Apollo G4 before the G5
January 22nd is a rumor date that arose out of certain marketing channels. Tuesday is a common (though not strict) annoucement date for Apple, and I think that is why a lot of people picked the 22nd. Initially it began as "20 ish" something. It is not unusual for Apple (or anyone else) to annouce a product a couple of weeks or so before it actually ships. Prime example is the new iMac announced at MacWorld but not shipping until the latter part of the month in quantity. Based upon my informal study of the progression of chip development this is what I expect, possibly by the end of the month (the 22nd is not too soon) but almost certainly by the time Seybold rolls around.
The G4 Apollo chip is shipping in adequate quantities now at speeds in excess of 1 gig to meet possible demand. The most commonly mentioned speeds are 1.067, 1.2 and 1.4 ghz. There is also a 1.6 ghz chip but it is unknown if there is sufficient supply to currently ship it. I expect that when Apple does annouce it, we will see 1.2, 1.4 ghz models with at least 1 multi-processor model of an unknown speed. There is a chance the 200mhz bus and DDRAM along with firewire 2 will be ready for this next edition, but only Apple knows for sure.
The G5 is still not ready for primetime with the best information I have been able to find. Production of the chip has produced speeds in the 1.2 to 2.3 gigahertz range but not in realiable quantities. There are probably still some bugs to work out as well. The G5 chip is co-developed by Motorola and Apple. I can't see it in production before spring, and probably not till summer. However it should debut with significant all around enhancements to the system. Mid to late summer is probably the time frame before sufficient supplies will exist for m*** production.
The IBM G3 "Sahara chip" will probably become the mainstay of portable computers such as the ibook, at some point. It's extremely miserly power requirements are ideal for such applications. Keep in mind though that they also have an extensive imbedded and dedicated appliance market for that chip.
In the end though, your guess is as good as mine. Apple loves to keep people guessing.
** Let me clarify that the G5 as it will appear in the Mac is co-developed by Motorola and Apple. Apparently Motorola was lagging in development (as usual) so Apple provided engineering support to help progress along. Motorola does have other variations of the 8500 (G5) chip that will be used for different purposes. Chips are developed along similar but different time lines, depending on purpose. -- I would be pleasently surprised if they did indeed get the G5 to market sooner. Apple would like to, but Motorola may not be able to. The G5 does have tremendous potential.
