thus by nature is an optimized instruction set that doesnt waste processor time. This is part of the reason Apple/Mac computers are so popular with high end video editing and graphics professionals.
Recommendations: Get an iMac. Theyre dirt cheap, extremely fast, and if youre not going to be designing billboards in photoshop on it you wont need a bigger monitor. If yer not an iMac kinda guy get a G3 350 Blue & White and put a G3 500 Upgrade card in it from PowerLogix. The 350 will cost you $1500 with 128Mb extra free ram from apple and the PowerLogix 500 card will cost you about $600. Thats will get you the fastest personal computer in both the mac and pc world for around $2100. I had a setup like this in my lab for several months and it was exquisitely fast not to mention pretty to look at..=)
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by: MICHAEDPosted on 1999-08-26 at 09:19:10ID: 1539496
One more thing....I also noticed Apples have a lower speed than the compatibles, I think the fastest Apple is 450Mz. Does this mean that it's slower than a....lets say 500Mz pentium IBM machine?