Apple Vs The World A Comparison Of — страница 2

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files. On top of accessing capabilities, the more Ram your computer has, the faster it will complete the tasks you are running. There are several different types of RAM including EDO RAM, SDRAM, DRAM, BEDO RAM, and SRAM. Each type has its own specific purposes, pros and cons, but this report will not go into each individually. RAM as a whole is a very important part of any PC. Three different types, RAM, EDO RAM and SDRAM, of RAM are pictured below. Sound is considered a very important aspect to a computer. Both PCs and iMacs offer extremely good sound options. Hardware by numerous companies is offered to PC users world wide while only Apple products are supported by iMacs?. When it comes to top of the line visuals, it is race to a virtual finish line of infinity. In the world of

video both PCs and iMacs have their pros and cons. In the ever-changing world of PCs video cards are a must! The visual environment is ever changing and has unlimited possibilities. For instance, the computer I bought has a very high-end video card, the Nvidia Geforce 256. This card has great graphics as well a decent price tag, approximately $150. This may seem like a large sum for a video cards but personal research at a local best buy shows price ranges from just under $100 all the way up to the brand new Prophet 2 Geforce 2 video card at a whopping $450. The CD-ROM and disk drive are two other very popular, and usually standard, pieces of hardware. The CD-ROM is a unit used to read data CD?s and/or play music CD?s. They range in speeds from dual speed to 56x; this is how fast

they read a CD. Many manufacturers make CD-ROMs. CD-ROMs also range in price; this normally depends on the manufacturer and speed of the unit. The disk drive is normally a three and one-half inch bay at the front of a computer. The other style, that has become obsolete, is a five and one-half inch bay. These bays are used to transfer information on to floppy disks, the industry standard name. The three and one-half inch disks only hold about 1.5 MB of information. There are also specialty drives such as the Zip Drive, Jaz Drive, or Super Disk that can hold up to five-hundred times more information on one disk. Though they hold more, the specialty drives are a little bit bigger in size but will fit into the same space as the floppy disk drive would. The last pieces of hard ware

are the peripherals. These are your mouse, keyboard, game controllers such as joysticks and joypads, speakers and monitors, printers, microphones and all other products that plug into the CPU it self. These range in a variety of styles, colors, shapes, sizes and designs. The mouse and keyboard are almost always standard, and the monitor is usually standard but all products can be upgraded or downgraded to the consumers liking. Comparison Both PC?s and iMacs have the same basic components (motherboard, sound and video cards, Ram, CD-ROM, Floppy, etc.). The iMac, as well as all other Apple computers does not have compatibility with video cards made by all manufacturers; Apple computers only have a limited selection of video cards. Most specialty disk drives are also not compatible

with Apple computers. Just about all other components are compatible otherwise. One last, but very disputed, difference separating Apple and PC hard ware is the processor. Apple has a super advanced processor that is far superior to any AMD or Pentium processor. Though hard to believe, Apple has developed a technology that surpasses that of their PC cousins. You are probably wondering what exactly is so advanced about the G4 processor. What the G4 processor does is compute information faster and more efficiently than a Pentium does. A visual example below demonstrates. The G4, or Velocity Engine, processes information in 128 bit ?chunks,? while the Pentium processes information in 32 or 64 bit ?chunks?, thus the G4 is faster in it?s calculations than the Pentium. The G4 is still

in its early years and the fastest processor right now is only 500 MHz , a shadow of the supreme power of the AMD and Pentium 1.1 GHz processors. Though the G4 may lack the total speed of the AMD or Pentium, it is far superior in its calculation rate. Eventually Pentium, and AMD, should be able to match the superiority of its Apple cousin and compete for fastest processor. (The Power Mac G4, 2000) Operating Systems The operating system is the software a person uses to access programs and other pieces of software within a computer. Generally, there are six major operating systems that are used throughout the home computing world. The Microsoft Corp. currently produces four of the five operating systems, or OS?s. The other two operating systems, OS and Linux, are quite different in