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PowerBook To Get Dual-Core G4?

Elmy said:
If its being announced in October we could definetly be seeing this in early Q1 2005.

I don't think we'll be seeing it before the New Year though.
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Possible announcement for the January keynote? With refreshes of some of the more processor-intensive applications to optimize performance of, say, rendering in FCP?
 
mikeyredk said:
You guys don't give the g4 enough credit. Its a great chip!!! all its missing is the massive bus speeds if it had a 400 bus it would rock. but, it doesn't it has a 167 bus and it stinks. 🙁

hopefully this bus isn't like the old p4s and be 200 bus double pumped
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I wouldn't say G4 is a GREAT chip. It's a standard PowerPC ISA chip with AltiVec. That's pretty much the make up. They could spruce it up a lot more by first strengthening the normal floating point unit, which is per Mhz weaker than the P4's, and then double the float pipe. Then give it a better branch prediction unit with a bigger table entry as well as a fast bus, and perhaps built-in memory controller, add in clock throttling, clock gating, and L2 quadrant access to conserve power, we'd have dual core G4's smoking the DOthan's and consuming less power perhaps due to the nature of simpler PowerPC ISA. Then manufactur this baby on 65nm with SOI, Low-K, and Strained Silicon, and take cores only from the center of the wafer..... A man can dream though... A man can dream....
 
Would you recommend buying stock in Freescale though?

I'm wondering if they have any future at all with Apple or any other company.
 
edesignuk said:
If they can't fit a G5 in there, then this sounds ok, 64bit is next to useless at the moment anyway 🙄
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is it that the G5 won't fit? because i had been under the impression that it was a heat issue. not everybody wants 2nd degree burns on their laps you know...
🙂
personally... it's all too up in the air for me to go one way or another on it. let me see it render in Bryce, Poser, or Maya then we'll know what it can do...

-Cannibal-
 
Cannibal said:
is it that the G5 won't fit? because i had been under the impression that it was a heat issue. not everybody wants 2nd degree burns on their laps you know...
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When I said "won't fit" I ment for any reason, physical or otherwise, in this case heat.
 
Might be something to that...

The Red Wolf said:
On a side note: Anyone think that M$ bought up all the G5s from IBM (for a few hundred million in untraceable notes) for their next generation X-Box? (Isn't it rumored to use 3 of them?) Forcing a G5 shortage for Apple to bring them down?
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This might be kinda true, except for the part where microsoft gives any type of notice whatsoever to Apple. If they cared, they would have bought Apple long ago.

IBM has announced that they are producing the chips in all three next generation consoles. All of these would presumably have to be made in fishkill, on the 90nm process. Even the iMac sells in "quaint" amounts compared to a console from Nintendo, not to mention Sony's 100 Million PS2's.

If IBM had to ramp three more, very complex lines, we could see how a G5 delay could happen. They are limited in their production capacity, talent, etc. And these console chips are, if anything, more advanced than the 970.
 
macridah said:
What does this mean: no G5 powerbook for even a longer time?
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It doesn't mean a longer wait time, but just improving what we have in the meantime. The G5 PB will take as long as needed, but while improving the G4 PB now. Unless this dual core G4 outpreforms the G5 at the same clock speed, then that complicates the matter (but what are the chances of that, especially if it's not 64-bit?).
–Chase
 
I think this is a step in the right direction. Apple is still probably scratching their heads in trying to figure out how to get a super-hot G5 chip into an enclosure that's less than an inch thick (a PowerBook)!

Go Apple. Go Motorola. Go IBM. I hope Apple takes their sweet time in getting a PowerBook G5 out; remember, the longer it takes, the more design flaws can be found and fixed. 🙂
 
Can somebody explain to me what dual core means? Will a dual core G4 with faster RAM, better video card, and a higher clock speed see major improvements than the current top of the line PowerBook in games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty?

What is the difference between dual core and dual processor? thx
 
wide said:
Can somebody explain to me what dual core means? Will a dual core G4 with faster RAM, better video card, and a higher clock speed see major improvements than the current top of the line PowerBook in games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty?

What is the difference between dual core and dual processor? thx
Click to expand...

In short, processors typically have one core for each processor. The core is in charge of doing the computing. This core makes up the processor. Having dual core processors is like having two processors in one-except that they are within a processor, so they can communicate faster and usually use the same resources. So, on the clock, they are faster, but in real life it all depends on what you are doing. High end apps like FCP and Motion will run faster, but most games will not just because the processor is dual core. However, adding faster RAM, a better video card, etc. will speed up your games. If I'm wrong about anything, please correct me. This is just from my own knowledge.
–Chase
 
OK. I want to know more before I harp on Freescale.

First and foremost though I consider any hardware that comes from Moto to be vaporware until it actually ships. Period. Screw their roadmaps. Screw their marketing BS. There is no history with Moto that suggests that their hardware availability timeframes can be trusted at all. They talk big but deliver crap. Their CPU's as of late look backwards in the extreme compared to IBM, AMD, and Intel's Pentium M. (Lets be honest everything looks sweet compared to the P4.) I want to see an Apple release date for a device before I'm going to consider any Freescale system legit.
Beyond that I have reservations on the hardware. First and foremost Apple has been optimizing its Apps and OS for the G5. (Note I said G5 not 64-bitness.) Anything G4 based could become obsolete before it even ships. Also I want to know what speed Rapid IO bus is and what does to the system bus which is one of the bigger hang-ups in the entire G4 architecture. I'm sorry but something has to be done with the 167Mhz system bus. Every other portion of the system is being slowed down because of this. I mean for god sake the memory bus is 333Mhz. WTH?!?!
Also I find it telling that Moto is out in front bragging about their chips and everyone else isn't. I've generally found the people who are slapping themselves on the back and saying here is what we are doing are generally the ones who are the most FOS. Take Microsoft and Longhorn for example.
 
It Don't Matter To Jesus..

Just means a long wait til' I upgrade...I'm not buyin' another Powerbook til' I see G5's in 'em. Sounds pretty sweet though.
 
tex210 said:
90nm or 130nm?
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I'm guessing from a Motorola roadmap I saw a little while ago that it will be 90nm. Suprisingly, this chip is debuting ontime. On another note, dual core Intel chips are supposed to ship mid-2005. Interesting...
–Chase
 
HAHAHA this can not be right. If moto of all people can make a dual core CPU 2Ghz in a PB. It will beat the **** out of all the other laptops, and that I don`t think can happen. But IF it happens I will jump up and down for 3 h, screaming I am a bugger.

So time will tell. But will we then have a dual core G4 in the iMac?
 
stingerman said:
This dual G4 has an onboard memory controller, so the FSB issue goes away. Super low-latency full speed memory access. The processor to processor bus would be 1:1 full speed, leaving the FSB for the other busses in the system, like PCI-E, USB2 etc. I understand that even the Ethernet controller is in the die. So Apple would not only be able to have very fast dual core Powerbooks, but also reduce power consumption and make them even thinner and lighter.
Click to expand...

Now that's interesting.. my first concern was that the power consumption for a dual-core CPU would be an issue. This sounds promising.
 
DDR2 and Dual core?

If Freescale (moto) can be successful in making a dual core G4 WITH a real memory controller, I'm all for that. I think one of the main issues with the G4 currently is the memory controller. I know they could do things like better branch prediction, better floating point, etc, but just having faster memory would make them more competitive by far, especially at 2GHz. I'd buy a dual core 1.6GHz G4 powerbook with DDR2 and faster IO.
 
ZildjianKX said:
Man, I want a dualcore G5 POWERMAC... forget all this dual processor stuff...
Click to expand...

I think that Steve really liked saying Dual Dual DVI, he's going to have a blast saying Dual Dual G5 😀.
–Chase
 
Maxx Power said:
I wouldn't say G4 is a GREAT chip. It's a standard PowerPC ISA chip with AltiVec. That's pretty much the make up. They could spruce it up a lot more by first strengthening the normal floating point unit, which is per Mhz weaker than the P4's, and then double the float pipe. Then give it a better branch prediction unit with a bigger table entry as well as a fast bus, and perhaps built-in memory controller, add in clock throttling, clock gating, and L2 quadrant access to conserve power, we'd have dual core G4's smoking the DOthan's and consuming less power perhaps due to the nature of simpler PowerPC ISA. Then manufactur this baby on 65nm with SOI, Low-K, and Strained Silicon, and take cores only from the center of the wafer..... A man can dream though... A man can dream....
Click to expand...

that's the most number of buzzwords i've ever seen in a post with coherent sentences. as for the ppc 74xx having a weaker fpu/mhz vs. the p4, i would say no. perhaps you mean athlon or pentium m. practically any modern processor today has a better fpu/mhz vs. the p4.
 
The Red Wolf said:
All companies at one time or another suffer. Motorolla has had some bad times. Just as Apple did in 1997 under Amelio's (sp) rule. Currently we're facing the very real possibility of a shortage of G5s and further delays of both the new iMac and the PowerMacs. Having an update to the PowerBook with a dual core chip which keeps cost low and maintains performance would be grand. Like other's have posted, choice for Apple is a good thing. If IBM can't deliver the amount of G5s Apple needs, it is in their advantage to have a second chip manufacturer. It also creates innovation between companies as they try to outthink and outdo each-other. Good for future PowerBooks and Apple as a whole. Saying "Motorolla sucks" or "G4? I would rather use an abacus" are not wise in a G5 vacuums. That and the new G4 dual core could keep battery life up over a single G5. It's advantageous.

On a side note: Anyone think that M$ bought up all the G5s from IBM (for a few hundred million in untraceable notes) for their next generation X-Box? (Isn't it rumored to use 3 of them?) Forcing a G5 shortage for Apple to bring them down?
Click to expand...

I doubt it was to bring Apple down. If Apple dies, Microsoft is suddenly a COMPLETE monopoly, the only competition being *free* Linux not owned by any company.

Since MS will be the only OS company, and control the market, they'd get antitrusted to death by the US courts.

I do recall, though, the PowerMac purchases from Apple by Microsoft. How much you wanna bet those were for XBox game development for the XBox 2 that will have G5's?
 
Moto, IBM

I doubt that the PB G5 will be held up in any way by the use of more advanced G4s (It's doing a pretty good job of taking forever all by itself). And what does the consumer get in the meantime? The fastest portable Mac yet I'm sure.

Of course, THIS poor grad student doesn't exactly ride the leading edge of technology (cf. my sig). Wish I could worry about the G5 PB coming out, but I couldn't buy it anyway so Apple can take as long as it wants as far as I'm concerned
 
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