No More Motorola?

OMG! Thank God. I hope that AMD and Apple would partner to build the PPC chips. That would be much better, even more so than IBM and Apple. AMD can put out a really good proc, and we all know that Apple needs it.

if motorola can't pull their weight, too bad. apple needs better, faster procs. than what's been produced so far. big time. ya, Mhz Myth... but know what? PCs are indeed faster right now.

Switchers Delight

This is the best possible move. Apple will never get switchers to move in large numbers when trailing 3ghz to 1 ghz in the perceived speed race.

If you can't beat em, join em. Welcome IBM, Athlon and Intel!

iSecond that

Originally posted by Backtothemac
OMG! Thank God. I hope that AMD and Apple would partner to build the PPC chips. That would be much better, even more so than IBM and Apple. AMD can put out a really good proc, and we all know that Apple needs it.

Click to expand...

I second that. I too hope Apple and AMD will come together. It almost makes sence since AMD and nVidia have teamed to produced the nForce2. With the rumors about the next apple Mobo having nForce2 chipset, an AMD processor would be natural.

Plus, according to the AMD "roadmap" later this year they will be releasing the 0.13u Multipule Process (MP). That means essensially up to 2.5 Ghz (or more) effectivly (comparitive rating against the P4), in the dual processor line-up, and less power and heat. Then of course they are 6-12 months away from releasing the 64-bit processors.

Sounds good to me.

To say the least, this sort of change would be huge, do we say goodbye to the AltiVec Engine? Its actually a bit worrisome - but if this was in the works, I'm sure Apple has a plan - I just hope it works.

The other options for processors are a little limited - and would IBM be able to handle all the MacProcessors? What do they have that would go in the pro line. And I new B2TM would be in here yelling 'AMD, AMD, AMD'

I'd like to see some more facts though - the timeline in the article isn't exactly solid.

D

Wow

Wow, even after all the grumblings here, I didn't actually expect this.

What will they use in the high end computers? A heavily upgraded G3? What about altivec? I know IBM has those Power4 chips, but aren't they pricey?

This would be a major event.

Maybe the Power4 chip requires a 7 pound aluminum heat sink????

Enter the AIA alliance (Apple, IBM, AMD)!!

IBM and AMD are already relative buddies. Can't see this being a problem.
And if the Nvidia rumors are true, is Apple poised to capitalise on the economies of scale and energy in the x86 (Nvidias mainboard parts, and AMD's fabs for processors) world whilst not giving up any of the advantages of the PowerPC platform?

Then again, there may be no AMD atall, IBM are lining up Power4's little brother (perfect for Mac workstations) and Power5 (targetted straight at workstation markets and servers alike)

Things are beginning to get interesting, even if it's all wrong and Motorola -does- deliver on G5 for the desktop.

what does IBM have that could go in a pro line?
if you stick one of their G3 processors in a board with DDR RAM and overall increased motherboard speed it would smoke any G4 model currently shipping. IBM has G3 chips much faster than anything Apple is allowed to sell due to a licensing agreement between Apple, IBM, and Motorolla. IBM supposedly has had G3 series chips running at or near the 2 Ghz range for some time now. Take a look at the new Sahara series G3. That thing is a freakin hause compared to previous G3 chips. Also, look at the Gecko, the modified G3 that they have running in the Nintendo Gamecube. That thing is awesome and can hang with anything that the PS2 and the XBox can dish out.

rewrite

hey. I don't much about this stuff, but won't they have to rewrite all their programs?

Re: rewrite

Originally posted by obeygiant
hey. I don't much about this stuff, but won't they have to rewrite all their programs?

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Unlikely. Apple will probably stick with the PowerPC platform (no move to x86 chips), eEither by continuing development of the G4/G5 in house with IBMs help, or by moving to the Power4 (which is also a PowerPC chip.. just designed differently for a different market (servers))

Now this is a really stupid rumor.

Apple may ditch motorola in the future, but not within the next couple of months. Apple has hyped Alti-Vec as a 'wonder' tool, and now that there are major apps optimized for Alti-Vec (photoshop, FCP, iDVD), Apple would have to be insane to drop motorola, unless Apple buys Alti-Vec from motorola, and lets another chip maker use the technology, or they have a blazingly fast processor that runs these apps fast enough so that Alti-Vec is not needed.

If Apple buys the Alti-Vec technology and lets another chip maker use it, it would probably set Alti-Vec back, since Motorola knows more about it than anyone else. If Apple did away with Alti-Vec, it would be a big waste. Apple, and other major companies have optimized their code for Alti-Vec, and all of that work would go to waste.

I would count on Apple sticking with Motorola for at least another year. Apple can't afford to play around with things like this right now. They'll probably wait until the economy is in better shape before making any drastic changes...

I suspect Apple will work on acquiring the patents for Altivec from Motorola and start making their own chip manufacturing plant. It would be to the benefit of Apple to produce its own chips since software/hardware integration happens at all levels right down to the processor. The problem contracting work to others is you never maintain total control over production.

licensing agreement?

Originally posted by dwishbone
IBM has G3 chips much faster than anything Apple is allowed to sell due to a licensing agreement between Apple, IBM, and Motorolla.

Click to expand...

where did you hear/read/see this?

Re: rewrite

Originally posted by obeygiant
hey. I don't much about this stuff, but won't they have to rewrite all their programs?

Click to expand...

I don't believe so. That is what an operating system is for. The interface between the programs and the hardware.

Originally posted by gopher
I suspect Apple will work on acquiring the patents for Altivec from Motorola and start making their own chip manufacturing plant. It would be to the benefit of Apple to produce its own chips since software/hardware integration happens at all levels right down to the processor. The problem contracting work to others is you never maintain total control over production.

Click to expand...

That would be a huge mistake. There is no way apple would be able to profitably make chips from scratch in a brand new facility. They would be far better off keeping the status quo over building their own chip plant.

I agree. It is utterly insane to think that Apple would build a chip foundary. Do you know how much those things cost? Billions ($5-10 billion). Apple (the entire company) is only worth $5 billion right now. There's no way that's going to happen!

Still, I applaud the fact that Apple may possibly be ditch that good-for-nothing Motorola. I just just hope Apple jumped that sinking ship in time to protect their own assets. Motorola's cratering, and anyone who are still with them will be left in the dust

But what about the G5 chip from moto? By ditching moto this put us back to square one. It would take a long time for AMD to make Apple compatible chips and IBMs top chip costs too much. I think if Apple is to drop Moto they should get the G5 out first then make sure they have a chip that is similar so they can replace moto.
My real 2 cents is that this is total BS..... but who knows

Originally posted by dukestreet
To say the least, this sort of change would be huge, do we say goodbye to the AltiVec Engine? Its actually a bit worrisome - but if this was in the works, I'm sure Apple has a plan - I just hope it works.

The other options for processors are a little limited - and would IBM be able to handle all the MacProcessors? What do they have that would go in the pro line.

I'd like to see some more facts though - the timeline in the article isn't exactly solid.

D

Click to expand...

I second that......... it'd be interesting to know exactly what chips IBM manufacture that Apple could use in the high end macs..... it sure as hell isn't going to be a G3..... and judging by the pricing scales of the Power4 it's unlikely to be that either....... (we still don't know if IBM do have a scaled down Power4 for Apples to use)

Switching to AMD is also unlikely unless AMD have developed a PPC...... because I really cannot imagine Apple switching chip architecture........

What ever happens though the coming few months certainly look to be filled with very interesting developments.........

Relax and take a breath, this is only a rumor. Who knows what Apple has going on behind closed doors. I think we can be safe to say that the PowerPC is going to stay. It is a good design, Apple has always sworn by it, and Apple needs to truly be different and with PowerPC it is, you have to be different if you are trying to get dissatified people away from WinTel.

Anyhow like it was said before, who is going to build the G5? Maybe the G5 is in fact an IBM product. Alti-Vec can be licensed and used, even if IBM is hesitant about it, they would do it if Apple asked. I still think if you took the new "Sahara" G3 from IBM and slapped Alti-Vec on it, pumped that baby to 1.6GHz or more, which I think IBM can do, throw in your famous DDR RAM, you would have an AMD/Intel ass kicker. Just my two cents.

The whole things seems way too fishy to me. The site is pretty weak on specifics and their other stories aren't really any better... I can't see them being a credible source, even for a rumors site.
Ditch Motorola? Hang on a sec, we're all a little bit annoyed with the seemingly slow progress in the G4's, so this rumor is a good way to get the anti Moto crowd fired up, but in reality this kind of switch would set Apple back further and faster than anything. Altivec is the engine that makes all the serious powered media apps go, and now it is becoming a big part of OS X too. All the claims of IBM having a 2ghz or 22ghz Sahara chip are flat out BS. IBM always claims things before they can actually do them, and then claims theoretical limits as the next specs. If they could do it, we'd have it.
I do not want to lose Altivec unless there is something much much better. Not a ghz rating that doesn't do me any good, that's why I use macs instead of a 2ghz PC that can't do what I need it to.

I don't know if the rumors about a 2GHz G3 Sahara are all that untrue. Correct me if I am wrong and please don't flame on me, cause I don't do any of this stuff for a living, but isn't the G3 only a four stage processor? If they can make a 4 stage processor run at 1GHz which they have done, we just don't see it in the iBook yet, because it would blur the line between it and the TiBook, then what happens when you give this chip more pipeline stages, like Intel did with the P4? I don't think you need to add many more to get this puppy's clock spinning at 2GHz. Then you slap Alti-Vec on it...now what on earth is wrong with that? Except the marketing that says, Apple's new PPC 2 GHz G3, w/Velocity Engine...people would be like..what the hell is going on here....hehe a G3 replaces a G4??? Hey it's good for a laugh and some discussion.

Why not AMD?


1) Won't the developers have to re-write their code for the new processor?
a. They shouldn't. If they follow standards, they should be programming for the OS APIs, not directly to the hardware. It's Apple's job to program for the hardware and provide the "hooks" for the developers. They might have to re-compile, but that is/should be a very minor thing.

2) OS X isn't ready for the x86 architecture.
a. It's kernel is BSD (or a form of it), which can be comiled for the x86 world. Apple might have some serious tweaking for the other layers of the OS, like Darwin, Aqua, etc, but I'll bet somewhere there is already a prototype OS running on an x86 box.

3) OS X won't be propriatary anymore, and support will go to hell.
a. Apple will be making a propratary Mainboard, and just has to state they will not support any other. Use it at your own risk on any other Mainboard.

Am I missing something?

Why is Motorola Canada president Frank Maw talking to irumors.net?

Yeesh.

Before you all go off on how a G3 is nowhere near as cool as a G4 go read the stats and architecture for the 750FX. This and IBM's core-connect architecture could make G5 a cluster of several CPU's all linked core-to-core.....

How about a high speed IBM switch chip with 2 AMD's and 2 750 FX's running through it to a 2 Ghz bus?


http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/products/coreconnect/

http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/techlib/..._750FX_Microprocessor?opendocument&dsort=date