G5's Boxes Being Tested

[agreenster]

This a pretty weak rumor, but a rumor nonetheless. An Apple techie from Cupertino recently confirmed with me that G5'S are being tested on a pretty large scale in desktops there at the Apple HQ. The only thing this did for me was help to establish a timeline, and to confirm that they finally have a G5 architecture, and that G5's are desktop chips, not handheld chips like others were speculating. I really hope we see G5's by the end of the year.


I Really really hope we do....even though I still guess MWSF '03 as the release.

[theranch]

Let's hope they are released sooner than that....maybe MWNY! (if this rumor or information is at all true)

[unclepain]

Man, I've been waiting for this moment when the planets all align and produce a G5 tower, with 1GHZ for the lowend model, DDR ram, and Superdrive for 1600 bucks. Please Lord God Almighty, let this happen at MWNY this year. I've got the money to spend, but will only lay down the smack for the configuration above, even if I have to wait. My G4-400 is coming up on 3 years old and it's time for a change. Steve, can you feel the money burning a hole in my pocket?

[agreenster]

Nearly everyone here at MacRumors who has been beggin for a new G5 has an 'aging 400mHz G4" at home. I also have a 400mHz G4, and feel it is time to upgrade, even though I probably wont because I just bought a 500PowerBook. But it just seems like the 400mHz is the dead dinosaur.

[unclepain]

Yeah, the speed bump is nice, but the kicker is the Superdrive and getting the price for one under $2000. But, If I can get superdrive, G5, new motherboard and DDR on low end, then I'm biting. If one doesn't come out this summer, then I might actually consider the iMac, even though I know I wouldn't be getting nearly as good of a speed bump. Decisions, decisions.

[agreenster]

Id love to get my hands on a dual 1gHz. I use the dual 800's at school and love them. They render and perform so well. We also have 2.0gHz P4's, and Im not all cracked up about them.

[eyelikeart]

Originally posted by agreenster
Nearly everyone here at MacRumors who has been beggin for a new G5 has an 'aging 400mHz G4" at home. I also have a 400mHz G4, and feel it is time to upgrade, even though I probably wont because I just bought a 500PowerBook. But it just seems like the 400mHz is the dead dinosaur.

I'll admit....the G4 400 tower is a nice machine....but I've found it limits on more than one occasion...

[AlphaTech]

I am waiting for a G5 tower to come out before replacing my soon to be gone G4 500 tower. I just hope that it is before MWSF, so that there can be at least one revision before I pick it up. I also might be forced to wait a little longer, depending on the finance situation.

Either way, the sooner they release the G5, the better... We need something to slam the peecee people with. I think it would be sweet to have a G5 that blows the doors off of a 3GHz+ p4 based system. I know from real world experience that the G4 outperforms the intel chips in most tasks (that I care about at least). I have a G4 733 here at work, that out performs a new p4 1.8GHz peecee.

Besides the fact that I can run two different OS's on my Mac with little configuration headaches... try to do THAT on a peecee without buying additional software :D..

Mac's are superior... :D

[MacManiac1224]

I am waiting for the G5 to come out, that's when I am going to buy. I hope you are right.

[SPG]

Well there are still a few months before MWNY, so Apple should have enough time to get it done right and intro it there. What else are they working on that could be released with more thunder than the "fastest computer ever"?

I've got a G4 400 too.

[theranch]

I wish that I had a G4 400. I was one of the people who rushed out and bought the only G4 available when they were released....a G4 350. A month later the G4 400 was available at around the same price that I paid. That sucked...for me.
So....if we're at all lucky I'll be able to purchase a new G5 come July-August.

[krossfyter]

The first time I buy a mac desktop I want it to be the G5 one. Hope it happens soon.

[mischief]

Apple has been testing G5 and accompanying "parts" for at least a year. I have smoked out a couple of Apple's R&D team that were testing such toys. Crazy Wirehead kinda geeks. Makes all of us look like technophobes.

[mymemory]

I have a G4 400 agp too, it is nice. I do not need too much speed right now, I need ram mostly.

[me hate windows]

I used to be able to play dvd's on it with no problem. But last week I mysteriously was not able to play them any more. I did not install any software or even do anything besides charge my ipod. When I opened the Apple DVD player it gives me this error:
"Apple DVD Player is not compatible with with the graphics card that drives the main monitor."
I have version Z10-2.0
Sometimes it lets me in, but right when it starts to play it freezes. I am running OS 9.1

Is there a newer version of their player, or is there another software doodad, or are there some extensions that I should enable/denable:confused:

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by me hate windows
I used to be able to play dvd's on it with no problem. But last week I mysteriously was not able to play them any more. I did not install any software or even do anything besides charge my ipod. When I opened the Apple DVD player it gives me this error:
"Apple DVD Player is not compatible with with the graphics card that drives the main monitor."
I have version Z10-2.0
Sometimes it lets me in, but right when it starts to play it freezes. I am running OS 9.1

Is there a newer version of their player, or is there another software doodad, or are there some extensions that I should enable/denable:confused:

Well, first of all, get 9.2.2. If you have a decent net connection it should be easy. Second, check if the recent DVD player update has an OS9 version. Third, reinstall the DVD related extensions. If none of that works, try reinstalling the system (if you're desperate).

[jaykk]

According to the following article, apple is going to Put 3GIO technology to the next powermacs..
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16589.html

[Kid Red]

Well, I'll chime in with my tad bit of info concerning the G5s. This is from an email from a programmer aquaintence of mine and the info he had. I edited out some info as not to get him or his friend in trouble.

Well, he told me when he was at the WWDC that he managed to meet some
important Apple engineers, and that he got invited to visit them in
Cupertino.
After explaining what he did...[edited by me]....he managed to sign an NDA to get beta hardware.

In the end of the last year, I contacted him to see if he got something, and
he told me he had what he thought to be a G5 (it was a grey PC tower.
Sealed, so he wasn't able to see what was inside it).

I tried to get some details, but he never answered to my emails with
specific questions. I also would have loved to see which version of MacOS X
he was using, whether it was 32 or 64 bit,... but he didn't answer either.
He probably got afraid of a leak.

The only things that I know for sure:
- It was reported as a 1.4 Ghz processor by MacOS X.
- There only was 1 processor in the box
- It was very fast for most tasks (much faster than a Dual-800 on its
specific multiprocessor-optimized applications, and easily 3x faster than a
G4-867), except Altivec ones
- He didn't expect a release before the WWDC at that time. Maybe it was very
buggy, but I didn't get many details. He's not used to get beta hardware, so
he didn't know whether the beta cycle would last 6 months, 1 year, or even
more...

By reading between the lines:
- It was running in a 32 bit mode
- It wasn't able to run MacOS 9

This is about 3 weeks old, but I think he also told me that the test boxes had been picked up by Apple already. Not sure if his friend still has the sealed box.

Anyway, my info:)

[Catfish_Man]

...
- It was reported as a 1.4 Ghz processor by MacOS X.

that means it has either a
100MHz bus and a 14x multiplier (not likely)
200MHz bus and a 7x multiplier
400MHz bus and a 3.5x multiplier
or an x MHz bus and some wierd multiplier (not likely, all the chips I've heard of use y or y.5 multipliers, where y is a whole number).

Also, does anyone have any idea whether the G5 is going to use HyperTransport, RapidIO, or 3GIO (not likely, it's not very far along yet)
A lot of the rumors have said RapidIO, but Hypertransport is a lot farther along (read as: already being used) and Apple is a member of the HyperTransport Consortium.

[OSUbuckeyefan]

Originally posted by unclepain
Please Lord God Almighty, let this [G5] happen at MWNY this year.

Amen to that!

[kaneda]

am I the only one that hope G5 will release next year? :O) I hope not this year...becoz I just wasted my money on snowboard gears..:O) NO MONEY FOR G5...I hate to see other people get it before me....:O)

OOOOHHHH...G5!!!!

[AlphaTech]

G5.... ooooooooohhhhhhhhh *drool*.... :D

[GetSome681]

WOW, CAN EVERYONE STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS G5 THING@!@ I AM DROOLING ALL OVER MYSELF AND KEEP WETTING MYSELF!!@!!:D :D

[rekras]

this is good, alot of the new g5 rumors are pointing to MWNY. ill be there to see em! HEHA

we should all start getting together at macworlds...
we can all wear macrumors pins or somethan...

[germanknee]

i think we'll see the MPC7470 G4 in MWNY July 02 and MPC7500 G5 in MWSF January 03.
RapidIO for the G5

[MacAztec]

I am in the market for a new desktop. I dont know what to do. If there is NO G5 by MWNY, I am going to get a G4. You know, a G4 smokes a P4!

[Dunepilot]

but it would be a real shame if the jump in architecture stopped you running OS9 and all of its associated apps.

Generally a lot of music recording still relies entirely on 9, Protools, Cubase, Logic (though an X version is coming).

Cut out that support with a new processor, and they'll piss off a lot of people

But still. G5. ;) hell yeah!

[krossfyter]

i seriously believe it wont be long till the g5 powermac. so im going to wait to make that the first desktop mac i own.

[jbouklas]

I want to buy a new mac this MWNY. I would like to use it for all of next year. I don't want to get one next January, but I want a G5, not a rushed, last generation G4 to keep people occupied. It is really frustrating, especially after reading all the Register reports of having it ready by last month. Now they say don't expect it until at least this time next year. I hate the Register. Oh well. I will probably bite the bullet and buy a PowerMac this August. I want something from Apple, but they update their line less often than competitors and they tend to be secretive and wait on technologies, etc. I love Apple, but they can be annoying at times.

-Jim

[krossfyter]

typically apple updates thier line every 3 months. anyone can be annoying. not everyone can be innovative. one has to be patient with innovations.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
Besides the fact that I can run two different OS's on my Mac with little configuration headaches... try to do THAT on a peecee without buying additional software :D..


Yer kidding right? Mac's have enough advantages (to certain people at least) that you don't have to go around making new ones up... :rolleyes:


Lethal

[Rockridge]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
I am waiting for a G5 tower to come out before replacing my soon to be gone G4 500 tower. I just hope that it is before MWSF, so that there can be at least one revision before I pick it up. I also might be forced to wait a little longer, depending on the finance situation.

Either way, the sooner they release the G5, the better... We need something to slam the peecee people with. I think it would be sweet to have a G5 that blows the doors off of a 3GHz+ p4 based system. I know from real world experience that the G4 outperforms the intel chips in most tasks (that I care about at least). I have a G4 733 here at work, that out performs a new p4 1.8GHz peecee.

Besides the fact that I can run two different OS's on my Mac with little configuration headaches... try to do THAT on a peecee without buying additional software :D..

Mac's are superior... :D

So you're jealous of the PC world... then buy one ! I built a PC for 500 that beats the s*** out of any mac, but who can stand using windows... That's THE problem with PC's! If only a PC would run OS 9.

[GyroFX]

all this G5 this and G5 that. I feel as if i'm lacking already with my Dual Ghz... I just hope my machine doesn't become out dated by that much once the G5s are out. Heck, i've been using my G3 266 for almost 5 years now and it's still running strong with the exception that some games are hard to handle or can't handle. PS6 runs great on my G3 266...so...no worries for now about my Dual :). Anyway, i just hope apple tears ***** up in retails and on the market so my aapl stocks will go up :D I've lost too much on it in recent years... oh well...Long live Apple and its innovations.

[AlphaTech]

Rockridge, where EXACTLY do you THINK I am "jealous of the PC world... "???? I ONLY work on peecee's because there are about 30 of them at our office and someone has to fix them... Put that next to the 250+ MAC systems we have and you know which ones I prefer... the MAC's ya mook..

I seriously doubt that ANY peecee you can build for $500 beats anything, let alone a G4 DP1GHz system. You did say ANY Mac... :P. Any G4 tower will wipe the floor with you in just about any Photoshop task. What other computer maker give you gigabit ethernet stock (see G4 towers for some time now, and the rev. B TiBook)??

There are more problems with peecee's then Mac's any day of the week...

[AlphaTech]

GyroFX,

I checked Apple's stock on Friday and checked the past history of it.. it's gone way up, done more then a bit, but is back up to where it was a few years ago (before tech stocks went through the roof, then the floor).

I also checked one other stock's history. When they went public in about 1988, HDI has been on a steady up trend. It has also split 5 times (cha-ching!!) since it came to the stock market... Now if only Apple's stock could do that maybe we could get rid of those peecee trolls from here :D.

[arn]

Originally posted by krossfyter
typically apple updates thier line every 3 months. anyone can be annoying. not everyone can be innovative. one has to be patient with innovations.

I don't think this is right...

hisorically, Apple made major product revisions every 18 months or so...

recently, the Pro machines have been getting updated in 6-8 months

arn