Powerbook g5's

[AmbitiousLemon]

Re: Re: G5 powerbooks? a bit over-zealous

Originally posted by Ossa


If its to be believed that the G5 will share a similar architecture to Motorolas PC8540 then you never know we might just be surprised to find a G5 Powerbook around the corner! I for one adore the G4Tibook but I'm holding off a purchase until some definitive processor updates are announced.

With regard to the PC8540 according to motorolas website "Its high level of integration means simplified board design, lower power consumption and a faster time-to-market solution for customers" the estimated power consumption is an estimated 6.5w drawn from a supply of 1.5v Forgive me if I'm wrong but the PC7450s power consumption is 14w drawn from a supply of 1.8v this leads to the conclusion (a rather optimistic one) that due to its decreased power consumption, when compared to the G4, that in the very near future G5 implementation into a powerbook might not be all that un-feasible?

Sure! I understand that whenever a new processor has been released we've had to wait for ages until it appeared in a powerbook, but could this break that pattern? What do you think?

you rule. i had heard that the new g5 was supposed to have lower power consumption and heat issues but was too lazy to look into it myself. i believe that the apollo g4 chip is supposed to similiarly have low power consumption.

 

[AJW]

Part of the reason the PBG4 took so long was the new industrial design, also the G4 is a very hot-running chip. The G5 is supposed to be cooler and draw less power, so I see no reason why Apple couldn't drop a G5 in the TiBook enclosure (only 1 year old and definitely awesome design!!!) by MWNY, assuming G5 Towers at MWTk.

 

[Bophonic]

Motorola Schedule

You guys see this yet, from motorola page, so no rumor crap. Let me know what you think...
Peace,
Paul

forgot the link
http://e-www.motorola.com/collateral/PPCRMAP.pdf

 

[Rocketman]

Originally posted by GPTurismo
If you constantly hold back for the newest and greatest thing, you'll never get anything.

I find they hold out for "manufacturability" to serve hundreds of thousands of users rather than the couple thousand bleeding edge users. Personally I think they should have a bleeding edge line if only to show it is possible if the price is right.

Rocketman

 

[Unregistered]

Apple's consumer line has now essentially leap-frogged the pro line. There is too much ambiguity right now in deciding what to buy. Apple knows that they need to fix that, and they are certainly planning something to happen fast. Too many people in the margins are going to sit. Therefore, it's my guess that in Tokyo there will be G5 towers and a G4 speed bump in the Ti books in order to distance it from both the G4/800 iMac and G3 iBook. Has to be a magnitude higher than the 700/800 of the iMacs.

Even if it's possible to put a G5 in a Book they won't any time soon. They know that mobility is not a powerful enough differentiation between the powerbook and towers, and they need to make room for choices for the pros. The G5 is what will make people upgrade their towers, and they'll save it for that purpose.

 

[Xeri]

Why...

Do people think that they're gonna get some kind of blockbuster performance improvement out of the G5 *at the same time* as getting reduced power consumption over the already maturing G4s?

Does Motorola know something about the laws of physics that have eluded most other big companies designing modern microprocessors?

There's no way the first revision of a new microarchitecture is going to deliver both the performance people are craving *and* the low power dissipation necessary to fit into a laptop enclosure. The G4s are maturing happily and will still be used for some time now in the Powerbooks. As for when the vaporware known as the G5 will arrive... who knows besides the Steve-on-high?

For now be happy that the G4s have worked their way into the iMacs.

 

[Ossa]

Re: Why...

Originally posted by Xeri
Do people think that they're gonna get some kind of blockbuster performance improvement out of the G5 *at the same time* as getting reduced power consumption over the already maturing G4s?

Does Motorola know something about the laws of physics that have eluded most other big companies designing modern microprocessors?

There's no way the first revision of a new microarchitecture is going to deliver both the performance people are craving *and* the low power dissipation necessary to fit into a laptop enclosure. The G4s are maturing happily and will still be used for some time now in the Powerbooks. As for when the vaporware known as the G5 will arrive... who knows besides the Steve-on-high?

For now be happy that the G4s have worked their way into the iMacs.

I take it you haven't heard that both the pre-destined Apollo G4 and the G5 will be making use of the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) fabrication technique developed by IBM. No bending the laws of physics, just innovation! An SOI microchip processing speed is often 30% faster than today's complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based chips and power consumption is reduced 80%, which makes them ideal for mobile devices. Bring on the blockbuster performance improvement...

 

[Xeri]

Re: Re: Why...

Originally posted by Ossa

I take it you haven't heard that both the pre-destined Apollo G4 and the G5 will be making use of the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) fabrication technique developed by IBM. No bending the laws of physics, just innovation! An SOI microchip processing speed is often 30% faster than today's complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based chips and power consumption is reduced 80%, which makes them ideal for mobile devices. Bring on the blockbuster performance improvement...

In general you can get one benefit or the other, but not both. You can't ramp performance (i.e. clock speed) AND get lower power consumption in the numbers you're talking at the same time. SOI is not the holy-grail... it's just a step in the right direction. There are other techniques in the pipe to help with all of these issues too, but generally they can help only one way at a time. As I recall from reading IBM's releases about SOI, they specifically said that it could enable "faster blah blah" *or* "lower power blah blah".

SOI is not god.

 

[Xeri]

From IBM:

From http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/products/powerpc/newsletter/oct2001/new-prod1.html


"IBM's advanced 0.13 micron process technology incorporates Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology along with Low-K Dielectric material. SOI provides 20-30% performance gain at the same power or approximately 50% lower power at the same performance"

This is very different from saying that you get both benefits at the same time.

 

[networkman]

those who seem to know the engineering side of things say heat is not as bad of an issue as was the original lab tested mobile g4 which soaked battery time to under 1 hour

but i don't expect it (g5 laotop) until maybe next year since we are still waiting for that apollo (is that what they call it?) 1 ghz g4 tower...remember january 22?

 

[Xapplimatic]

Apple's ad campaign..

Well I don't know where anyone lives if they say they see NO ads for Apple.. I live in So.Cal, and in the entire 3 county region where I drive, between San Diego, and Los Angeles, there are Apple ads everywhere on billboards.. for iPod especially.

As for G5 laptops.. not until November at the earliest.. there is no way it will come out until a couple trade shows after the towers.. and I would find it likely for it not to come for another 18 months being that Motorola has not announced a single low-power version of the G5.. heck, they don't even have desktop versions in quantity.. hate to be a wet reality blanket.. towers first. Probably Apple will speed bump PB G4s up to 1GHz before even having the possibility to aquire low power G5 chips for testing purposes.. Low power versions usually come out on any chip about 6 months to 24 months after the regular versions.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

don't count your chickens before they're hatched

Look what's happening with the new speedbumbed G4s! The new iMac comes out and so as to not share the spotlight with a new item, Apple's not releasing new G4's until almost a month later - so they get more sales....

If the G5 comes out, it will be in a tower and we'll have to wait months after that till the G5 is put in the tiPB. I'm writing this on a 667 tiPB and love the machine. If you want to wait, think about leasing one for a year.

 

[erova]

yeah, i love these reliable sources.

don't tell anyone, but i have a reliable source who works for a German Mac magazine who told JUST ME, who YOU heard it from FIRST, that the next big thing will be the

iWalk


borrowing your kid brother's Magic 8-Ball does not constitute a reliable source.

no G5 Ti Books, people.

 

[SPG]

Just 'cause they can doesn't mean they will.