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edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
You must be joking! The G5 PowerMacs have only just been delivered to people, I think you'll be waiting quite a long time for a G5 iMac myself.
 

jamesatzones

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2003
129
0
Seattle
Originally posted by stoid
I think that we will see the G5 in both PowerBook and possibly eMac before it appears in the iMac.

I think we would see it in the iMac before the eMac, the eMac is the low end system, why would Apple make their high end consumer machine slower than their low end. Plus, we have to put into concideration that new iMacs are expected reasonably soon.
 

yadmonkey

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2002
1,306
838
Western Spiral
Hey, sorry to say that its really unlikely to see G5's in anything other than the Powermac for a long time.

Apple wouldn't stick it in an iMac even if they could, because it would undermine sales of their professional line of machines.

The Powerbook however, is part of the professional line, so they are probably working on engineering that as we speak. However, it will likely be quite a while before we see it. As you can see from the large and extensive architecture of the new G5's cooling is a major challenge with these new chips. The engineers will have to solve two major problems:

1) To engineer them into a tiny laptop and keep them sufficiently cool.
2) To provide enough power to the chips while keeping them sufficiently cool and providing adequate battery life.

With this in mind, I think the iMac too would require some major re-engineering to accomodate such a fiesty little chip.

Hope this helps!
 

KBFinFan

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2003
283
0
Connecticut, USA
I don't want to make any time frame predictions.. but I will throw my two cents in.

I think a G5 Powerbook and G5 iMac will come about around the same time, since the technology for one seems similar to the other. Both have small enclosures to work in.. obviously the PB is a little smaller.. but I think when the technology reaches that level it will only require a little tweaking before both products are G5-ed.

The eMac and iBook will remain G4 for at least the next year or two as they are the more lowend/consumer line..

How's that sound?
 

Mantat

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2003
619
0
Montréal (Canada)
Want a scoop? The next iMac will be G4 and the new feature will be an integrated iSight.

Why? The video conferencing is the last sector of multimedia that no company has explored yet and only apple would be able to supply the hardware-software required to give the user a great experience. The current iSight is the first step so they can test everything before making a big move.

I can also bet that this next iMac will be the best sale ever, reason: porn... I am not kiding, porn is THE reason people buy new technologies, video, camcorder, internet...

The only problem with my prediction is that I dont understand how they can put a webcam in an elegant way on an iMac...
 

Shifty

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2003
148
0
UK, London, SW15
A proffessional Macintosh such as the PowerBook would come before a consumer Macintosh, such as the iMac.

My theory anyway.


Would there be any change in design for the iMac G5?

Colo(u)r would remain the same, since Professional MAcs are silver, and consumer macs are white.
 

yadmonkey

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2002
1,306
838
Western Spiral
To put this in perspective, the G4 Powermac was introduced in August '99. The first G4 iMac wasn't introduced until two years later - July '02. And it was the first major redesign on the iMac, as the G5 iMac surely will be.

Meanwhile, the first Powerbook (professional line) G4 was introduced in January '01, long before the consumer stuff caught up. That's just half a year later.

I'd be surprised if the G5 Powerbook didn't far precede the G5 iMac. Six months seems really soon for the Powerbook G5, but who knows how long they've been engineering the thing?
 

LimeLite

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2003
652
0
Los Angeles, Ca
The order will be as follows:

1. PowerMac (done)

2. PowerBook

3. iMac

4. eMac

5. iBook (After the PowerMac G6 is announced)

I'm just going to assume that the person who said there'd be a G5 in an eMac before an iMac got his Macs mixed up...because that's just plain wrong.
 

Shifty

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2003
148
0
UK, London, SW15
Originally posted by yadmonkey
To put this in perspective, the G4 Powermac was introduced in August '99. The first G4 iMac wasn't introduced until two years later - July '02. And it was the first major redesign on the iMac, as the G5 iMac surely will be.

Meanwhile, the first Powerbook (professional line) G4 was introduced in January '01, long before the consumer stuff caught up. That's just half a year later.

I'd be surprised if the G5 Powerbook didn't far precede the G5 iMac. Six months seems really soon for the Powerbook G5, but who knows how long they've been engineering the thing?

Technology does advance.

Also, get the time gap between the iMac G3 and iMac G4 and add it to get a prediction for the iMac G5
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
dont be so certain on the order of updates though you have it right limelite the G5 has done wonders for powermac sales and could do even better if a machine was wraped around a single G5 built for 90% of the computer public and sold to the consumer/prosumer. If done right Apple could make a fortune and gain that marketshare. Moto held back all lines, IBM wont and has allmost doubled moto g4 speeds with a newborn chip. Apple has big money invested in that chip so what do you think they will want to do with it?
 

plinkoman

macrumors 65816
Jul 2, 2003
1,144
1
New York
i don't see why people keep using the G3-G4 move as reference to the G4-G5 move, neither have anything to do with each other. apple will update each product when they see fit to, not when it co-incides with how they did it last time.

cooling isn't an issue as much as everyone thinks it is with the G5, there are 4 separate cooling zones those 9 fans are in, there is only 2 per cpu, one on each side, and a larger heatsink so the fans can run slower to keep the machine quiet. so don't think large heatsink and 9 fans automatically means it is too hot

also, apple doesn't have the luxery of waiting untill the G4 completely dies before having an all G5 or G5/G6 line, once 64bit is the standard, forget 32bit machines, no 64bit app is going to run on 32bit hardware. with that being said, i predict everything to be G5 by mid 2005, and my prediction for the imac is whenever this case revision comes early next year.
 

yadmonkey

macrumors 65816
Aug 13, 2002
1,306
838
Western Spiral
Originally posted by plinkoman
i don't see why people keep using the G3-G4 move as reference to the G4-G5 move, neither have anything to do with each other. apple will update each product when they see fit to, not when it co-incides with how they did it last time.

You missed the point. Nobody is insinuating that Apple will follow a pattern for the sake of following a pattern. That would be ridiculous. If you got that from our posts, then you did not read them very carefully.

The point is that events in the past can indicate trends of the future. Why would apple undermine Powermac G5 sales with a G5 iMac? It is important to remember that Apple walks a very fine line in profitablility. Sure, they could probably release a G5 iMac tomorrow, but as technologies age and/or improve, they could do it much more economically in the future. The line of consumer Macs is just that - economical.

The release dates of hardware are based on the cost of the components and marketing strategies. Both of these support the theory of a later iMac release as opposed to sooner. It is in Apple's interest to be able to provide machines at several pricing points. To release a consumer level G5 (iMac or iBook) too soon would undermine sales of its professional line. The release dates of previous Mac upgrades is supporting evidence for this.
 

x86isslow

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2003
889
11
USA
well yanno those 1.42 Ghz chips that apple's been sitting on since they stopped selling the DPG4powermac? i think that we'll be seeing those in the new imac (january-ish)
 

plinkoman

macrumors 65816
Jul 2, 2003
1,144
1
New York
Originally posted by yadmonkey
You missed the point. Nobody is insinuating that Apple will follow a pattern for the sake of following a pattern. That would be ridiculous. If you got that from our posts, then you did not read them very carefully.

The point is that events in the past can indicate trends of the future. Why would apple undermine Powermac G5 sales with a G5 iMac? It is important to remember that Apple walks a very fine line in profitablility. Sure, they could probably release a G5 iMac tomorrow, but as technologies age and/or improve, they could do it much more economically in the future. The line of consumer Macs is just that - economical.

The release dates of hardware are based on the cost of the components and marketing strategies. Both of these support the theory of a later iMac release as opposed to sooner. It is in Apple's interest to be able to provide machines at several pricing points. To release a consumer level G5 (iMac or iBook) too soon would undermine sales of its professional line. The release dates of previous Mac upgrades is supporting evidence for this.

remember the promise of a 3GHz G5 next year? are you telling me that a single 1.6GHz G5 imac will compete against a dual 3GHz powermac? no, but they are going to need something to go between a 1-1.25GHz low end emac, and a dual 3GHz powermac, what better timing for a G5 imac? and theres even a rumor of a whole newly designed imac around that time frame too.

the reason in the past that apple had to wait so long to upgrade is because clock speeds between early G4's and G3's were practically the same, but look at apples line now, it ranges from 800MHz to 2GHz, and in the not too distant future, 3GHz. unlike in the past, they can easily put a 1.6-1.8 G5 in an imac without hurting sales of the professional line, being up to dual 3GHz.
 

Shifty

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2003
148
0
UK, London, SW15
Sometimes it's easier to look a previous trends in order to predict.

However, doesn't always mean that those specific trends will be followed precisly.

If any other mac was to be built with a G5 chip, then the PowerMacs would need a serious speed bump.

As Steve said a new G5 speed bump was to take place approximatly 12 months after the first announcement of the G5, than, it is possible for the iMac G5 to come around the same time.

iMac G5 in June 2004?
 

Chaszmyr

macrumors 601
Aug 9, 2002
4,267
86
Contrary to what people keep saying... It might be a little bit of a stretch, but i think it is totally a possibility for us to see a G5 iMac at MWSF in January
 

rastalin94

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2002
56
0
I also see a G5 iMac in the near future. The iMac and the PowerMac are different machines all together. Putting a G5 1.6 into an iMac is not going to stop someone from buying a PowerMac. An iMac is an all-in-one device and the PowerMac is a professional machine designed to upgraded and expanded.

The iMac needs a G5 in order to be woth it to a consumer. If you drop a 1.8 G5 in an iMac you would be making a good investment because you would be getting a machine that would be powerfull enough for a long time. An iMac needs to have a long life spand because you can not upgrade it so it needs to be a little more ahead of the curve than an average box to be worth the investment.

And if the rumors are ture that it will get a redesign next year it only makes sense, other wise it would be like 2006 before we saw a G5 iMac?
 

plinkoman

macrumors 65816
Jul 2, 2003
1,144
1
New York
Originally posted by Shifty
I can't possibly imagine what a redesign of the iMac would look like. It boggles the mind!

i agree, it just seems perfect right now, and the design is reletivly new, i'd almost rather when they put a G5 in it to only make minor changes to accomodate the G5 and other tech upgrades. but who knows how cool the new design will be, just have to wait and see.
 

Shifty

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2003
148
0
UK, London, SW15
Originally posted by plinkoman
i agree, it just seems perfect right now, and the design is reletivly new, i'd almost rather when they put a G5 in it to only make minor changes to accomodate the G5 and other tech upgrades. but who knows how cool the new design will be, just have to wait and see.

I guess this what makes Apple unique and excellent.
 

mms

macrumors 6502a
Oct 8, 2003
784
0
CA
I really doubt that the G5 iMac would be coming too soon. First, as some people have already pointed out, more speed increases for the PowerMac would have to be made for there to be a sufficient gap between the professional and consumer models. Also, the G5 PowerBook, part of the professional line, would be released before the iMac. And it wouldn't be easy to put the G5 in the iMac too, since it has very limited space. Everything is engineered to fit perfectly in the small area in the base, but since this new chip releases more heat, it would need to have more cooling, thus a new interior is needed.

Also, Apple can still go farther with the G4. It hasn't died yet, and isn't even close. 64-bit processing won't be standard for a while yet and so I expect that the G4 will be pushed to its limit. Since the iBooks have just become G4, there is still years before the entire Apple product line becomes G5, maybe when the G6 is introduced.

Hopefully there will be a new design but I can't imagine what it would be like. The current iMac already looks better than any other PC by far.
 
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