22. NS BASIC Tech Note: MessagePad 130 Performance (Revised) May 7, 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------

(Note: These performance tests were done with NS BASIC 3.50, but
should be fairly applicable to most other Newton applications. In
our original tests, we found significant speed improvements when
running our benchmarks. Thanks to Flash Sheridan, who pointed out
that a Newton runs much faster after a cold reboot than it will after
several months of use.)

In the marketing literature for the MP 130, Apple stressed the
backlighting and increased memory, without mentioning any possible
effect on performance.

The MP 130 is somewhat faster than the MP 120 with NOS 2.0 in almost 
all operations.

Here's a summary:

Execution      about the same
Screen I/O     1.1 times faster
File I/O       1.2 times faster

NS BASIC launched in about 2/3 the time. The NS BASIC standard 
benchmark program compiled in a bit more than half the time, and ran
1.1 times faster overall.

[Tests were run using NS BASIC 3.5 with Visual Designer, from the same
memory card in two different MessagePads. Both units were reset 
before the tests were run.]

Conclusion: When it comes to getting more performance from your 
Newton, you'll probably do better by doing a backup/cold reset/restore
of your Newton than upgrading to an MP 130.

Mea Culpa: We apoligize for the earlier misleading results. We ran
the tests carefully, and they were consistant with the results we
got from other developers. It was widely believed that a warm reset
would clear up any memory usage: the discovery that it takes a cold
reset to completely do this should be of benefit to all Newton users.


New functions for NS BASIC users in the MessagePad 130
------------------------------------------------------

The Message Pad 130 supports some new functions that can be used from 
NS BASIC. They are used just like any other function.

BackLightPresent() - Returns true if the unit has a backlight
BackLightStatus() - Returns true if the backlight is on
BackLight(TRUE) - Turns the backlight on
BackLight(NIL) - Turns the backlight off