So it looks as if Apple will FINALLY bring the dual core processors at least to the Powermacs... They had access to it for such a long time, it makes me wonder what really was/is happening behind the Apple vs IBM/Freescale curtain...
Anyway, since IBM introduced 970MPs back in July topped at 2.5 GHZ I am assuming (and its probably in their contract clause with Apple) that considering significant power consumption reduction in 970 technology we might actually see dual cores clocked at 2.7Ghz-2.8Ghz OR, dare to I say, the mythical 3 GHZ...
Maybe Apple didnt want to introduce 970MPs sooner because they couldn't manage to pass them pass 2.5-2.7 GHZ, which from the marketing point of view and the overall MHZ Myth surrounding most consumers, wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, most people look at the MHZ ratings, most of them don't even know what dual core is, and to top it all of, most of everyday software won't take advantage of additional cores any time soon, so basically they would kind of steppped backwards, from 2.7 GHZ to 2.5GHZ...
So thats why I tend to believe we might see top end dual core configurations at 2.7-2.8 GHZ
So in conclusion, Apple probably will release 3 or 4 PowerMac models, in the low-end it will be either sngle dual core or dual single core 970GXs at 2-2.3GHZ, Mid Range probably 2.3-2.6 GHZ, and High End probably a dual dual core at 2.5-2.8GHZ (3GHZ anyone???), of course it won't be cheap...
As far as Powerbooks are concerned, I have no idea as of what to expect but judging from the last iBook revision not a whole lot, all that DDR2 and HD screen talk doesn't mean a whole lot if they'll continue to use the same G4 backbone architecture... But I will stay positive and predict a 1.8-2.0 Ghz High-end Powerbook...
