Will Apple keep the "G" brand name?

[plastique45]

I just found this at http://www.macosx.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-93462.html

NOTE: The articles there are FAKE news, but it brings up an interesting point below:

"Although the "G6" designation would be the most obvious for the next generation of Power Macs, G6 has already been extensively advertised by Pontiac as "the first ever G6" for their new performance sedan. It's also the name of a digital camera from Canon. Can you imagine the confusion of connecting your G6 to your G6 in a G6?"

As yellow mentioned, G4 and G5 might be just marketing names, most likely meant to compete with the P4. But now, there will be no need for this. However, if Apple does decide to use some kind of a designation, I really doubt it would have '1' in it. I mean, there was no Pentium 1 (just Pentium), or even iTunes 1 (yes, it was version 1.0, but it wasn't marketed this way). In fact, this is how Intel is marketing their new Pentium D and M processors. I'd bet (not much, though) there'll eventually be a Pentium D2. I don't think Apple would use anything that refers to Intel, since AMD is out there and they could be a future supplier too, just how both Motorola and IBM made G3's.

Based on Yebot's suggestions, I think PowerBook X would be a good name. It would be Intel-neutral, represent x86, and we can say, "I'm running OS X on my PowerBook X!" I honestly don't think there'd be any confusion. I mean, Apple's already reusing "Extreme" and "mini". New generations would be PowerBook X2, X3, and so on. I can already see the X-Men related mods people will be doing...

There was also a G5 from Canon.

 

[efoto]

Who cares?! It's a name of something... the only thing I care about is how it works and what is inside of it. They could call it the Apple Powerbook AXSDSAVXZ32123 and it would make no difference as to how it performs. All these silly questions since Apple has announced it's decission to go with Intel are getting out of hand. Sure it is going to be an Intel processor under the hood, but it is still going to be an Apple computer, and rest assured everything that people have come to expect from Apple will not be going away. As Steve said in the keynote, OSX is the soul of Apple... so you are still going to have the same OS and just because they go to Intel doesnt mean they are going to change their inovative ascetetic design. So... no it probably won't be G6, but again who cares what they call it. I'm sure marketing will think up of some clever name that will get people saying "ohh I wonder what that is?"

Thats actually a GREAT NAME smurphur. It gets all of the important information across in a very concise and manageable manner. I mean, that is obviously this computer:
Powerbook w/ Airport Xpress (AX), SuperDrive (SD), SuperAirport (SA) (which none of you know about yet because you are all nOObs), Variable X-celeration drive (VX) (the latest in compact Terabyte technology at 24,000rpm with 128Mb cache), and most obvious of all, its the new Z proc. clocked at on the low end at only 32.123Ghz....and only dual-core, can you believe that? I was really REALLY hoping for the newer Octa-core Z proc. at 2.67 TeraHz....but maybe next rev, who knows.

Chill out buddy, this is a rumor site that ENJOYS talking about this type of thing. Its posted in a more or less accurate thread discussing Mac Harware and Computers. I like the discussion, thanks for adding

 

[efoto]

It won't matter how long the car is around if GM holds the trademark for "G6".

But I suppose that GM's trademark for G6 extends only to the realm of cars and car-related products? Therefore Apple would have had no problem using G6 in their computer line. Much the same way Tiger Direct got spanked by Apple over the use of the name "Tiger".

Do trademarks work similar to patents? or are they specified in given realms and areas of work (as patents can be, but are not commonly expressed)?

I would tend to agree that if Apple holds a trademark on G6 (which they probably do) it probably applies to competitors in the related field like Intel, AMD, intesert_chip_manufac, etc. Prime example is listed about Apple's G5, Canon's G5, and probably another place either called G5 or with a product called G5.

I would imagine that as soon as Apple decided to go with "G" in their chips, they probably trademarked 5-10 series in advance, just to be safe. Large companies have little trouble doing this since money is of little object for the costs of trademarking.

 

[BWhaler]

They better not call PowerBooks "Mac U2", I would yell boycott down the streets for miles if my voice carried that far. A U2 iPod I can overlook, but lord help whomever decides to take it further, I'll slay them myself with my not-U2 homebrew PowerMac Dual-AMD 64 box running OSX 10.6 "Super-cool Huge/strong Cat"

Um...it was a joke.

 

[Jo-Kun]

maybe they will provide stickers for Die Hard PPC people

the kind the Red Bull F1 Team had in Monaco: Powered by the Dark Side huhu

maybe because they go to a 'classic' I mean intel's original x86 design is a classic so we get

Mac mini classic
eMac classic
iBook classic
iMac classic
ClassicMac
ClassicBook

huhu

they probably will keep the 'power' and 'i' names Power for the powerusers we who need a powerfull animal and i for everything plastic,
and off course mini for the one that isn't plastic on the outside but has the i hardware inside...

the G will be gone I guess, its quite logicall the intell is not the 6th PPC gen...

 

[efoto]

They better not call PowerBooks "Mac U2", I would yell boycott down the streets for miles if my voice carried that far. A U2 iPod I can overlook, but lord help whomever decides to take it further, I'll slay them myself with my not-U2 homebrew PowerMac Dual-AMD 64 box running OSX 10.6 "Super-cool Huge/strong Cat"

Um...it was a joke.

Well apparently I suck at humor then, since slaying someone with software titled OSX 10.6 - "Super-cool Huge/strong Cat" doesn't make anyone but myself chuckle
Thank lordy I didn't take up comedy.

 

[iGary]

GCrap works for me.

 

[jiggie2g]

Imagine going to Apple's site and seeing this PowerMac:

3.2GHz x2 Intel Pentium D
800MHz frontside bus/processor
1MB L2 cache/processor
512MB DDR2 533 SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA
16x SuperDrive (double-layer)
Three PCI Slots
ATI Radeon 9600
128MB DDR video memory

Could they call this the G6? I mean technically it is the sixth generation of processor used by Apple--it's also an Intel processor. I really hope Apple doesn't start using numbers in their model numbers, like PowerMac 840 or something. Do you think this is a possibility?

That thing would be a Dog in released in 2yrs.

However am I the only one that finds it funny that a cheap'O Single 3.6ghz P4 runs it's Native OSX Apps as fast and sometimes faster then the brand new Dual 2.7ghz G5.

And now for the real Specs:

Powermac G6

1 Dualcore P-M Conroe CPU around 2.5ghz full 64-bit
800mhz FSB
1-1.5GB DDR2 800 SDRAM(should be standard by that time)
PCIe with SLI/Crossfire , 2 PCIe x1 , 1 PCIe x4 , 2 PCIe x16
8-12 Pipeline Videocard (standard)
FW 800 , USB 3.0 , WiMax or 802.11n , BT 2.0 EDR
Blu-Ray DVD-RW Superdrive
250GB HD standard
All Aluminum , BTX based enclosure. Dead Silent

I will add that IMHO Apple will not put out any more Dual CPU systems , it's just not required anymore, maybe for Xserves. Apple put DP systems out in the 1st Place because Intel CPU's were hitting 800mhz when the G4 was stuck at 450mhz forever.

Adding DP systems in Mactel PC's would price them out of the competition , Dell , HP , Sony , and Gateway will never put Dual CPU's in a PC. Adding DP to Dual core systems for home use is just plain over kill.

 

[efoto]

That thing would be a Dog in released in 2yrs.

However am I the only one that finds it funny that a cheap'O Single 3.6ghz P4 runs it's Native OSX Apps as fast and sometimes faster then the brand new Dual 2.7ghz G5.

And now for the real Specs:

Powermac G6

1 Dualcore P-M Conroe CPU around 2.5ghz full 64-bit
800mhz FSB
1-1.5GB DDR2 800 SDRAM(should be standard by that time)
PCIe with SLI/Crossfire , 2 PCIe x1 , 1 PCIe x4 , 2 PCIe x16
8-12 Pipeline Videocard (standard)
FW 800 , USB 3.0 , WiMax or 802.11n , BT 2.0 EDR
Blu-Ray DVD-RW Superdrive
250GB HD standard
All Aluminum , BTX based enclosure. Dead Silent

I will add that IMHO Apple will not put out any more Dual CPU systems , it's just not required anymore, maybe for Xserves. Apple put DP systems out in the 1st Place because Intel CPU's were hitting 800mhz when the G4 was stuck at 450mhz forever.

Adding DP systems in Mactel PC's would price them out of the competition , Dell , HP , Sony , and Gateway will never put Dual CPU's in a PC. Adding DP to Dual core systems for home use is just plain over kill.

Seems fine and dandy, however do you really think FW800 is going to survive once USB3.0 comes out? FW400 is having issues as it is since USB2.0 is running 80mbps over it, so USB 3.0 would logically run at least 1Gbps....its a logical step. Unless FW gets a hardware rev and updates its transfer speeds, I see FW dying quite soon.

 

[Quartz Extreme]

The "G" series has always been used for the PowerPC processor lineup

(G1) - PPC 601, 603, 603e
(G2) - PPC 604, 604e
G3 - PPC 750
G4 - PPC 7400-7450
G5 - PPC 970, 970FX
(G6) - PPC 970MP

Apple will probably come up with something new for these Intel machines.
Something maybe with an i. Apple loves using i.

 

[Quartz Extreme]

FW400 is having issues as it is since USB2.0 is running 80mbps over it

FireWire 400 actually gets faster transfers most of the time than USB 2.0.
The "up to 480Mbps" label means just that: a theoretical max.

Unless FW gets a hardware rev and updates its transfer speeds, I see FW dying quite soon.

FireWire is still the standard port for many DV video cameras. USB and FireWire each have their strengths. FireWire is a peer-to-peer bus meaning you can do that target-disk thing and network with it, while USB is a master-slave bus, meaning it is better just for peripherals. We wont see either USB or FireWire die out.

 

[efoto]

FireWire 400 actually gets faster transfers most of the time than USB 2.0.
The "up to 480Mbps" label means just that: a theoretical max.



FireWire is still the standard port for many DV video cameras. USB and FireWire each have their strengths. FireWire is a peer-to-peer bus meaning you can do that target-disk thing and network with it, while USB is a master-slave bus, meaning it is better just for peripherals. We wont see either USB or FireWire die out.

FW gets its more consistent transfer speeds because it's a high-power line correct? USB is moving in that direction with charge-over and other things that are making it quite similar to FW. If the speeds of USB can get up to near FW and a slightly higher power consumption would give relatively the same stability, the only thing left is peer-to-peer bus.

Perhaps saying FW would die was not the best arguement, but already many new pro-sumer level products are getting away from FW and using "Hi-Speed" USB 2.0 for their transfers and direct shooting.

 

[sacear]

Re: Could Apple Call NeXT Power Mac G6?

Imagine going to Apple's site and seeing this PowerMac:

3.2GHz x2 Intel Pentium D
<snip>

Could they call this the G6? I mean technically it is the sixth generation of processor used by Apple--it's also an Intel processor. I really hope Apple doesn't start using numbers in their model numbers, like PowerMac 840 or something. Do you think this is a possibility?

Well, technically, it is way more than the sixth generation of processor used by Apple. The current generation moniker (G3, G4, & G5) only marks the generations of Power Macintosh computers then the PowerPC processor based CPUs were named to follow suit.

Apple first used MOS Technology 6502 processors in the Apple |, Apple ||, and Apple ||| series computers.

For the Apple ||gs, Apple used Western Digital Center's 65816 processor.

Then Apple used the Motorola 68000 processor for the Lisa and the Macintosh.

Apple used the Motorola 68020 processor for the Macintosh II and the Macintosh LC.

Next, Apple used the Motorola 68030 processor for the SE/30 and the rest of the Macintosh || series. At this time the Macintosh model line increased to several model lines, each line containing several variants.

Apple next used the Motorola 68040 processor for wide variety of Macintosh models.

Apple then moved to the Power Performance Computing 601 processor for the Power Macintosh. (First generation PowerPC, "G1") (Seventh generation processor used by Apple)

The next PPC processor for Apple was the 603 series. Followed closely by the 604 series. Both together considered the second generation PPC. ("G2")

Then the PowerPC 750 processor was used in Apple's Power Macintosh G3 (third generation) model computer and Apple gave the CPU the same name.

The PowerPC 7400 series processor is the G4 CPU used in the Power Macintosh G4.

The PowerPC 970 processor is the G5 CPU used in the Power Mac G5. (The fifth generation PowerPC processor, yet the eleventh generation processor used by Apple Computer.)

So, "Could they call this the G6?" Well, they could. If they want to. The moniker Gx is Apple's and refers to the Macintosh model first and predominantly, and secondarily to the CPU. The CPU was named after the Power Mac model moniker. At this particular time the fifth generation Power Mac just happens to coincide with the fifth generation of PowerPC.

The next generation of Power Mac will still be the sixth (G6), no matter what they call it and no matter what processor is inside. The new Intel processor based CPU ought to not, and properly cannot be called G6, unless they use the sixth generation of some Intel processor (hmm, P6 in the G6?) The Pentium itself was the fifth generation of Intel's x86 processor (80586, i586, P5), the Pentium Pro, Pentium ||, Pentium |||, and Pentium M are the P6, (Pentium M P6 in the Power Mac G6? PowerBook Yonah?) hmm.

So the machine itself will still be a Power Mac G6. However, Apple may decide to change the naming scheme altogether.

 

[sacear]

G(x) refers to generation of Power Macintosh

i think the G5 is it for the g-series, since it only referred to the generations of powerpc chips in the mac.

From a marketing/naming perspective, i wish they would keep the G name, but I don't see why Apple would keep the G name... It describes the processor, not the computer, and I think calling the same processor Pentium 5 and G6 would be confusing.

That is incorrect. The G series moniker as used by Apple refers to the generation of "Power Macintosh," describing the computer. Apple secondarily named the CPU (not the PowerPC chip) after the machine. "Power Macintosh G3" means third-generation Power Macintosh, not G3 CPU Power Macintosh, nor Power Macintosh with a G3 CPU. The CPU is named after and according to the Power Macintosh. The Power Macintosh is not named after and according to the CPU.

 

[sacear]

PowerBook six years before PowerPC

The prefix Power doesn't necessarily refer to the PowerPC. The first PowerBooks used 030s. On the desktop end, models were starting to be given names and numbers when the PowerPC came out (Centris, Quadra, etc.). PowerMac was like another name. The change in processors for both the notebook and desktop lines was noted by using 4 digits in the model number instead of 3.

I'd personally like to see a return to the old school by using the full Macintosh name. I don't see that ever happening though. Some people these days probably don't even know Mac is short for Macintosh.

That is correct. The Power moniker as used my Apple did not and does not directly refer to PowerPC. Apple used the "Power" moniker years before the PowerPC.

The first generation PowerBooks (the PowerBook 100, from 1991) used Motorola 68000 processors. The 68030 was used for the second generation PowerBooks. The PowerPC was used in the fourth generation PowerBooks in 1997, six years after Apple had already been using the "Power" moniker.

 

[skubish]

Does Apple even have trademark rights for "G6", Pontiac has a car called the G6?????

GM has a trademark registered in the US for G6. Looking at http://www.uspto.gov Apple does not have G6 registered but they also don't have G5 registered either.