What is in the PowerPC pipeline? Your guess.

I believe the WSJ article mentioned that the Mini would be the first to have Intel chips.

I think speed bumps are the only thing coming. I just hope they don't let any of the products feel the Osborne effect and come up with something that makes buying the last revision of the product worthwhile.

Maybe they'll throw in a 486 card like they used to do with Quadras.

 

You're probably right with most of that. I would expect that the iBook gets a last push with something close to the specs you mentioned, and a 64mb 5200go or something. The mini will get whatever the iBooks get.

The iMac G5 will see probably just one upgrade, then they will release a new form factor with the first Intel iMac. Powerbooks will get a speed bumb, and a price drop to help encourage sales, and then probably be the first portables to get an Intel, along with some cosmetic changes.

The mini will get the Intels first, as mentioned. I would be willing to bet they go with a 1.8-2ghz Celeron M or something similar. It'll be pretty fast, and probably stay in the $550 +/- 50 range. More ram and a bigger HDD of course. GPU will HOPEFULLY be something NICE. Maybe a 128mb ati9800, at least. Seeing as it is a year away, that is the LEAST I would hope for.

I'm looking forward to the first Pentium M portable. They should arrive just as I am ready to upgrade, and my wife can inherit this iMac and I will get a 15" PowerBook with a 3ghz CPU, 256mb VRAM, and a 160gb HD. Maybe a Blu-Ray burner, too?

 

I still think that dual-processor, dual-core G5s (even if at ~2Ghz) are still a possibility.

 

G5 mini?

it's a whole year until the intel minis are expected so there's time for a significant update.........bet they could sell lots of G5 minis for around $699 to $799

would you buy one for that price???

 

I wouldn't buy a G5 mini unless it was 1.8ghz or better and still around $599.

 

Not with a laptop hard disk in it. I was pretty disappointed by the Mini's specs.

I don' think we'll see a G5 mini. The mini is made to hit a price point, and the G5 CPU isn't. The buyer for the mini cares more about its looks than its performance. Apple might give it a bump if better CPUs become available, otherwise it will stay the same until a similar Intel Celeron-based machine replaces it.

I'm not sure there's room in the mini for a G5 and its associated cooling gear.


Crikey

 

freescale says new g4s

I read something on one of the sites today where Freescale said it would be providing Apple with faster g4 chips for a new round of laptop upgrades.

 

Speed bumps are not the new chips Apple needed.

They needed a G4 with a new FSB, where is that?

The PPC970 was supposed to be a short term solution, where is it's next generation replacement?

Without those on the horizon, the roadmap for the PPC looked bleak.

 

My guesses:

* Mini - one more speed bump to 1.5 or 1.67 GHz G4, then transition to Intel.

* eMac - one more bump to low end G5 (1.6 GHz or 1.8GHz), then transition to Intel.

* iMac - speed bumps to match current PowerMac G5s: 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz, then transition to Intel. Maybe a 23" model.

* PowerMac - harder to predict, my guess is to dual dual-core G5s, though what the MHz would be I have no idea. Since these have to last to the end of 2006, I'd expect at least two more revisions here.

* iBook - G4 speed bump to match current PowerBook specs, then transition to Intel.

* PowerBook - maybe dual-core G4s at current GHz or a speed bump to a single-core 3GHz G4, then transition to Intel.

We'll know in 18 months - bookmark this thread!

 

Steve's promise of "...real exciting upgraded products in the PowerPC pipeline" must apply to more than just speed bumps. I think the 970MP is still coming, ... eventually.

 

I really hope that they get either a dual core G4 or drop the price significantly on the Powerbooks soon. I want one.

 

I beleieve steve just said this to keep people buying Mac's, i am sure they arer't going down that road becasue they will be focusing on the new intel chips.

 

Dont want to be overly cynical here, but isnt there the possibility that the PPC range will be intentionally kept slow, so that the difference between the intels running rosetta-code and ppc's running native code is minimal.

No point jacking up the ppcs just to put pressure on rosetta and embarass the future product line. After a 2 year wait, and all the upheaval, the top-line intels are going to have to show some significant advantages to justify all this.

 

at what speed did the powermacs start using liquid cooling? granted they use dual processors, but I wonder if there is a limit to what kind of G5 they'll be able to put into the imac...

 

Liquid cooling was introduced with the 2.5GHz PM and is now used in the 2.7GHz PM.

 

Hmm, well, maybe the G5 iMac will only get to 2.3GHz - although I wonder if a single processor could still use fan/blower cooling at higher speeds vs. the duals in the G5? Guess we'll see in the next revision, though I'm buying my 2GHz 17" now before its relegated to the bottom end of the line. I hate how Apple always cripples its entry-level machine in every lineup in some bizarre way: entry-level iMacs only have a combo drive with no BTO option, entry-level PowerMacs have a crippled (less than 50% processor speed) FSB for no apparent reason, for example.

 

We're not getting dual cores out of IBM, we know where those are going.

I don't much care about the rest of the line.

iBooks, mini's, eMacs will be the first Intel implants, then on up the line.

 

If Apple uses a Celeron, I will KILL!!!

 

I think he ment Centrino... Anyway, I personally would settle for either a speed bumped and (slightly) price slashed 15" PB, or a 14" iBook at the same price point with a better GPU and a speed bump. It would be nice to get a better graphics chip in the PB but for my purposes the MR9700 is fine. Also, the main thing that has me rooting for the PB is the backlit keyboard! I LOVE that thing!

-mcg

 

I think this is the advantage apple can take to get a big chunk of the low-end market. If theyr'e using a Pentium class (or whatever it's called by then) chip in their $499 computer, they can use that as an argument over why theirs is better.

Currently, the G4 has trouble keeping up with some of its competitors (Namely AMD's) low end chip. The Sempron 3100+ is quite fast.

MP

 

I think that their reason is to cut production costs and to increase yields. I'm sure that its easier to produce a bunch of motherboards with a 667Mhz bus than it is to make them with a 1Ghz bus... not to mention cheaper too!

-mcg