Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!rex!ukma!dftsrv!mimsy!midway!quads.uchicago.edu!jcav
From: jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john  cavallino)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Comparing the Mac+ and SE
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.172530.12269@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 25 Apr 91 17:25:30 GMT
References: <764@newave.UUCP> <1068@eplunix.UUCP>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (NewsMistress)
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 27

In article <1068@eplunix.UUCP> das@eplunix.UUCP (David Steffens) writes:
>In article <764@newave.UUCP>, john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) says:
>> But for all practical difference, there is no real speed difference between
>> the Mac + and the SE.  At least not a difference worth nit picking about.
>
>Wrong.  The SE has more of QuickDraw in ROM.  Code in ROM executes
>twice as fast as code in RAM because the video refresh uses every
>other RAM cycle.  Therefore, a benchmark which does lots of QuickDraw
>calls _will_ show a speed difference favoring the SE over the Plus
>by about 30-50% depending on the exact mix.  This will also be noticeable
>to the user when running programs which do a lot of QuickDraw operations.

That's all well and good, but there are some hardware differences that make
the SE noticably (to me) more comfortable to work with.  The most important
of these is the speed of the SCSI interface.  The SE will talk to hard
disks etc. well over twice as fast as the Plus.  This is VERY important.
The other difference is in how many memory access cycles are stolen to
refresh the video display.  The SE wastes 30% less time this way than does
the Plus, which leads to about a 15% speed increase.  I think these
differences, especially the SCSI speed, are more than nit-picky.


-- 
John Cavallino                      |     EMail: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago Hospitals     |    USMail: 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Box 145
Office of Facilities Management     |            Chicago, IL  60637
B0 f++ w c+ g+ k s(+) e+ h- pv      | Telephone: 312-702-6900