Let debate recommence: PC faster than Mac?

The long-time debate between PC and Mac partisans over which platform performs better reached an interesting impasse this week when long-time Apple partner Adobe published a document on its Web site supporting claims that the PC is indeed faster.

This development is interesting for two reasons. First, Apple has always used specially written Adobe applications to demonstrate the Mac's performance claims, so it's a bit problematic when the creator of those applications basically refutes the information. And second, Apple has actually responded to the charges.

Adobe's new PC Preferred site republishes information that first appeared in July 2002, a performance comparison of a then top-of-the line Dell 2.53 GHz Precision Workstation vs. an equally decked-out dual processor Power Mac G4 running a 1 GHz. The single processor Dell crushed the Mac in every test, with Adobe noting, "While the computers used in this study are no longer the fastest in their respective classes, the information is still valid. The PC outperformed the similar Macintosh machine, at an impressive rate." Today, the fastest PCs feature clock speeds over 3 GHz, while G4-powered Macs have jumped to 1.42 GHz.

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