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64-Bit Jaguar and 970 PowerMacs

Pre-announce at WWDC seems questionable

I don't think Apple would announce or show new PPC970-based Macs at WWDC and then wait a month or more before they actually ship. This isn't going to be a simple speed bump or change in appearance. When the PPC970 __is__ announced it will immediately make obsolete every G4-based PowerMac that is still unsold or on store shelves. Thus, I don't expect any PPC970 announcements from Apple until they are actually very, very close to ship (one week would probably be "stretching" it).

In any case, I'm not expecting any PPC970-based Macs until late summer or early fall (at the best).
 
Originally posted by trebblekicked
...is this the first we've heard of hardware codenames? i think it is...
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No, it is not a hardware codename.

It is the internal build name for the "enhanced" Jaguar OS (software) that is compatible with the 970.


I am very excited about what is going to be shown on the week of the 23rd and what is going to be released soon after.

Quark:D
 
smeagol...

Just thought I'd add that in the latest issue of Macaddict magazine (at least I think it was Macaddict...could've been Macworld - I'll check later), they have a section on "Shake" which was used in the production of the movie "The Lord of the Rings". Could there be a connection with this codename Smeagol and apples participation in the lord of the rings movies???
 
Originally posted by rjstanford


Of course, there's only one problem. Can anyone confirm the gcc issues? Is this really so significantly different? If so, that would mean that software built for the G4 series wouldn't run on the 970 without modification, which is something that I have a hard time believing (from previous statements and from IBM history).
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Not quite the right view. Software from existing GCC will run correctly on the 970 - the thing it won't know how to do is to make all the different internal units work in parallel as much as they are capable.

So don't get worried about "not working": there won't be any such issues.

What it does mean is that the true performance of the 970 won't be apparent from the initial machines - that's what GCC 3.3 (or whatever version) will bring.

Tweaking and tuning compilers to get the best from a new CPU is a fairly typical part of the semiconductor industry. It's the sort of thing that can take a good few months to get really optimised. Referencing this does add credibility to the report.
 
Re: Pre-announce at WWDC seems questionable

Originally posted by fpnc
I don't think Apple would announce or show new PPC970-based Macs at WWDC and then wait a month or more before they actually ship. This isn't going to be a simple speed bump or change in appearance. When the PPC970 __is__ announced it will immediately make obsolete every G4-based PowerMac that is still unsold or on store shelves. Thus, I don't expect any PPC970 announcements from Apple until they are actually very, very close to ship (one week would probably be "stretching" it).

In any case, I'm not expecting any PPC970-based Macs until late summer or early fall (at the best).
Click to expand...
Why not announce and not ship for a month or 2? Thave already done it a few times this year (AlBooks 12" and 17")...
 
People think Apple has daid Panther will be out at WWDC. They never said that.

They said they would PREVIEW Panther--which says pretty clearly to me that Panther will NOT be ready to ship by WWDC.

But 64-bit vs. 32-bit isn't the main performance issue with the 970 at all, so if new Macs are ready by August and Panther isn't, they can still run very well.
 
Re: Re: Pre-announce at WWDC seems questionable

Originally posted by yzedf
Why not announce and not ship for a month or 2? Thave already done it a few times this year (AlBooks 12" and 17")...
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I guess because though the 12 and 17 PBs added some features that the 15 didn't have (BT, AE, lighted keys), they didn't make it obsolete--it's still selling. and because there were no prior 12s or 17s to make obsolete :p .

-bb
 
Originally posted by nagromme

But 64-bit vs. 32-bit isn't the main performance issue with the 970 at all, so if new Macs are ready by August and Panther isn't, they can still run very well.
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are you sure ?
if i understood the article well, it says that to run jaguar, it needs to get an update.
perhaps it will not run otherwise ? They certainly know why they are bringing that update on, no ?
 
Originally posted by -hh
'Smeagol' is from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. ...A modern example of a Sleeper or Q-Ship automobile would be something like the Audi RS4 Quattro Avant. It looks like a normal compact station wagon, but its engine has been worked over by Porsche: 0-60mph is <5 sec, 0-100ph is <12sec, and 0-125 is 17sec. Coming back down, you find that Porsche's worked on the suspension/braking systems too: 70mph-0 in 155ft.


It would be nice to have a Macintosh Q-Ship :D


-hh
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you are confusing that with the audi RS2.
that car had porsche brakes and wheels...:p
 
Remember P29?

Originally posted by trebblekicked
is this the first we've heard of hardware codenames? i think it is.
Click to expand...

The dual-USB iBooks, announced in May 2001, were known internally as "P29", right? So Q37 is certainly in keeping with this format.
 
Q37 ?

I have a theory on the name.

:D

37 is the answer to the totally BS "I'm so clever and psychic" Question, "Think of a number between 10 and 50". Especially so for people so crap they say "think of a number between 10 and 90 without using 2 of the same digit". and still think their david blaine.
 
I think that the Jaguar update won't be required, but Apple want to offer something 64-bit optimized so that the difference between G4 an 970 be greater...

I really hope that they are planing on introducing a headless alluminium mini-tower for consumers, not professionals! I consider myself a plain consumer... ~_~
 
The PPC970 is faster than the G4 at the same clock speed running 32bit apps (going by the performance numbers of the chips floating around the net), so a 1.8Ghz PPC970 should be at least as fast as a 2Ghz G4 should be. It will be even faster running optimised 64bit apps.

One very good thing about the PPC970 is that a dual 1.8Ghz PowerMac will be segnificantly faster than the fastest P4 at 3.06Ghz with its 800Mhz bus and 1066Mhz Rambus RAM.
 
At least the code name isn't BHA...

Smeagol is good though, the "good" side of Gollum. Perhaps a reference to there being a different build of it (for now) given the two sides of the personality.
 
Indeed, Smeagol is one of the faces of the creature Gollum. This is a reference to the fact that Jag will run on both G4's and 970's, methinks...
 
hmmmmmmm from cats to MTV award show winners..... :rolleyes:

Well, I am thoroughly convinced that apple will be releasing new PowerMacs at the WWDC. Now let's hope they go past 1.8.... ;)

77430bbce83afc89881430e177cabb9b.png
 
clarification

just FYI:
i know smeagol is the special jag build codename; i was wondering if "Q37" is the first rumored codename for the 970 powermac. i've only noticed fancifully code-named projects in the past (yosemite, yikes, sawtooth, jaguar, etc), and this seemed kind of lame for an apple codename. but if the ibooks had an alphanumeric...

otherwise:
i'd assume a 64-bit chip would need a special build of the 32-bit OS for optimization. this update may or may not be available/necessary for non-970 machines.
 
Re: clarification

Originally posted by trebblekicked
just FYI:
i know smeagol is the special jag build codename; i was wondering if "Q37" is the first rumored codename for the 970 powermac. i've only noticed fancifully code-named projects in the past (yosemite, yikes, sawtooth, jaguar, etc), and this seemed kind of lame for an apple codename. but if the ibooks had an alphanumeric...
Click to expand...

The MDD Power Macs were named P57 and P58.
 
Re: Pre-announce at WWDC seems questionable

Originally posted by fpnc
I don't think Apple would announce or show new PPC970-based Macs at WWDC and then wait a month or more before they actually ship. This isn't going to be a simple speed bump or change in appearance. When the PPC970 __is__ announced it will immediately make obsolete every G4-based PowerMac that is still unsold or on store shelves. Thus, I don't expect any PPC970 announcements from Apple until they are actually very, very close to ship (one week would probably be "stretching" it).

In any case, I'm not expecting any PPC970-based Macs until late summer or early fall (at the best).
Click to expand...

The thing is, they are going to have to announce at WWDC that 10.3 will be a 64 bit OS. If they announce that, it confirms that they are going to be using the 970 soon. but then everyone would just have questions and who would buy anything? So it makes sense they pre-announce even though they aren't ready, ship them 6 weeks later (not atypical for a big announcements--the 17" PB took about 12 weeks to ship) and let the orders start pouring in. I don't see know how they can announce 64 bit support without at least giving a timetable as when to expect 64 bit capable macs. They have to announce them! And they have to announce 64 bit 10.3 because they need developers to start optimizing programs to support and take advantage of the advancements that 10.3 and the 970 have to offer.
 
I certainly agree with those who find it odd Apple would announce this in a couple of weeks time and then not actually ship it for 6-8 weeks after that. And there's pretty much no chance they won't announce this, because they need to get the developers up to speed on 64-bit/new processor optimising now. It would seem a bit stupid to those developers if they were told to do this without actually being shown a 64-bit processor. :)

Power Mac sales are already sluggish because of the world economy and so many people knowing a new machine is on the horizon, properly announcing a new model would completely halt all sales until the new models were shipping - incredibly bad for business.

It would make much more sense to announce and release at WWDC and then just make the OS X updates available as they are ready. We already know the 970 can run 32-bit code, so even if the performance isn't quite there yet, why not just release anyway?

Perhaps it's just a first impressions thing, they don't want their new processor to appear slow straight after release.
 
Originally posted by pgwalsh
Is that referring to Golum or something else?
Click to expand...

More then likely gollum. Someone at Apple must be a fan of The Lord of Rings. If you have read through all of the posts in this thread almost every theory has been covered. :)
 
Originally posted by Mr.Hey
Why would anyone vote negative :confused: evil bastards :D
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People like myself often vote negative to comment on the believability of the story. If there was a story about Quad 970s coming out tomorrow with 10.3 for only $499 I'd hit the negative button. You can rate the content of the message, or the reliability of the message itself.
 
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