3Ghz @ Macworld SF 05?

Little Endian · Oct 15, 2004

I just want to see how people feel about the likelyhood of seeing a PowerMac Update by Macworld SF in Jan 05. Seeing how the Dual 2.5 has been slow to ship I feel that we may not see an update at Macworld but sometime later.

Then again I do feel an update is seriously needed by then becuase if not by Jan. Macworld then when? March-June? till we see a Revision C? and then how long till they actually ship? The current PowerMacs are damned fast but the other specs were either lacking at time of release or are getting long in the tooth allready. Namely the stock Graphics Cards, stock RAM, and Optical Drive. Can you imagine Apple's high end machines still shipping with 64MB Video Cards in the middle of 05 and still shipping with meager 256 abd 512MB ram configurations? 8X Superdrive aint that great either when 16X drives with dual layer abilities are becoming standard. Those things make me feel that we will get an update at Macworld or shortly thereafter.

Reason I brought this up is that I have an ADC discount that expires in Jan of 05 and was debating if I should wait till then to buy or just splurge now and Get a Dual 2.5Ghz. The better part of me tells me to wait but I am getting impatient, but then again even if I order a Dual 2.5 now with a 6800Ultra I may not see my machine till the end of the year. Need some Advice what should I do?

Chaszmyr · Oct 15, 2004

During the Q4 conference call, it was said that the 2.5ghz G5s may be constrained throughout Q1. The next PowerMac revision may be 3ghz, but it won't be until after MWSF.

caveman_uk · Oct 15, 2004

Personally I reckon there is zero chance of a 3GHz Powermac by January. As you say I think mild tinkering will occur at some point - graphics cards, base RAM. I doubt Apple will bother upping the top machines clock speed until IBM can reliably hit 3GHz in reasonable quantities. There will be howls of derision if Apple only edges up the top speed by a couple of hundred MHz. You may get a squashing up of the range - 2GHz, 2.25GHz, 2.5GHz - If only to give the imac room to speed up a bit.

MacinDoc · Oct 15, 2004

I agree with the 2 above posts. Unfortunately, I'm afraid we may be waiting until WWDC 2005 for 3 GHz Power Macs, and I suspect that they won't be based on the PPC 970FX.

Chaszmyr · Oct 15, 2004

MacinDoc said:
Unfortunately, I'm afraid we may be waiting until WWDC 2005 for 3 GHz Power Macs

I find it very unlikely that the next PowerMac revision won't be until WWDC, as that would be more than a year between revisions.

thatwendigo · Oct 15, 2004

Chaszmyr said:
I find it very unlikely that the next PowerMac revision won't be until WWDC, as that would be more than a year between revisions.

...kind of like the last one?

Mr. Anderson · Oct 15, 2004

It would be nice to see the next version show up with a dual core...but that would only delay its arrival all the more.

MWSF would most likely see an update in the other machines - iBook/PowerBook.

D

coconn06 · Oct 15, 2004

Another feature I'd love to see on the next revision of PowerMacs is PCI-Express.

But I agree with the others, MWSF is an unlikely date for the PowerMacs to hit 3 GHz, though a smaller update may be seen.

zelmo · Oct 15, 2004

While I think it will be somewhat embarassing for Apple to be a full year late bringing the 3GHz PM to market, I don't believe that we'll see any speed bump in the PowerMac line before the WWDC. The problems with shipping dual 2.5's in sufficient quantity, cited by Apple in their quarterly results as expected to continue to hamper them throughout Q1, almost mandate that they won't be able to up the ante at MWSF, at least not and have a shipping product.

MWSF - speed bumps in iBook and PowerBook, but both still G4 based.
WWDC - 3GHz PM, 2.0GHz iMac announced.
Paris - dual core G4, G5 Mobile (whatever you want to call it) announced for the PB line, speed bump in iBook, eMac.
MWSF '06 - iBook gets G5 Mobile, eMac gets G5 (killing iMac sales?)

I have no idea, but it sure is fun to guess.

Little Endian · Oct 15, 2004

So the Consensus is that it is extremely unlikely that we will see an update at Macworld SF at least from the Processor standpoint. I do find it disturbing though that we may not see 3Ghz until WWDC 2005. I suppose I should forget about Dual Core at least untill WWDC or even later. I do find the Dual Core 3Ghz rumors to be the most far fetched if IBM and Apple can barely ship a single core 2.5Ghz chips in quantity and may still be playing catchup into Quarter 1 of 05.

I would very much like to see a minor update though that involves bumping RAM, better stock video cards with perhaps X800 added as a BTO and a faster SuperDrive. I hate how Apple virtually never tweaks their Product lines except at Major Updates. The Industry moves fast and most PC manufactures like Dell, HP, Alienware etc. will often tweak their existing product lines by either raising the stock specs like drives, memory, and Video mid product cycle as component prices drop and or new improved techonologies become available. Apple does not do this though. For example Apple should pop in a 16X DVD-R with Dual Layer Drive as standard or at least BTO as they are now available in quantities and can be had for under $100. Memory prices have also been droping and I cannot fathom another 6 months+ with Apple still peddling GeforceFX 5200 cards as standard in their G5 machines.

Within a few months..........

we will have Tiger probably being an even bigger memory Hog than Panther and Apple will still be making 256 and 512 Standard. Not to mention the entire ilife suite of applications litteraly do require at least 512MB to run smoothly

We will Have Core Image and Apps that were previously not as dependent on Video Card suddenly will, not too even mention Doom III and Apple will still be poping 64Mb video Cards into $2000+machines.

PCs selling for way under a $1000 will have 16X Dual Layer DVD Drives and Apple will still be Shipping it's Flagship $3000 machine with a single layer 8X DVD drive.

it's the small things like the stuff mentioned above that make Apple seem more overpriced that they allready are.

Chaszmyr · Oct 15, 2004

thatwendigo said:
...kind of like the last one?

The last one was very long, it was, however, not quite a year.

wdlove · Oct 15, 2004

Little Endian said:
So the Consensus is that it is extremely unlikely that we will see an update at Macworld SF at least from the Processor standpoint. I do find it disturbing though that we may not see 3Ghz until WWDC 2005. I suppose I should forget about Dual Core at least until WWDC or even later. I do find the Dual Core 3Ghz rumors to be the most far fetched if IBM and Apple can barely ship a single core 2.5Ghz chips in quantity and may still be playing catchup into Quarter 1 of 05.

The good thing about the delay till WWDC has its positive side. Those that don't receive their G5 till November or December will avoid having an outdated machine right away. My hope would be that with the next update, we won't have the same delay problem. Maybe Apple will learn its lesson.

Little Endian have you decided about your purchase yet?

lem0nayde · Oct 15, 2004

I have a Dual 2.0Ghz from the first generation and honestly, I can't imagine why anyone would need more than that. Buy one of those, upgrade the RAM and video card yourself and enjoy. The thing is blazing. Unless you're doing really grueling video and special effects work or hard-core 3D rendering, you will never need more speed.

I do heavy Photoshop work, including very high resolution illustration, I use Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and have done some 3D work. I'm telling you - I have never waited for this machine to do anything (except something large like MPEG encoding a DVD) it just goes and goes.

One drawback that the 2.5's cooling system may address - the machine is hot as balls. I literally sweat when I work next to it for a while. Actually it makes the whole room hot and I often have to have a fan on to keep things at a normal temperature.

Joe

quagmire · Oct 15, 2004

powermac666 said:
While I think it will be somewhat embarassing for Apple to be a full year late bringing the 3GHz PM to market, I don't believe that we'll see any speed bump in the PowerMac line before the WWDC. The problems with shipping dual 2.5's in sufficient quantity, cited by Apple in their quarterly results as expected to continue to hamper them throughout Q1, almost mandate that they won't be able to up the ante at MWSF, at least not and have a shipping product.

MWSF - speed bumps in iBook and PowerBook, but both still G4 based.
WWDC - 3GHz PM, 2.0GHz iMac announced.
Paris - dual core G4, G5 Mobile (whatever you want to call it) announced for the PB line, speed bump in iBook, eMac.
MWSF '06 - iBook gets G5 Mobile, eMac gets G5 (killing iMac sales?)

I have no idea, but it sure is fun to guess.

I think the pbook will get the G5 at MWSF. It will be a waste of time for apple to release a simple G4 bump at a keynote.

GroundLoop · Oct 15, 2004

powermac666 said:
The problems with shipping dual 2.5's in sufficient quantity, cited by Apple in their quarterly results as expected to continue to hamper them throughout Q1, almost mandate that they won't be able to up the ante at MWSF, at least not and have a shipping product.

While Apple did say that the 2.5 would still be limited in fiscal Q1 (Oct 1 - Dec 31 2004), I do not believe that they will wait to WWDC. MWSF would be tough, so I would say March at the absolute latest for new PowerMacs.

Hickman

Dr. Dastardly · Oct 15, 2004

I see them adding at the very most a new middle ground PM, say 2.2ghz and making the 2.0ghz the low end while still maintaing the 2.5ghz as the top machine. This will round out the line alot nicer IMHO.

Sun Baked · Oct 15, 2004

Chaszmyr said:
During the Q4 conference call, it was said that the 2.5ghz G5s may be constrained throughout Q1. The next PowerMac revision may be 3ghz, but it won't be until after MWSF.

Typical Apple timetables may put in on your desk between 4-2005 and 6-2005 if you order it the first day.

The 90nm is still constrained, one of the reasons we had the odd 1.8/2.0 (at 130nm) then a 2.5GHz (at 90nm) with the 1.8/2.0 only beginning the transition to 90nm around the iMac G5 announcement.

Search

Search

3Ghz @ Macworld SF 05?

Little Endian

macrumors 6502a

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601

caveman_uk

Guest

MacinDoc

macrumors 68020

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601

thatwendigo

macrumors 6502a

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus

coconn06

macrumors regular

zelmo

macrumors 603

Little Endian

macrumors 6502a

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601

wdlove

macrumors P6

lem0nayde

macrumors regular

quagmire

macrumors 604

GroundLoop

macrumors 68000

Dr. Dastardly

macrumors 65816

Sun Baked

macrumors G5

Our Staff