- Writing for Wired News Paul Boutin says that new Macs are considerably slower at rendering web pages than their Windows XP-equipped counterparts. The allegation comes in a new article entitled Why do new iMacs surf so slowly?
Tests done at Wired News show that 800MHz iMacs take about twice as long to render web pages as a comparable XP-equipped PC compatible, according to Boutin. The cause? Boutin blames it on Mac OS X's lack of performance optimisations.
Boutin finds some credence for his claims not only in the comments of developers who create web browsing products for Mac OS X, but also from Apple Computer itself -- he quotes an Apple spokesperson who says that the company is "at the beginning of the performance opportunities in Mac OS X."
Boutin admits that Mac OS X provides a more stable operating environment than 9.2 does, even at the expense of speedy web page rendering. "OS X didn't mimic 9.2's habit of locking up completely," he says.
Although some users are clearly disappointed with the Mac's Iinternet performance, others don't mind. Boutin quoted one UNIX administrator with a decade of experience as saying that he had "wanted a Mac for a long time" -- he finally got one when Apple released the flat-panel display-equipped iMac earlier this year.