Well, numbers don't lie; I guess I just remember the NeXT as a slower
machine because I was always playing with it side by side with SGIs or
something :O It actually stacks up pretty well, here's the results of my
rough little morning benchmark if anyone wants to know :O
NeXT config was: Color Slab, 040/25, 32 MB RAM, NeXTstep 3.3, 5400 RPM
drive, 24 bit color, 1280x1024
Mac config was: Quadra 800, 040/33, 20 MB RAM, Mac OS 7.5.3, 5400 RPM
drive, 16-bit color, 800x600
Not totally a fair contest since my Q800 can't sling video quite like my
NeXT can, however, the two configurations aren't totally out of line with
one another ... I measured:
Boot-up time:
NeXTstation Color - 1:24
Quadra 800 - 1:35 (although many extensions are installed - could likely be
reduced 10-20 seconds)
Browser launch time:
NeXTstation Color - ~0:22 (OmniWeb)
Quadra 800 - ~0:25 (Netscape Navigator 3.x)
Page load and render, my personal main page:
NeXTstation Color - ~0:15 (OmniWeb)
Quadra 800 - ~0:12 (Netscape Navigator 3.x)
Page load and render, my Definity PBX at home page (fairly long text)
NeXTstation Color - ~0:43 (OmniWeb)
Quadra 800 - ~0:30 (Netscape Navigator 3.x)
Page load and render, my Nortel PBX at home page (a little bigger yet)
NeXTstation Color - ~0:57
Quadra 800 - ~0:30
So the color Slab is actually about neck and neck with the Quadra 800...
considering it's around 25% less clock rate and is moving a lot more video
data than the Quadra, it actually keeps up pretty well. The Quadra does a
little better rendering "larger" pages but that's just the test I chose and
we all know OmniWeb isn't the fastest thing in the world ... Not so bad
after all. I guess this vindicates the NeXT :O It really isn't any slower
than a contemporary Mac and can in fact be slightly quicker in some cases.
Best,
Sean
On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Sean Caron <scaron at umich.edu> wrote:
I swear, this is the only place in the world where I
have seen the group
consensus shake out that NeXTstep was fast and responsive on the NeXT '040
hardware :O
I am about to go downstairs and benchmark my Color Slab vs my Quadra 800
and make sure I'm not going nuts, LOL.
Best,
Sean
On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 4:47 PM, Jerry Kemp <other at oryx.us> wrote:
Jumping in on the bandwagon.
A few years back, I had a friend loan me his NeXT slab for about a year.
25 Mhz CPU. Everything pretty much stock.
My observation of the default GUI was it was pretty darn quick, not even
taking into account the hardware it was running on.
Jerry
On 05/29/15 02:44 PM, Toby Thain wrote:
>>
> My impression is the same - the UI on my Cube, slabs, is quite zippy. I
> think
> that hardware blitter helps...
>
> --Toby
>
>
>