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The G5 PowerBook, it possibly could exist

varmit

varmit

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 5, 2003
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http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20920

"While stumbling through the thickets of the World Wide Wibble, we came across a Word document that contained something that we'd never seen before [a list of design winners for the Electronics Summit 2004 which shows] that Hypertransport has a design win for the Apple PowerBook. This would appear to be confirmation that a G5 PowerBook is definitely turning up and that despite thermal problems, it is at least in the works," Wil Harris writes for The Inquirer.

Has anyone seen this before? That is the Electronics Summit winners from 2004.

If not the G5, could the G4 be getting hypertransport?
 
Why the surprise?

It's obvious that Apple have a G5 powerbook in production at some stage in development whether it's still a drawing or a working prototype...

It's just a matter of when, not if.

Millions of words have been written here and elsewhere about its likely form-factor, configuration, specs, colour etc.

What more does this article tell us?
 
Blue Velvet said:
It's obvious that Apple have a G5 powerbook in production at some stage in development whether it's still a drawing or a working prototype...

It's just a matter of when, not if.

Millions of words have been written here and elsewhere about its likely form-factor, configuration, specs, colour etc.

What more does this article tell us?
Click to expand...

actually it could be a question of "if" .. they may as well have ibm design something like the 970 but drastically redesigned.. but it wont' be the same chip as the ones in the imac or the powermac.. the G6 may be the first to get in the powerbook.. but i wouldn't expect it within the next 6 months
 
Sorry about my "double post". I thought it contained more information but maybe I should have just posted it here.

Hypertransport enabled PowerBook G5?

The Inquirer claims to have obtained a copy of a Digital Video and Multimedia News writeup from the Electronics Summit 2004, a conference held for electronics editors. The document lists some of the ‘design wins’ of different technologies, and seemingly references an Apple PowerBook G5.

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"Number 7 on the list is Hypertransport, that well known technology used in AMD 64 chips and Power Macs," the publication says. "But perhaps the most interesting confirmation is that Hypertransport has a design win for the Apple PowerBook. This would appear to be confirmation that a G5 PowerBook is definitely turning up and that despite thermal problems, it is at least in the works."

HyperTransport technology, which is featured in Apple’s G5-based Power Mac systems, is a new high speed, high performance point-to-point link for interconnecting integrated circuits on a motherboard. It can be significantly faster than a PCI bus for an equivalent number of pins, and is primarily targeted for the IT and Telecomm industries. However, any application where high speed, low latency and scalability is necessary can potentially take advantage of HyperTransport technology.
 
patseguin said:
HyperTransport technology, which is featured in Apple’s G5-based Power Mac systems, is a new high speed, high performance point-to-point link for interconnecting integrated circuits on a motherboard. It can be significantly faster than a PCI bus for an equivalent number of pins, and is primarily targeted for the IT and Telecomm industries. However, any application where high speed, low latency and scalability is necessary can potentially take advantage of HyperTransport technology.
Click to expand...


Well a positive sign things are happening...
 
I had to laugh at the famous "there's a sucker born every minute" Barnum quote at the tope of the linked page, especially since we are talking about the Powerbook G5.

It's likely that Apple has test mule Powerbook G5s with Tiger up and running right now in Cupertino, but I'm also sure those prototypes are probably a far cry from what will actually hit the market for consumers.
 
mkrishnan said:
Is there any possible connection between HyperTransport and multi-core CPUs, of the G4 variety?
Click to expand...

If so, that would be flippin' pimpin'! I'd take a dual core (HT?) G4. Anything to get me off of my current 12"er.
 
Well, which processors other than the G5 have hypertransport right now. None that we know of. So if the current PB have reached an end of life, doesn't that mean a rev. that has major changes is coming, even if it stays a G4 base, with possible hypertransport making them even faster?
 
varmit said:
Well, which processors other than the G5 have hypertransport right now. None that we know of. So if the current PB have reached an end of life, doesn't that mean a rev. that has major changes is coming, even if it stays a G4 base, with possible hypertransport making them even faster?
Click to expand...

The P4's have HT.
 
Capt Underpants said:
The P4's have HT.
Click to expand...
Ah ... NO. P4s, newest ones, have Hyper Threading, which allows more than one instruction thread to run on a single core CPU. HyperTransport is basically a cross point switch that provides point-to-point data paths between components on a mobo. They are completely different and unrelated technologies.
 
daveL said:
Ah ... NO. P4s, newest ones, have Hyper Threading, which allows more than one instruction thread to run on a single core CPU. HyperTransport is basically a cross point switch that provides point-to-point data paths between components on a mobo. They are completely different and unrelated technologies.
Click to expand...

Could you explain the difference to me, or link me to a site with good info? I'd like to know more about the differences. I had no idea there were two HT's.

So is it faster to have hyperthreading or hypertransport?
 
Capt Underpants said:
Could you explain the difference to me, or link me to a site with good info? I'd like to know more about the differences. I had no idea there were two HT's.

So is it faster to have hyperthreading or hypertransport?
Click to expand...
HyperThreading is a technology that allows one Pentium 4 CPU to pretend that it's actually two CPUs.

HyperTransport has nothing to do with the CPU whatsoever. It's an interconnect technology designed for, among other things, connecting the CPU to the other parts of the computer - sort of an enhancement to/replacement for a traditional frontside bus.

Therefore, the two technologies could coexist if Intel decides to adopt HyperTransport.

HyperThreading description
HyperTransport description
From Ars Technica
 
Capt Underpants said:
Could you explain the difference to me, or link me to a site with good info? ... I had no idea there were two HT's.
Click to expand...
HyperTransport is, in very general terms, a fast way of getting data from one chip to another inside the computer. In this case, it's a new, fast(er) way of connecting the processor to the other stuff inside the computer. The Consortium has more info.

HyperThreading is an Intel name for a technology that, roughly, makes one processor look like two to the operating system. The processor can get two things ready to run at the same time, and switch between them very efficiently, even though it only has one execution unit (the part of a processor that actually does the calculating). Intel has more info.

You can see, they're totally unrelated despite the shared acronym. HyperThreading is a little like 2 rows of cars lined up for one tollbooth, where Hypertransport is more like an entirely different type of highway system.

Capt Underpants said:
So is it faster to have hyperthreading or hypertransport?
Click to expand...
That's like asking if it's faster to take a different road to work in the morning or switch to instant coffee. Both might get you to work faster, but they're unrelated and not mutually exclusive (except that Intel doesn't seem to be onboard HyperTransport).
 
Capt Underpants said:
So is it faster to have hyperthreading or hypertransport?
Click to expand...
Is it healthier to lose a kidney or a liver?
Does a bike ride more smoothly with one tire, or the other tire?

Hyperthreading is a fancy name for one cpu that acts like two. On a hyperthreaded intel p4, the software believes it has 2 cpus. This is very similar to a dual-core G4 in principle (though this means little w.r.t. performance without further qualification).

Hypertransport is the front-side bus. A faster front-side bus means the cpu may spend less time waiting for things to do. The fastest cpu in the world will be a dog if it is just sitting around waiting for something to do.

-kev
 
Apple has already publicly stated during post keynote and conferences calls that they are working on a G5 PowerBook.

Unless this is another iMac G5 lie. ;) :)


Curious what a PBG5 will look like, something alone the lines of the mini. :)
 
maya said:
Apple has already publicly stated during post keynote and conferences calls that they are working on a G5 PowerBook.

Unless this is another iMac G5 lie. ;) :)


Curious what a PBG5 will look like, something alone the lines of the mini. :)
Click to expand...


I wonder how thick Steve will allow the PBG5 to be...because that's likely a key issue because a fan on the chip shuld do the trick but then your probably double the current thickness...
 
aswitcher said:
I wonder how thick Steve will allow the PBG5 to be...because that's likely a key issue because a fan on the chip shuld do the trick but then your probably double the current thickness...
Click to expand...

this is why i am unable to believe a 970 will be used in the powerbook... ibm will have to design a new lower heat, lower power version. they may be working on it and i'm doubting it will be released within the next 6 months (or 5 months now) ... so... with that said... the new chip is likely pin for pin compatible and as such is the reason they are using the 970 that exists.. just for testing purposes.. expect to have a new processor because the 970 is way to hot, way too big and way too power hungry to put into a notebook that is as small, liteweight and quiet as the powerbook.
 
abhishekit said:
Whats amusing is that how closely these guys monitor apple :D
cheers
Click to expand...

That is amazing-- Apple is watched with the intensity of a Talmudic scholar. A "a 1 x 1-pixel placeholder graphic on the page" is all it takes.
 
abhishekit said:
I just read something very interesting (or may be not), on theregister. It points to the mention of G5 pb on Apple's website.
Whats amusing is that how closely these guys monitor apple :D

cheers
Click to expand...
The reference is still visible on www.apple.com/powerbook. I downloaded the html-page to my Hard disk. The image itself is just a transparant 1x1pixel gif image, with no color data whatsoever (42 bytes). This is certainly interesting in respect with some recent rumors:

 
isgoed said:
The reference is still visible on www.apple.com/powerbook. I downloaded the html-page to my Hard disk. The image itself is just a transparant 1x1pixel gif image, with no color data whatsoever (42 bytes). This is certainly interesting in respect with some recent rumors:

Click to expand...


This is just bizzare behaviour by Apple...
 
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