Who got the power, Mac?
Dont Hurt Me said:
Here we go again, people dont need power, consumers dont need speed, etc. yet on the otherside everyone is always wanting speed and power and it sells like hot cakes.
You are wrong in your assertion that consumers only read mail and surf the web and therefore need no performance. Photo manipulation, movies, games, folding, whatever all need it yet we constantly get told from the Mac crowd you dont. Lets stop using that as a excuse for Imac because if that was the case G3 Imac would be just fine.
First this is nothing avg about the consumer, 1 may need power...but they all have 1 thing in common and that is
when they go buy a system, performance is a issue and they are all consumers.
Dont think G5 is all that great because everybench (not including Apples) shows only the duals in the same league as 3.2 P4s or AMDs 3400+ so a single G5 isnt anything to brag on at all.
I agree a lot with
Dont Hurt Me, and I find it hard to disagree with
mattmack. In fact, I think
you're both right, you're just talking about different aspects of the same thing.
The G5 chip in some incarnation will eventually hit the iMac, and by then everything will be ready for it.
Upon introduction of a new higher-powered chip, there has always been a pecking order of who gets it first according to need and cost.
PowerMac power machines 1st, because PowerUsers never have enough speed and power. Never!
PowerBooks 2nd because PowerUsers who are mobile want & need the same thing they have in their G5 dual XGHz towers...almost.
iMacs 3rd, then the eMac when chips are not at a premium.
iBooks will always be last because of the need to distinguish it as entry level book to an eventual PowerBook purchase.
PowerUsers who demand the best power and speed do not buy iMacs, eMacs or iBooks - consummers and students do. These products are aimed at the home and school market. Speed is nice, but simply not critical in these markets.
If Apple came out with a 20" G5 iMac SP with one FireWire800 port at a $750 premium over the G4 model, it would hardly sell because price is a premium and over $2,000 just won't work in the Home/School market.
However, if the 20" iMac stayed at the same under $2,000 price, but suddenly was available in G5 or G4 configuration (with the G4 dropping by $500) then there would be a run -- on BOTH.
Dont Hurt Me apparently wants and truly needs all the speed and power he can get in his PowerMac - a G5 (especially a dual - or maybe a quad) is a
necessity of life. But it isn't to the vast majority of the rest of us.
A G5 is just not a necessity, of life or anything else. It's a convenience.
While I'd love a new G5, and would not settle for less than a dual,
I must finally admit that the speed with which my dual G4 1GHz accomplishes all the tasks that I give it - qualifies it as beubg sufficient and satisfactory.
I don't need and cannot rationally justify investment in a new dual G5 ...until my dual G4 begins to die of old age...just like its owner/user.
Will G3 give way to G4? It happened when the iBook moved up to G4.
Will G4 give way to G5? Someday, absolutely.
Will G5 give way to GX? Without a doubt. And with the GX, the G3 will be a silly joke (relax my poor iBook), the G4 a relic, and the G5 a fond memory.
Within a year or so, 4.7GB and 8.5GB DVD discs will become old hat as BluRay ushers in the 50GB disc, thereby making High Definition video on a single disc possible.
Soon, 16x DVD burners will be antiques of the past just like floppy disc drives and Iomega Berneulli 100MB cartridges got replaced by Zip & Jaz discs. Did you ever think they would last forever. (Well, I did
)
Change, progress is always inevitable until Armageddon.
Along the path from a 16MHz MacLC to a dual 1GHz G4 PowerMac, I had a constant need for speed. No longer. Larger more demanding software upgrades could change that over night (like maybe Photoshop CSXXX) but MS Office XIV is not likely to make those kinds of demands. Ever.
While
Dont Hurt Me's position that Consummers are going to be influenced by X.0GHz ratings on a PC or Mac, eventually the speed factor on a Personal Computer made for a Consumer (someone who does not need a PC for work related activities) will become almost meaningless.
Let me give an EXAMPLE: Three neighbors drive 30 miles to work every weekday, following approximately the same roads & highways, and park in the same lot downtown because they work in the same tall bank building.
1st is a bank teller who is paid bank wages (ugh), a
2nd is a financial advisor who makes a comfortable living for himself, his wife, and their 10 kids (obviously irresponsible), and the
3rd is a doctor specializing in plastic surgery, who makes an obscene amount of money every month, dating a different beautiful woman not his wife every month. (I hate him. grrrr.)
Which gets to the parking lot first most of the time?
A. The Doctor's 2002 Porsche Boxer that can go 160 MPH, and it really can.
B. The Advisor's 2004 Cadillac CTS that can go 120 MPH, according to the speedometer.
C. The Teller's 2001 VW Beetle comes with an iPod installed. Oh, it might go 100 MPH, but it's only gone the speedlimit all its life.
Sometimes each beats the other two, especially if the Dr. driving the Porsche gets another speeding ticket and is delayed by the nasty policeman. Regularly, the Cadillac needs specified maintenance so the financial adviser can't help being late.
While the Bank Teller regularly pushes the speedlimit, she never gets a ticket, and her simple VW rarely if ever needs servicing, except a change of oil & filter, and she even has time to pick up her MAIL and go SHOPPING.
The truth is, all 3 can go faster than the speedlimit, but most of the time they just don't. And all though the Porsche can jackrabbit between stop lights, rarely does that extra 2 seconds in between make a difference because of the way the lights are set. Each drives what they like, and can afford.
Only if all three needed to drive round trip between Phoenix and Las Vegas would there be much difference. The Porsche would probably win hands down unless the driver kept getting tickets. The VW might be second just because she likes to weave in and out of traffic, which the Cadillac can't do very easily. But the Cadillac driver would probably be the most rested because he drives at a normal even pace.
Whether you drive a V8, V6 or straight 4 diesel makes little difference in the long run. The difference is in the enjoyment of the drive, which each scores a perfect 10 because they each are driving just exactly what they want.
PowerMac
PowerBook
iMac
Take your pick, it will get you where you want to go, with reasonable comfort, and each can do pretty much everything the others do, just maybe not at the same engine speed.
Now, if you add a Bell dual jet engine Helicopter into the vehicle mix,
you end up with what amounts to a $350,000 Avid Symphony compared to a $3,000 dual G5 3GHz running FinalCut Pro for an editing suite.
MORAL: if you have enough money, you can get what you want right now - even the 3rd fastest supercomputer in the academic world, or maybe only 4th.
