Date:         Mon, 1 Feb 1999 17:02:26 +1100
Reply-To:     John Reece <reece@RMIT.EDU.AU>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         John Reece <reece@RMIT.EDU.AU>
Subject:      Re. Best SPSS option for Powerbook 1400
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

> I am about to embark on my dissertation, likely will be running Principal
> Component Analysis/Factor Analysis.
>
> I have a powerbook 1400cs 117mz model.  System 7.5.1. Only 12mg Ram at the
> moment, but could certainly upgrade.
 
Yes, upgrade definitely. Memory is cheap, and running your Mac on
pure RAM (i.e., virtual turned off, no RAM doubler) really zips
things up.
 
> Wondering what my best SPSS option would be.  I can get the grad pack Mac
> version 6.1.1, but am wondering if I should consider getting the newer
> windoze version and use one of the emulator programs.
 
SPSS 8.0 (and I assume 9.0) runs fine under Virtual PC, but you need
a pretty powerful Mac to run it at an acceptable speed. A G3 with
heaps of RAM would be fine.
 
> Any advantage to upgrading to OS 8.whatever if I were to stick with the
> Mac version?
 
I doubt whether you'll see any improvement by upgrading the OS.
Having said that, I have run SPSS 6.1 on every OS from 7.5 up,
including 8.5.1, with no problems.
 
> Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Give the needs that you've outlined, 6.1 for the Mac should be able
to do everything you need. Apart from the GLM procedure there's not
that much difference in the statistical procedures between 6.1 and
the later versions (at least, not for my uses). Call me
old-fashioned, but I prefer the simple plain text output of 6.1
compared with the fancy pivot tables of 7.0 and up
 
> I am not in the position of getting a new notebook, although I am starting
> to consider a G3 upgrade, given the recent price drops.  I would like to
> take advantage of the grad pack offer while I am still in school, but
> would like to maximize my investment.
 
A G3 upgrade card won't match a straight-up G3 for speed, but it will
be a noticeable improvement. Once you upgrade the memory, 6.1 will
run at a perfectly acceptable speed on your 1400cs.
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|John Reece, PhD                                                 |
|Dept. of Psychology & Intellectual Disability Studies           |
|RMIT University                          Phone: +61.3.9925.7512 |
|PO Box 71                                Fax:   +61.3.9925.7303 |
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