Core2Duo vs. PowerPC speeds (LaTeX)

[PeterSmith]

There's a MacWorld discussion here about Core2Duo vs. PowerPC speeds. The speed jumps reported across a suite of tests are good but in some cases not spectacular. So I was delighted to find that the increase in speed for the software I actually use, day in, day out, is stunning ....

Typesetting a 360 page book (from hitting the LaTeX button in the TexShop editor to seeing the updated PDF):

On a 1.5 Ghz G4 15" PowerBook (1GB): about 27 secs
On a 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 17" MacBook Pro (2GB): less than 4 secs

The PowerBook was/is a lovely machine: but the MacBook Pro is LaTeX heaven.

 

[Compile 'em all]

On a 1.5 Ghz G4 15" PowerBook (1GB): about 27 secs
On a 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 17" MacBook Pro (2GB): less than 4 secs

Holy crap !. When writing my thesis (100 pages), typesetting would take me around 10~15 secs. I wonder how long it would have took if I had a C2D. Oh well, I still love my powerbook .

 

[junkster]

Note that the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo are VERY sensitive to how applications are written--and what features they use--especially in regard to multithreading. A single-threaded, memory intensive application will be faster than a PPC, but not 4x faster. An application written to use multiple, concurrent threads is going to fly on the multi-core chips, if written correctly.

One interesting note is that higher-performance, multi-threaded applications are going to push your MB a lot more, and you'll hear the fans cranking up. That makes me wonder if ultra-performance isn't always the across the board win people expect it to be. For example, you could have a feature (like typesetting) that runs in 10 seconds on a single core, or one that runs in 6 seconds but uses both cores and causes the fans to spin much faster (and louder) during that time.

 

[gauchogolfer]

The PowerBook was/is a lovely machine: but the MacBook Pro is LaTeX heaven.

Mind if I use this in my sig?

Great quote.

 

[PeterSmith]

Mind if I use this in my sig?

Great quote.

You are very welcome

 

[gauchogolfer]

You are very welcome

Thanks. Good to hear about the compile speed too. Unfortunately it came too late to help me with my own dissertation, but the 'ole powerbook didn't struggle too much with that, either.