Amazon Listing for Dual 2.7 Ghz PowerMac

[Mac-Xpert]

I said it before but I think it needs repeating. While past performance is no indicator of future events, Apple has never released a product only to turn around TWO months later and release a better version of that product. The chances of a better, dual-core G5 being released in June is next to nothing (notice I didn't say completely nothing).
Use some logic.
From the 2.0s to the 2.5s, Apple waited a whole year. Do you not think people would wait the full year again if Apple could squeeze out the dual core in June? People sure would wait - as if they had any choice.
I see NO common sense in the arguement that Powermacs will be single core tomorrow and dual core in June. It's possible but not probable.

I agree, the only thing I could see as remotely possible is that Apple would introduce the dual cores during WWDC but won't start shipping them before september, with production ramping up to the demands around october.

I think we can now safely say that the upcoming update is the worst Apple update ever. Not just the worst PM or G5. Even the last Powerbook update was much better in comparison giving us a 11% speed gain and several updated features (digital audio I/O, improved backlight, improved trackpad, etc.)

The G5 will only gain 8% speed and the 16X speed Dual-layer superdrive is already shipping in the current model, but with crippled firmware, so that's not really a upgrade at all. With no mentioning of the graphics card it's safe to presume it will remain the same also. So that only leaves the hard-disk going from 160 to 250 Gb. And no price cut.

That pretty much sounds like the worst update ever to me.

 

[gate]

If history is true, the Powermac IS the pro line of Macintosh.

Yeah right! I mean a real PRO line not a "Pro line" that comes with 512 megs of RAM. That's not serious.

 

[Eric5h5]

Well, I'm glad I got my dual 2.5 when I did...the 2.7 won't really be noticeably faster. It's not just IBM you know...remember Intel had to cancel their 4 GHz P4. (As for switching to AMD...does AMD make PPC processors? No? Then forget it.)

--Eric

 

[Frobozz]

This is the lamest PowerMac update in 2+ years. Really pathetic. If they don't drop the prices by 10% there is no way they'll boost sales. They'll be flat (as always) or down.

 

[jouster]

I tend to agree. Is a dual layer 16x that pricey? Surely 90 gig extra ram is nice....

Dual layer isn't all that pricey, but 90 gigs of RAM is about $29,000 at Apple's (admittedly inflated) prices....

So it certainly would be nice!









(I know...you meant 90 gig extra HD space...)

 

[ALoveSupreme]

Oh, come on, you know what I meant; they're keeping the same *price points* for the new models:

Old: $1,500 / $2,000 / $2,500 / $3,000

New: n/a / $2,000 / $2,500 / $3,000

When they come out with a revamp after this much time, the revision should either be *considerably* better at the *same* prices, OR, if it's only going to be *marginally* better, should really be accompanied by a price *point* drop to "make up for it". In this case, it appears to be a marginal improvement but at the same price points.

I am sorry I didn't know what you meant. But fine I agree. It's pretty dissapointing. Well I'll be waiting for a G5 PB (or something like that) anyway...

 

[sandau]

This is Apple, not Alienware.

think different padawan. lol. hey at least 'paint it black' as the song goes... if you can't do a real upgrade, change the color.

 

[840quadra]

If history is true, the Powermac IS the pro line of Macintosh.

Yeah right! I mean a real PRO line not a "Pro line" that comes with 512 megs of RAM. That's not serious.

Well the prices are low with 512 megs of memory, if you want more upgrade the ram. i wouldn't buy a dell Precision with the Default RAM level.

Apple knows that a "pro" will upgrade their memory, and it is nice to buy the computer at a fair price, and go some place else to buy less expensive memory.

that's just my humble opinion though

840

 

[macmunch]

You dont check it or ???

WHY in HELL SHOULD Apple upgrad now and bring new Macs in June ?!?!?!?

Where is the point ?


crazy !

We wont see new PMs a minimum of 6 month i think Expo Paris is good or and tuesday update

 

[BlueDjinn]

I am sorry I didn't know what you meant. But fine I agree. It's pretty dissapointing.

Sorry myself, didn't mean to be snotty; I guess you're right that it's a matter of perspective--you can either look at it as "price drop on the old model plus two new models at the old prices" or "three new models at the old prices, one of which is similar to the old model"

Doesn't matter; bottom line is that it appears to be a weak upgrade, and they're likely to look pretty lame on my next System Shootouts update (which should be this or next week).

 

[Yvan256]

The most ignorant thing I've heard all day. AMD isn't somehow barred from ever making anything other than x86 processors. I would like to know why AMD would be unable to produce a suitable POWER CPU, when you think about it IBM was really kind of a bad partner to supply the actual chips in the first place. IBM is great at producing cutting edge technology, but not so great in implementing it like in the case of the G5. I think it would be wiser for companies like FreeScale and AMD to get the technology from IBM but to do the actual implementing themselve's.

I only wish Apple would see it this way, having IBM supply the technology and have an actual chip maker design and build the chips.

The most insulting thing I've heard all day (to continue the style).

AMD currently DOESN'T make PPC processors (to my knowledge). Also, they'd be required to license PPC (would IBM/Motorola/FreeScale allow competition?) You're imagining possible cases here, not relying on actual facts!

Let's see, I can imagine things too: I could also argue with you that you're also ignorant because Apple COULD release OS X for x86, Microsoft COULD buy Apple and shut them down (monopoly-shielding issues aside), FreeScale COULD make x86 processors, Sony COULD dump Microsoft and make a partnership with Apple. And the human race COULD live in peace and harmony (not gonna happen any time soon).

However, I do agree on your "IBM should innovates and the others do the actual production" idea. But those "others" are currently Motorola/FreeScale.
Unless there's other PPC manufacturers I'm not aware of.

 

[kerryb]

This will really expand the user base?

I know this upgrade is not really official as in from the lips of Steve but I would say Amazon messed up releasing the info although they probably got everything else correct. I'm not worried about the top of the line 2.7 being "not fast enough" like some posters here, it is really about the price points that I find disappointing. I bought my 2002 Quicksilver single 933 for $2000, it was the middle pro model of the three offered. Three years later this new lineup has the low-end G5 at $2000? Not much incentive to upgrade for me. The mac mini may get the attention of the transitional "switchers" or newbies to the Mac platform but I still think the higher end PC switchers will have sticker shock when checking out these machines.

 

[powerbook911]

I wouldn't have mind the minor updates, but a small price cut should have went along with it. Oh well, there is always the next update...

 

[macrobay]

are you people nuts!!!

You get all worked up over rumors and idealistic CRAP that you completely ignore that this IS a pretty nice PowerMac update. JEEEZE, I mean, what the HELL is the problem??? You get dual 2.7's, so now we're so close to the 3 mark to make the PC idiots squirm, even though we already beat them... Then you have a 250GB hard drive!!! That's friggin AWESOME! And FREE TIGER! And a friggin DUAL LAYER 16x Drive!!! C'mon people, this is awesome! And the prices will probably be the same, respectively! What the hell is wrong with that??? NOTHING! So quit your ignorant whining and wait until WWDC.

 

[duffman9000]

I'd have to say I'm very disappointed myself. Configuring a Dual 2.0 Opteron with 6 200GB SATA Hard Drives, 4GB of memory, and a 16X DVD-R is going to run you about $3,000. Is it worth it to pay nearly twice that for a G5 that you can't rackmount without reaching for your hacksaw? If I have to run a Mac only application, yes... but $6,000 will get you a fully loaded Dual 2.7, or a Quad Opteron 2.0. Folks, there's no argument there about processing power, unless one is completely off one's tod.

As time marches on, the lack of updates combined with zero price movement in the is really going to hurt. Don't get me wrong, I love Macs. I own enough of them, and I sell them too. But if another window manager for a *BSD or *nix gets stable and has good eye candy, Steve is going to have to figure something out. I'm not the only UNIX inclined nerd who's very disappointed with the lack of updates and price drops for the Apple line.

Having a nice price drop would make buying a desktop or laptop easier to swallow. Especially the laptops. Paying top dollar for old tech is crazy.

 

[le_coc]

prices

You all talk about prices allready!! where do you see them ?
Amazon is not showing us any prices!!

so wait and see!

 

[myapplseedshurt]

Is it too foolish (or naive) to hope for 970MP for the update at this moment?..

yes.

 

[myapplseedshurt]

You all talk about prices allready!! where do you see them ?
Amazon is not showing us any prices!!

so wait and see!

put one of them in your cart, and it will show you the price. 2994.99

 

[cr2sh]

If these boys are air cooled I'm happy... cuz it brings us closer to what we all really want.

If they can air cool a 2.7GHz chip... I have to believe they can easily air cool a 1.6GHz chip.

Maybe even with a 1/2" thick heatsink.

 

[840quadra]

You get all worked up over rumors and idealistic CRAP that you completely ignore that this IS a pretty nice PowerMac update. JEEEZE, I mean, what the HELL is the problem??? You get dual 2.7's, so now we're so close to the 3 mark to make the PC idiots squirm, even though we already beat them... Then you have a 250GB hard drive!!! That's friggin AWESOME! And FREE TIGER! And a friggin DUAL LAYER 16x Drive!!! C'mon people, this is awesome! And the prices will probably be the same, respectively! What the hell is wrong with that??? NOTHING! So quit your ignorant whining and wait until WWDC.

You need less coffee in the morning

I agree that the upgrade is nice. I understand that apple promised us 3GHZ last year and didn't make it.

Life sometimes sucks, I think people should get over the 3GHZ Buzz word. I am curious to see real world Benchmarks on the new 2.7 chips. I don't live off of Bench numbers, If I did I wouldn't have bought a G5. For most of us it is the stable OS and Hardware that keeps us going back to Apple.

 

[duffman9000]

You get all worked up over rumors and idealistic CRAP that you completely ignore that this IS a pretty nice PowerMac update. JEEEZE, I mean, what the HELL is the problem??? You get dual 2.7's, so now we're so close to the 3 mark to make the PC idiots squirm, even though we already beat them... Then you have a 250GB hard drive!!! That's friggin AWESOME! And FREE TIGER! And a friggin DUAL LAYER 16x Drive!!! C'mon people, this is awesome! And the prices will probably be the same, respectively! What the hell is wrong with that??? NOTHING! So quit your ignorant whining and wait until WWDC.

LOL... whoa... how about IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME??? 16X Dual layer burners have been out for pc's since... august? 250 GB hard drives are pedestrian when other OEM's include larger drives in their top models. Of course the OS is free, it better be since you just paid for the rest of the system.

 

[Squire]

Pricey? Of course it isn't. I bought a Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer 8x burner (fit's nicely in my 2001 Quicksilver) for about $169 at Best Buy. Lo and behold, a few months later, Sony comes out with a 16x Dual Layer burner and Best Buy was selling it for $139!!!

Oh well...

My 16x DL burner in my iMac was about $75.

The world’s first all formats compatible, dual layer, true 16x (+R/-R) DVD Rewriter. Stores up to 8.5GB (DVD +R DL). Access time: CD-ROM 125msec, DVD-ROM 145msec, DVD-RAM 165msec. 2MB buffer memory with buffer under run technology.

Squire

 

[minimax]

Well that's certainly a bit disappointing. Strange that the range is now 2.0GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz. Why not keep the 2.5GHz?

I bet Apple are really chuffed that Amazon has leaked this out early!

They did not keep the 2.5 ghz because the 2.3 ghz most likely is the 2.5 without watercooling. Remember, all chips come from the same wafer (slower and faster) and they are put on a specific frequency depending on their performance (leakage). That they needed to do this shows they really hit a brick wall on 2.5 ghz where intel hit it with approx 3.75 ghz. I assume the new 2.7 ghz works on watercooling and would be able to work on 2.5 ghz without.
I think they should have gone that direction. It's more honoust IMO.

Jobs 2004: "Behold, the all new dual 2.5 with state-of-the-art whisper quiet watercooling technology"
Jobs one year later: "Behold, the all new dual 2.5 without watercooling!!"

 

[LionelEHutz]

I'll bet those Amazon pictures are stock pictures.

my guess these new powermacs are black with the new black theme from apple.

and some of the specs aren't released, there are new widgets inside, perhaps not dual dualies, but something unique...

and why a 2.3 and not keep the 2.5? There is something else going on here. I realize that 2.5/2.7 wouldn't be a big gap for a price point but I have a feeling that there is a reason for the 2.3/2.7 vs. 2.5/2.7....they're 'different'....

Maybe the 2.5 will be shifted to the Xserve? Right now the top of the line Xserve uses a dual 2.3

If this 2.7 thing is true then I don't feel too bad about having one of the 2.5's, which is fast as all heck and virtually silent -- a plus for the liquid cooling.

 

[toontra]

This is doubly bad. Firstly a c**p revision, and secondly, this means several months wait till a decent speed bump/PCIe/dual core announcement. WWDC is out or I reckon they would have waited till then.

Dual-layer drive - BIG DEAL! You can get & fit these for a few bucks (no-one uses dual-layer at the moment anyway cause the media is too expensive).

Think this smacks of desperation. I'm really pissed & I think Apple will suffer for this. They ain't getting any of my money for one!