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Someone already moderated this as "Troll", and I won't disagree.

IBM never intended to compete fully with Intel and AMD for the desktop market considering Apple's 5% market share. On the other hand, IBM appears determined to continue with improved Power processors for their high-end desktop and server market -- as well as the imbedded market which now includes highly visible gaming consoles, but it has been around for over a decade.

Also PA SEMI has a great new low power PowerPC chip.

The x86 hardware is not that bad, especially when running AMD's 64-bit extensions.

I'm somewhat disapointed with apple's present hardware offerings. I wish they kept the PPC platform esp since PA semi made the laptop chip they needed and it's better then intel's core ie is 64bit has an onboard PCI-e controller and two DDR2 memory controllers and uses only 5 to 13 watts. Tell me does yohna or even conroe come close to this http://www.pasemi.com/processors/1682M.html Other gripes no PCMCIA on the macbooks and to get a usable graphics card you must buy the macbook pro. Though since they have OSX on X86 I'd like to see it offered for normal PCs esp since I seen acer and sony laptops that have better battery life and offer a 3d card for a lot less money.

Such as the lead chip designer for the Alpha, Dan Dobberpuhl. A few others are also listed at http://www.pasemi.com/about/team.html

The PWRficient family of PPC processors is actually very interesting from a HPC standpoint; it may even be of some use to SGI. These chips are fast, extremely low power, and have a ton of integrated I/O and memory bandwidth. They are the perfect chip for an extremely high density Blue Gene style system. (Among many other things.)

In any case, the demise of the Alpha was truly a shame. As for SGI, I believe that their fate was sealed when they changed their name and logo. To discard such a logo is unforgivable; if they were to restore it though, perhaps they may rise again...

and multi-core to boot. PWRficient processors.

I've interned approximately 10 months for Apple computer (EE for the Mac Mini in 2004), and been on two recruiting events to my college during that time, taking resumés (but not doing any interviews). From the recruiting side you quickly find that everyone's resumé looks exactly the same as everyone else: you all have the same courses, projects, and skills in programming languages and the like.

What I want to see is you telling me why I should hire you -- why should I push this resumé to the hiring manager with a "we've got to hire this kid." What makes you different? We all know you want to work for us -- you wouldn't have been in line giving me your resumé otherwise. If you give me the impression that you're not full-out gung-ho for the position, I'm not even going to consider you.

I want to see things like what you do in your free time: do you have a life? But I don't want to see someone who only does extracurricular activities. Do you surf and play in a band, say, but also work on some really neat [EE/CS] projects at the same time? Can you balance school/fun/hobbies? Do you have personal drive and a spark of intelligence? If you're bright and driven, we can teach you anything you need to know. That's far more important than simply knowing many things. Tell me something cool you've done. Impress me. Make me want to see you come work for us.

Even more interesting is being in the college at which you're recruiting: you can see everyone taking the same classes you've taken, doing the same projects and trying to pass it off as if it's unique. Hey, kid: I did that last quarter. In fact, you were in my section and goofed off half the time; or perhaps you're the guy who took the easy route on that project while I busted my ass doing it the hard way. I don't think so.

Don't be disappointed if you don't get anything your first year: Many do not. Don't, however, waste your time. Do -something- related to your major and expected career. Make up some project for yourself and do it, and do it well. Work for free for a company as long as it's giving yourself some valuable experience. In other words, do -anything- to differentiate yourself in a positive light and make me remember you. I went through 60 resumés in 6 hours at one career fair, and I can't remember 2/3 of the people I talked to. The only ones I remember are those who made an impression.

Good luck! I'll be at Google and http://www.pasemi.com/ this summer/fall (have to see more of the world before I graduate and pick a permanent career). Once you have experience in one job, the next come much, much easier.

The catch being that all 8 will only add up to 10ghz or so. Power usage will be quite low and you could get away with heatsink-only though

They use the POWER instruction set, so PPC linux will run on it, and who could say fairer than shoving 4 of these babies together on a board?

Downside would be waiting until 2008. Dual core is out next year and quad core in 2006, however.

Now who'd like a beowulf cluster of these? ;)

IBM perhaps not, but this could be promising:

http://www.pasemi.com/news/releases/2005_oct_24_1. html

In addition to their experience, they also all look like absolute studs!

http://www.pasemi.com/about/team.html

PA Semiconductor Release

THE PWRficient PROCESSOR ROLLOUT

The first PWRficient chip, the PA6T-1682M, which dissipates between just 5-13 watts, depending upon the application, is a dual-core implementation running at 2GHz with two DDR2 memory controllers, 2MB of L2 cache, and a flexible I/O subsystem that supports eight PCI Express controllers, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet XAUI controllers, and four Gigabit Ethernet SGMII controllers sharing 24 serdes lanes. It will sample in the third calendar quarter of 2006, with single-core and quad-core versions due in early and late 2007, respectively, and an eight-core version planned for 2008.

So please can you explain your "These chips aren't due out for two or three YEARS" statement.

yes, it is another shitty slashdot story that links to the worst possible source for a story whilst ignoring all of the more useful possible sources, including the people themselves.

I think you are confusing the article with the company itself. They are pretty clear with what they are about. Try their about page or check out the company bios. The CEO has designed a chip or two in his time - namely the DEC Alpha processor.

I think you are confusing the article with the company itself. They are pretty clear with what they are about. Try their about page or check out the company bios. The CEO has designed a chip or two in his time - namely the DEC Alpha processor.

Well except the guys at PA Semi have actually designed and shipped chips.
Here's some Bios
Dan Dobberpuhl, President and CEO

Dan Dobberpuhl, President and CEODan Dobberpuhl, who cofounded P.A. Semi in July 2003, has been credited with developing fundamental breakthroughs in the evolution of high-speed and low-power microprocessors. Prior to founding P.A. Semi, Dobberpuhl was vice president and general manager of the Broadband Processor division of Broadcom Corporation. He came to Broadcom via an acquisition of his previous company, SiByte Inc., founded in 1998, which Broadcom acquired in 2000. Before that, Dobberpuhl worked for Digital Equipment Corporation for more than 20 years, where was credited with some of the most fundamental breakthroughs in microprocessor technology. In 1998, EE Times named Dobberpuhl as one of the "40 forces to shape the future of the Semiconductor Industry." In 2003, he was awarded the prestigious IEEE Solid State Circuits Award for "Pioneering design of high-speed and low-power microprocessors."

Dobberpuhl holds 15 patents and has many publications related to integrated circuits and CPUs, including coauthorship of the seminal textbook Design and Analysis of VLSI Circuits, published by Addison-Wesley in 1985. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Nah - he knows nothing about processor design - but random dude at slashdot know more.

Rest of the team's bios

BSD