MWNY '02 Keynote Fantasy
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
[quote]I think it would be crazy to skip the PowerMacs in NY. It is THE THING everyone will be waiting to hear about. At the very least, Steve should let us know when (roughly) we'll be hearing something about the PMs.
As for the 17" iMac: w/ 15 weeks worth of 15" iMacs in the channel (& who-knows-how-many on Apple's hands), introducing a 17" would be utterly stupid - unless they're planning either to price them in PowerMac territory (not so wise, given all the flak they take about their margins), or drop the 15"ers into the sub-1k zone (don't hold your breath - that would be a show-stopper all by itself!).
Of course, that's assuming there IS a 17-incher in the works - I'm not at all convinced.... :roll:
As for iMac updates, a speed-bump is all that's likely - maybe more RAM, bigger HD, etc, but no significant changes; ditto the 'Books.
Unless....
OK, I'm swinging for the fences here, a wild notion that just crawled across my brain. There's been much talk for a long time on other forae about what Apple needs, tech-wise, to overcome the clock-cycle gap, and about what new chips, standards & other innovations would serve this purpose. CPUs & megaHerz aside, the consensus boils down to DDR-RAM, improved bus speed, better caching, and other internal-bandwidth-boosting, throughput-enhancing approaches.
XServe is a pretty good illustration of the basic concept I see, which is to improve performance and perceived speed by creating
a motherboard that fully supports the CPU - any CPU. Would smaller traces help? Do it! Improve the memory manager? Take as much load off the CPU as possible? Dual-channel the RAM? Find ways to bypass the system bus? Identify & overcome all the bottlenecks and traffic jams, so things can go as fast as possible all the time? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!
That's one heck of a goal, but looking @ XServe, I'm sure that Apple's been pursuing this as a strategy: ever since the Great G4 Stagflation, they have faced a pressing need to improve system performance - without recourse to CPU enhancements - by ANY means necessary. Quartz Extreme and other improvements in OS X (as seen in the Jaguar builds) demonstrate the same thinking, only in software.
Doing this would require more than a simple re-design - it would require a re-thinking of how motherboards do what they do...and that would go a long way to explain why there has been no significant change in AAPL mobo architecture since the G4.
So. What if the new motherboard is the star of the show in NY?
What if Steve takes the stage, and takes the performance issues head-on? Tells the tale of what's been happening behind the scenes ever since G4 speeds hit the wall; talks about the new tech that's come on the scene in that time, outlines the struggle to make the Mac what it wants / needs to be. Offers a bottom-line assessment of what users can expect to gain.
Suppose we have another bake-off, this time between the current 2x1, and a 2x1 w/ the same CPUs but the new motherboard. From power-on thru Photoshop script to finished image; one run under 10.1, another run under Jaguar. My guess is that we could see (in the second instance) as much as an effective doubling of perceived speed.
Suppose that Steve then said that PowerMacs were available w/ the new motherboards and current CPUs immediately @ the current price-points, and that the new mobo enhancements would migrate into all product lines by the end of FY'03, dramatically enhancing the speeds of every product in the matrix.
Then the Jaguar demo...using a G3 iMac. Anyone w/ a G3 will immediately be won over. Then...w/ the NuMobo Dual. Instead of hurrying through to give the computer time to respond, Steve now is more leisurely - and responses to his clicks are virtually instantaneous.
(Apple later announces it received over 50,000 pre-orders for the NuMobo before the end of the Jaguar demo....)
Oh, and one more thing: people who need even more power than this should attend Seybold for further news.... :eg:<hr></blockquote>
[quote]I think it would be crazy to skip the PowerMacs in NY. It is THE THING everyone will be waiting to hear about. At the very least, Steve should let us know when (roughly) we'll be hearing something about the PMs.
As for the 17" iMac: w/ 15 weeks worth of 15" iMacs in the channel (& who-knows-how-many on Apple's hands), introducing a 17" would be utterly stupid - unless they're planning either to price them in PowerMac territory (not so wise, given all the flak they take about their margins), or drop the 15"ers into the sub-1k zone (don't hold your breath - that would be a show-stopper all by itself!).
Of course, that's assuming there IS a 17-incher in the works - I'm not at all convinced.... :roll:
As for iMac updates, a speed-bump is all that's likely - maybe more RAM, bigger HD, etc, but no significant changes; ditto the 'Books.
Unless....
OK, I'm swinging for the fences here, a wild notion that just crawled across my brain. There's been much talk for a long time on other forae about what Apple needs, tech-wise, to overcome the clock-cycle gap, and about what new chips, standards & other innovations would serve this purpose. CPUs & megaHerz aside, the consensus boils down to DDR-RAM, improved bus speed, better caching, and other internal-bandwidth-boosting, throughput-enhancing approaches.
XServe is a pretty good illustration of the basic concept I see, which is to improve performance and perceived speed by creating
a motherboard that fully supports the CPU - any CPU. Would smaller traces help? Do it! Improve the memory manager? Take as much load off the CPU as possible? Dual-channel the RAM? Find ways to bypass the system bus? Identify & overcome all the bottlenecks and traffic jams, so things can go as fast as possible all the time? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!
That's one heck of a goal, but looking @ XServe, I'm sure that Apple's been pursuing this as a strategy: ever since the Great G4 Stagflation, they have faced a pressing need to improve system performance - without recourse to CPU enhancements - by ANY means necessary. Quartz Extreme and other improvements in OS X (as seen in the Jaguar builds) demonstrate the same thinking, only in software.
Doing this would require more than a simple re-design - it would require a re-thinking of how motherboards do what they do...and that would go a long way to explain why there has been no significant change in AAPL mobo architecture since the G4.
So. What if the new motherboard is the star of the show in NY?
What if Steve takes the stage, and takes the performance issues head-on? Tells the tale of what's been happening behind the scenes ever since G4 speeds hit the wall; talks about the new tech that's come on the scene in that time, outlines the struggle to make the Mac what it wants / needs to be. Offers a bottom-line assessment of what users can expect to gain.
Suppose we have another bake-off, this time between the current 2x1, and a 2x1 w/ the same CPUs but the new motherboard. From power-on thru Photoshop script to finished image; one run under 10.1, another run under Jaguar. My guess is that we could see (in the second instance) as much as an effective doubling of perceived speed.
Suppose that Steve then said that PowerMacs were available w/ the new motherboards and current CPUs immediately @ the current price-points, and that the new mobo enhancements would migrate into all product lines by the end of FY'03, dramatically enhancing the speeds of every product in the matrix.
Then the Jaguar demo...using a G3 iMac. Anyone w/ a G3 will immediately be won over. Then...w/ the NuMobo Dual. Instead of hurrying through to give the computer time to respond, Steve now is more leisurely - and responses to his clicks are virtually instantaneous.
(Apple later announces it received over 50,000 pre-orders for the NuMobo before the end of the Jaguar demo....)
Oh, and one more thing: people who need even more power than this should attend Seybold for further news.... :eg:<hr></blockquote>
Comments
<strong>Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I want to believe!
While not very likely, it's a lot better than all the b*tchin' and whinin' that's been going on.
I always get a kick out of your posts, Capt, thanks.
Steve walks on stage...
Applause:
"Thank You. thanks.. Welll we have a lot of great things to talk about today so let's get started.
Back in January w introduced the LCD iMac and the response was "phenomenal" we announced it in early jnauary and began shipping it almost immediately. I'm oproud to say that as of today, we sold over X units."
We also had speed increases to the Powermac G4's as wll as the iBooks. and our industry leading Titanium PowerBook G4's. We introduced the 23" HD Cinema Display and have most recently made the emac avaialble to customers other than just the education market.
A few weeks ago we also pre-announced our re-emegence into the server market with the Xserve. i'm proud to anounce that those who first orders of the Xserves are delivering as we speak, and the bulk of the balance of orders will be filled in the next week or so... our production ramp up is complete.
So let's talk a little about the technology that is in the Xserve...
(talks about the stuff in the XServe)
With all the things we learned in development of these new features for the Xserve, we wanted to go beyond them and find new ways of gaining real world performance and get this new power into the hands of those people in one of our most important core markets. "The creative power users"...
SO today I want to show you what we've have been working on for so long.
Draped computer rises from the floor...
Shall i continue...
MSKR
<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
I have to do this sort of thing now & then, or I'd go postal w/ all the melodrama & histrionics whizzin' around here (and other sites).
There is, after all, ALWAYS another way of looking at things...without having to be a dupe or a stooge.
Seriously, it's nice to know these things get read, y'know? Thanks for the feedback! I actually think a lot of this stands a good chance of coming true. The reports of MUCH faster boxes, NO faster processors, the by-now-agonising wait for something fundamental to happen to the PMs, the timing (2 years since the Cube, happy B-Day!); the more believable reports re: real & potential gains from this or that, XServe's ranking in the server benches, the Jaguar reportage - none of my scenario is undoable.
Just call me a cockeyed optimist!
We took a good look at the chip and we were (modestly) impressed. (Pause) We were almost ready to commit to buying one million units when one of our bright hardware engineers stood up and said, "we can do better."
You see, this chip was a great performer, but it still had some problems.
The most glaring problem was bandwidth. It couldn't scale. (Pause) That meant eventually we'd get to the point where "we'd have too many megahertz and too few megabits." We didn't to be stuck with a fast processor that would later become bandwidth starved. We didn't want a G4. (Audience laughs)
So what did we do? (Pause) First, we went to Motorola and asked them if they could modify their chip to give it more bandwidth. They thanked us for our suggestion, but said it was too late in development cycle to make the necessary changes.
(Pause) So, then (Pause) we went to IBM. (Audience cheers) We went to IBM and explained the situation. We told them what we wanted and asked them if they could help.
Well, I'm pleased to announce today (Pause) that IBM said YES! (Audience goes crazy)
So, it's my pleasure today (Pause) to introduce to you (Pause) the all-new Performance Optimized With Enhanced RISC or (Pause) POWERMac.
(More to come?)
you guys are doing FINE steve impressions
<strong>
So, it's my pleasure today (Pause) to introduce to you (Pause) the all-new Performance Optimized With Enhanced RISC or (Pause) POWERMac.
(More to come…
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>...about a year ago</strong><hr></blockquote>
18 years ago...
On September 11th
Apple Computer will introduce
POWERMacintosh
And you'll see why 911
won't be like 911
[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: Rhumgod ]</p>
Just my 2.43 Yen....
<strong>constipated from anticipation</strong><hr></blockquote>
Seriously, this sig tops all other sigs. Genius!