Next iBook Proccessor

[maracz]

What do you think will be the iBook proccessor when the other computers get a PPC 970?


Continued G3 speed bumps? Would make sense since the G3 can be bumped to at least 2 GHZ.

A G4? It might not be a good mobile chip but with the other computers getting the powerful PPC 970 chip the G3 proccessor may become obsolete as it is underpowered. And thus won't be able to run the software that will come out optimized for PPC 970's at all.

Or maybe a low clockspeed PPC 970 Mobile proccessor? What are the odds of that? A mix between the pwoer of a 970 and mobility so it will not get too hot etc.

 

[howard]

well i would guess that they will get a higher g3 for awhile...

i bet that after the 970 is out for awhile that it'll get a scaled down version of it. i think it would be important to get all of its line on the 64 bit processor...it seems like the ibook has always been one step behind...like now everything is g4 optimized...and its got a g3..pretty soon everything will be 64 bit optimized...and it would suck for the ibook if it got left behind. i hear that the 970 will be good for laptops and i bet in a year or so it'll be in the ibook. i personally don't think the ibook model will ever see a G4

 

[lmalave]

If you believe the MacBidouille rumors, they will stick with the G3 for the iBook even after the 970 makes it to the PowerBooks in March 2004. Hey, no complaints here, I love my 800MHz iBook already. The iBook is a consumer/education portable after all, and the most demanding consumer application is probably iMovie.

 

[Eniregnat]

It only makes sence that at least 3 months after the next chipset (970 or what ever). Lets say they announce the next chipset in June, I would expect that apples line up would look like this:
iBook-G3 (Until after September)
eMac-G4
iMac-G4 (with a possible Gx by December)
tower-Gx

It just makes sense. By spreading out its upgrades, Apple increases revenue, spreads it's line out, and keeps its name in the press and public eye longer and more often.

 

[yzedf]

G3 goodness

I would guess another speed bump up to 1GHz G3, maybe with change to AE and BT, but not sure about that. G3 goes to at least 1.2GHz in it's current form.

 

[funkywhat2]

My .02:

XServe: 970 w/ Altivec
PowerMac :970 w/ Altivec
PowerBook: 970 w/ Altivec
iMac: 970 w/o Altivec
iBook: 970 w/o Altivec
eMac: G4

Systems w/o Altivec would have it software disabled to save money. The G4 would be the same speed as the 970's in the iBook.

 

[vniow]

I think this thread may be of some intrest....

 

[bertagert]

I think the G4 will be no more if the 970 actually comes. It's quit obvious that the G4 has hit it's limit with Apple hacking away trying to make it go faster than it should.

I think Apple would be happy to ditch Motorola's processor if they could. Then they would have the 970 in the upper lines and the G3 or something else in the lower line. However, they're using the G4 in the imac and emac. This brings up questions of how fast the ibm G3 can actually go.

If things works out, I'll bet they put the 970 in the pro lines for a good half of year and keep the G4 and G3 in the lower lines. Then, when IBM has the 970 ranging from 1 gig to 2.something gig, Apple will have the whole line up go to the 970. Kind of like this:

Consumer stuff = 1gig - 1.4gig 970
Pro Stuff = 1.8 gig - 2.something gig 970

Then when a year or so rolls around, they could go 980 or whatever in the proline and 970 in the consumer. This would differentiate between the two lines like Pentium to Celeron.

Or maybe ibm is working on a lower end chip thats a little less powerful than the 970.

I just hope apple shows us what new processors it will be using. This suspense over the 970 is killing me. I feel Apple has something because if they don't so something soon, I think a lot of people are going to jump ship. Don't bash me on this, it will definitely happen if people don't see some promise (like if they make a jump to 1.6 G4 in june/july. It won't be enough)

 

[Eniregnat]

Originally posted by vniow
I think this thread may be of some intrest....

Quite correct. Though I think this one had the potental to be just about the iBooks.

Side note:

I am quite disturbed by your avatar. It is quite diffrent and very cool.

 

[bertagert]

Yeah, sorry about the off topic thing. I guess i got carried away. So to keep it on topic:

The G3 will be in there for a few more bumps.

 

[cb911]

i always thought that when the 970 is released in the PowerMacs, then the PowerBooks that the iBooks would need a completely different processor.

but the iBook is a consumer/education model and it's had the G3 for a while, so i guess that we shouldn't be surprised that it will keep a generation behind in the processor game.

couldn't the iBook get a G4 and use that for 2 or 3 revisions? i'm not sure if anyone here knows when Moto's contract with Apple runs out, but as long as they have that contract they might as well put a G4 in the iBooks soon after the PM's and PB's get the PPC 970.

 

[alxths]

I just think they'll put in a souped up G3, like macobuille(sp) suggests..

 

[Wyrm]

Whatever it is, it will probably be an IBM cpu.
Which probably means a 750FX for quite a bit longer.

I hope they don't bring flower-power to the iBook, although a graphite or dark blue is rather nice.

-Wyrm

 

[jefhatfield]

i still like the idea of g4 and altivec in an ibook...that would be awesome...and especially if we can get one for 999 dollars usd!

any thought of getting an ibook with a 970 is a pipe dream

and like imalave mentioned above, the g3 now isn't so bad, so apple could stall for time and just keep speed bumping the g3 for a long time to come...and does a consumer buying an inexpensive laptop need much more than let's say a 1 ghz g3 ibook?

 

[maracz]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
i still like the idea of g4 and altivec in an ibook...that would be awesome...and especially if we can get one for 999 dollars usd!

any thought of getting an ibook with a 970 is a pipe dream

and like imalave mentioned above, the g3 now isn't so bad, so apple could stall for time and just keep speed bumping the g3 for a long time to come...and does a consumer buying an inexpensive laptop need much more than let's say a 1 ghz g3 ibook?

That depends. If there is any gaming involved yes. You can get a 2.4 GHZ Celeron notebook from Dell for less than the price of the current 800 MHZ iBook.

Actually it would be nice if they had a G4 or a watered-down 970 option in the 14" iBooks now, but kept the current 12" notebooks at the current price....with speedbumped G3's of course.

 

[maracz]

Here is my prediction for the new iBook lineup. Although I'm not sure if there will be another speed bump before it.

Low-End Model 12" Screen
G3 1 GHZ
30 GB ATA Ultra HD
32 MB ATI Radeon Card
128 MB Ram
CD Drive
Airport
Firewire 800
$999 USD

Mid-Level Model 12" Screen
G3 1.2 GHZ
40 GB ATA Ultra HD
32 MB ATI Radeon Card
256 MB Ram
Combo Drive
Airport (possibly Airport Extreme)
Firewire 800
$1299 USD

High-End Model 14" Screen
Super G3/G3 Extreme/G3 Advanced 1.4 GHZ (new G3 chip with capabilities up to 2 GHZ)
40 GB HD (possibly improved over ATA Ultra)
32 MB ATI Radeon Card (possibly GeForce4 if 12 PB 970 gets 64 MB)
256 MB Ram
Combo Drive (Superdrive option is very unlikely)
Airport Extreme
Firewire 800
$1599 USD

Yes, I believe that the biggest changes will be in the Mid and High end models. Although I listed some possibilites for the 14" model it is very unlikely that everythign I listed will be done, since Apple will try to keep the 14" in check with the rest of thed iBook line. Possibly if updates come sooner than expected the processors will be G3 900 for low end, G3 1 GHZ for mid level, and a still current G3 1.2 GHZ for high end (doubtfull since that would be pushing the Shara to the limit and that's not a good thing after a revamp).

 

[Snowy_River]

With all of the OS level optimization for Altivec, I'd be surprised if Apple didn't want to move away from the only processor that isn't Altivec capable. As has been mentioned elsewhere, there is, supposedly, a new IBM G3 chip that has been modified to be Altivec compatible. Now, I think that they will use this in the iBook, and possibly the rest of the consumer line, and call it something like the G4i. The 'i' label on it would be a nice two-fold symbol. First, it would designate that this was a chip being used in the 'i' line of computers. Second, well, it's a G4 that comes from IBM.

In any event, I guess we'll see in the fullness of time...

 

[Wyrm]

Yeah - but if they use an Altivec capable machine it might threaten their PB sales - after all, you have to pay for some improvement.
Besides video cards these days will determine the common user experience (web and e-mail) more than Altivec extensions.

Might have to wait for the Mojave (750VX) until the iBook has Altivec. By then the pro line might be 64bit? (cross fingers - less than 2 months to dev conference)

I can hardly imagine the disappointment if Apple doesn't announce using the 970 - but then rumors tend to oversell what apple does everytime - just look at the iBook specs from maracz (fairly mentioned as unlikely) What's with the high end specs there? Super G3?? Get ready for the disappointment.

We don't even know if IBM can produce the 970 in volume. They haven't even brought out their 970 based blade box.

-Wyrm

 

[maracz]

Originally posted by Wyrm
Yeah - but if they use an Altivec capable machine it might threaten their PB sales - after all, you have to pay for some improvement.
Besides video cards these days will determine the common user experience (web and e-mail) more than Altivec extensions.

Might have to wait for the Mojave (750VX) until the iBook has Altivec. By then the pro line might be 64bit? (cross fingers - less than 2 months to dev conference)

I can hardly imagine the disappointment if Apple doesn't announce using the 970 - but then rumors tend to oversell what apple does everytime - just look at the iBook specs from maracz (fairly mentioned as unlikely) What's with the high end specs there? Super G3?? Get ready for the disappointment.

We don't even know if IBM can produce the 970 in volume. They haven't even brought out their 970 based blade box.

-Wyrm

Well it's doubtful that there will be no 970. But maybe the idea people have that all the systems wil instantly (or very shortly) be running on 970 proccessors is overplayed.

And my stats for the 14" iBook seem to agree with the current rumors about the next G3 chip. Almost everyone agrees that when it does come out it will run at 14.-1.5. I think that that's a fair estimate if there are to be any more speed bumps before than. The rest of the stats are just there to agree with such a computer.

 

[phantommaul]

G4

they would use definately G4 processors but they would skip to put some features in order to let the new proccesor sales continue properly.

 

[celaurie]

I think there's mileage in the G3s yet. I mean, how many revisions of it have we seen so far?

Heh, how about multiple G3s in the next iBook? Could that be done?

 

[maracz]

Originally posted by celaurie
I think there's mileage in the G3s yet. I mean, how many revisions of it have we seen so far?

Heh, how about multiple G3s in the next iBook? Could that be done?

Nope. You can't put multiple G3's working together.

 

[celaurie]

Originally posted by maracz
Nope. You can't put multiple G3's working together.

Heh, just a thought...

 

[insidedanshead]

Re: G4

Originally posted by phantommaul
they would use definately G4 processors but they would skip to put some features in order to let the new proccesor sales continue properly.

The G4s are like a monkey on Apple's back. No one seems to notice this. The current G4 is maxed out. Motorola stopped R & D on it over a year ago. The speed bumps have been nothing more than Apple's own overclocking of the current G4. Apple will go all IBM as soon as possible, meaning Mojave and 970. The G3 has 100% more potential than the G4.. only because IBM is still the only one in the race. #@%^$ Motorola.