does running an external monitor....

[greyfalco]

Effect performance? I have a powerbook and am going to buy an external for it. Will CPU performance suffer? If so, how can I mitigate this?

Also, how much faster would a (standard) Mac Pro be then a Macbook Pro?

-Grey

 

[mkrishnan]

Effect performance? I have a powerbook and am going to buy an external for it. Will CPU performance suffer? If so, how can I mitigate this?

Also, how much faster would a (standard) Mac Pro be then a Macbook Pro?

-Grey

Erm, short answers: Yes, of course, although not drastically. Yes, although to a lesser extent than overall performance. Short of using lower resolutions or not using two displays or a computer with a more powerful video card, not too much. What precisely are you concerned about? What's your usage profile? What are you afraid will not work suitably once the second screen is up?

And (regarding the Mac Pro) depends on the task involved, in terms of the amount of reliance on the video card and memory, and the extent to which the application is properly threaded. You probably won't see the factor of 2x very often, though.

 

[greyfalco]

Erm, short answers: Yes, of course, although not drastically. Yes, although to a lesser extent than overall performance. Short of using lower resolutions or not using two displays or a computer with a more powerful video card, not too much. What precisely are you concerned about? What's your usage profile? What are you afraid will not work suitably once the second screen is up?

And (regarding the Mac Pro) depends on the task involved, in terms of the amount of reliance on the video card and memory, and the extent to which the application is properly threaded. You probably won't see the factor of 2x very often, though.

Well, it's just my old powerbook is starting to show it's age I guess. I'm running the newest version of an adobe product, so it's quite the hog. I guess I'm just getting anal about any cycles - but if the performance difference is negligable I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Thanks for the 411 on the mac pro vs. macbook, btw.

 

[mkrishnan]

Well, it's just my old powerbook is starting to show it's age I guess. I'm running the newest version of an adobe product, so it's quite the hog. I guess I'm just getting anal about any cycles - but if the performance difference is negligable I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I guess you can always get the external display and then it'll be an excuse to upgrade if you're not happy?