Intel - native version of Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office are still a ways off . But Mac substance abuser running these and other programme via Apple ’s Rosetta emulation applied science on their Intel - based Macs have bugger off a significant performance rise from Mac OS X 10.4.8 . Macworld Lab test ground improvements in the performance of some non - Intel - native apps on systems running September ’s group O decade update — with some systems seeing their functioning spring by more than 30 percent .
Some background is in parliamentary procedure . Apple bring out its first Intel - found ironware offerings at last January ’s Macworld Expo , well ahead of schedule . The only trouble : Intel - found hardware arrive before many programs had been rewritten for compatibility with the new central processor .
To ensure as unseamed a transition as possible , Apple evolve an emulation engineering called Rosetta that grant all but a few PowerPC - establish programs to run on Intel machine — but with a noticeable performance hit . So while a program rewritten to feature Intel - native compatibility might run quicker on a MacBook Pro or Core Duo - based iMac than it would on a corresponding PowerPC - found machine , applications running via Rosetta typically run slower — muchslower for particularly processor - intensive programs such as Photoshop .
As an model , take a gander at some of our former Intel benchmarks , such as this look at how applications ran in Rosetta on the original Core Duo iMacs . All of those test back in January found that PowerPC applications ran on that iMac at less than half their native speed .
What changed
Ah , but back in the present day , thing have meliorate dramatically since OS X 10.4.8 ’s arrival . We first noticed a modification as we run benchmark on the new MacBook Pro Core Duos last week : Intel - based system saw striking gains in Photoshop and Office tests , enough to knock up Speedmark scores by a brace of points . More in - profundity examination find oneself swiftness improvements in both Word and Photoshop ranging from 3 per centum to 36 percent . Photoshop numbers saw the biggest jumps , especially on the Mac Pro / Quad 2.66GHz Xeon .
Rosetta Improvements in OS X 10.4.8
Best consequence inbold . Reference system initalics .
All stacks are in minutes : seconds . All tests run with 1 GB of RAM . The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 14 scripted task using a 50 MB file . Photoshop ’s memory was adjust to 70 percent and History was do to Minimum . We memorialise the amount of time it took to scroll through a 500 Page Word document — MACWORLD LAB TESTING BY JAMES GALBRAITH , BRIAN CHEN , AND JERRY JUNG
Before the OS X 10.4.8 update , a 2GHz iMac G5 quiver the 2.66GHz Quad - Core Mac Pro at both the Photoshop and Word Scroll tests . After the update , the Photoshop numbers looked much more goodish , with the Mac Pro outpace the iMac G5 by 28 percent in the Photoshop test . What ’s more , the 2.16GHz iMac Core 2 duet closing the speed gap enjoyed by its G5 counterpart from 35 percentage to a drained even destination . Still , even after the OS X 10.4.8 update , the G5s wiped the floor with the Intel - based Macs on the Word test .
So what accounts for these performance amplification ? Apple’srelease notesindicate that OS X 10.4.8 “ improve the accuracy of Rosetta numerics and address Altivec translation issues on Intel - establish Macs , ” but offer few other details . And while those word may not mean a caboodle to you , the carrying into action gains they are responsible for for ( peculiarly in Photoshop ) can make the time spend waitress for your favorite PowerPC program to go Universal a lot more rich .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld Lab ’s music director . ]
