AltiVec and Audio Software...

Since the "Velocity Engine" is the primary advantage that the Motorola G4 processor has over the G3, how much of a theoretical improvement can one expect to see with audio software that's been AltiVec optimized? Since these extended instructions were primarily designed to improve graphics processing and compression/decompression calculations, I wonder how advantageous it would be to go with a G4 over a G3 of the same (or higher) clock speed if you will primarily be doing music. Any real world experiences to share that might shed some light?

The primary reason for asking about this is that I am on the brink of investing in a new Apple laptop and the decision between the 600MHz G3 iBook vs. 550MHz G4 PowerBook is vexing me. The $500 difference is making the "Titanium" PowerBook a little less tantalizing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

-Tronam

 

Hi Tronam, I by no means am an expert at determining how beneficial certain chipsets are for music apps. But I do know a lot from experience, and if an app is not HIGHLY optimized for the velocity engine in the G4 you will see better performance out of the app on a faster G3 chip. So the ibook 600 would perform just as good if not better then a G4 550 for most apps. This is at least my opinion based on some testing on non G4 optimized applications.

::chris_borgia::