iMac speed vs my PC

[futurase]

I have a brand new 3.06 (2009 edition) iMac. The big flagship iMac. I have a 2 year old Sony Vaio All-In-One PC with Vista Home Premium. The PC takes forever to boot, shut down, you name it.

I have Safari 4 on both computers.

Here is the kicker. The Sony is a 1.7 ghz dual core with 2 GB of Ram.

New iMac is 3.06 ghz and 4 Gb of Ram.

Once loaded and the history and cache cleared on both browsers. If you type a website in on both browsers and hit the enter key at the same time for both, the PC ALWAYS loads the page faster. By several seconds sometimes. The iMac is fast, but Safari on the PC is like a bullet fast. It takes 15 seconds to load Safari, but once loaded it is like a bullet. Safari loads in under a second on the iMac, but surfing is not as fast.

Both computers are pulling from a Apple Airport Wireless Base Station in Wireless N(B&G compatible mode).

This seems backwards. Safari seems to hesitate on the iMac while loading pages at times when the PC is ripping through loading files.

The iMac smokes the PC in anything else.

Something wrong???

Norman Ross Jr.

 

[Hellhammer]

It might be because of it's still beta. Have you tried with other browsers eg Firefox?

 

[belvdr]

Well, also consider that wireless is half duplex, so only one device can transmit or receive at any given time.

Have you tried with them both wired at full duplex (i.e. don't use a hub, use a switch)?

 

[jmpage2]

The quality of the wireless signal could also be a factor.

I agree that you should load a stable browser like Firefox 3 on both machines and test.

I loaded Firefox 3 on an iMac 2.93ghz at a local Apple Store and it browsed very fast.

 

[natharvey]

my mac safari 4 always loads slower as well, even compared to firefox on the same machine. i believe it's just a beta issue that will be worked out when safari 4 goes final. it only makes sense because my old safari never had any problems so i just assume its a beta thing.

 

[futurase]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Safari 4 is no faster than Safari 3. No slower.

I was thinking and tell me if I am off track.

I also have a iPhone 3G and a Dell 700M laptop with XP. Laptop is about 4 years old.

I have to run the security as WPA/WPA2 Personal. ANYTHING else and the Dell cannot connect to the router. The iMac and iPhone and Sony can do the new forms of security. I wonder if the router settings I am using is what is slowing the iMac. Makes sense.

I had to use the lowest common denominator to keep the Dell in the family.

Don't get me wrong, surfing the web is fine, just instead of the Dell loading the page in 3 seconds the iMac takes 4. It is not like it is taking 10-15 seconds per page. Lots of pages are instant. Seems like the pages with lots of pictures and etc Safari hesitates before it loads. I mean it will hesitate a split second and then load 4 pictures at the same time rather than the pc loading one right after another.

It has to be the browser and or the networking I would think.

I just couldn't imagine any of my PC's staying up with the new iMac in any way.

Norman Ross Jr.

 

[belvdr]

Rather than running them at the same time, run each one and time it independently. You can also hardwire them to ensure your wireless isn't causing the slowdown.

If it's just a one second difference, I wouldn't even bother worrying about it.

 

[futurase]

I am at the opposite end of the house from the AEBS is the problem. I still have my Linksys Wireless G router and I am thinking about hooking it back up for the PC's and iPhone so I can turn on Wireless N Only on for the iMac. Problem is I have a Wester Digital Hard Drive hooked up to the AEBS and I use it to share files for all the computers in the house. I loose it if I go Wireless N only.

Thanks,

Norman Ross Jr.

 

[GamaFu]

I thought all the 802.11 N wireless routers support MIMO, so the router can send/receive several signals at the same time. That being said, if the compatible mode is enabled, assuming it includes N, your iMac should still be able to achieve 802.11 N speed instead of G or B. I don't personally own a AEBS, but my Asus WL-500W works fine this way. However, I live in a small apartment, so take distance into account, you might not get the optimal speed if your computer is far away from the router.

 

[futurase]

Only the brand new (last week) new AEBS can do multiple bands at the same time. All previous units like mine if set of Wireless N (B&G compatible mode) drops to B or G if a device is detected trying to log on. From then on I don't know how long it takes for the device to go back to N mode or if it does. I don't think it does.

This is called a dual band router. The new AEBS that debuts last week does dual band. Mine does not. I know Linksys makes one too.

Norman Ross Jr.

 

[GamaFu]

Only the brand new (last week) new AEBS can do multiple bands at the same time. All previous units like mine if set of Wireless N (B&G compatible mode) drops to B or G if a device is detected trying to log on. From then on I don't know how long it takes for the device to go back to N mode or if it does. I don't think it does.

This is called a dual band router. The new AEBS that debuts last week does dual band. Mine does not. I know Linksys makes one too.

Norman Ross Jr.

We're talking about different things. The only advantage of the dual band routers is that they are able to operate in the 5Ghz frequency. It will improve the overall performance if there are many wireless devices working at the same time near your house in 2.4Ghz frequency, so resulting the large amount of noise that your computer receive, that is, the signal might not be as strong as it should be. Therefore, the dual band router will then operate in 5Ghz to avoid the situation.

I am saying that all 802.11 N wireless routers can do MIMO, that means you should be able to use many wireless devices at the same time without any problem. Someone mentions it's not possible in the thread, I am just trying to make this point. I am not quite sure if I am correct though. I should take network course next semester... lol

Is your router enables in 54G protection mode or something? It should work fine with both G and N client presence in the network. I have two computers, one supports B and G, one supports B, G, N. I am able to get G on the old machine, and N on the new laptop with no problem at the same time. It should be the case in AEBS too. My router is not new, it's 2 years old already, so it's nothing new. You might need to change some setting though.

 

[belvdr]

I am saying that all 802.11 N wireless routers can do MIMO, that means you should be able to use many wireless devices at the same time without any problem. Someone mentions it's not possible in the thread, I am just trying to make this point. I am not quite sure if I am correct though. I should take network course next semester... lol

I believe you're referring to me.

Yes 802.11n uses MIMO to enhance throughput. However, it is not using one frequency to transmit and one frequency to receive, which would enable full duplex. It uses the two frequencies together to transmit and receive. Neither frequency is dedicated to either use.

You can still use multiple devices from one access point. But it acts like a hub in a wired environment. The entire 600Mb is shared among all the devices; each device does not get its own 600Mb link, which is similar to a switch in a wired environment.

 

[GamaFu]

I believe you're referring to me.

Yes 802.11n uses MIMO to enhance throughput. However, it is not using one frequency to transmit and one frequency to receive, which would enable full duplex. It uses the two frequencies together to transmit and receive. Neither frequency is dedicated to either use.

You can still use multiple devices from one access point. But it acts like a hub in a wired environment. The entire 600Mb is shared among all the devices; each device does not get its own 600Mb link, which is similar to a switch in a wired environment.

Thank. I think I get what you mean now. So other way of saying this in a simple way is that when you click on a link, the computer sends a request packet to router and then to ISP, but since the data is read sequentially, even though you may click on the link on two computers at the same time, and depends on the system environment, firewall setting, et cetera, the computer sends the first request packet should receive the data first theoretically. (We're ignoring a lot of stuffs here...) Therefore the point that testing them independently not at the same time. Correct?

 

[belvdr]

Sort of, and the data may not arrive sequentially either. That's the beauty of TCP.

Let's say both machines try to send a packet at the same time. A collision will occur and a jam signal is sent causing all machines to pause for a random period of time before retrying to send the data.

This is called a collision domain. In a wireless network, all machines are in one collision domain (also known as half duplex). In a wired network using a switch, each port (which usually means each machine if all machines are directly connected to the switch) is in its own collision domain, meaning host A and B can transmit at the exact same time, and there is no collision.

 

[GamaFu]

Sort of, and the data may not arrive sequentially either. That's the beauty of TCP.

Let's say both machines try to send a packet at the same time. A collision will occur and a jam signal is sent causing all machines to pause for a random period of time before retrying to send the data.

This is called a collision domain. In a wireless network, all machines are in one collision domain (also known as half duplex). In a wired network using a switch, each port (which usually means each machine if all machines are directly connected to the switch) is in its own collision domain, meaning host A and B can transmit at the exact same time, and there is no collision.

Thanks again. To be honest, I rarely see any post as informative as yours on Mac Rumors, not that I expect to, it's a site which discusses rumors after all. I always assume each machine in the wireless network has its own collision domain. So Half duplex means sending and receiving can't be done at the same time? lol

Looks like I must take the network class soon then. lol It seems to be a requirement for every programmer nowadays. I am computer science student, and we're just working on IM client using smack API. Even though there's API ready to be used already, retrieving/sending information from/to server can still be a little overwhelming for someone has no network background.

 

[futurase]

All right guys. Let's keep thing nice if we can. The subject under discussion is



BROWSER SPEED


I don't think we need to get into the ins and outs of Wireless routers and we don't have to be communication engineers and some of you maybe, but I want this to stay on track and not become a worthless thread.

This was just some general things I have been noticing and wanted you know if some of you had noticed the same things and what the potential solution (if there is one or if this is normal behavior) might be.

Thanks,

Norman Ross jr.

 

[belvdr]

Rather than running them at the same time, run each one and time it independently. You can also hardwire them to ensure your wireless isn't causing the slowdown.

If it's just a one second difference, I wouldn't even bother worrying about it.

I mentioned this above, which was on topic. Did you try this?

Since browser speed can be attributed to network bandwidth, I don't think we drifted far.

 

[jmpage2]

All right guys. Let's keep thing nice if we can. The subject under discussion is



BROWSER SPEED


I don't think we need to get into the ins and outs of Wireless routers and we don't have to be communication engineers and some of you maybe, but I want this to stay on track and not become a worthless thread.

This was just some general things I have been noticing and wanted you know if some of you had noticed the same things and what the potential solution (if there is one or if this is normal behavior) might be.

Thanks,

Norman Ross jr.

Unfortunate then that the speed/distance/class of your wireless setup directly plays into speeds seen in activities like web surfing.

And, hey, guess what? I'm a telecom engineer.

Also, you say "things" you noticed, but you still haven't tested both machines with a final build browser like Firefox 3.

 

[topgun072003]

is it just me or do people tend to confuse computer speed and browser speed? I'll talk to people that will say, "That computer is fast!" Yet what they really mean is that the computer has a fast internet connection. Just an observation.