Gestation of the G5

coolmaccoolmac
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
From first concept to finished product, how long do you think it took to create the G5?



Does anyone have an idea how long it took?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    From my non-technical knowledge of things -- I think it probably took them over a year from start to finish. We know they collaborated with IBM, but I think they spent a good six months testing out not only the layout of the case, but that remarkable zonal cooling system too. They probably spent another six months working out issues with the motherboard design and various iterations of the pre-production G5.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    the cool gutthe cool gut Posts: 1,714member
    I believe Apple has been working with IBM for 3 years now on the G5 chip, I'm not sure when they started working on the case.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    I don't know for the G5, but for the power4 IBM said that it tooks 4 years to develop it. But the power 4 was a big move, for smallers ones , it take less times. 2 years seems to be the average time of developpement.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    grecygrecy Posts: 15member
    I just read an article where the senior hardware guy at Apple said they worked with IBM for 3 years.



    He went on about how at the start, they were just collaborating a little. At the end, they were like one team. Sounds promising for future developments.



    -Dan
  • Reply 5 of 8
    angryangelangryangel Posts: 27member
    I find it interesting that Apple didn't start working with IBM sooner. 3 years puts it around mid-2001. The G4 came out in mid 1999, and didn't get past 500MHz (the speed it was originally announced at) for 18 months. It took Apple another 6 months after that to start working with IBM.



    Maybe in those first 2 years, they were working with Motorola on their next gen PowerPC chip- 9800? 8500? whatever it was called (now discontinued, I believe). But after the G4 disasters, they stopped placing their hopes with Moto and started working on the 970 with IBM...
  • Reply 6 of 8
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    My theory is that the MDDs were yikes-esque (stop-gap) machines released when the original G5 failed to materialize.



    So who's going to be the first to take a high speed buffer to their G5? Don't stop until you can see your reflection.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AngryAngel

    I find it interesting that Apple didn't start working with IBM sooner. 3 years puts it around mid-2001.



    Uhm, here it is still 2003, so three years would mean they started in 2000. Sounds about right.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    angryangelangryangel Posts: 27member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Smircle

    Uhm, here it is still 2003, so three years would mean they started in 2000. Sounds about right.



    It's a Friday, ok?



    Yes, it makes more sense now!
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