Newest Power Macs Trounce Pentium PCs

Independent Study Shows PowerPC Processor-Based Macintosh Systems are
Significantly Faster Than Pentium Systems.

BOSTON, Massachusetts--August 7, 1995--Apple Computer's newest Power
Macintosh systems outperformed Windows computers based on equivalent
clock-speed Pentium processors by up to 44% overall, according to a study
recently completed by Competitive Assessment Services (CAS).

Introduced today, the new, aggressively priced Power Macintosh systems--the
Power Mac 7200/75, 7200/90, 7500/100 and 8500/120extend the performance
leadership established by the original Power Mac systems. In addition,
these new computers offer the same powerful architecture found in the
world's fastest personal computer, the Power Macintosh 9500.

The Power Macintosh 9500 and the new Power Macintosh 8500 feature the next
generation PowerPC 604 microprocessor. According to Apple's processor
vendors, IBM Microelectronics Division and Motorola RISC Microprocessor
Division, the PowerPC 604 microprocessor today delivers the performance
that's promised by the still unreleased Intel P6 processor. The 604 is
capable of achieving an estimated SpecInt92 performance rating of 200,
easily outperforming any of Intel's currently shipping processors.

While Spec marks are a low level metric, quantifying the optimized
performance of the microprocessor at a purely technical level, application
level tests like the CAS methodology, aim to duplicate a customer's actual
experience.

An analysis of the CAS report on the new Power Macintosh systems
revealed*.

 -- Overall the Power Macintosh 7200, 7500 and 8500 were 24%, 30% and 44%,
respectively, faster than the Pentium based systems running at the same
clock speed.

-- On the graphics and publishing applications tested, the Apple Power
Macintosh 7200/75 was 62% faster than the 75 MHz Pentium based PC tested.

-- On the graphics and publishing applications tested, the Apple Power
Macintosh 7200/90 was 58% faster than the 90 MHz Pentium based PC tested.

-- The Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100 was 55% faster on graphics and
publishing applications than the 120 MHz Pentium processor based PC
running Windows and 71% faster than the 100 MHz Pentium based system
tested.

-- The Apple Power Macintosh 8500/120 was 80% faster on graphics and
publishing applications than the 120 MHz Pentium processor based PC
running Windows and 98% faster than the 100 MHz Pentium running the same
applications.

* CAS conducted these tests with virtual memory turned on, and noted that
users could expect even greater performance gains on the new Power Mac
systems with virtual memory turned off.

What CAS Tested

The application-level benchmarks included ten different applications
measured on 58 different tasks. The applications included spreadsheets,
word processors, a database, document layout, business graphics, and other
applications. The tasks measured included opening files, scrolling, spell
checking, spreadsheet recalculations, graphing and a variety of other
tasks. The applications used were Microsoft Excel, Word and FoxPro, Claris
Works from Claris, Wolfram Research's Mathematica, Macromedia Freehand,
Fractal Design Painter, FrameMaker from Frame Technology Corporation,
Deltagraph Professional from DeltaPoint and Ashlar Vellum.

About the configurations

All systems were configured with 16 MB memory. The Pentium based computers
were configured with 256KB L2 cache. The Pentium based systems were
running Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as configured from the
factory. The Power Macintosh computers were configured with optional 256KB
L2 cache and virtual memory on. The Power Macintosh computers were running
System 7.5.2. All systems were set to the same graphics resolution and bit
depth.

Processor/ MHz      Computer

PowerPC 604/120*    Power Macintosh 8500/120
PowerPC 601/100     Power Macintosh 7500/100
PowerPC 601/90      Power Macintosh 7200/90
PowerPC 601/75      Power Macintosh 7200/75
Pentium/120         Dell Optiplex XMT 5/120
Pentium/100         Gateway P5100 XL
Pentium/90          Dell XPS P90
Pentium/75          Dell Dimension XPS P75
Pentium/66          Compaq Deskpro 5/66M
486/33              Compaq Deskpro XE 433

The overall application level performance of the systems tested was:

Computer                          Relative Performance*

Apple Power Macintosh 8500/120     6.18
Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100     5.23
Apple Power Macintosh 7200/90      4.54
Pentium 120 MHz                    4.28
Pentium 100 MHz                    4.01
Apple Power Macintosh 7200/75      3.95
Pentium 90 MHz                     3.67
Pentium 75 MHz                     3.16
Pentium 66 MHz                     3.06
486DX 33 MHz                       1.00

*In multiples of the performance of a 33 MHz 486DX

The performance results of the publishing and graphics applications tested
was:

Computer                               Relative Performance*

Apple Power Macintosh 8500/120           8.80
Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100           7.59
Apple Power Macintosh 7200/90            6.45
Apple Power Macintosh 7200/75            5.67
Pentium 120 MHz                          4.90
Pentium 100 MHz                          4.44
Pentium 90 MHz                           4.08
Pentium 75 MHz                           3.50
Pentium 66 MHz                           3.27
486DX 33 MHz                             1.00

*In multiples of the performance of a 33 MHz 486DX

Graphics and publishing applications included Framemaker, Painter,
Deltagraph and Freehand.

About the Testing by CAS

The application level testing was conducted by Competitive Assessment
Services on equivalently configured Power Macintosh and x86
processor-based PCs running Windows. The tests consisted of measuring the
actual elapsed time required to perform various tasks. Unlike
processor-only or low-level benchmarks, the test results reflect
application-level performance running real applications on actual systems.
The tasks involved a mix of integer, floating point, disk and graphics
activities.

This new report also highlights the contrast between artificial benchmarks
like SPECmarks, which are subject to optimization by manufacturers, and
real-world applications tests which aim to measure actual
application-level performance.

CAS found the new Power Macs' overall performance on applications tested to
be much higher than Pentium processor-based computers running at the same
clock speed. Performance can vary from application to application; Apple
encourages customers to perform their own tests.

Located in Huntington Beach, California, Competitive Assessment Services
are providers of comparative computer quality standards. CAS reports
testing scores as Geometric Mean Index scores. These scores were analyzed
by Apple Computer in order to determine relative performance results as
reported in the various application groups.

CAS is an independent test facility. CAS has been contracted by Apple
Computer, Inc., (Apple) to perform the above suite of benchmarks with
industry standard applications as tested on personal computer systems. The
test procedures are designed to take full advantage of both Apple and
Intel-based personal computer system architecture. CAS closely monitors
test procedures to ensure reproducible system configurations and test
results.

Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information
industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy to use personal
computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal
digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple
(NASDAQ:AAPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products,
technologies and services for the business, education, consumer,
scientific & engineering and government markets in over 140 countries.

Customer Information Contact: If you are considering the purchase of an
Apple product and would like to have product information faxed to you,
please call 1-800-462-4396 in the U.S. or (415) 598-4329 in Canada. If you
do not have a fax machine or would like to locate an Apple authorized
reseller near you, please call 1-800-538-9696. Customers outside the U.S.
should contact their local Apple representatives for information.

Apple's home page on the World Wide Web: http://www.apple.com/

Apple Computer Inc
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-996-1010
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
