Xserve G5s Delayed

[MacRumors]

MacWorld.co.uk reports confirmation that the Xserve G5s utilizing the new PowerPC 970FX processor has seen delays.

An official statement released to Macworld says: "We've received an incredible amount of customer interest for the new Xserve G5 1U rack-mount server since it was announced at Macworld Expo in January 2004.

"We're working hard to start shipping the new Xserve systems in March 2004, not by the end of February as originally announced."

No reasons regarding the delays has been given, but speculation suggests the same issues may have delayed a PowerMac G5 (970FX) upgrade.

[iggyb]

AARGH!

Oh well, I guess March isn't too far off their delivery schedule. But these delays are starting to get annoying...

[Photorun]

Man, can't Apple deliver in volume just once on time?!? Maybe if Jobs didn't do his who razzmatazz 'oooh ahhh' thing and just churned out we wouldn't have these things happen.

[wizard]

All the rumors and speculation are fine. What bothers me is that we may never know for sure what the QC issue is or was. I do hope that Apple/IBM come clean on this delay.

The actual delay on the machines is not a big issue as I'm not in a positon to buy one right away. My interest actually revolves around engineering problems and how they are resolved.

Thanks
Dave

Originally Posted by Macrumors

MacWorld.co.uk reports confirmation that the Xserve G5s utilizing the new PowerPC 970FX processor has seen delays.



No reasons regarding the delays has been given, but speculation suggests the same issues may have delayed a PowerMac G5 (970FX) upgrade.

[Mr. Anderson]

But have any of these things shown up at Virginia Tech? 1100 to replace the original dual 2.0 PowerMacs is not an insignificant number - it might be one reason they aren't yet available...

D

[johnnyjibbs]

This could explain the delays to the rest of the line, such as the new PowerMacs

[MongoTheGeek]

Originally Posted by Photorun

Man, can't Apple deliver in volume just once on time?!? Maybe if Jobs didn't do his who razzmatazz 'oooh ahhh' thing and just churned out we wouldn't have these things happen.

Right now the only thing that would ooh and aah me is being at WWDC seeing product X announced and seeing 4 tractor traillers outside loaded heavy with the beasts for delivery.

[dukemeiser]

At least Apple didn't announce these at MWSF. Apple isn't really late with these, because they haven't set a date to be late.

[paulypants]

big surprise...

[rabatjoie]

Originally Posted by wizard

What bothers me is that we may never know for sure what the QC issue is or was.

what's that with the "QC issue"? sounds mysterious. could you explain?

[BornAgainMac]

They probably didn't have a big demand for the rack mounted G4. Now everyone wants a rack mounted G5 to build their own Supercomputer for cheap. I hope there is a big demand anyways.

[suzerain]

I can't help but think the delays on the XServes and the Power Mac upgrades are due to IBM. I bet switching to the 90nm process hasn't been as smooth as possible. This is purely speculation on my part, but looking at the other linked article, it would appear that the most significant new add-on to the line is the 970FX chip.

XServes certainly don't need to be held up for ATI video cards, after all...

[DrBoar]

QC=Quality Control.
If it heat in the rack server why would that affect the tower? It has plenty of space and fans to cool CPUs producing copious amounts of heat. I do hope that the IBM 970 will to a G4 turn on us

[miloblithe]

The thing I hate about these delays is how anouncements are "Apple is delivering today" even though they are not even planning to _ship_ for months, and then the ship date is delayed. What does delivering mean in this context? Delivering the idea of the product? I realize my language complaint isn't as important as the actual shipment of the machines and real delays, but I still find it annoying.

I agree that it would be nice to see Apple announce some major new product and actually ship it more or less immediately thereafter, but that doesn't seem to be Apple's way. They seem to like buzz to build for a while after an announcement.

[rsnyder@psu.edu]

This is old news. Anyone who actually orded a G5 Xserve since they were added to the Apple Store probably has the same delivery date they had when their order was placed. I ordered three in January and just checking my order status, it has not budged from March 26 . . . . same as it always was.

Now the real thing to watch is when the first 1,000 get to Virginia Tech

[jcdenton]

Why do I feel like we've been down this road before?

If IBM turns into another Motorola this could be the end of the Macintosh.

Break out the 6 months-to-bankruptcy rumor again...

[MacVault]

Maybe FedEx really is switching to Macs and ordered 10000 units, hence the delay

[Trimix]

why is everbody bitching and moaning about delays ? i am taking a lot of pleasure from the fact that apple have entered a new area and cannot keep up with the interest they create. go apple go

[rsnyder@psu.edu]

Originally Posted by BornAgainMac

They probably didn't have a big demand for the rack mounted G4. Now everyone wants a rack mounted G5 to build their own Supercomputer for cheap. I hope there is a big demand anyways.

There is quite a bit of pent up demand for the G5 Xserve. In fact the demand is great enough that Apple is doing no (ZERO) volumn deals on the G5 Xserve pricing.

They actually have sold a lot of their server solution hardware (G4 Xserves and xRAID boxes). But when the G5 tower was released last summer, all of us knew it would only be a matter of time until the G5 Xserve was released.

All the rumors I heard over the past summer and fall had placed the G5 Xserve release in March. February actually was earlier than expected. But like I said below, my ship data has not changed from March 23, the same date it was when the order was placed in January.

[Trowaman]

well, I guess it's better they gey get them running perfectly and be late rather than arrive on time and not work right. I'd rather have late nd perfection. Oh well, I'm just a college student so I didn't order one nor do I really "get" the needs and pressures from big businesses.

[kaneda]

I think Virginia Tech will get their orders first. Remember they are upgrading their Supercomputer using the new G5 Xserver. That's probably the reason for the delay.

[Wendy_Rebecca]

Originally Posted by iggyb

AARGH!

Oh well, I guess March isn't too far off their delivery schedule. But these delays are starting to get annoying...

STARTING? STARTING to get annoying? Please. Heads should roll at Apple, and that starts at the top. Name one product Apple has announced in the past three years that has shipped on time, hasn't experienced shortages, and worked properly right out of the box.

No, you can't pick one. It has to meet all three criteria.

Yeah. That's what I thought.

This is ridiculous. WTF is going on in Cupertino?

----edit----
What kind of idiot rates this as "positive"?

[legion]

Originally Posted by rsnyder@psu.edu

There is quite a bit of pent up demand for the G5 Xserve. In fact the demand is great enough that Apple is doing no (ZERO) volumn deals on the G5 Xserve pricing.

Not true.. Apple is offering volume deals on G5 Xserves if you contact them directly in a business capacity.

Also, I love the way this thread is turning into "it must be IBM's fault"

[sarcasm]
'Cause, there's no way it could be Apple's..nooooo waaayy! Apple's never done anything like this before...
[/sarcasm]

For what Apple could have screwed up... let's see:
Case and mobo fab contracts backed up.
Design issues for cooling.
Power supply issues.

So far, IBM has always been true to their word on the design and requirements of their chips and their samples have been provided enough months out. It's up to Apple to carry it the rest of the way to a product. Also, remember that it takes maybe 2-3weeks to generate enough chips for Apple's total demand in chips for any products lifetime from the fab plant in E. Fishkill. Apple is really a small time player in chip demand.

[marco114]

Qty 3: XSERVE/2GHZ DP/2GB/750/CD/RAID PCI/RA/LL
On or before 03/22/2004

that's what mine has said for a long time.. i hope it's not longer than this date, because we were promised them last month!

[MadMan]

That's what mine has said since I placed the order in Jan...

Guess we'll see in a couple of days!

MM