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> > I just think that Intel may be heading for a dead end--CISC
> > chip technology is aging, and though we don't know what architecture the
> > P6 will use yet, I'm guessing it will be yet another CISC chip.
> >
> > Comments, anyone? I haven't bought a machine just yet...
>
> Delighted.
Delighted--meaning you'd love to stick your thoughts in here, or
delighted because you think this is a good idea (moving to a PowerMac)?
> Re: the mac os.
> _Windows_ multitasks better. You'd be better off with OS2 if concurrent
> processing is at all important to you.
Not particularly, unless it is to Download files via modem in
the background. Spooling off printing jobs would be nice too, but Windows
sucks at that too (though 3rd party products pick up the slack). Will
the Mac do that okay?
Anything I'm missing?
I mean if you are a programmer doing massive re-compiles while
you edit some other piece of code, then by all means--OS/2 is for you!
The rest of us have minimal need for multitasking.
> Re: RISC
> Boy am I sick of the love affair everyone seems to have with RISC these
> days. It's NOT necessarily inherently better than CISC. There are several
> techniques for removing the useless pauses in cycles on CISC ships (the
> major speed advantage in RISC chips). Furthermore, RISC chips have some
> disadvantages (less addressing modes, MUCH harder to write compilers for)
> and some tradeoffs (storage space, needed RAM).
True, but speed isn't one of them.
> Don't get me wrong - RISC has some real advantages. It's just not a
> panacea.
Yes--as you say, it costs a lot more in Hard Disk space and
Memory, since code has to be longer to execute the fewer commands
in the RISC chip.
But if you pay the price in RAM, etc., you generally get a
fast machine.
> You can easily make a RISC machine run as slowly as a CISC.
Sure--just watch a PowerMac emulate Windows. ;)
----- ________________________________
Randy Whittle whittle@usc.edu | Y'know, Tuna just |
USC School of Business (Fight on, 'SC Trojans!)| doesn't taste the same |
(My opinions are mine, but since I'm | since they took the |
right, they should be yours too.) | Dolphin out! |
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