Essay/Term paper: Which computer is the fastest

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Information Technology

Which Computer Is The Fastest


What computer is the fastest? What computer is the easiest to use? What
computer is number one in education, and multimedia? That's right, the Macintosh
line of computers. A strong competitor in the realm of computing for a number of
years, the Macintosh is still going strong. The reasons are apparent, and
numerous.
For starters, who wants a computer with no power? Macintosh sure doesn't!
Independent tests prove that today's Power Macintosh computers, based on the
PowerPC processor, outperform comparable machines based on the Intel Pentium
processor. In a benchmark test, conducted in June 1995, using 10 applications
available for both Macintosh, and Windows 3.1 systems, the 120-megahertz Power
Macintosh 9500/120 was, on average, 51 percent faster than a 120-megahertz
Pentium processor based PC. The 132-megahertz Power Macintosh 9500/132 was 80
percent faster when running scientific and engineering applications, and 102
percent faster when running graphics and publishing applications. You can
understand why the education market is almost entirely apple based.
Recent surveys confirm that from kindergarten through college, Apple has
cornered the market in education, and remains number one in this U.S. market.
Apple Macintosh computers account for 60% of the 5.9 million machines in U.S.
schools for the 1995-96 school year. Only 29% of schools use the Microsoft/Intel
platform, and DOS only accounts for a measly 11%. Also it was reported that
18.4% of 4 year college students own the Macintosh. 55% of college students own
a computer, and Apple's in the lead for that market too! The reason Apple says
for this continued success is the Mac's ease of use.
There is no doubt that the Macintosh is the easiest computer around. The
scrolling menu bar is the first example. If a Macintosh menu is too long to fit
on the screen, you can scroll down to see all of the items. Windows 95 menus, by
contrast, don't scroll up or down. So if you put too many items into the Windows
95 Start button, some will remain out of reach, permanently! Windows 95
hierarchical menus can become confusing as they become more crowded. When you
install many applications onto a PC, so they form two columns from the Start
Programs menu, the menus may not be able to flow well together. You'll have to
jump quickly across from menu list to menu list, which can be difficult to do.
The second example I site is the better integration of hardware and software.
Because Apple makes both the hardware and the operating system, the two work
together easily; when a change is made at the hardware level, the software
automatically recognizes it and acts accordingly. In the PC world, Microsoft
develops Windows 95 and many different manufacturers make the hardware systems.
So, the software and hardware don't always work well together. Here are a few
areas that the Macintosh is particularly strong in concerning compatability,
floppy disks, memory management, monitor support, mouse support, adding
peripherals, connecting to a network, and internet access and publishing. And
the last example I'll show, is the ease of adding new resources. When you add
capabilities to your Macintosh, it seems to anticipate what you're doing, and
even try to help. For example, to add fonts or desk accessories to the Macintosh,
all you have to do is drag them to the System Folder. The Mac OS, or operating
system, places all of the items where they need to go, automatically. Here are
the steps for Windows 95:
1.Double-click on the C: drive in "My Computer."
2.Open the Windows folder.
3.Open the Fonts folder.
4.Click Install New Font in the File menu.
5.Click the drive and the folder that contain the font you want to add.
6.Double-click the name of the font you want to add.

As anyone can plainly see, the the choice is obvious and the Mac's the best!
Multimedia is an exploding business throughout movies, advertising, and
graphic design. Most multimedia developers create their applications on a
Macintosh. According to one research company, Apple's Macintosh is the leading
development platform for multimedia CD-ROM titles by a 72% to a 28% margin. As a
recent article in the San Francisco Examiner puts it, "Walk into any newsroom,
desktop publishing center, design studio, or online service office, and nine
times out of 10 you will see a wall of Macs." That's quite a statement! There
are definite reasons for this too.
Installing and using CD-ROM titles is easier with Macintosh computers
than with PCs running Windows 95. Today's PCs have multiple standards for sound
and graphics, and each standard and each piece of hardware requires a different
software driver. As a result, PC owners have problems matching the hardware and
software in their systems to the hardware and software requirements of different
CD-ROM titles, and different titles can run much differently. In contrast, CD-
ROM titles for Macintosh are easier to install and use. Macintosh computers have
a single, built-in standard for sound and graphics, so no special drivers are
required. And Macintosh was the first home computer to include built-in MPEG
hardware playback for full-screen, full-motion video.
Apple's Power Macintosh 7500/100, and 8500/120 computers include nearly
everything a user needs to quickly and easily begin videoconferencing. QuickTime
Conferencing software, high-speed communications capability, and video/sound
input are all included. Users need only connect a video camera to the Macintosh
video-in connector. With Apple's QuickTime Conferencing software, users can call
other videoconference participants over their existing local area networks.
Users can see multiple participants at once, take snapshots during sessions,
record sessions, and work together on a shared document. Compare this simplicity
and power with videoconferencing products in the Windows 95 world, where users
must still purchase expensive add-on cards, and software totaling $1,400 or more,
and then deal with the complexities of integrating the hardware and software
themselves.
Speech integration with computers is the wave of the future, and guess
who's got the jump in that department. With PlainTalk, you can open any
Macintosh document or application by speaking its name. Just move an alias of
the item into the Speakable Items folder, and the built-in PlainTalk and
Speakable Items technologies take care of the rest. For example, a user who
wants to check her stock portfolio without opening several folders and launching
an application can just say "check stocks," and the Macintosh will execute the
necessary commands. Speakable items can also be AppleScript files, so users can
execute an almost unlimited series of actions--including copying files, cleaning
up the desktop, and so on, simply by speaking a command.
In conclusion, the Macintosh is the computer that can do it all.
Handling business tasks, creating breath taking multimedia, and lots, lots more,
all at the fastest speed available. It is no wonder Apple has made such a name
forf itself, and will likely be in the market for a long time to come.