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Freescale Confirms Dual Core G4

OS-X Tiger

Surreal said:
where on apple's site does it actually say that the kernel is 64 bit??


it will add 64 bit memeory addressing...and be more useful for 64 bit operations...

but where does it say that the kernel will be 64 and downshift to 32, that would be a whole lot of downshifting, and would be ineffecient.
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I was at the WWDC researching new technologies for the corporation I work for. One of my task was to find out if Xsan with Tiger Server would be a viable alternative to our current SAN and its controllers. A G5 Xserve/XRAID based array running Xsan with Tiger sever essentially.

That's not so important, but the reason I was there. I have a the SDKs for Tiger. I've been testing systems with them since the WWDC on a test array. I work with this every day. I don't think the average casual Apple user needs to see the high detail, several page reports on the "Tiger Preview" webpage. However if you are interested, the information can be found by creating a free account with the Apple Developer Connection. Though, Apple would enjoy you being an actual developer. For $200 you can get Xcode and other tools sent in the mail monthly which contains this info.

You can also find a paragraph about it here... http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/64bit.html At the bottom of the page, the second paragraph under "Enhanced 64-bit Support". You probably read "memory" and dismissed it as that. What controls Virtual Memory in a 64-bit environ? Hmmm. Some sort of big advanced controlling like thing in the sky?

Lastly, if you drive an automatic, you never really have to think about all the down and upshifting the transmission does on every trip. If you drive a manual, you live for the downshift for power to accelerate. Perhaps "Downshifting" was a poor analogy... How about Binary. Its simple. If 1 is yes and an upshift and 0 is no and a downshift... How many billions of instructions does a single G5 do in one second? Think Tiger can handle it?
 
Converted2Truth said:
Freescale/Motorolla DO NOT have a 90nm fabrication facility.
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They have two. The Philips/ST/Freescale 90nm fab in Crolles is already up and running at 90nm, and they have a pilot fab in Austin (where the current 74xx are made).
 
from the looks of it i'd honestly rather have this chip in a notebook than the G5...

this one is cooler, has more level 2 cache, is dual core... fast bus and processor speed. the only thing it doesn't have that the G5 has is 64bit...but we arn't taking advantage of that now anyway and it will be awhile after tiger comes out when applications start getting updated.
 
NOOOOO!!!! then ill have to upgrade my 12" rev A PB!!! i can stand someones being slightly faster than mine, but dual processor PB!!! maybe it wont fit into the 12" and ill be safe!
 
areyouwishing said:
I know I'm probably in the minority here but I really think apple should not spend money on developing a G5 laptop for at least a year. They should spend their resources on freescale technology.

Look at the best Intel mobile processor right now, the Pentium M. Is it the Big bad power hungry pentium 4 scaled and clocked down and crippled and still sucks up a bunch of power? Or is it an ultra effecient Pentium 3 with added features that performs in mobile environments flawlessly?

Apple should take this approach, FreeScale G4s for mobility, G5s for the true power... its much like the mobile pentium 4 situation.


I wish people would stop buying into the marketing hype of the G5... its not a freaking mobile processor!!!! IT WAS NEVER DESIGNED FOR IT!!!!
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I agree with you. If FreeScale can succeed where Motorla failed, what's the difference. I would not really be surprised to see a G4 chip hold its own against a G5 if it had access to the same system specs (ie, memory, FSB, etc.).
So they can call it a GM (and hope that GM doesn't sue like Apple suing Apple) for all I care. How about a GC (good chip)?
They can even call it the DG4 (Doofy's G4) and I'll even endorse it.
Regardless, a 1.x (where x>5) G4 chip @ 200Mhz is still better than my 1Ghz @ 133.
 
joeboy_45101 said:
Well, here goes. Here are my predictions.

eMac - 1.33Ghz G4, 167Mhz FSB.
12in. iBook G4 - 1.2Ghz G4, 133Mhz FSB.
14in. iBook G4 - 1.2Ghz G4, 133Mhz FSB.
14in. iBook G4(Top Model) - 1.33Ghz G4, 167Mhz FSB.
12in. PowerBook G4 - 1.5Ghz G4, 167Mhz FSB.
15in. PowerBook G4 - 1.5Ghz G4, 167Mhz FSB.
15in. PowerBook G4(Top Model) - 1.5Ghz DualCore G4, 667MHz FSB.
17in. PowerBook G4 - 1.5Ghz DualCore G4, 667MHz FSB.

This doesn't seem to be too shabby to me. I think we'll see a 3Ghz G5 before we ever see a PowerBook G5. And the closest thing we've got to a PowerBook G5 right now is the iMac G5. Apple can do a lot of things but they can't change physics, so that's what we're going to have to live with.
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This would be fantastic, but I just don't see these dual core processors being used in this revision of the PB. If they are, then a G5 PB is a long, long way off, and to be honest would probably offer minimal advantage (and plenty of disadvantages) until the dual core IBM chips appear. If they launch a dual core G4 with this type of power consumption, I'd buy one tomorrow and forget about a G5 PB until its 2nd or 3rd generation.
 
Dual core could be great

I don't understand all the negativity about a dual core G4. If they can deliver it it could be great for PowerBooks. When you're plugged in you get much more computing power than an equivalent clock speed G5 and when you're running on battery and scale back to one core you get longer battery life than a single core G5. What's not to like?
 
The Red Wolf said:
I was at the WWDC researching new technologies for the corporation I work for. One of my task was to find out if Xsan with Tiger Server would be a viable alternative to our current SAN and its controllers. A G5 Xserve/XRAID based array running Xsan with Tiger sever essentially.

That's not so important, but the reason I was there. I have a the SDKs for Tiger. I've been testing systems with them since the WWDC on a test array. I work with this every day. I don't think the average casual Apple user needs to see the high detail, several page reports on the "Tiger Preview" webpage. However if you are interested, the information can be found by creating a free account with the Apple Developer Connection. Though, Apple would enjoy you being an actual developer. For $200 you can get Xcode and other tools sent in the mail monthly which contains this info.

You can also find a paragraph about it here... http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/64bit.html At the bottom of the page, the second paragraph under "Enhanced 64-bit Support". You probably read "memory" and dismissed it as that. What controls Virtual Memory in a 64-bit environ? Hmmm. Some sort of big advanced controlling like thing in the sky?

Lastly, if you drive an automatic, you never really have to think about all the down and upshifting the transmission does on every trip. If you drive a manual, you live for the downshift for power to accelerate. Perhaps "Downshifting" was a poor analogy... How about Binary. Its simple. If 1 is yes and an upshift and 0 is no and a downshift... How many billions of instructions does a single G5 do in one second? Think Tiger can handle it?
Click to expand...

You're making an assumption. The page you referenced doesn't say what you want it to say.

The vm subsystem can address more than 4GB today... (pop quiz: what's the max memory on a powermac today?)

Remember this old post?

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/1035784/
 
mkwilson68 said:
This would be fantastic, but I just don't see these dual core processors being used in this revision of the PB. If they are, then a G5 PB is a long, long way off, and to be honest would probably offer minimal advantage (and plenty of disadvantages) until the dual core IBM chips appear. If they launch a dual core G4 with this type of power consumption, I'd buy one tomorrow and forget about a G5 PB until its 2nd or 3rd generation.
Click to expand...

What specifically would hold FreeScale back? Let's say they have everything in place with these chips, couldn't they start manufacturing them tommorrow? I read one post about how Motorola/FreeScale don't have the facilities to manufacture on 90nm, but I do believe they've been getting the G4's manufactured overseas by a third party for quite some time now. Or they could opt to have it manufactured in IBM's FishKill facility like Nvidia and some other companies do, yes the FishKill facility makes other processors besides the G5.
 
@joeboy_45101

Well for one thing the Altivec implementation on the e600 core models is an "out of order exectution" one, wich is an improvement over the 7447A and earlier. The 1MB cache on these things could be 16 way associative (the 7447A's is 8 way).

These things take time to make shure that they "play nice" so to speak.
 
OK, I realize that no one here knows the particulars of when we will see speed bumps in PBs. But I need some educated guesses. I have been reading this thread as well as other recent ones on this subject here. Is the Register article really accurate and this new chip won't sample until sometime the first half of next year (whatever that means exactly)? If so then I cannot wait for that. I must have a new powerbook by the start of the spring semester in January. I have an offer for my current PB than I believe I am going to accept, as it is more than fair. Between now and January, I can make do with my PowerMac as I will not need mobile computing power between now and then. After that I will be on the road a lot doing research and will need a new PB. I also will need to take care of my web clients, etc. while on the road. I was going to go buy a 15" or 17" this week, just because I would have the funds. But there is no reason I cannot wait until Christmas time to get it. But I cannot wait longer than that. If the update isn't until January, unless it ships immediately, I cannot wait. What do you guys think....updates before then?
 
Kirtus said:
Why are you miffed? They are doing the best possible with the technilogical limitations they have. If the Duel processor G4 is better, why would you complain when currently it is the only option. Do you think that apple is purposely not putting the G5 in the power book? Of course not. It will happen when it is possible and not one minute before. :confused:
Click to expand...
Hear hear - why's everyone got such a, pardon the term, hard-on for a G5 PB anyway? We have a couple G5s and a couple late-model G4s here where I work, and yeah, the G5s are quicker - but do you need that in a laptop? Along with all the power and heat issues? Pfeh. I think these dual-core models are gonna kick booty. The second generation of 'em will probably be out exactly in time for me to replace my beloved G3 iBook.
 
physical, not virtual

devman said:
The vm subsystem can address more than 4GB today... (pop quiz: what's the max memory on a powermac today?)
Click to expand...

Actually, the Virtual Memory system is 32-bit - a process cannot see more than 4 GiB of Virtual Memory.

The Physical Memory system is more than 32-bit (but less than 64-bit) - which is why you can install and use more than 4 GiB of Physical Memory.

The 32-bit Pentiums have a 36-bit physical address space, and can support up to 64 GiB of RAM on a purely 32-bit processor. Panther isn't doing anything more than this - supporting more than 4 GiB on a standard 32-bit vm system.
 
g4

just bought G$ 15 inch laptop after doing the 1 1/2 year waiting game with apple

Im very happy with the G4 15 laptop got the faster hd 5400 and 128 graphic card

so far, i love it

i think ill buy a new laptop when a G6 comes out, lets start the G6 rumors!
lol

im very happy and i was just tired of waiting, my life span with this being the current powerbook is about 4 months probably, but the 15 inch powerbook is a great machine as is.

gonna buy a g5 2.5 mac , should i buy that now? no upcoming increases on that one?

thanks guys
 
All power to you areyouwishing for writing this:

"I wish people would stop buying into the marketing hype of the G5... its not a freaking mobile processor!!!! IT WAS NEVER DESIGNED FOR IT!!!!"
 
Converted2Truth said:
I really don't understand this discussion. Freescale/Motorolla DO NOT have a 90nm fabrication facility.
Click to expand...

WRONG!

Freescale has a 90nm plant that's sampling 65nm parts as of today. Before you go spouting facts, try to check them first.

Current G4's are not manufactured @90nm. So we're looking at A LONG TIME until these chips come to consumers.
Click to expand...

The first 90nm engineering samples from Freescale were released in spring of 2003, and this gives them plenty of time to have taped out and tooled up for full production. Out of their four new designs, two are already in production and shipping to customers as we speak - the e300 and e500 embedded processers. Now the e600 cores bridge the gap to their next-generation, completely original work (like the e300) e700 core.

--

Other people are handling the G5 furor, but I'd like to point out something from the articles... The 7448 runs at TEN WATTS at full bore, people. TEN! Even a low-clocked 970 can't touch that with a bargepole, unless it's in idle and PowerTune clocks it down. The full-featured dual-core chip clocks somewhere between 15 and 25 watts, which is what a 90nm 970 1.6ghz eats for breakfast.

Apple would be stupid to pursue to 970 over this monster. It's got everything to make a dream system, plus ridiculously low power consumption.

My... precious... ;)
 
OK...first post:
Apple doesn't regulary have deals and drop prices on its computers like, for instance, Dell does? Have there ever even been price drops on an Apple system, or do they just upgrade the hardware offered and sell at the same price?

I'm just asking because I dont have an Apple (yet) and am looking at getting a Powerbook around the end of the year (hate PCs), and perhaps they'll do a price drop on their current systems, since these news chips dont look like they're coming out soon.

Just a thought.
 
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