No New Hardware

[OSeXy!]

With all the spin these days I'm not sure who's being manipulated by whom.

MWSF: "Way beyond the rumor sites"... Oh, so Apple DOES recognise the rumor sites, and is willing to (oops!) address them directly.

Now Apple want's to get the rumor mongers off its back because it knows it can never live up to ... our ... expectations. Rumor: G5 in Tokyo or NY. Apple: Uh, oh -- we'll never make that! Better say "no new CPUs" (don't call it by name, there'll be trouble!).

Have we manipulated Apple, or is Apple manipulating us? Or both?

 

[spikey]

Re: mwny is more than a few months away

Originally posted by Unregistered
The Dual 1Ghz are excellent Machines, but their standard Ram still isn't DDR, Their Bus Speed is still 133, and the G4 won't be new forever.

But I'm not concerned. MWNY is more than a few months from now, imho. They need to sell the machines they have now, and by July, I bet the first G5 will come out. It just makes sense. People expected flat imac in NY, they came 6 months later. People Expected (or hoped for G5's) in SF, They will come 6 months later. I also think it's just bad marketting to have a consumer machine with a G4 when the PRO end is only running G4. Why buy a PowerMac G4 933, if you could just by an iMac G4 800? They'll upgrade the highend. I'm not concerned in the slightest.

G4 powermacs are significantly faster, they have a faster bus, they have faster cpu speeds and they come in dual cpu guise. also they are expandable.

Thr imac would have been released at MWNY if it was cheap enough to produce, but it wasnt.
The G5 hasnt been released yet becasue it jst plain and simply isnt ready yet.
these are 2 different reasons so you cant use the same rule to predict when they will come out.

 

[spikey]

Originally posted by OSeXy!
With all the spin these days I'm not sure who's being manipulated by whom.

MWSF: "Way beyond the rumor sites"... Oh, so Apple DOES recognise the rumor sites, and is willing to (oops!) address them directly.

Now Apple want's to get the rumor mongers off its back because it knows it can never live up to ... our ... expectations. Rumor: G5 in Tokyo or NY. Apple: Uh, oh -- we'll never make that! Better say "no new CPUs" (don't call it by name, there'll be trouble!).

Have we manipulated Apple, or is Apple manipulating us? Or both?

Looking back at MWSF and the hype apple created. I wonder whether apple created the hype just to get us dissapointed, and so to teach us a lesson about not hyping.

 

[marcused]

ti book revision on march

Ok. No New Hardware. But...
Is it possible Apple decide to improve performance of Tibook with a 700mhz processor and a new - and better - graphic device like the Nvidia 32mb Ge force 2 Go ?
I know it is difficult, but if they want to be the better choice for a graphic designer, they cannot continue to sell Ati inside TiBook!
...i'm thinking... maybe in Tokio?

 

[saffron!!]

G5

I'm waiting for the G5 because I will be using my system for Final Cut Pro 3 and Combustion. I know that faster ram and processing will mean more real time effects without a hardware add in card. When I ordered my SGI workstation in Jan. of 2000 it took until May 2000 to get it delivered. 3 months later SGI came out with faster processors. I don't want to make the same mistake again. The television station I work for may not be able to wait for the G5 since they need an editing solution sooner. This will be my first Mac and would like to start learning the new software but I feel the wait will be very much worth it. It depends on how quickly you need to upgrade.

 

[Unregistered]

Re: buy buy buy ... support apple

Originally posted by evanmarx


and btw, all those self called mac heroes still running on g3 233/333/400's... dammit .. go and get some new machines .. it's worth every penny and is good for your health and APPLE's ...

Sorry, I need at least a new motherboard before I buy my next system. Apple is seriously out of touch if they think the current G4's were worthy of the pre-Expo hype they were flinging on the apple.com site.

'No new hardware' just means I wait until there is - lower than expected sales or not Apple's just gonna have to live with that. I'd be more likely to pick up a new iMac for the living room rather than the current 'slightly tweaked' towers - at least I'd be getting something new.

 

[OSeXy!]

Originally posted by spikey


Looking back at MWSF and the hype apple created. I wonder whether apple created the hype just to get us dissapointed, and so to teach us a lesson about not hyping.

Possibly. I'm not sure Apple's spin doctors are actually trying to teach us a lesson (which makes it look bad, too), more that they are being VERY careful now in their choice of words.

It looks like more low-key press releases as and when new things are available, and fewer mega-announcements... Until the new CPU baby is ready. They want us to keep buying things, but also to introduce changes and play catch-up with Intel.

So it's like in politics: Apple says, "Read my lips. No new hardware!". But then introduces new hardware in an under the table way to keep options wide open.

 

[eyelikeart]

Re: Re: I don't believe it...

Originally posted by blakespot
Did you miss the release of the new new pro towers a few weeks ago?? And the new iMac a month or so before that?? Do you honestly expect new hardware from Apple every other month?

What kind of sense does that make?

blakespot

I'm quite well aware of the new pro-towers release a few weeks ago, thank u....

I was referring to plans for the next few months. I don't like to be like the many who are looking for the next revision a week after we receive something new, but the fact does remain that they are going to fall behind still. I don't give into the Mhz-Myth at all, but if Apple doesn't get something else to catch people's interest they are going to be in trouble....

 

[Unregistered]

What about iPod

It seems realistic that Apple can't update stuff constantly because to redesign the infrastructure of CPU's cost huge amounts of money and time. However, has anyone heard anything about the iPod? To change the iPod, you would only need to upgrade the hard drive and possibly the amount of RAM it has (since the current iPod's RAM is the main reason why songs over 20 mins wont play correctly). This upgrade will not affect the production time of the new iPods and won't cost much in terms of redesigning the iPod.

Does anybody know if the iPod is in the category of hardware that won't be changed at MacWorld Tokyo?

Thanks.

 

[Unregistered]

What is it with you guys and Macs having to "catch up" ?

I can't believe that you guys just can't get over a bunch of silly numbers. "Ok, so Mhz finally isn't the end all of performance. Lets harp on DDR RAM, then." Gimme a break.

No, apple's machines are not going to replace the high end server market yet, replace 3D renderfarms, or have higher FPS in Q3A than a P4 based box. But look at the markets apple's IS in. For publishing, professional audio, creative, movie editing, content creation, media production, etc, Apple still has compelling, powerful tools that are faster or competative in PERFORMANCE and PRICE to their PC counterparts. Yes, PC's are faster and cheaper for a variety of applications, and I know we all want our macs to dominate EVERY aspect of modern computing, but Apple is by no means lagging behind in the technologies they try to excel in. We all saw in the mid 90's that Apple trying to take on the world and do everything for everyone was only going to drive them out of business. So instead of having a jackass of all trades (wintel), they've chosen to have a somewhat specialized tool that still offers more than acceptable performance at every other task out there, and still bundles it in a stylish, warm fuzzy user experience that we all know and love.

Would macs be faster if every PMac had DDR333, 100Mhz 64bit PCI, AGP8x, ultra SCSI raid, and some mystery technologies like gigawire and hypertransport (quantispeed architechture LOL)? Yes. Does Apple need a faster tower than the current PMac line to stay competative against similarly priced Wintel offerings? Not by a long shot.

And the new iMac too expensive for consumers? Is that what 150,000 pre orders in 3 weeks tells you? Have you gone to an Apple Store recently and tried to buy one? If we recall our Econ 101, (supply, demand, equilibrium price, etc... ) we see that Apple could be charging a whole lot more for these puppies. And even *trying* to configure a comparable PC is going to end up costing around $2800, after figuring in all the lousy PC software you need to have to edit and manipulate media, burn DVD's etc, and it'll still take HOURS longer to edit, compress and stamp out yer DVD's.

 

[kidtronix]

araise apple, araise

it sounds pretty likely that apple will show a new edition of mac os x (whatever number), maybe show photoshop 7 on dual 1ghz's and say how much it screams in speed. but, can they really have a macworld in toyko without doing ANY hardware updates? have they ever done this in the past? my memory fails me.

i don't really know what to think 😕

 

[usa4jer]

The G4's "Long Life"

i don't suppose i need to remind anyone that the G3 is still alive and kicking. of course the G4 has a long life ahead of it. it will live on in the imac, the TiBook, and, eventually, the iBook. the G4 was introduced several years ago, but the G3 is still around. similarly, the G5 may still very well be introduced at MWNY (and it damn well better be, as far as i'm concerned), but the G4 will stick around for a while in the non-Pro lines of apple computers. at that point, we'll all bid a final farewell to the G3. i'll be tossing mine out the window and videotaping.

 

[Unregistered]

pac rackmount oem

The mac has no good rackmount options. if Apple will not or cannot design a case that provides proper rackmount attributes in the next few months, than the OSX will never be a contender for servers and cluster systems. That is an awful lot of system sales for Apple to walk away from and deny sales of cpus to Moto.
It would make sense to Apple to offer the cpu boards in a cardboard box as a oem item to rackmount case manufactureres to design nice rackmount cases around. This would allow decent configurations containing multiple disk drives for RAID arrays, N+1 redundant power supplies and the other fine points of good rackmount systems. If Apple cannot afford to develop a rackmount server case then let the specialists do it and adopt the highly evolved PC centric rackmount cases to accept Apple motherboards with cpus.

 

[blakespot]

But that is possibly not what is holding apple back. If moto are going to produce chips above 1Ghz then apple needs DDR mobos, if there arent DDR mobos then performance is significantly hampered on a 1Ghz+ chip. So it could be that the lack of DDR mobos will be what prevent apple from releasing a new G4.

I think what will prevent Apple from releasing a new G4 at Tokyo in a few weeks is the fact that a couple of weeks ago they released three new G4 towers.



blakespot

 

[Nipsy]

Re: pac rackmount oem

Originally posted by Unregistered
The mac has no good rackmount options.
It would make sense to Apple to offer the cpu boards in a cardboard box as a oem item to rackmount case manufactureres to design nice rackmount cases around.

Design is too much an element of Apple's ethos to allow for this sort of sponsored cobranding.

There are six or seven different manufacturers who are offering rack mount Macs, with a 1U iMac springing immdiately to mind.

I hope that an Apple rackmount server is in the future, and if it is, expect to see some damn intelligent uses of expensive rack space.

 

[Unregistered]

probable basic G5 specs

If one goes to www.motorola.com and checks out the specs for the current 8500 series of cpus one can see the trend for the future of the PPC processor and the probable architechture of the 'G5" The specs for this chip only need to have the Altivec portions of the G4 added to be absolutely killer in performance


MPC8540 basic specs:

Features:

e500 "Book E" Processor 600MHz - 1GHz
256KByte On-chip L2
128Gb/s On-chip Fabric
333MHz DDR Memory Controller
Advanced I/O Ports
RapidIO
64b PCI-X
dual 10/100/Gbit Ethernet
General Purpose parallel I/O port
4-Channel DMA
Interrupt Controller (8 discreet or 16 serial)
DUART Serial Interface
Modular Design

 

[mcrain]

Just when I though I understood

I'm a pc user, so forgive me for not understanding. I have been looking everywhere to find info regarding macs. I'm on the verge of finally taking the mac plunge (instead of paying insane amounts of money for a new pc, operating system, etc. that's going to be obsolete in two months). The one thing that's held me back is the "MHz myth." I've asked everywhere for someone to show me some benchmark testing or some sort of side by side testing of a pc vs. a mac. Every mac person I've heard from says that the Mhz difference means nothing and the macs are faster for several reasons.

Now, someone here says:

"I can't believe that you guys just can't get over a bunch of silly numbers. "Ok, so Mhz finally isn't the end all of performance. Lets harp on DDR RAM, then." Gimme a break.

No, apple's machines are not going to replace the high end server market yet, replace 3D renderfarms, or have higher FPS in Q3A than a P4 based box. But look at the markets apple's IS in. For publishing, professional audio, creative, movie editing, content creation, media production, etc, Apple still has compelling, powerful tools that are faster or competative in PERFORMANCE and PRICE to their PC counterparts. Yes, PC's are faster and cheaper for a variety of applications, and I know we all want our macs to dominate EVERY aspect of modern computing, but Apple is by no means lagging behind in the technologies they try to excel in. We all saw in the mid 90's that Apple trying to take on the world and do everything for everyone was only going to drive them out of business. So instead of having a jackass of all trades (wintel), they've chosen to have a somewhat specialized tool that still offers more than acceptable performance at every other task out there, and still bundles it in a stylish, warm fuzzy user experience that we all know and love."


So, mac people... are pcs faster? From reading this thread is sure sounds like macs have a long long way to go, just to catch up. Am I wrong?

Also, the pc user in me has to point out that new pcs and upgrades come out very often because there are lots of companies that make pcs. Now, apple is the only company making macs, thus no pressure to do anything. I mean, it's not like a rival company is going to put out a new G5 Powermac type computer before Apple. If so, I'm sure Apple would try a little harder to push releases.

So, here I am. A current PC user considering taking the mac plunge because I finally begin to buy into the mac concept of 128 bit vs. 32 bit, etc... , and mac enthusiasts seem to think macs are behind pcs.

So, what's the deal. Are macs behind pcs? Has anyone seen any head to head comparisons? I'm not going to buy until that one question can be answered. For now, because the pcs are in the lead, I guess I'll just keep waiting and hoping a pc company puts out a laptop that's as nice looking as the macs.

 

[graydecember]

Isn't this argumentation about the possible release schedule for hardware somewhat unnecessary? I don't have time to research this, but just thinking back (idon't know how good my memory is) it seems Apple has been quite consistent with when they release new models~ Seybold (in Sept or so?) gets new towers, MWSF gets imacs, Tokyo gets cosumer portables, MWNy gets PBs, etc...

I know I'm definitely not 100% correct on this. But maybe someone should look back a few years and plot a simple chart (mabe I'll get around to doing this)- for example, the japanese are attracted to portables somewhat I think, so rolling out towers in Tokyo wouldn't be ministering to the right user group (uh, well, you know what I mean!). So, I think the next new machine will be a tower at seybold in the fall (that is when it is, right?); all else until trhen will be new *configurations* or performance enhancements...

also, someone mentioned earlier the g5 only getting to about 1.6ghz. Moto's site (if I remember correctly) says the g4 could get that high, and that the g5 would get to be about 2.6ghz. The register reported some time ago that very small yields of 2.6ghz g5's were already being trned out.

*no way* will we have to wait until '03. Also, there's no quetion that PB's will soon get >1ghz apollos, but we may have to wait until the next Q02. Won't buy a thing until then!

 

[Unregistered]

Maybe the real reason is...

They don't want to kill sales for the latest (read "weeks ago now"!) machines they DO have.

 

[spuncan]

Reading this all wrong

K one this guy is right about no new hardware till MWNY 02". But in that time Apple release a QT update iMovie update and possibly a Pro Mixer or the like (big brother of iTunes). This guy said the ancient news of the G4's not dead. Well mainly he means G4 iMac. At MWNY O2' they're will be the G5 at 1.2-1.4-1.6 or 1.0-1.2-1.4 🙂 Available in sept. . Also 10.2 🙂 . Possibly an iMac update ?800-933-1.0? If not then then during MWParis. The powerbook /iBook with go 8 months without an update at hich the powerbook will be 667-733-867 / iBook 600-700-800. The iPod will update to the 10/20 gig hd's some time between MWTokyo and late October. whats ur thoughts on this

 

[Mausabiest]

Why are you complaining all the time, I think Apple has done a great job so far this year and the year has just begun. I read the new german Macup magazin and they have test in there with the new 1GHz G4 Dual, this thing is just awsome in speed, sure the Nvida Mx card ist not the best but why are the rumors sites buying this rumor now. Let´s wait and see, I´m pretty sure Apple will come up with something more this year, just don´t rely on those rumors.

By the way, the new i-Mac is great, I think it will be a great hit, even here in Europe.

Greetings
Andy

 

[Unregistered]

Re: Just when I though I understood

Originally posted by mcrain
I'm a pc user, so forgive me for not understanding. I have been looking everywhere to find info regarding macs. I'm on the verge of finally taking the mac plunge (instead of paying insane amounts of money for a new pc, operating system, etc. that's going to be obsolete in two months). The one thing that's held me back is the "MHz myth." I've asked everywhere for someone to show me some benchmark testing or some sort of side by side testing of a pc vs. a mac.
So, mac people... are pcs faster? From reading this thread is sure sounds like macs have a long long way to go, just to catch up. Am I wrong?


From the benchmark test results I've seen (magazines, the web), some software runs faster on a Mac, some software runs faster on a PC. So if speed is your only issue, you should see if you can find benchmark results for that specific software that you're going to use.

If its any help, someone has just posted some tests for After Effects...

http://www.postforum.com/forums/read.php?f=6&i=31960&t=31911


good luck!

 

[bobsmith]

G4... G5... should I wait?

"The G4 has a long life ahead of it," said Joswiak. "There are a number of tweaks and revs that will happen to that processor over a long period of time."
--------------------------------

Remember that the iMac now uses the G4, and probably will for a long time to come. The G5 could appear in "pro" models this summer, and the statement above would still be perfectly true.

 

[grrr223]

I think we're missing the point here

Where to begin... (you can read that as "This may be a very long post")

How about I begin by trying to respond to Mcrain. First off, Welcome to the party. I can see how you get the impression that even the mac enthusiasts think apple is playing catch up, I almost got that impression too reading this thread, but I honestly believe that is not the case. And here's why...

1) I apologize for the overused analogy, but I do think it works. Why do people buy BMWs? It's not because they go 150 mph, my POS Ford Contour goes 150 mph (don't ask 🙂) but it can't handle turns...or attract beautiful women 😉... nearly as well. I noticed you said you were waiting for a PC laptop maker to make one that LOOKS as good as the Apple ones. That's just it, this is not about just looks. Take for example the bottom of the line of Apple's incredible laptop offerings, the iBook with it's 12 inch screen. My PC using friends on campus must carry around 2 fragile PC cards in order to connect to our school's network. 1 for the wired ethernet and 1 (which sticks out about an inch) to use the wireless networking. That little ibook, which you can get (the 500 mhz version) for not much more than $1k has the ethernet port built into it and the airport card (which is compatible) fits neatly under the keyboard, so they are both always there and always safe. It's little things like this that make Apple products so amazing. I honestly can't even think of too many uses for a PC slot on the Tibooks when you already have 2 usb and 2 firewire ports.

2) Today's personal computers are very fast. Why is everyone here concerned about Apple dissappearing if it doesn't release a 2GHz G5 Tomorrow? And this is completely separate from the Mhz myth, that's irrelevant. For I'd say 50% or so, or even if it's as low as 25% or even 10% of people who just want a home pc so they can pay their bills online and let little johnny use the internet for school and type his papers, just about any computer that exists today is fast enough, and the new iMac is plenty fast to do just aobut anything. I know a lot of you, use, and even require every last clock cycle to do your daily work, but why don't you give the brand @#$@# new dual 1Ghz a chance and let Apple concentrate on other things. I use apple products because of a lot more aspects than speed. Let Apple spend the next 3 months even concentrating on convince my grandparents that even they can burn DVDs of their home videos and that my mom can organize her 1000s of photos with a new iMac OUT OF THE BOX. These are the people who can benefit greatly from Apple's ability to integrate seamlessly it's hardware and software. And there are enough of them that Apple's precious market share could increase noticably (at this point, even a 1% increase is reason to celebrate) if Apple just puts in the effort to show them the light 🙂.

3) Greydecember makes an excellent point. apple has consistently released new systems every 6 months or so, why on earth would they start doing it every 6 weeks now? The stellar economy? R&D has all of a sudden become free? If you read the article that sparked this thread, it says the every one of Apple's lines has been updated in the past 56 days. That's less than 2 months, the new G4s have been out for only a few weeks. Apple is doing an excellent job doing their job which is being the best at what they're good at, not being everything to everyone. And Apple is good at producing products that get the job done. For most people, the speed in any PC being sold today is pretty much irrelevant. It will more than be able to handle anythign they'll throw at it. I konw people have been saying this for years, but I think it's true now.


....and I'm spent.

 

[sam case]

Re: noooooooooooooooooooooooo

Originally posted by kidtronix
this must be a joke! the fact that the pb got a revision with the dual slot is just retarded, they must upgrade it! i don't wanna buy the current versions 😡 😡 😡

😡 😡 I agree completely.... i want more out of the powerbook if im going to pay $3,500 plus and am hopeful that
something will happen by the end of march or summer at the
latest... or i may have to venture into a sonystlye.com site...
lets hope for some good news soon from our friends at apple
with regards to their "top of the line" PB.....