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From: thewho@elaine23.stanford.edu (Derek Fong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEM 7
Message-ID: <1991Feb13.202005.20530@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 13 Feb 91 20:20:05 GMT
References: <1991Feb3.172925.1429@objy.com> <10525@aggie.ucdavis.edu> <ingemar.666439390@stuart>
Sender: news@portia.Stanford.EDU (Mr News)
Organization: Stanford University - AIR
Lines: 38

Greetings,

I am one the unfortunate many who doesn't have a copy of System 7 beta since I
am not a developer, but am stuck with many questions about it running through
the back of my head.

Anyways, I was curious what kind of speed there is with System 7.  In other
words, is it sluggish to run on a Mac Plus or SE (is it slow in comparison
with the System 6.0.?).

Intuition tells me that with all the new whizbang features, it is going to
be carrying a heavier load on the CPU?  Am I right, wrong?

Also, what kind of memory does the system itself take up as a overhead?  i.e.,
what kind of allocation does finder get for RAM, and what does the system use
up?

Right now, I am using an SE/30 (I am asking about the speed for many of my
friends with slower machines) and have a lot of inits like ATM and SuperLaser-
Spool which uses a good portion of RAM:  For example, if I go under about 
Finder right now, I get 1100K for System, 180K for Finder (I use a 192K cache),
and a few other inits besides the ones mentioned above.  What kind of increase
in RAM usage for the System have people noticed in upgrading?  Again, my intui-
tion tells me that System 7 will use more since Apple is saying that 2 MB 
minimum are required.

Finally, how good is the virtual memory.  What kind of performance do you get?
What is the optimimum virtual set up for a 5 MB machine so that you don't
see noticeable speed degradation (can I set my machine to a total of 8 MB
without feeling significant speed losses)?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.  Please email responses.

Thanks in advance.

---Derek Fong
fong@cive.stanford.edu
thewho@leland.portia.edu