Re: Which computer to buy (NeXT, Mac, PC)...
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: Re: Which computer to buy (NeXT, Mac, PC)...
- From: Boss Man <BOSS at noaapmel.gov>
- Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:33 PDT
Mike Tie writes >Hi, > >My department is in the process of setting up a Mathematica >Lab/Classroom, and we are trying to determine which platform (PC, >Mac, or NeXT) to go with. I'm very interested in finding out >what other Colleges and Universities are using... >Which version of Mathematica is the most "User Friendly" and has >the fewest bugs? >What about performance? How does Mathematica on a 486/33 MHhz PC >compare with Mathematica Mac Quadra 950 or NeXTstation Turbo? >Assuming that we have enough money for any of the systems, which >would you buy, and what would you buy (system type, memory, hard >drive space, ...)? >How portable are Mathematica Notebooks? I've heard that the .mb >files are written differently on the different platforms... >Any help that you can provide would REALLY be appreciated. >Thanks, >-mtie -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =-=-= >Mike Tie mtie at carleton.edu Just wanted to pass along an earlier mail message regarding platform performance: >Date: Sun, 31 May 92 14:34:39 -0400 >From: fink at acf5.nyu.edu (Howard Fink) >Subject: Platform speeds >To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu >Message-id: <9206020209.AA16034 at yoda.physics.unc.edu> >At the mathematica conference I got a chance to try out a variety of >platforms, all running Mathematica 2.1. >The test: Timing[10000!][[1]] >HP Apollo 700 11.96 sec >Silicon Graphics 16 sec >DecStation 5000/240 18.8 sec >Dell 450 DE/2 27.03 sec >Next Turbo 32.65 sec >Personal DecStation 30.55 sec >Sparcstation IPX 35 sec >Next 040 44 sec >Sparcstation IPC 58.5 sec >Mac IIci 123.6 sec >Back in the office, >Quadra 65 sec >Gateway 2000 (486) 49 sec >Dec 5820 29 sec >The Timings can vary by several seconds on shared machines. >It was fun; I'm still looking for a one second machine. >Howard Fink Hope this is helpful. Ed Boss NOAA/PMEL