*Using the stock ATI RADEON 9600 Pro graphics card--previous tests used a RADEON 9800 Pro. **First number is after upgra

In comparison with the last Jaguar version on our stock G4 Cube, Panther is much faster in 2D graphics (Xbench Quartz Graphics) and in finder operations (Xbench User Interface). This continues in 10.3.4 but no faster than previous Panther versions. Startup in our G4 was also much faster with Panther 10.3 than with Jaguar 10.2.8 but the 10.3.4 update like 10.3.3 and 10.3.2 slows down the startup time significantly from 10.3. At least SpeedStart 0.1 is no longer needed since 10.3.3. Disk performance also seems to be slightly poorer with the 10.3.4 and 10.3.3 updates than 10.3.2--this may reflect aging in the original drive. There is a continued improvement in 3D graphics (Quake III Arena), i.e. 34 fps vs 21 previously in 10.3.

The dual 2-GHz Power Mac G5 speed tests with 10.3.4 illustrate the superb performace of the current top of the line Mac. There's virtually no comparison in the benchmarks between the Cube and the G5 and in most of the so-called "real world" tests. Surprisingly, though, the G5's startup time (chime to complete desktop) is only a second or two faster than the G4 Cube's.

In summary, the speed of the Mac OS X 10.3.4 update is virtually identical to that of 10.3.3 and 10.3.2 in all tests. 10.3.4 is slower at startup by our measurements than 10.3 like with 10.3.3 and 10.3.2 but it does not need the SpeedStart patch like 10.3.2. People have posted to the web that 10.3.4 seems faster than 10.3.3 but it is likely that they are just noticing the benefits of a fresh install and reboot.

We've had no problems with the 10.3.4 update. However, it does not fix some significant problems like dropping the AirPort Extreme connection in PowerBooks with more than 1 GB of RAM.