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Freescale Debuts Faster, Cooler G4
acsinc writes "The Register reports that Freescale (Motorola's chip division) has launched the 90nm G4, and is planning a dual core version for next year. The chip is faster -- over 1.5GHz -- and cooler than the old chip, but it is also pin compatible. This ought to help provide a speed bump for PowerBooks, which still don't have G5s."
Read it again. The one just released is compatible; the planned dual-core CPU probably will not be (my assumption).
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"unless it requires new hardware, but then its not exactily a G4 anymore, at least in my mind."
What? G4 merely defines the PowerPC generation 4, which means existance of AltiVec, multi-processing capability, etc. It doesn't have to be on the same hardware at all. The G4 exists for everything from embedded devices over laptops to servers.
It is NOT dual core. The article is talking about a 90nm G4 processor, and they are planning a dual core for later. The single core is what is pin-compatible.
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probably a sneaky little trick like Intel use with the miraculous HT technology i suppose it doesn't really matter if its pin compatible or not, Apple will just have to whack out a new motherboard. Its not like you can just go and build yourself a laptop from bits you can buy off the shelf (granted if you had the will you could but why would you unless you have access to necessary fabs, to make your contraption a laptop), an I assume Apple stick a fair markup on the powerbooks any way, so they could probably eat any initial development costs and keep thing at relatively the same price.
My that is rather cunning...!?
So when the dual core G4s do come out I could run 2 separate operating systems simultaneously? That's odd, how (and which ones) is that pulled off. Getting a dual boot mac is enough of a pain in the ass, to have it multi boot is, yeah I don't see that happening.
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this cpu will probably be in the last generation of G4 Powerbooks before they move to G5. Personally I think I'd rather have a nice, cool running, fast, energy efficient, 3rd or 4th gen G4 than a 1st gen G5.
Ok, so maybe the poster was suggesting that they use these new G4s instead of G5s to boost PowerBook performance. I suppose that makes sense...
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That's not going to happen.
Apple would be nothing short of certifiably insane if they stopped supporting 32-bit machines before probably five years after they stopped shipping them.
Let's say the entire lineup goes 64-bit tomorrow. They're wouldn't require 64-bit machines for OS upgrades until 2009 or so. Individual *features* might require 64-bits, but none of the core functionality.
For example, Panther still supports original iMacs, which are from '98 ('97? I really should know that...). Features like Quartz Extreme won't work, but the OS itself installs and runs fine. Panther updates install and work just fine.
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What some people don't realize, is that more than the extra Mhz that this processor provides, it does up the bus speed to 200Mhz (current 1.5Ghz G4s are at 167Mhz). That is a pretty hefty increase, so they should perform quite well...
:) The common 7200 RPM drives and high end video use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat...
But having said that, I (who own a 1.5Ghz 15' Powerbook) would rather see the G5 in a laptop.
While the G5 is a GREAT processor, the 64bitness is not it's strongest points. The G5 is simply a very efficient processor... But still, most apps are not CPU constrained, but Bandwidth constrained. In fact, I would bet that a 2Ghz G4 on a 200Mhz bus would still be outperformed by a 1.6Ghz G5 on a 800Mhz bus.
What I would like to see would be a ~ 1.5Ghz G5 laptop with a 1Ghz bus and a 7200rpm disk and a good video card. They could do that right, and not have heat problems. But it wouldn't be cheap...
Interestingly, if you don't believe how much things OTHER than the processor can impact performance, if you have a PowerBook (especially one with a 4200RPM drive) - Run XBench, note the score, then plug it into a 7200RPM firewire drive, and run it again (using the firewire drive instead of the internal). Note the score. That one little change should give you a pretty good speed boost!
Tiger isn't going to be released until sometime in the first half of 2005, even then it will contain fat binaries which are binaries containing multiple versions of the same executable in different ISAs or what have you. Tiger then will have 32-bit and 64-bit versions of all of its frameworks and the OS will pick which to use at runtime based on what processor the system is running on. This was a capability of OpenStep, fat binaries allowed you to compile for different architectures yet only distribute one executable file without JITC.
After Tiger there isn't likely to be another OSX upgrade until the first half of 2007 or so. So between now and the release of Tiger's successor you've got plenty of time to use a Powerbook. Even when Tiger's successor (Ocelot?) is released it will very likely still support old 32-bit Macs considering there will still be millions of them in use. It was only with Panther's release the Apple dropped official support for the last of the Old World machines, Wallstreet Powerbook and Beige G3 PowerMac, though with a little hacking they work just fine. Those systems were both five years old when Panther was released.
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So, can I replace the 800MHz G4 in my iBook with one of these?
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How can you have compatable pinout on a dual core cpu?
As others have pointed out, the newly released version is not dual core. But more to the point, what's to prevent the dual core version from having the same, or substantially same, pinout? No matter how many processing units you have on the chip, you still only need one address bus, one data bus, one clock, etc. Maybe multiple cores would require a few extra signals -- I'm certainly not a chip designer -- but it seems unlikely that the pinouts would have to be very different.
The dual cpu G4's can have two cpu's on a single daughtercard even though there are two separate daughtercard sockets. You just leave one of them empty. As long as you have a UniNorth rev 7 or later you can run multiprocessor. I do believe that two cpu's is the limit for some reason. I don't think you can have two dual cpu daughtercards, I'm not sure I remember why.
I use to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.