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PPC G5 On The Way -- And Fast
Sulka writes: "The Register has a report claiming the PPC G5 CPU is ready for production and will be launched by Apple in January. Initial batch would include a 1.6GHz version with 2GHz to follow. 64 bit architecture, 10 stage pipeline, Silicon-On-Insulator and other buzzwords are mentioned." Maybe this will mean cheaper G4s for those of us who buy computers somewhat lower on the food chain, too.
The problem is that mac os x uses display technology that is not easily accelerated by current graphics cards. A lot of screen drawing is done with vectors and bezier curves that are closer to the type of acceleration that a 3d card provides and not a 2d card. However, until recently, 3d cards weren't easily made to run custom routines. You had to rely on a set of standard calls. The geforce 3 changed this. I'm sure once those drivers mature, os x will really shine. On a side note, I run os x every day on a powerbook G4. While I wouldn't call the us fast, it is very usalbe. 10.1 will only improve on this.
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in a world without bounderies or fences, who needs Gates anyway?
Nobody calls it the apple tax because Apple isn't charging licensing fees to another company that they pass off to you. Apple's per-unit cost for bundling Mac OS with a computer is zero, because they develop the OS and the hardware.
It'd be like trying to get a Palm without PalmOS.
Or it'd be like complaining that a Microsoft-brand PC came with Windows, if Microsoft sold its own brand of PCs.
You couldn't save any money by not having Mac OS bundled, because Apple doesn't have to pay a licensing fee to anybody for including Mac OS; thus no cost is being passed on to you.
On the other hand, Apple also doesn't make you type in annoying 25-character license keys to use the OS that came with your computer.
-- "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin
I got the basic CD-ROM model - $1300 at the Apple Store in Tyson's Corner, VA. I ordered a 256MB SODIMM from Crucial. That was $150 at the time, but they're down to $49 now (Yeah, I feel like an idiot, but 64MB doesn't cut it these days). So for $1350 + shipping on the notebook, you could have a 500MHz G3 with 320 megs of RAM, 10 gig hard drive (small-ish, but definitely enough to play around on) and built in network, etc. It should come with MacOS X installed. Mine didn't, so I bugged the Apple Store until they gave me a copy. I installed it in a car ride up to Maryland - the install got done in the hour it took me to get up there (I forget exactly how long it took, I wasn't paying great attention).
MacOS X is *awesome*. I use that little laptop as much as I can. It's small, light, seems pretty tough (although I ripped off one of the feet on the bottom when it got caught on the edge of the desk and I pulled - I could have put it back in but I didn't realize it until later, after I had picked up the piece, thought "what the hell's this?" and then thrown it away). I love it. Funny thing is, I used to hate macs. *Hated* them. Now I'm about to get a Dual 800MHz G4 with a GeForce3 for graphics/audio.
I'd say that it's really worth it to drop the money on the iBook if you can afford it. If not, get the low end iMac - $300 cheaper, bigger hard drive, more stuff... It's not as portable, obviously, but it's still a Mac that you can play with. And it's running on a 100MHz bus instead of 66, like the iBook (my only complaint...)
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
One of two places:
1) Buy used, and tell 'em to keep their OEM license.
2) Buy parts directly, build what you don't have, and sell the extra 999 you're not going to use.
Apple's an OS maker--but they're their *own* OEM. No one complains about their preinstalled OS, just like no one complains that Palm sells Palm OS equipped handhelds, no one complains about the X-Box having MS software on it, and no one complains when their VCR works.
"no one," of course, exempts the Open Source Zealots who do complain about this, and every other faucet of bundled hardware.
The guy that overclocked his iBook noted higher temperatures (of course) but they were well within CPU specs. However, because he also lowered the power-saving speed to 300MHz he found that battery life actually increased. Sounds very cool..
Willy