WWDC PowerBook G5 2.2GHz?

[Frobozz]

In an anonymous post to Craig's List, one participant claims:
Obviously anonymous mailing list posts lack much credibility.

Okay, I would obviously give this rumor a 10% chance of being true, but it IS plausible. (flame retardant ON):

1) _if_ the 970fx is finally up to speed it may be ready for laptops. Heat is probably under control now.
2) _if_ it is ready for laptops it could certainly run at 1.6 to 2.2 GHz.
3) _if_ there's gonna be a 2.2 GHz laptop I'd be willing to bet a 2.6 - 3.0 GHz 975 based PowerMac is coming.

Speculation is sooooo gratifying. I can't wait to see what turns up at WWDC. Here's to anonymous posters!

 

[pjkelnhofer]

An additional fact for you to put in front of anyone who trots out the "Moto? Graaah!" defense: two of their four new designs are shipping right now. The e300 and e500 are moving in volume and filling orders as we speak, selling mostly to embedded and communications solutions markets. Particularly interesting, the e500 has on-chip encryption capabilities that vastly speed the process of encoding and decoding keys for point-to-point secure communication, and they handle nearly every modern format I've seen any reference to.

Another good defense for Motorola (now FreeScale) is that they have a definite roadmap for us all to look at which includes the soon to be released e600 series (possibly the the next PB chip) and the future 64-bit e700. On the other hand, we have no idea what is coming next from IBM (975, 980, Power5, etc.).

It is much easier to discuss chips that are known to be in the pipeline and have some details released rather than phantom chips they may or may not ever exist (weren't we supposed to have Macs using IBM 750VX by now )

If Moto showed up on Apple's door step with a 2 GHz "G4" with a 400 MHz system bus and low power consumption. I suspect a lot of past transgressions would be forgiven.

 

[bob_the_gorilla]

Here's to anonymous posters!

Amen to that!

I'd agree with your points on the whole, but I'd downgrade the likelihood to 5% or below (how scientific ) mainly because of the timing. I think it's a tiny bit too early for all the issues to have been worked out, and also a bit too soon after the speed bumps to the PowerBooks a couple of months ago.

 

[pjkelnhofer]

I found this on w3.hardmac.com!! And it speaks for it self

hidden info in 10.3.4

My Dream goes much further.....POWERBOOK G5 2.2 GHZ

greetz gonzo2k3

There is a whole long thread about this already.

 

[edgar_is_good]

definition of interval?

See https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Last update: 44 days ago
Average time between updates: 171 days
Shortest time between: 60+ days, BUT that was to add two new sizes--the 15" did not change
The shortest time since then--the shortest time for updating all 3 sizes, is 7 months! It was 8 months before that.

It's not clear to me: in the buyer's guide, is that the average separation between _releases_ (i.e., ship date to ship date) or announcements. Or ship date and announcements? They need not be the same (admittedly, a difference I think would require a monotonically increasing separation between the announcement and the ship, but I think Apple has been satisfying that requirement...)

 

[stockscalper]

Apple has said they are not going to stop doing business with Motorola and that Motorola's chips would play prominently in upcoming releases. That means there is a place for their chips continuing perhaps in the imacs or just the laptops and emacs. It makes sense for Apple not to put all their egg chips in one basket. They've had problems with Moto delivering on time in the past and they've experienced the same with IBM recently. Having two chip makers competing against one another is good business sense. You don't see Apple only buying from one hard drive maker do you? I would expect the new "e" line of chips will be what we will see in the next generation of Powerbooks, whenever that will be - most likely September. With the specs they are previewing, ie 400 mhz fsb, they will fly. There has been nothing wrong with the G4's except their bus is slow as mud. I for one would love to have a laptop with one of the new Moto/FreeScale "e" chips. Of course I just got one of the new 1.5 ghz models and I'm not ready for an upgrade .

 

[Frobozz]

maxing out the RAM on all systems is the most absurd thing I think I've ever heard

1. Apple makes a lot of profit selling upgrades to powerbook buyers.
2. It's going to drive the price up a few $100's
3. Most people don't need 4GB RAM. ha ha. I still can't stop laughing.

I needed that. This rumor made my day.

Oy. While I will in no way defend this rumor, I think they meant it can go up to 4GB of RAM... not that they would come that way standard.

And, yes, a lot of people would want 2-4GB of RAM in their Powerbook. I don't know anyone running less than 1GB these days unless their machine can't hold it.

 

[stingerman]

Don't forget everyone that two things have happened since the 1.5GHz G4 Powerbooks were released:

1. There has been a precipitous drop in Powerbook sales, it's only because of the significant increase in iBook sales that total sales showed an increase.

2. Intel released Dothan, Pentium-M @ 2GHz.

Knowing how important the Powerbook market is to Apple, current events will force them to move on newer technologies. Apple can not allow the Powerbooks image to be permanently damaged by losing the marketing war to Intel Centrino. Powerbook sales are currently more important to Apple than iMac sales, so I believe Apple will allocatenew processors to the Powerbook before the iMac.

 

[stingerman]

Apple has said they are not going to stop doing business with Motorola and that Motorola's chips would play prominently in upcoming releases. That means there is a place for their chips continuing perhaps in the imacs or just the laptops and emacs.

The iBooks are G4s and they will stay that way for a while depending on how Motorola prices them There is always the danger that Motorola will continue to overprice their processors and IBM will sell a 90NM 97Xx at a lower price. Then Motorola will be screwed. However, it appears of late that Motorola has more than halved the price of their G4s. Probably because of the relatively inexpensive price of the 970s.

Oh, one more thing. This past January Steve Jobs said that the future of the Mac was the G5. So unless Motorola can come up with a competitive G5 alternative, their screwed. IBM has already licensed other fabs to produce PPC's as secondary suppliers, thus removing fears of a single source.

 

[mklos]

I think who ever posted this rumor is seriously smoking something! Why would Apple go through the trouble of coming out with G4 updates a few weeks ago, then turn around 30 or 40 days later and release completely new PowerBooks? Doesn't make any sense to me. As far as the time when Apple updated the 15" Titanium then introduced new 12/17" PowerBooks, well if you remember they didn't update the 15" PowerBook until well into that year so to me that doesn't really count since they didn't update the 15" PowerBook with those new models.

I don't think you will ever see a G5 PowerBook anytime with in the next 2 years. There isn't a G5 processor out there right now that will be usable in a laptop configuration without eating the battery and boiling your leg. It ain't gonna happen people so quit pissing and moaning about it! As you can see its not getting you anywhere is it!!!

 

[johng723]

I highly doubt that the rumors are true because I dont think that apple would make the mistake of intruducing such a major change in the powerbook line so soon after the "new" line of powerbooks were introduced. After all, most people dont anticipate the new powerbook g5's for a few years and therefore are buying the "new" line of powerbooks that just came out. If apple does come out with the new powerbook g5's, I don't think that it would get as many sales as apple would like since most people aren't financially stable enough to get two highend notebooks within the course of several months.

But you know, I could just be telling myself this stuff to make myself feel better because I just bought a new 15" powerbook

 

[macridah]

If this is true, then I'll do 3 backflips, a doubletwist, and stick the landing.

 

[pjkelnhofer]

Oh, one more thing. This past January Steve Jobs said that the future of the Mac was the G5. So unless Motorola can come up with a competitive G5 alternative, their screwed.

The already have it planned the Freescale e700

To scale to 3 GHz and beyond in next-generation process technologies.

Supports Supports 32-bit and 64-bit software.

Since the PowerPC was design by a joint effort of Apple, IBM and Motorola, it could be possible for Apple to use a Moto (now Freescale) chip in it's lowend desktop and notebook computers while savings the more powerful IBM 97x for the top of the line high-end workstations and servers.

this is actually the second time I have posted this quote but clearly some people missed it

 

[eric67]

completely right

All I know is ---

they came out with a SuperDrive TiBook in November/December of 2002, and then the Al Books (12" and 17") came out in January 2003, one month later

soooo...... such things have happened before

NEVER EVER make apple predictions based upon typical product cycle updates ---- especially when the product is transitioning into a major piece of new hardware/processor, etc

I think in a normal time, I would have denied this hypothesis...now regarding the last 6 month, with an obvious missed revision for the PMG5, which will probably push Apple ahead to release a PMG5 based on PPC975 before the expected date, together with the iMac G5, I would not be surprized to see Apple introducing a portable line dedicated to more "transportable" than portable...having desktop power with limited but still raisonable battery life...
do not forget that more than 70% of PC notebook contain a desktop processor, meaning almost no battery life, but transportable performance...

so I think your statement in the current environment might be correct; we should be ready to expect the unexcpected...(good or bad)

 

[eric67]

correct...but not correct...

Don't forget everyone that two things have happened since the 1.5GHz G4 Powerbooks were released:

1. There has been a precipitous drop in Powerbook sales, it's only because of the significant increase in iBook sales that total sales showed an increase.

2. Intel released Dothan, Pentium-M @ 2GHz.

Knowing how important the Powerbook market is to Apple, current events will force them to move on newer technologies. Apple can not allow the Powerbooks image to be permanently damaged by losing the marketing war to Intel Centrino. Powerbook sales are currently more important to Apple than iMac sales, so I believe Apple will allocatenew processors to the Powerbook before the iMac.

correct for the current powerbook, eventhough the recent update was rather a good one...with the Dothan announced (not yet really available)...the powerbook is facing a serious competitors eventhough the price of the dothan is quite high...So Apple needs to react..but I will rather think of an PBG5 for Apple Expo in Paris in September (where usually Apple notebooks updates are announced)

but not correct regarding the iMac: for Apple the iMac is not vaiable...perfomrnace wise the eMac is almost as good, and much cheaper ...the only difference, one has a all-in-one CRT display and the other one a TFT display...which makes the price of the iMac so high...
so definitely, the current iMac line is dead...and on the sale this can be seen...whereas the eMac remains a quite cheap/powerfull desktop solution for its targeted market...

so definitely expect an new iMac at the WWDC, I would bet with a G5, now 970fx, or 970...apparently IBM does not produce the 970 anymore...so 970fx ...975 will remain for the PMG5 for the moment...

 

[CrackedButter]

In an anonymous post to Craig's List, one participant claims:



Obviously anonymous mailing list posts lack much credibility.

Not true, anyone remember the anonymous slashdot posting where a supposed Apple developer mentioned all cool stuff that was going to happen with the aluminium casing that the current ipods had? ipod metal casings were simply the run off technology from another use for this stuff, which inturn held true because we have the G5 PM and the aluBooks annouced afterward?

 

[JOD8FY]

I don't know anyone running less than 1GB these days unless their machine can't hold it.

I don't know anyone with 1GB even if they can hold it. That's a lot of RAM. I'm sure the number of people with 1GB+ has increased over the past year, but not so much that most of the population has it .

This rumor seems very unlikely, but it still made me happy .

If this is true, I'd go into my room, take out my sock droor and dig in .

Here's to sock eating,
JOD8FY

 

[Sun Baked]

I guess this must be the chip the StonedMacRUmorBunny was fantasizing about. The 970VX-2 with the dual core and half the power of the current 970FX.

Because at 2GHz a 25W/55W (Typical/Max) chip probably wouldn't be able to be boosted to 2.2GHz and still be stuffed into a sub-Notebook frame.

 

[wizard]

Where does everybody get this idea that the recent powerbook upgrade was a good one. It may have been all that Apple could have delivered but it certainly wasn't going to meet market requirements. Even with the 970 I have ot wonder if that chip has what it takes to keep the market happy.

I'm of the opinion that a good portion of Apples market is the result of the power effirciency of the G4 in the laptop. If motorola could deliver one of their high performance E600 or 700's to Apple then we may have a usable upgrade. That is assuming of course that Apple orders one of those chips as a SoC.

Dave

correct for the current powerbook, eventhough the recent update was rather a good one...with the Dothan announced (not yet really available)...

 

[jxyama]

i'll believe it when i see it... but i don't believe this rumor at all. 4 GB RAM capacity is the giveaway. since there is no 2 GB SO-DIMMs available, 4 GB RAM capacity implies these PBs have 4 RAM slots. 4 RAM slots would take enormous amount of space and PBs aren't exactly filled with empty spaces. (whether slots are use accessible or not isn't really relevant...)

 

[pjkelnhofer]

i'll believe it when i see it... but i don't believe this rumor at all. 4 GB RAM capacity is the giveaway. since there is no 2 GB SO-DIMMs available, 4 GB RAM capacity implies these PBs have 4 RAM slots. 4 RAM slots would take enormous amount of space and PBs aren't exactly filled with empty spaces. (whether slots are use accessible or not isn't really relevant...)

If it is true that the Xserve is capable of having 16 GB of RAM once 2GB sticks are availible. It would be possible that the PowerBook could handle 4GB in two slot as soon as the DIMM are out there.

I don't know anyone with 1GB even if they can hold it. That's a lot of RAM. I'm sure the number of people with 1GB+ has increased over the past year, but not so much that most of the population has it .

You should look into it. I invested in a second 512MB stick for my G3 iMac and it was the best $100 I have spent on it. Makes a nearly four year old computer quite usable for most tasks.

 

[ingenious]

when i first saw this, i thought the rumor was for 2.2ghz PowerMacs... after a yearlong drought of updates that would be a really pathetic bump.

I don't think we'll see G5 powerbooks, but I'm not confident enough to make any sock eating comments... I do hope this rumor is true, if only to see all of you eat socks live via webcam.

Yes, I believe the rumor!
All of you who promised to eat socks better record it!

 

[Sun Baked]

Yes, I believe the rumor!
All of you who promised to eat socks better record it!

Lovingly donated by the contestants of this years stinky sneaker contest.

 

[iswimbikeandrun]

I still think the chip is too hot and power-hungry to be put in a laptop yet. If the G4s get unbearably hot (I should know), what on earth would the G5s be like?

The G4's do not get unbearably hot. They do get hot, but that is due to the aluminum casing, it is a good (better than plastic) conductor of heat. The G5 970fx consumes less power than the G4 clock for clock, less power translates directly to less heat.

 

[rosalindavenue]

I suspect it was removed because it was put was a classified ad.

Uh, what did you mean to say? I also wondered why the post was removed, but I cant figure our what you mean.....