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It Is A Tale Told By An Idiot (7/27/01)
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Those of you who caught last week's Stevenote as broadcast by TechTV already know that the network isn't exactly the most Mac-friendly group out there. We were fortunate enough (or unfortunate enough, depending on your opinion of the keynote itself) to be in the audience live and in person, so we missed the TechTV running commentary, but we're told it was delightfully entertaining-- to people who enjoy the sound of idiots yammering over Steve's entire spiel. In particular, a ton of people noted that the commentators wasted a lot of breath during the PowerPC-vs.-Pentium 4 bake-off, talking about how the PC that Apple used for the demo was probably configured with less RAM, less disk space, slower graphics circuitry, etc. than the Mac... despite the fact that if they would have shut up and listened for a second, they would have heard Steve state flat-out that both systems were configured identically.
Anyway, faithful viewer Clay Romer pointed out that TechTV appears to be trying to back up its claim that Steve's demo was fixed, because the site has just posted the results of its own Mac vs. Windows tests. Basically, they pitted a Power Mac against a Pentium 4-- but whereas Apple at least went to the effort to outfit both of its test machines with identical RAM, hard disks, and graphics cards, all TechTV did was give each computer 512 MB of RAM and call them even. Anyway, they then tossed a barrage of Photoshop tasks at each system and timed how long each took to complete. So who won?
Well, TechTV calls it a draw; "each system took the best times in three of the six tests." But it's worth noting that whereas Steve's keynote demo pitted an 867 MHz G4 against a 1.7 GHz Pentium 4, TechTV matched a 733 MHz G4 (the new low end of the product line, remember?) against a 1.8 GHz P4 (the fastest PC available for love or money). And if even TechTV can admit that a G4 can beat a P4 at certain tasks even when burdened with a 1.1 GHz handicap, maybe those commentators from last week are rethinking their doubts. Then again, maybe not. As TechTV states, "you can be sure that this topic will be constantly revisited and updated by our very own TechTV Labs." Ooooh, we're on the edge of our seat.
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SceneLink (3204)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 7/27/01 episode: July 27, 2001: This is way the AtAT DSL Saga ends-- not with a bang, but a howl of laughter. Meanwhile, TechTV apparently tries to disprove Steve's G4-vs.-P4 bake-off from last week, but doesn't have much luck, and an article in the Mercury News claims that Mac OS X won't be the default Mac operating system until April of next year...
Other scenes from that episode: 3203: We Love Perfect Endings (7/27/01) Okay, this isn't strictly Apple-related, per se, but heck, it's Friday-- and we just have to fill you in on a simply marvelous update to the Great DSL Saga. "But AtAT," we hear you ask, "didn't the Great DSL Saga wind to a close nearly three weeks ago, when you physically shipped your server to Parsippany, New Jersey while temporarily broadcasting the show from a PowerBook until the real deal was up and functioning on its new, fast pipe?"... 3205: April Is The Cruellest Month (7/27/01) When we think of Mac-hostile media outlets, the San Jose Mercury News doesn't usually spring immediately to mind-- but hey, everyone's capable of a little Mac-bashing now and again, right? So why not kick off the weekend with a heaping helping of FUD courtesy of an article jam-packed with 100% of your recommended daily allowance of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt?...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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