But at the circuit level, XOR is one of the basic gates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xor_gate). It's central to other operations such as add and graphics masking operations (and, as already mentioned RAID calculations). The engineers would really have to go out of their way to make this slow. There's an example of combining NAND gates to make an XOR in the linked Wikipedia entry, but who would want to waste that kind of real estate on the CPU?
The winner, 12 year old prodigy Seth Hartstone announced, "After running several statistical projections, I determined the odds that SCO or its remianing assets would have any value by the time I could drive my new BMW were nil. Thus, I could drive away with a clear conscience by the time I would reap any benefits from my momentary lapse of willpower."
Every time I see people mention the "Apple Tax" I wonder if they've done a true side-by-side comparison. When I bought my first Mac (a 17" PowerBook) two years ago, I went to Dell to configure a Dell (widescreen) with the same memory, drive capacity, DVD writer, etc and the Dell was several hundred dollars more. Last week, I was asked to write up specifications for my replacement system at work (I'm requesting the new Mac even though it's not the corporate standard and it looks like it may get approved). As a backup (in case it's not approved), I wrote up specs for a similarly equipped Dell (3.4 GHz, but only single processor, but a 2-layer DVD was not available). The prices was essentially the same (within tens of dollars). But the way I see it (between dual core, a 2-layer burner and a better video processor [though I don't really care about that]), I'd be getting more for the money with a Mac.
Now, it's true that there are lower cost systems than a Dell. But that is our corporate standard (and back when I was self-employed I always purchased Dell because I felt the slight premium bought a better PC). It's also true that most low-end Macs have more premium features than low-end PCs. But that's not a tax, that's simply a more realistic base configuration. The whole PC pricing scheme reminds me of the way American car companies price vans (and probably other cars) -- put in an engine that's really too small, leave off options that most buyers would add to the package and advertise an unbelievably low price that almost nobody would end up paying.
Of course, this presumes that LDL is actually bad for you, i.e. the correlation between LDL and heart disease is strong and that those proposing the correlation is significant have actually proven causation as well. There are those who believe otherwise (http://www.thincs.org/). But hey, why buck the multibillion dollar drug industry? They will bury you.
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Will you get the Blues tune of death?
But at the circuit level, XOR is one of the basic gates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xor_gate). It's central to other operations such as add and graphics masking operations (and, as already mentioned RAID calculations). The engineers would really have to go out of their way to make this slow. There's an example of combining NAND gates to make an XOR in the linked Wikipedia entry, but who would want to waste that kind of real estate on the CPU?
The winner, 12 year old prodigy Seth Hartstone announced, "After running several statistical projections, I determined the odds that SCO or its remianing assets would have any value by the time I could drive my new BMW were nil. Thus, I could drive away with a clear conscience by the time I would reap any benefits from my momentary lapse of willpower."
Every time I see people mention the "Apple Tax" I wonder if they've done a true side-by-side comparison. When I bought my first Mac (a 17" PowerBook) two years ago, I went to Dell to configure a Dell (widescreen) with the same memory, drive capacity, DVD writer, etc and the Dell was several hundred dollars more. Last week, I was asked to write up specifications for my replacement system at work (I'm requesting the new Mac even though it's not the corporate standard and it looks like it may get approved). As a backup (in case it's not approved), I wrote up specs for a similarly equipped Dell (3.4 GHz, but only single processor, but a 2-layer DVD was not available). The prices was essentially the same (within tens of dollars). But the way I see it (between dual core, a 2-layer burner and a better video processor [though I don't really care about that]), I'd be getting more for the money with a Mac. Now, it's true that there are lower cost systems than a Dell. But that is our corporate standard (and back when I was self-employed I always purchased Dell because I felt the slight premium bought a better PC). It's also true that most low-end Macs have more premium features than low-end PCs. But that's not a tax, that's simply a more realistic base configuration. The whole PC pricing scheme reminds me of the way American car companies price vans (and probably other cars) -- put in an engine that's really too small, leave off options that most buyers would add to the package and advertise an unbelievably low price that almost nobody would end up paying.
Of course, this presumes that LDL is actually bad for you, i.e. the correlation between LDL and heart disease is strong and that those proposing the correlation is significant have actually proven causation as well. There are those who believe otherwise (http://www.thincs.org/). But hey, why buck the multibillion dollar drug industry? They will bury you.