Update: Apple and the PowerPC 970... Next Year?

[whooleytoo]

I'm surprised some are saying the reasons the G4 is so slow is simply poor Altivec support in most apps, the simple truth is not all applications are at all suited to vector processing. For data intensive tasks it is suited to (eg. encryption/decryption) it offers huge performance boosts, but for many (most?) apps it isn't that useful.

By the way, how many people remember a computer company called the Osbourne? They had a hugely successful computer called the Osbourne I many years ago, were getting rave reviews in the media, selling like hotcakes, and had warehouses full with people screaming to get their hands on them. Then, someone thought it would be a great idea to preannounce the Osbourne II - a much improved model. Sales of the Osbourne I stopped dead. They couldn't clear out the existing inventory, and without a revenue stream, couldn't complete the Osbourne II. Bye bye Osbourne.

Apple had better *not* preannounce the 970 machines (well, apart from the announce now/shipping in 2 months kinda thing..🙂

One other thing, I hope Apple doesn't ignore the gaming market, it's one of the few things that entices people to upgrade their machines more often - a crucial area since there aren't many first time buyers in the 'developed' markets any more!

Mike.

 

[Brother Mugga]

The Osbourne Effect

I can see the argument (r.e. ye olde Osbourne effect) and it perhaps has some validity, if only because of the stupid way Apple manage their upgrades.

When you're thinking of buying a PC you know there'll be something better along in a month, but because the improvements are (generally) frequent and incrementally small you still go for it. As I noted previously, this process is driven principally by the way in which competition affects the marketplace (i.e. a choice of chips, OEMs, and vendors leads to rapid development and deployment of hardware, lest people go elsewhere).

Contrast this with Apple's 6-monthly upgrade cycle, with might have been incrementally small of late, but is clearly not frequent. As a consequence, the only sensible time to buy is near the beginning of the cycle (unless you're desperate for a machine at work - see below). The relevance of the Osbourne effect has also been increased by the slow scaling of the G4, which has resulted in Mac users looking for a huge leap in performance to catch up with the Wintel world.

However, despite this, there seem to be other, perhaps more persuasive reasons for Apple actually coming clean about the 970.

Powermac sales have already stagnated for want of juice (it's one of the reasons Apple is looking to wring every last drop out of other revenue streams). Furthermore, I know companies that are currently using Macs that are thinking of switching to Wintel because (Quark notwithstanding), with the switch to OS X, they're going to have to upgrade their software anyway, so why stick with a platform that seems to be spiralling away from the power-user? This is a great shame as, unlike x86/XP, PowerPC/OS X really can claim to be 'next gen'. If Apple just came out and said, 'Yes, we're going 970 before the end of the year' I really think it would help, rather than hinder sales (certainly in the long run). The majority of those purchasing Powermacs currently are people/companies that really need them (and now) for their work, so trailing the 970 wouldn't affect these sales: indeed, some of those thinking of switching to Wintel might actually hold off because they would have been reassured that they could still have a bright future with Apple.

It is tricky, but, with this in mind, I'm not convinced the Osbourne effect applies. Certainly, as a potential switcher, if I don't at least hear something uplifting from Apple fairly soon then I will HAVE to stick with Wintel as I'll need a new workstation before long. Knowing that the 970 is coming out by August would encourage me to hang on for an extra couple of months (even if it hurt a bit) and gain Apple some new converts. In fact, it's only by talking up the 970 that I've managed to keep some of my friends interested in the possiblity of getting Macs.

Hang on, why aren't I on commission? I don't even own a mac yet, for god's sake...

Good points about Altivec and gaming, by the way.

Brother Mugga

PS: Hopefully with IBM pushing things along Apple could get into a bi- or tri-monthly upgrade cycle (rather than the 6-7 currently) as well. Here's hoping...