PowerMac G5 Updates - March 23rd?

[wizard]

Frnakly I'm not sure how you can say that a G5 is extremely competitive. Have you noticed that Apple never compares them with Opterons?

The G5 can look good when the perosn doing the comparison wants them to look good, that is not what Apple needs though. They need a computer that no one can reasonably deny is fast. The current G5 is not that machine.

It is all about Apples survival and takeing a reasonable shot at increasing market share. Apple will not have a chance of doing that, increasing market share, if there are reasonable questions about the performance of its machines. The concerns are reasonable as the G5 is not a universal winner when it comes to performance, which is something an objective mind has to admit to. I want to see Apple introduce a machine that even a biased viewer would have to admit is fast if not the fastest.

Apple will be around in 3 years, they are earning money.

The G5 is extremely competitive, even the current model. We aren't talking G4 here... seriously I don't even understand how you can post this, really it makes no sense. What do you mean a 20% increase in performance will not gives us a PC that can be considered reasonably fast?!?! The Dual G5 is already INSANELY fast, I dunno what you are talking about but I have used one first hand many times, and run many different programs. To give you an idea I run a really nice PC right now and the G5 handles just as fast if not faster. Please.... back up what you are saying... blah

 

[neonart]

I think that apple has lost sight of what the company really is/was supposed to be about apple is supposed to be making "a computer for the rest of us" but were no longer doing tht apple is becoming to technical and not as easy for people to understand so their scared away were comparing ourselves to bmws when we should be comparing our selves for chevys a car everyone can use and afford to use. Apples website praises that pros use the computers but is that a good thing? yes and no yes its good the computers are good for profesionals but shouldnt we be showing normal people who never knew how to use a computer using one easily making it truly for the rest of us?

Dude! There's like no punctuation in this post! It's was just weird reading it.

You have some good points. Alot of us are tech savvy, but there are many people who just want the basics. I think this is why the imac, eMac, and iBook are still a huge part of the game regardless of how technologically advanced they are... or aren't).

 

[edenwaith]

$1.98

IF this rumor does prove to be true (or at least reasonably correct), I am glad to see an all dual processor line for all PM models. The last time they did that was several years ago. If they have a 1.8 DP for under $2000, I think I would be in the market for that.

I've come to the conclusion that reviewers and critics will NEVER be happy with the amount of RAM Apple puts in their machines. To them, it will never be enough. I remember just a few years ago being delighted when I had a machine up to 64 MB of RAM! Now 256 MB is looking too small. And we'll all soon be there when 1 GB of RAM just doesn't seem to be enough. Personally, if I get a cheaper computer with less RAM, I'll go for that, since Apple always over charges for its RAM. I just go to ramseeker.com and find cheap RAM. Because of cheap RAM prices, I have 896 MB of RAM in my machine. Wonderful.

But March 23 sounds reasonable. Add about six months, and that will put us in September, which is still in the summer (for the the northern hemisphere, of course) for the most part, so the promise that the G5s will hit 3GHz by summer 2004 can still happen and appear reasonable.

 

[reorx]

All this whining and moaning about MHz jumps being too small is just irritating. If you need an el-cheapo render farm, buy 1U servers at the lowest bid and stack them until you can't afford the power bill... If you're constantly jealous of the 3+ GHz Intel CPUs running XP Game Edition, by all means, go play there. Apple is not going to compete for your dollars, and they shouldn't. You are the same fickle people who blow $350+ on a video card with to play a game for 6 months until your video card is eclipsed and made obsolete by the next $350+ 300fps space heater in 6 months. I guess ATI and NVidia know their customer well.

 

[MrSugar]

Frnakly I'm not sure how you can say that a G5 is extremely competitive. Have you noticed that Apple never compares them with Opterons?

The G5 can look good when the perosn doing the comparison wants them to look good, that is not what Apple needs though. They need a computer that no one can reasonably deny is fast. The current G5 is not that machine.

It is all about Apples survival and takeing a reasonable shot at increasing market share. Apple will not have a chance of doing that, increasing market share, if there are reasonable questions about the performance of its machines. The concerns are reasonable as the G5 is not a universal winner when it comes to performance, which is something an objective mind has to admit to. I want to see Apple introduce a machine that even a biased viewer would have to admit is fast if not the fastest.

It is extremely competitive, look at bench marks anywhere. Maybe the opteron edges it out but the G5 is right there on the top of the list. Plus it's a PC for the future, think about it, it's a 64 bit processor that is running 32bit programs and OS, it's not even being fully utilized yet. You are nuts to think that this machine is not competitive in the high end market.

 

[aswitcher]

SNIP

But March 23 sounds reasonable. Add about six months, and that will put us in September, which is still in the summer (for the the northern hemisphere, of course) for the most part, so the promise that the G5s will hit 3GHz by summer 2004 can still happen and appear reasonable.

Yep, not an unrealistic scenario.

Now I wonder if those frenchies have news about the G5PB...

 

[Sol]

Prices

A dual low-end PowerMac again? That would sell more PowerMacs for the next year than any before but not as many mid and high end configurations would be sold, maybe. The low-end configuration would likely be more expensive than the current 1.6 GHz PowerMac.

 

[LinuxLover]

what is really funny about this whole site... is that you people actually spend your time talking about the future. Here is a Hint: It will happen when it happens. Looking at message boards and leaving nerdy notes to one another will change nothing. But if I must go with the flow... "Man, I really can't wait for the G6! I am sure it will be really fast, maybe as fast as the P3!"

The Future is Open... and unpredictable.

 

[alamar]

Waste Not Want Not

I seemed to have had bad luck with the cheap memory: whether it's due to things like "yields" or some other aspect of quality control, the Apple branded memory seems to work completely without kernel panics or system freezes.

That being said, here's hoping for a G5 in an iMac soon!

Dude,
http://www.everymac.com/
http://www.crucial.com/
http://www.transintl.com/

between these three sites you can find safe ram, for MUCH less than Apple is hawking it. With the money you save you can buy some 300 dollar grounded boots and still come out on top. Or just keep in contact with the power supply for the entire install.

There are staving kids in many 3rd world who would kill you and your entire family (and likely a few members of their own) for the cash you've been wasting on RAM.

A G5 iMac sounds like a pipe dream to me.

 

[NicoMan]

A dual low-end PowerMac again? That would sell more PowerMacs for the next year than any before but not as many mid and high end configurations would be sold, maybe. The low-end configuration would likely be more expensive than the current 1.6 GHz PowerMac.

Apple selling more of the low-end config is better, I think. Supposedly, the G5 wafers are yielding more 1.8GHz-rated chips than 2.2 or 2.4. So there is less chance of having supply problems (like they did with the Dual 2.0). Besides, I'm not sure that they making more money selling the high-end configs...

 

[chinamac]

Apple selling more of the low-end config is better, I think. Supposedly, the G5 wafers are yielding more 1.8GHz-rated chips than 2.2 or 2.4. So there is less chance of having supply problems (like they did with the Dual 2.0). Besides, I'm not sure that they making more money selling the high-end configs...

What the market wants seems to be just the other way around. I can tell you that the distributors in most of Asia quotes a ratio of 70% dual 2s and 30% for the other two combined. For whatever reason, this seems to be the case in Asia. This could be the reason for the shortfall -big demand, rather than yield.

 

[NicoMan]

What the market wants seems to be just the other way around. I can tell you that the distributors in most of Asia quotes a ratio of 70% dual 2s and 30% for the other two combined. For whatever reason, this seems to be the case in Asia. This could be the reason for the shortfall -big demand, rather than yield.

Hmm the thing is, the current line-up is not a good example, because the low-end is a single-CPU config and the difference between the dual 1.8 and the the dual 2.0 is not that big (in terms of price). Hence the majority of interest in the dual 2.0, IMHO.
I feel the rumoured line-up would prove different.

 

[Trimix]

Somehow I doubt.

I do find it interesting that they are all duals, this might be to distance them from the new G5 iMAC!

That would be so cool, a G5 iMAC with a 20'screen.
My Amex is beginning to itch

 

[NicoMan]

That would be so cool, a G5 iMAC with a 20'screen.
My Amex is beginning to itch

Even though I like that prospect too, I think we can expect a different form factor for the iMac G5. The 'lamp' iMac hasn't been a success story. Too expensive and too slow (though a G5 in it would help...).

 

[blepo2000]

So is there a huge difference in the Nvidia board from the 9600 for doing 2D/Photoshop work?

Nope! The only place you will notice a difference between hi and low end graphics would be in 3d apps and games. Also a few people on this board are screaming for 9800s as stock cards. That's the most stupid thing I've heard in a long time, as the price would go up significantly for all costumors, but only a fraction of those do really need a card like that.

 

[GroundLoop]

Apple are getting just as bad with patches and updates now. 70mb for 10.3.3?? The last one was hefty too. Or don't these count?

Is there nothing Apple could do that you won't apologize for?

Remember that the 70MB also includes updates to quite a few applications and not just the core OS. Updates to Safari, Mail, Disk Utility, etc. I am happy that it is a large update. I would rather get all of this stuff now, for free, rather than wait for 10.4.

Hickman

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

ummm it's two isn't it

1 shipping model line we are still waiting for Xserves and millions of consumers are still waiting for a decent consumer model with a current CPU.
I was checking out the Alienware which looks pretty good except for the software and all the video cards had 128 mb of ram or 256. Even low life Fx5200 had 128. Very impressive features, colors,and can option the machine to be perfect for you. I wish Apple would follow some of these Pc makers. One thing I did notice was no superdrive or dvd burning but come to think of it I have never needed to burn a dvd. combo should be fine.
Iam now thinking a dual G5 1.8 if we see them reduced or going to the Pc side with a 3.2 Intel or 3200 AMD machine with 9800. The AMD is 64 bit just like G5.
A Imac G5 with at least a 9600 in it would be good but I just cant wait another year for Apple to get off its G4 ars and make one. Where are the rumors of a new Imac? or is Apple just interested in Pods?

 

[klaus]

I don't think the new models will ship with the same videocards as the "older" ones. Ati has the R420 in the pipeline, and it will still have an agp bus, the r423 will have the PCI-express bus. Therefore I think the march revisions will have new videocards (ati's r420) and maybe the 3ghz G5 will be the first to incorporate the PCI-express buses into their complete system.

The article says 'with a month delay for the rest of the world" => does that mean we europeans will only see those machines in our store a month later, say april, begin may? if true, that sucks..., why must there be such a difference in availability between us and europe?


Klaus

 

[MacRAND]

SuperDrive is like an automatic transmission; you gotta have a reason NOT to have one

... One thing I did notice was no superdrive or dvd burning but come to think of it I have never needed to burn a dvd. combo should be fine.

Just because the Combo is "standard" for the Dual G5 1.8GHz machine, does not mean anything:

A. Apple Store will be happy to upgrade to a SuperDrive, just make sure the speed (8x) and the price are well worth it before you CLICK the Option button, or

B. It is so simple to pull the Combo Drive out (and then sell it), and
replace it with a state-of-the-art 8x DVD burning Pioneer DVR-A07 DVD/CD±R/RW SuperDrive for way under $200 by yourself - 4 screws, in and out, that's about all there is to it.

Sell the Combo to a MacBuddy in your neighborhood, or auction it off over eBay so it offsets the cost of your SuperDrive. Or, you can always buy a solid FireWire enclosure from FirewireDirect.com or someone, keep the Combo and double up for speedier copying.

(This weekend, I condensed (7) CDs full of photo clip art I use with Keynote into (1) DVD; now I don't have to "Insert CD 4" etc. each time I want a full size image, and the dual laser drives saved lots of time. Actually, I had 3 going at once (there are benefits to being ADD and multi-tasked), an super-fast external CD drive (Yamaha) and an external SuperDrive (LaCie d2) feeding sequential CD discs burned to my new 8x internal SuperDrive. Roxio's Toast 6 made it easy, especially since I used their "Disk Image" capability to fool the Photo Clip Art Application into thinking I was mounting 7 separate CDs on my desktop, when it was just one DVD.)

Besides being able to backup 4.7GB of data to one DVD-R/RW, there is editing DV clips with iMovie, and burning DVD home movies with iDVD...
Isn't a SuperDrive the center of a Mac's "digital hub"?
Burn baby, burn (or, toast ).

In February when I got my 8x DVD burner at Fry's, I thought their street price of $199 was pretty good since it had just dropped $30 from $229 list, so with Pioneer's $30 mail-in rebate (expires 3/31/2004) I figured $169 was good. Wrong, online I later (after my purchase) found cyber street prices (no tax) were as much as $20 to $30 lower than Fry's. Oh, well.
But, I can still count on selling my old 2x Pioneer SuperDrive for at least $90 (yep, already got a buyer).
So, prices are getting gooder and gooder (yes, I know "gooder" is not a word; dah!).

I predict that Apple will not only announce the 3 new G5s on March 23rd, they will have
8x SuperDrives in them, and Apple will have
8x DVD-R Media 5-packs (rare still) for either $14.99 ($3 each) or $19.99 ($4 each).
4x is currently $9.99, and 2x (if you can find them anymore) are $7.99.
When will Dual Layer DVD-R[DL] become available? That's anyone's guess.
No Steve, I do not have an insider, except maybe the Anglo-Saxon Intern we've all been reading about in the French News forum MacPlus.org. Nah, just kidding...arn was the one who told me.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

1 shipping model line we are still waiting for Xserves and millions of consumers are still waiting for a decent consumer model with a current CPU.
I was checking out the Alienware which looks pretty good except for the software and all the video cards had 128 mb of ram or 256. Even low life Fx5200 had 128. Very impressive features, colors,and can option the machine to be perfect for you. I wish Apple would follow some of these Pc makers. One thing I did notice was no superdrive or dvd burning but come to think of it I have never needed to burn a dvd. combo should be fine.
Iam now thinking a dual G5 1.8 if we see them reduced or going to the Pc side with a 3.2 Intel or 3200 AMD machine with 9800. The AMD is 64 bit just like G5.
A Imac G5 with at least a 9600 in it would be good but I just cant wait another year for Apple to get off its G4 ars and make one. Where are the rumors of a new Imac? or is Apple just interested in Pods?

I'm not sure that Apple has full control over when they are going to release a G5 iMac. I suspect that supply issues at IBM's end may be holding things up. Another possibility is that Apple wants to release the PowerMac G5 updates first before G5 iMacs, and that supply issues with the G5s destined for the PowerMacs are by extension holding up G5 iMacs (and possibly also G5 PowerBooks). What makes you think an ATI Radeon 9600 should be in an iMac? Serious gamers will go for the PowerMacs, not the iMacs. Most other people will avoid the Mac completely and get a PC and/or a console for gaming. Plus, putting a better graphics card in the iMac now makes no sense until the PowerMacs get better graphics cards as standard, which looks unlikely at this point.

 

[sedarby]

G5 iMac, not until G5 Powerbook

Exactly. It's clear that the iMacs have to get G5s very soon, and the obvious way to differentiate the towers is to make them all dual. Given that, Apple doesn't want to have the low end too close to the midrange. They've almost always arranged the tower lineup so that the midrange has the best price/performance ratio, leaving the low end for the budget-conscious and the high end for those who need every bit of performance.

Has Apple in all of history EVER allowed the iMac to outclass the Powerbook? I don't believe you will see a G5 in an iMac until it has been released in a PowerBook first. They may break tradition but why would they?

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

you guys are right Apple instead of making the best product plays all these stupid games between one product line and another. just like you said cant give imac a G5 until powerbook and cant give powerbook one until powermac gets the new smaller etc and before you know it another year has gone by. To many darn games by Apple instead of just letting market decide winners and loosers.they are to busy stumbling over themself while the Pc world has gone right on by. I like my mac but the G4 is way to slow for decent gaming(1.47 G4) and if I go Pc Ill use it for everything. I need to do a little research. One thing I do know is that the Hardware on the otherside is way above the scraps we get from Apple, Ati etc. I really thought we would at least have had a all in wonder ati product now. Pc world has a 9600 and 9800 all in wonder.Video cards on the otherside makes me want to cry. The more I look the more I see the otherside just running away from the scraps we get from Apple and its smaller and smaller marketshare.. Itunes now works in Wintels world what will be next? Apple is becoming a very fringe player in my H.O.

 

[MacRAND]

20" iMac, but only 17" max screen for PowerBook = iMac is the clear WINNER!

Has Apple in all of history EVER allowed the iMac to outclass the Powerbook? snip

Well, you cannot get a 20" LCD in a PowerBook, and none is likely. But, you do have a 20" iMac. No big deal.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

you guys are right Apple instead of making the best product plays all these stupid games between one product line and another. just like you said cant give imac a G5 until powerbook and cant give powerbook one until powermac gets the new smaller etc and before you know it another year has gone by. To many darn games by Apple instead of just letting market decide winners and loosers.they are to busy stumbling over themself while the Pc world has gone right on by. I like my mac but the G4 is way to slow for decent gaming(1.47 G4) and if I go Pc Ill use it for everything. I need to do a little research. One thing I do know is that the Hardware on the otherside is way above the scraps we get from Apple, Ati etc. I really thought we would at least have had a all in wonder ati product now. Pc world has a 9600 and 9800 all in wonder.Video cards on the otherside makes me want to cry. The more I look the more I see the otherside just running away from the scraps we get from Apple and its smaller and smaller marketshare.. Itunes now works in Wintels world what will be next? Apple is becoming a very fringe player in my H.O.

Hey DHM, Isn't Apple already a fringe player as far as global marketshare goes? That means that you wish to follow the marketshare for Apple vs. Microsoft as far as computers you own goes? Hmm, how very interesting. What kind of games do you play that a G4 would be too slow for? I play realMYST; it plays smoothly on my (G4) 17" iMac even at maximum resolution, color depth, and detail (my iMac has an nVidia FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB of video RAM). Sadly, I don't have any other games that tax a 3D graphics card as much (or little) as realMYST does. Before I got the iMac, I had a PowerBook 667 whose video card had only 16 MB of VRAM. Ouch, was realMYST slow and jerky on that hardware.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

iMacs are desktops, PowerBooks are laptops. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether one is more powerful than the other because they are DIFFERENT markets. If they have G5-ready iMacs, release them. Don't wait for PowerBooks.