BottlenecksWhat is your Mac's slowest component?- Jonathan
Ploudre
June 22, 2000
Last week I reconsidered computing speed
and came to the conclusion that time spent picking the right software
and customizing it for the way you work is time well spent. With
speed in mind, I think it is right that I discuss the slowest
component of most Macintoshes. Many English speakers are familiar with the proverb, "A chain is
only as strong as its weakest link." In computing, that weakest link
is often termed a bottleneck. (I presume it comes from the idea that
the neck of a bottle is what limits how fast you can pour. Wide
necked bottles can be emptied faster than those with narrow
necks.) Dan Knight, Scott Barber, and other Low End Mac technical writers
have written excellent articles about bottlenecks and even labeled
certain Mac models as Road
Apples. For example, the Performa
6200 series is considered a compromised design because it had a
narrow system bus that slowed the whole computer down. That is a
perfect example of a bottleneck. My first Mac was a IIsi, which also
shares the Road Apple
distinction. Luckily, no one has ever called my IIsi a "Road Apple"
to my face -- I might have to disabuse them of that notion. When I
ordered it, I got 5 MB of RAM and an 80 MB hard drive. In Spring
1991, that was a pretty fast piece of hardware. I had been using
Mac SEs and an occasional SE/30.
The IIsi was, I remember thinking to myself, faster than I would ever
really need. O.K., admit it. Did you think the same thing about your first Mac?
Nowadays people scoff at the idea of computers ever being "fast
enough," but for many years that was a common idea. I think as
computers have dropped in price and increased in performance, it
takes more to impress people today. And the inexorable tide of
improvement has made most folks more cynical when it comes to
computers. As I think back to my IIsi, I realize I was oblivious to some of
the bottlenecks it had. A 20 MHz processor is not that fast, and it
was only three years later that I realized that with $10 of
electronic parts I could boost the machine to 27 MHz. And I remember
being confused about the role of the FPU when I was buying. A little
later I realized that not having an FPU would crash the current
version of Excel and make some graphics programs unusable. When I got the IIsi, I also didn't understand how the video built
into the IIsi slowed the whole computer down. It was like getting a
new computer when I switched to 1-bit video (black and white, no
shades), because it freed the computer to work faster. But using the
IIsi in color, as I usually did, could reduce the speed of the IIsi
substantially. (See Low End Mac's IIsi
benchmark page to see how video and a freeware program called
IIsi-RAM-Muncher influence performance.) A year later, when I discovered the Internet, I realized that 80
MB was not very spacious, and for three years afterward I had to
fastidiously clean up my hard drive so that I would have some space
available for new shareware. When I tried to back up my hard drive to floppies, it did not take
long to realize how slow the floppy drive is. Swapping floppies
required me to sit in front of the computer for an hour just so I
could move the disks in and out. The Real BottleneckIt's probably obvious to you that I know more about hardware now
than I did when I first got my Mac. But even as a beginner, I
correctly intuited which was the slowest component of my Mac: I
was. And I strongly suspect that you are the slowest component of
your Mac, too. Some proud people reject the idea that they are only a component
of the computing experience. They have a hierarchical relationship in
their mind: "I'm the master and my computer is my servant. It does
what I want it to do. Humph, how could I be merely a component?" I suppose they could be right. I'll bet they are also the "master"
of their dog. I'm not sure I understand their vocabulary completely,
but apparently the master is the one who feeds, bathes, and houses
the servant. In return the servant agrees to take naps, bark at
strangers, and wag its tail occasionally. Sure, I make my Mac do some work, but usually my Mac is waiting
for me. It reminds me of Star
Trek: First Contact. In the movie, the android known as Data is
captured by Borg enemies, whose Queen offers him inducements to
betray the Enterprise. Later he admits that he considered the offer
for a few parts of a millisecond. While the movie audience was
laughing in relief that he didn't become a turncoat, he poignantly
notes that for a computer a few milliseconds can be an
eternity. If I really measured all that my Mac is capable of producing, I'd
bet that more than 75% of my processing power is being wasted.
Probably more than 90%. One reason is that no matter how fast I am
with my mouse and keyboard, I am magnitudes slower than even my old
Mac IIsi. Indeed, the idea of harnessing these wasted cycles is one of the
reasons why several distributed computing programs have become
popular. For example, the Search for
ExtraTeresstrial Intelligence (abbreviated SETI)
will send you work units that your computer can crunch while it would
otherwise be idle. It's cool to think that your Mac can serve your
needs and still have leftover cycles that could possibly discover an
intelligent signal hidden in reams of astronomical data. (For more on
the SETI@home project, visit SETIonMac.) This sets the stage for an obvious question: How can we upgrade
the user? I have several different approaches to this question for my next
few articles. First, my opinions will become a little more pragmatic.
I'll look at the common types of Mac users. You can see where you fit
in and might gain some ideas about how to effectively tutor a less
savvy user. I'll also look at software options that will make users
faster. Finally, I will zoom out to look at the broader limitations
to upgrading the user and discuss whether it is worth it to upgrade
your Mac skills. 
- <this article available in a printer-friendly
format>
The first thing that Jonathan
Ploudre did when he got his own Mac IIsi in 1991 was to make a
custom icon for the computer and give it a name. Ever since then he
has been trying to make Macs as fast and friendly as possible.
Comments, opinions, and ideas about this or other Back & Forth
columns are gladly accepted. Articles by Jonathan PloudreElsewhere on Low End Mac- Born Again: It Works!,
Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 8/23. Yes, you can run Mac OS 8.1
on some 68030-based Macs.
- QuickCam + PowerBook =
Webcam, Manuel Mejia Jr., Mac Daniel, 8/23. How to set up an
older Mac (in this case, a PowerBook 145) with a QuickCam and use
it as a webcam.
- Troubleshooting FileMaker
Pro, Dan Knight, 8/23. How to prevent and recover from data
errors in FileMaker Pro.
- An Old Friend, Somewhere in
Boxes, My First Mac, 8/22. "My first computer was the Quadra
660AV. It was the first computer I had ever owned."
- Quest for a User-friendly
Hub, Joshua McKinney, My Turn, 8/22. If USB is supposed to be
plug and play, why do so many hubs make that difficult?
- When to buy new, Dan Knight,
Mac Musings, 8/21. The publisher of Low End Mac admits that it
sometimes makes more sense to get a new computer then keep
upgrading an old one.
- Making Macs listen and
obey, Evan Kleiman, Mac Daniel, 8/21. A brief introduction to
using Speech Recognition to control your Mac.
- Screens of plastic could be
fantastic, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 8/21.
New technologies could make flat panel displays far less
costly.
- New @ Low End
Mac: Receive email information on new articles.
Macinstein
Banner ExchangeBack &
Forth articles copyright ©2000 by
Jonathan Ploudre.
Low End
Mac established April 7, 1997. This page,
the entire Low End Mac site, and all subsites of
<lowendmac.com> copyright ©1997-2000 by Dan
Knight unless otherwise noted. All rights
reserved.
LINK
POLICY: This site allows and encourages
links to any public page, so long as the linked page does not appear
within a frame that prevents bookmarking the linked page.
Low End
Mac is an independent publication and has
not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple
Computer, Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iMac, and iBook are
registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional company and
product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the
individual companies and are hereby acknowledged.
| Select content available in AvantGo
format for Palm, WinCE users.  Mac of the Week
Mac Classic
List of the Week
SuperMacs
Channels
- Power Macs
- iMac Channel
- iBook/PowerBook
Computer Profiles
- iMac
- Power Mac
- PowerBook/iBook
- Performas
- Mac Clones
- Older Macs
- Lisa
Editorials
Email Lists
Consumer
- advice, reviews
- guides, deals
Software
Apple History
Best of the Web
Miscellaneous Links
About Low End Mac Receive our
daily newsletter
Support LEM
MacMall
Outpost.com
Software
Outlet
Amazon.com
Mac
Book Source
MobShop.com
DVD
Express
CoolVCD.com
MusicForce
AuctionMac
Sponsor LEM
|
