Thread: Briefly tried an N900!
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Jed is offline Jed
2009-10-26 , 16:17
Posts: 61 | Thanked: 18 times | Joined on Oct 2009
#20
Originally Posted by TA-t3 View Post
Let's boil things down to the following: Multitasking per se does not slow things down. To launch a new application, for example, isn't slowed down just because you happen to run an operating system that can multitask.

Actual multitasking can slow things down when applications start to fight for resources (which isn't something that's implied simply because you're multitasking).

Sounds better?
Sorry fella, but this is confused.

Multitasking, by definition, increases demand on two fundamental resources - memory and CPU. It doesn't 'slow things down' in the sense that it causes the CPU to run slower - it will always be chugging along at 600MHz or whatever - but it can have an appreciable effect on the performance of individual programs, 'slowing' their responsiveness, making them 'feel' sluggish.

You may not experience any appreciable slowdown when you run a particular set of programs together, but that will depend entirely on the demands each particular program is placing on these resources.

Try running multiple youtube videos, or open a few xterms and run htop in each....then you'll get an idea of what it will take to make your device start to sweat. I imagine older devices will sweat earlier than later (N900) devices.

In short - the degree to which multitasking impacts overall performance will depend on the particular resource-demand characteristics of the specific software being used.