Re: mhz vs bps

Brian G. Deeley (bdeeley@clark.net)
Wed, 10 Jan 1996 10:07:24 EST

> Stevi Suib <sbsuib@mailbox.syr.edu> wrote:
> >Can someone tell me if I can acess netscapeand download etc. using a
> >quadra with only 25 MHZ. The modem is 28.8 but I was wondering if the
> >MHZ affected the process as well. If not, what will a low MHZ be
> >burdensome for. I may buy a used and slow Macintosh machine.It is
> >primarily for the www and wordprocessing. Is this a bad idea?

It all comes down to the speed of your modem(bps or bits per second).
Your modem has a speed of 28.8kbps or 28800 bits per second, while your
processor is running in the neighborhood of 4 MIPs or 4 million
instructions per second. Even with compression both hardware and
software with your modem, you're still only looking at a possible 115kbps
which is minimal compared to the capabilitities of your processor. There
are other items that do play a part, such as, your system bus, harddrive
speeds, wait states, but I will avoid these for fear of being flamed for
being to technical.

Hope this Helps.

Brian Deeley
bdeeley@clark.net