why ibooks have no superdrive option?

[Finiksa]

Originally posted by ftaok
As far as the rumored G3 updates. I don't think Apple will make use of these since they'll need to design a new motherboard to take advantage of the 200mhz FSB. Why would Apple want to spend money on that endeavor when they can take "off the shelf" parts and cobble together a G4 iBook?

I suspect that when the Power lines go 970, the i lines will go G4-7457.

The G3 already supports a 200mhz bus Apple would have done development on this. They just wouldn't have released it to compete with the PowerBooks. They won't bring out a G4 iBook, the G4 is an old inefficient design, A G3 with Altivec has a future.

Plus Apple want to get the hell away from Moto so they can sue the crap out of them.

 

[ftaok]

Originally posted by Finiksa
The G3 already supports a 200mhz bus Apple would have done development on this. They just wouldn't have released it to compete with the PowerBooks. They won't bring out a G4 iBook, the G4 is an old inefficient design, A G3 with Altivec has a future.

Plus Apple want to get the hell away from Moto so they can sue the crap out of them.

The current G3 doesn't support the 200mhz FSB. The 1.2ghz+ G3 are the ones with the 200mhz FSB. Apple would not have designed a motherboard for a chip that they won't use.

BTW, the whole Apple sues Moto over breach of contract is BS. That's just a rumor that Macbidoulle started and it doesn't make any sense.

 

[yzedf]

Originally posted by G4scott
The main reason is because of the iBook's G3. Now, with rumors of an alti-vec enhanced G3, you might actually see a G3 iBook that can burn DVD's at a good speed. The G4 also might have some life left, but Motorola would almost have to redesign the processor to consume less power and put out less heat...

You might see G4's in iBooks, or faster G3's with alti-vec.

Either way, the G3 just doesn't have enough power to do the encoding needed in a reasonable amount of time...

There is plenty of power in the current G3's... it is the decision to make DVD burning a Altivec intensive app that killed it for the iBook. After all, it can burn a CD at 24x now...

 

[Finiksa]

Originally posted by ftaok
The current G3 doesn't support the 200mhz FSB. The 1.2ghz+ G3 are the ones with the 200mhz FSB. Apple would not have designed a motherboard for a chip that they won't use.

Not true, the 750CXe used in the G3 iMacs was capable of a 133Mhz bus, The 750FX used in the current iBooks is capable of a 200mhz bus (see attached image) Apple haven't implemented these speeds to prevent competition with G4's crippled bus speed. PPC 750 documents referenced are available here

Whether or not Apple will take legal action against Moto is can be debated ad infinitum. But considering Apple's history of litigation and Moto's breach of contract, I see it being highly likely.

 

[ftaok]

Originally posted by yzedf
There is plenty of power in the current G3's... it is the decision to make DVD burning a Altivec intensive app that killed it for the iBook. After all, it can burn a CD at 24x now...

It's not the DVD burning that is Altivec enhanced. It's the mpeg-1 encoding that chokes the G3. The G3 is capable of encoding mpeg-1, but it's takes forever. That's something that Apple didn't want a consumer to see. That's why iDVD requires a G4. Note that there are other DVD encoding apps out there that run on G3s.

Originally posted by Finiksa
Not true, the 750CXe used in the G3 iMacs was capable of a 133Mhz bus, The 750FX used in the current iBooks is capable of a 200mhz bus (see attached image) Apple haven't implemented these speeds to prevent competition with G4's crippled bus speed. PPC 750 documents referenced are available here

Whether or not Apple will take legal action against Moto is can be debated ad infinitum. But considering Apple's history of litigation and Moto's breach of contract, I see it being highly likely.

Regardless of what that table says, there are two versions of the 750FX chip. One that tops out at 1.2 ghz and the one that goes all the way to 2ghz. The 2ghz model is the one with the 200mhz bus. The 133mhz bus version is the one that apple uses in the iBook.

As for whether Moto breached a contract or not is ridiculous. The rumor is that Moto broke the contract because it failed to give Apple sufficient (1-yr?) notice that they were scrapping the G5 program. How exactly do you give someone 1 yr notice that you're not continuing development of a chip? Is Moto supposed to tell Apple, "Hey, we don't think we can make any money with the G5, so we're gonna shut it down in a year." Isn't that ridiculous? When you shut it down, you shut it down. You don't continue developing it just to meet a contract obligation. That's why there IS NO contract that demands Moto to give notice to Apple.

 

[Finiksa]

Originally posted by ftaok
Regardless of what that table says, there are two versions of the 750FX chip. One that tops out at 1.2 ghz and the one that goes all the way to 2ghz. The 2ghz model is the one with the 200mhz bus. The 133mhz bus version is the one that apple uses in the iBook.

That's ridiculous IBM have barely been able to get the 750FX to reach 1Ghz, that's why they're developing the 750GX that is expected top out at 1.4Ghz. I sincerely doubt they would develop a new chip that will reach speeds 600Mhz lower than their current offerings and otherwise have similar specs.

 

[ftaok]

Originally posted by Finiksa
That's ridiculous IBM have barely been able to get the 750FX to reach 1Ghz, that's why they're developing the 750GX that is expected top out at 1.4Ghz. I sincerely doubt they would develop a new chip that will reach speeds 600Mhz lower than their current offerings and otherwise have similar specs.

OK, here's what I've heard (and truly believe).

When IBM announced the 750FX, they were planning on getting it to 2ghz and starting around 700mhz. The 700mhz chip supported a bus speed of 133mhz. This is the chip that Apple currently uses at 900mhz. They've had 1ghz versions of this chip available for a while now (4-6 months), but no one uses it. The plan for the 750FX is/was to get it up to 2ghz. Starting with the 1.2ghz version, the FSB could be cranked up to 200mhz.

The table that you showed listed maximum FSB speeds of 200mhz. This is referencing the 2nd version of the 750FX. The current 750FX is capable of 133mhz.

Now, as far as the rumors of the 750GX, this could be IBM's rethinking of the 750FX, rev2. Since it's obvious that Apple isn't ready to use faster 750FX's, IBM may have gone back to the design stage for the 750FX, rev2 and bumped it up some more. Hence, they've changed the name to 750GX.

As for the speed of the GX topping out at 1.4ghz, perhaps Apple has told IBM that they don't want to confuse consumers with GX's that are faster than 970s. Who knows.

My original point was that the current 750FX's aren't crippled (on the FSB) from 200mhz to 100mhz. They are crippled from 133 to 100.

 

[eric_n_dfw]

iDVD won't even install on a G3 because of how slow the encoding would be. (Apple doesn't want to hear the complaints I would presume)
From what I've read, CaptyDVD and BitVice encoders work, but also are exteemly slow.

From http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/feb03/022803.html
CaptyDVD and BitVice each support G3's, although I really don't recommend it since you might need to let your machine encode from Friday night to Monday morning just for one or two hours of video. Consider a G4 CPU upgrade or a real cheap used Mac that would do nothing but encode.

Read my sig line - this issue (encoding/rendering) is why it's been there for so long! (From when I upgraded my old B&W with a G4 ZIF and Final Cut Pro 2 took off like a banchee!)

 

[Pipian]

Is it really THAT slow?