The system comparison capabilities of Speedometer are one of the most useful and powerful parts of the program. The Analysis Window allows you to graphically compare the performance of your system with the performance of other systems. In addition, you can compare the performance of other systems with each other. This can be especially useful if you are thinking about buying new hardware and want to know how well it performs. Registered users of Speedometer will receive a Machine Record File which contains performance ratings for most of Apple's current machines.
The Window
The Analysis Window appears when you use the Analysis command from the Windows menu, or if you select Systems Comparison from the Analysis menu.
The window consists of three major areas: the Control Bar, the Graph, and the Scroll Bar.
Control Bar
The Control Bar consists of five areas: System One Menu, System One Comment Box [?], System Two Menu, System One Comment Box [?], and the Current File Box [*].
The two System Menus are popup menus that allow you to select which system you wish to display. Selecting This Machine displays the results for the machine you are testing.
The two Comment Boxes are popup displays which show the System Comment for the currently displayed system. If no comment was saved, or if you have not yet entered a comment and This Machine is being displayed, then the comment will read ????.
The File Box is a popup display which shows the name of the current Machine Record File.
Graph
The graph is split into two parts. The top portion displays results from the Performance Rating and from the Benchmark Mix. Both of these test sets use the Mac Classic as a base (Classic = 1.0). The bottom portion of the graph has its own scale and is used to display test results from the Color and FPU tests which use the Mac II as a base machine.
If you click on the graph bar for a particular test result, a small box will be displayed which shows the ratio of the value you clicked on vs. the value on the other side of the graph. For example, if you have a Classic displayed on the left and an FX on the right, clicking in the PR Rating for the FX might tell you that the FX score is 10.79 times that of the Classic, and if you click in the Classic's bar, you see that it is .09 times that of the FX.
The Scroll Bar
The Scroll Bar is inactive on a large-screen Macintosh, but if you are using a smaller monitor, such as that on a Classic or the new 12 inch LC color monitor, then the window will not allow you to see the entire graph. In this case, use the scroll bar to move up and down the display.
