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New Mac System Specs
xyankee writes " Think Secret appears to be dishing more of the dirt that Apple loves to hate so much, this time dropping details on updated Power Mac G5, iMac G5, and eMac systems soon to be released. Looks like speed bumps all around: Power Macs get to 2.7GHz, iMacs to 2GHz, and eMacs to 1.42GHz. Video cards and SuperDrives are also upgraded."
If my memory serves, a judge passed a ruling on this a little while ago. Shouldn't they be at least slowing down a bit while this is resolved? And if not, why didn't someone give some sort of cease-and desist order?
(Disclaimer: IANAL, and watching them on TV gives me a headache.)
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
...on whether these use the already-known-to-exist IBM PowerPC 970MP, a dual core version of the G5. This could mean that we'd have >2.5GHz dual-dual core Power Mac systems.
Further, an update to Apple's CHUD tools (subsequently pulled) had clear references to quad processor capability, as well as references to the 970MP, and the single core 970GX.
What could essentially be called "quad G5" systems (including Xserves) are just a matter of time. And with dual >1GHz frontside busses and PC3200 DDR RAM (8GB max in Power Mac, 16GB max (also ECC) in Xserve), these machines are nothing to sneeze at.
What will be interesting to see is when the Power Macs will have PCI-X and Blu-Ray. From the most current round of rumors, it looks like that's still another upgrade away...
I am still waiting for a subnotebook from Apple. My 12in Powerbook is nice, but what I would really like is a subnotebook, perhaps even an Newton replacement. I've made an argument for Apple's reentry into the "PDA" market here. If such a device could be made, I am sure it would have huge sales. The market is moving towards smaller devices that are even more portable and there are folks that are clamoring for it. Mark Cuban also makes a compelling argument for smaller portable devices here.
Don't get me wrong....Apple needs to keep its Pro level line on top of things. In fact, I will likely be ordering a new G5 to replace my dual 2.0 G5 if they are in fact announced, but as the numbers are showing after Apple's financial conference yesterday, portables are where the market is at.
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You mean, like, to keep them all from going too fast?
I decided a couple weeks ago that I wanted to Switch(tm). Tiger release gets announced, I'm good there. Now I have another reason I have to wait for! It's all good though, the Dual 1.8 is the one I want, and I expect the refurb prices to drop like a rock once the new ones come out. Anyone know if this will be the case?
just an 's' shy of immaculate...
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Nice to see the iMac getting a more decent video card. (Yes, I know it probably 'sux0rs for gam3z' but honestly, a mediocre gaming card these days will slay practically any other reasonable computing task. It makes me laugh when you see the gamers dis something like, say, a nVidia 5200. That card sucks rocks! but it will also do realtime previews in Motion on uncompressed DV. That used to take some heavy hardware. Just sayin'.)
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
So, do you think they fixed the midplane capacitor issue? I've had to replace one already, and the replacement didn't work... I'm still trying to get my 20" iMac working again. Any insight on this? I really hope they redesigned the board!
new ibooks are also expected to be shipping around the same time, if not a few days later.
Looks like all the systems are beefing up the Video Cards to support the latest and the best from Tiger (i.e. at least 64Mb and programmable GPU required to support core image).
As much as I like my Mac mini, I am torn apart wishing they would either#:
a) upgrade their video cars to something like an ATI 9600 with 64 Mb of Ram
b) don't change anything so I won't feel the *URGE* to upgrade to a Higher Spec Mac Mini.
ARgg, Apple has embraced drug dealer like methods; I am now hooked and I won't be able to quench my thirst until something else hits my desk!
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
iDrool.
:::: the insomniac's digest
Two eMac models, code-named Q86J
I remember reading about different techniques to track leaks of top secret documents from the CIA, one method was to use synonyms of different words in each copy of the document and see if the leaks used the same synonyms in their materials. While I doubt the code-name is an example of this, I wonder in Apple's quest to track it's leaks what kind of internal tracking/security features it's using for documents about new products.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
The exclusion of keyboard, display and mouse makes the Mac Mini a great value, and the forced repurchase of KD&M makes the iMac a bad value. Customers accept it with laptops for the sake of compactness, but not desktops. Apple should bring out a Micro ATX desktop with the same specs of the iMac G5, but it should be as easy to open and swap the components as a Shuttle PC, and let you BYOKDM. Apple could probably sell it for $900, making it a great machine to go between the Mac Mini and Power Mac.
Good day fot iMac G5 buyers. They have finally put in a graphics card that can play modern games(Radeon 9600 with 128MB of video RAM)
Creative Demolition
Because a G5 powerbook is "the mother of all thermal challenges" (direct quote from Apple).
You don't want a G5 powerbook. You want a dual-G4 powerbook. the new Freescale dual-G4 chip breaks the G4 166 MHz system bus bottleneck, *and* gives you dual-core as well. It would breeze past any underclocked G5 Apple could fit in a laptop the size of a Powerbook.
You do realize that you can run Linux on Apple hardware, right? In fact i think that Linus Torvalds (you may have heard of him) does this.
You would have bought windows again if not for a tiny processor speed bump on the macs? Of course, once you turn on your new Mac you'll see the real reason to switch.... OS X, not sheer processor speed.
No it wouldn't. There's little to no benefits from 64-bit computing on a portable. The G5 was built for machines that can draw a fair amount of wattage. A G5 PowerBook would be hotter, larger, and more power hungry than a machine based on Freescale's 8641 series, a branch off the G4 family.
The only limiting factor of the G4 today is the memory bus, which Freescale has to keep compatible with the ancient 60x bus because of their other clients (like Cisco). The 8641 is a G4 with a totally rebuilt memory controller onboard and RapidIO, an alternative to HyperTransport.
You'd be happier with an 8641-based PowerBook than a 970-based PowerBook. Trust me.
I do think Apple will _call_ the 8641-based laptops 'G5's though, they'll say it has to do with the 'generation of the technology, not a specific type of CPU'.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
I'd rather have a dual core G4 in a laptop than a single core G5. Top speed
isn't as important to me as smooth operation.
*sigh* back to work...
It's got to be good for Apple's marketing that their MHz ratings are properly competing with modern PCs nowadays. The whole "MHz myth" argument always sounded a bit weak, even though I knew intellectually that it was a fair point.
Power Mac G5s
Dual-2GHz: 160GB
Dual-2.3GHz, Dual-2.7GHz: 250GB
iMac G5s
1.8GHz: 160GB
2.0 GHz: 160GB or 250GB
eMacs
Combo Drive: 80GB
SuperDrive: 160GB
If I am not mistaken, these are all with one single hard drive.
Imho, it seems like a generally better practice to have, say, two separate 100GB hard drives than one 200GB one - even if it's more expensive.
Granted, I'm a non-Mac person so I'm not very familiar with the ins-and-outs of MacOS file management. But for Windows/Linux I like having actual separate hard drives, not just partitions. One smallish drive for OSes (or 2+, one for each), one massive drive for multimedia (^_^), and another drive for all the other stuff, like work/school/programming or whathaveyou. Or, depending, maybe just partitions on one drive for all that data (only so many slots).
But anyhow, my main point, isn't there a reliability issue with having only one (relatively) massive harddrive? Wouldn't you be better off having multiple, smaller harddrives? Or would you just backup all your data on separate, external mediums anyways?
I'm interested to know what Mac users think.
I've had my new Mac iBook (my first Apple purchase) for a little over a month now. My old compaq (750 MHz) laptop died finally from the compaq white screen of death and I needed a replacement. I'm still at University so money is tight; I wanted the PowerMac but the iMac was much more in my range (1300). The one thing I've noticed about it is that you never really notice lag from the processor... BUT... if you don't have like a gig of ram, you can get a lot of lag while multitasking (think all 4 Office apps, firefox, X11 and a couple terminals). Fortunately, adding ram is easier than I thought, and aftermarket ram for them is pretty cheap. Overall, I will probably be saving up for a new G5 desktop whenever I can afford it. I'm hooked!
get an Athlon64, FX, Xeon, or Opteron inside a Cappuccino PC and have all the components (video, sound, firewire, usb, superdrive, bluetooth, wireless, memory, hard drive) to fit and work nicely, in an under-$1000 price range, and with no heat issues, and then we'll talk.
otherwise, buy a powermac G5 for $1499 or an older G5 on ebay for about $1000.
Yes, please attach some chrome, neon strobes, and some super loud fans, I want my computer to feel just like my chainsaw! I am a real man! hear me (and my computer) roar!
Wow, emacs drags a 4-year-old athlon down to 1.66 Mhz? My TRS-80 Model I ran faster than that.
Now I know why I use vi, when I'm not using BBEdit.
For the humor impaired: :-)
the best thing about this has to be the default amount of RAM. currently the iMac's only come with 256. And Apple is damn'd expensive with upgrading this (yes, I know you can buy 3rd party and install it yourself). Think Secret is reporting that the entire iMac line will start with 512... i can only hope it is one dimm
" If I buy a powermac now... ...Then I check slashdot. Great. Just frigging great. "
In two weeks I hear Apple will be announcing an even newer model. It will be called the "Big Mac". In a deviation from past policy, Apple will allow customization to occur at order time with the additions of special S.A.U.C.E. (Simple And Usable Custom Enhancements) and even P.I.C.(k)L(e).S. (Peculiarly Integrated Custom Louvers and Shades). You might meet your deadline as these new machines will be available from Apple's new franchise stores and their drive-thru windows (uh, I mean the glass kind).
"And the project is due in a week and a half.
What to do, what to do.... Argh...
For starters you could quit pratting around reading \. and start the project.
If you look at it statistically, you have better MTBF on a single drive, than you do on two...
for example, 1 drive = 500,000 hrs mtbf
1/500,000 + 1/500,000 = 2/500,000 or 1/250,000
so two drives give your a MTBF or 250,000 hrs for your drive subsystem.
Also given, MTBF is more useful for calculating the amount of failures that you will see over a large population of drives as opposed to your single machine experience.
Using things such as RAID does not put a dent in your drive MTBF, but it does make a huge difference in your data preservation!
Apple are in no hurry to move to 64-bit. Unlike x86, PowerPC was designed as a 32/64-bit ISA from the start, and so 64-bit code has no benefit at all unless you are addressing more than 4GB of RAM, or doing 64-bit integer arithmetic. In fact, it gives you a performance penalty - pointers are larger, thus taking up more cache space, and load / stores take longer. On x86-64, this is offset by making the architecture marginally less GPR-starved in 64-bit mode. Note that Carbon and Cocoa are still 32-bit, for exactly this reason - Apple don't want people complaining that their G5 is slower than a G4.
IBM have been launching a low-power G5 Real Soon Now(TM) since before the G5 was released, so don't hold your breath on that one. A dual-core G4 would out-perform a single-core G5 (remember the dual 1.42GHz G4 Vs 1.6GHz G5 benchmarks? The dual 1.8GHz G5 was only slightly faster, and that's with the low FSB speed of the current G4s), and performance per watt is what counts in a laptop. If IBM can produce something that will beat a 1.5GHz MPC8641D at 15W, I would be very surprised - we're talking at least a 2.5GHz G5 here, and the current ones are around 45W.
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The Compromise of 1908
The company from which Wenger emerged had been a supplier to the Swiss Army as early as 1893, and its competitor, Victorinox, since 1890. Wenger is in the French-speaking Jura region, and its competitor is in the German-speaking canton of Schwyz. To avoid friction between the two cantons, the Swiss government decided in 1908 to use each supplier for half of its requirements. So while Victorinox can lay claim to be the "original", Wenger can state that its Swiss Army Knives are the "genuine". In any case, both have been manufacturing Swiss Army Knives for over 100 years and both must meet identical specifications laid down by the army.
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