Outlook: It's September 2007. What does your Power Mac look like?
Hello everybody,
this is a pure speculation thread. I'd be very happy if you could post your imagination of specs of the Power Mac in the second half of 2007.
What kind of technology do you think we'll see in 2007? Which processor or graphic card? RAM? etc.
Feel free to write your wildest dreams but, please, stay in a realistic area.
Thank you,
Far
this is a pure speculation thread. I'd be very happy if you could post your imagination of specs of the Power Mac in the second half of 2007.
What kind of technology do you think we'll see in 2007? Which processor or graphic card? RAM? etc.
Feel free to write your wildest dreams but, please, stay in a realistic area.
Thank you,
Far
Comments
so, what do i see?
a very small, dark greyish box, smaller then the Cube (which is actually my PM).
the size is determined still by the form factor of "old" dvds. apple anounces a new memory-standard, cubical crystals - no moving parts!, less then 1", 1Tb.
it is quiet, an active electrical cooling system without fans is able to do that.
the voice control & recognization is still buggy with German (i'm german)...-
there's no need for "booting", it's allways on; or, in case, instant on.
RAM? doesn't matter, or as RollsRoyce said "enough".
specs doesn't matter, because EVERYTHING is done in realtime (ok, most things faster then realtime)
the 6jan07 keynote is a conversation of Steve with the new machine..., running gag: the machine calls Steve impertinantly "Dave Jobs"
The other important wireless technology is still causing headaches. 802.11z, the long range wireless DSL standard has been implemented in Japan and Scandinavia first, with Europe and the US trailing somewhat behind. Although a few larger Telcos have embraced it to provide DSL access without investing in wires, the adoption rate is not yet high enough to justify built in adapters. Apple is playing the importance of 802.11z down, pushing its 150MBit WLAN bases (built into the professional line).
After Jobs concession that Apple had completely missed the boat on commodity computing in '05/'06 with the appearance of 4.5Ghz low-end PCs-on-a-single-chip retailing for $150, Apple has just presented a low-end line running with similar innards as the XBox2 (two-chip design consisting of the CPU/RAM controler/IO module and the Graphics/Sound module). The $400 diplay-less eMac is widely regarded as a bit expensive but interesting. It is seen as a last straw preventing Apples market share in anything but the highest end computing to erode further.
The current high-end line of 4 way CPU modules has reached 6Ghz, a clockspeed that is only slowly going to rise
because of extremely high fabrication costs. The IBM strategy to duplicate their server chip strategy and put four cores on each chip has worked out neatly. It has helped to overcome the limitations that clockspeed imposes as can be seen by the dominance of the dual 4 way macs in video editing, 3D construction and graphics. With their NV7x-based 12 channel DVI-II graphics cards, they are able to push the new highres displays with native resolutions of 4000x2400 and upwards pixels yielding 200DPI resolution.
Apple has finally reacted to the TCPA thread by MS and built cryptocard adapters into their machines. This has stemmed the smear campaign about Mac's insecurity and prevented the US Govt from phasing out Macs altogether. Jobs touted the "Security on your fingertips" provided by the ability of the user to enable trusted features in the machine and OS by inserting his personal crypto card. MS is still trying to fix some of the problems arising from faulty TCPA implementations by intel resulting in a massive wave of trojans infesting the now virus-scanner free PCs.
Apple ceased making computers in late 2005.
POWERMAC
- Quad 6 gigahertz Powermac G7
- 2 terabytes of internal HD storage - expandable to 8.
- 4 gig of RAM - expandable to 16 gig
- 32x superdrive
- firewire 3200
- USB 3.0
DISPLAYS
- 17', 23' and 30' inch Apple LCD's
IMAC
- The iMac will be at dual 4 gigahertz G6
- 1 terabyte internal HD storage
- 1 gig of RAM - expandable to 5 gig
- 16 x Superdrive
- firewire 1600
- USB 3.0
I see
Powermacs- $1499-3499
Dual-Core(SMT each core) 6Ghz 990 G6
Up to 32GB Quad Channel RAM
PCI Express2 256-384MB RAM
DVD Universal-DVDR/W, DVD-A,SACD, HD-DVD
Firewire 3200
IEEE WiFi with Qos
USB 3.0
SATA2 300MBps 1TB(HD RAID capable)
10g Ethernet
HDMI 3.0 Ports(11GBps throughput for Audio/Video)
Hypertransport 3- 39GBps throughput
17-40" HDTV Monitors with HDMI 3.0 connectors.
iMac- Died in 2005
Powerbook- $1199-1999
Dual core 4Ghz(no SMT) G6
DVDR/W 16x
New Card 2
FW 1600/USB 3
500GB SATA
WiFi Qos
HDMI 3.0
OLED screens-viewing angle improves and brightness
iBook- Died in 2006
xMac- $499-799
4Ghz 980 G5+
DVD-R/W 16x
750GB HD
FW 1600
Wifi Qos
15-17" LCD
10/100/1000
DLD
Audio/Video/Photo server.
HDTV Resolution
Gigabit Connection
Wifi Qos support with bonding(216Mbps aggregate)
AAC(Multichannel)/MPEG 4(h.264)
HDMI 3.0 I/O
While complaints about the immense cost and massive physical size of the pro simulation systems were fairly strident, Apple defended themselves by noting that their most expensive cost is no object system cost $2,200 and was the size of the old 12" iBook.
They also noted that the performance was roughly 80 times that of the old NEC Earth Simulator and that further performance improvements were pointless, due to computation systems reaching the practical limits of mathematics due to the Lorenz Limit of Chaotic Attractors.
Of course, Apple's primary business now is their carbonated intelligence enhancing beverages and artery cleaning ice creams. The life extension pizzas are expected in the third quarter of 2009.
Originally posted by billybobsky
silly people. limit of mathematics?
I'm surprised someone hasn't said, "If the PowerMac doesn't have a IBM/AMD G9 at 1.2 THz then I'll buy a Dell."
That being said, I believe that wireless Firewire (gigawire) will interconnect computers, television, stereo components, etc. Your computer will serve music and movies to those devices. You can probably use the computer to view recordings from TiVo-devices, etc. or use the computer as a TiVo.
No more hardwire connections for components, speakers, etc.
As for the PowerMac, I think it will still be the Power5 derived processor and we'll be awaiting the next-gen Power6 derived.
I think PCI-X and PCI-Express will still be the slots with up to 64 GB of RAM, and Mac OS X will be a full 64-bit OS.
I believe it will be wonderfully evolutionary, but, probably nothing revolutionary between now and then; although, I hope that may not be true.
Maybe we'll have "piles" in the Finder.
$899 iBooks will be little monsters, trouncing today's PowerBooks in terms of power and whatnot.
iPods will still be popular, but at some point I could see them leveling off a bit. After a point, you'd have to think that everyone that wants one (or can afford one) has one.
If the IBM thing continues (along with the "G" naming scheme), I imagine there will be dual-processor G6 (or G7?) towers across the board in the pro line.
2007's iMac will probably be - give or take - what today's highest-end G5 is.
PowerBooks will support time travel and give shoulder massages.
It's probably still going to be white, with a 12" screen, and an 800 MHz G4. Ask me about 2008.
Originally posted by pscates
PowerBooks will support time travel and give shoulder massages.
*hugs powerbook*
Originally posted by /\\ldie
Some realistic predictions:
POWERMAC
- Quad 6 gigahertz Powermac G7
- 2 terabytes of internal HD storage - expandable to 8.
- 4 gig of RAM - expandable to 16 gig
- 32x superdrive
- firewire 3200
- USB 3.0
DISPLAYS
- 17', 23' and 30' inch Apple LCD's
Yep. I am putting my money on this one. I think these specs are very doable. The quad-processor PowerMac... </electrocuted from wet dream> Bzzzzt!
The times, they are a changin...
Though I must say that I think we will be enjoying much more than 2TB internal storage. Seems we are seeing amazing jumps in HD platter technology. I mean, already shipping are half terabyte hard drives. (LaCie) I think in three years we see single 2-4 terabyte drives, if not sooner.
Let's also not discount major changes to architecture (ie, SOC) that we cannot even fathom now.
Originally posted by KeilwerthReborn
2007? That's three years...
CRAP!!!
He's right! 2007 used to be so far away, now it's only three years. I feel like I'm getting old, I'll be 21 in 2007. I still remember the days when the year 2000 seemed like an eternity away.
Oh yea, [insert prediction for 2007 Apple computer here]
I found this nice Roadmap site. It's pretty interessting I think. You can check it here.
Does anyone know similiar websites?
Best regards,
Far
Originally posted by Jubelum
Though I must say that I think we will be enjoying much more than 2TB internal storage. Seems we are seeing amazing jumps in HD platter technology. I mean, already shipping are half terabyte hard drives. (LaCie) I think in three years we see single 2-4 terabyte drives, if not sooner.
i may agree with the idea of your post, but i have to burst your bubble...LacIe makes enclosures. LaCie doesn't manufacture hard drives. The "half terabyte" drive you speak of surely has two 250GB drives in it. In fact, they now have a terabyte version. of course, this is a "decimal terabyte". meaning one trillion bytes. a true (binary, 2^40) terabyte is 1,099,511,627,776 bytes. that means you're 'losing' 92.6774254 true gigabytes, or 99.5 decimal gigabytes. but i digress...
The largest individual drives currently made (as far as I'm aware) are the 100GB/platter Seagate ST3200822A's.
link
which seem to not yet be shipping.
anyway, the spec that stands out as WAY too low, is the 1GB of RAM. he thinks that in three years+ typical base RAM will only double? I'd expect (based on historical precedent) at least 2GB to be typical for a "professional" laptop.
We will be at 3 by the end of this year...
at the current rate of increase (~50% a year)
2.0
2.5
3.0-2H04
3.75-1H05
4.5-2H05
5.5-1H06
6.75-2H06
8.00-1H07
10.25-2H07
If I don't have 10.25 Ghz, I'm building a linux box!
Originally posted by Eupfhoria
uh guys... 4-6 GHZ?
We will be at 3 by the end of this year...
at the current rate of increase (~50% a year)
2.0
2.5
3.0-2H04
3.75-1H05
4.5-2H05
5.5-1H06
6.75-2H06
8.00-1H07
10.25-2H07
If I don't have 10.25 Ghz, I'm building a linux box!
in mother russia, linux builds a you box.
Honestly,
we will finally have gotten dual core chips, so all machines are at least duals, and pro machines are quad.
Video cards will reach a point of diminishing returns, mostly instigated by their horrendous power demands.
Apple will finally release a version of QE with accelerated drawing.
We will still be saddled with a display connector that no one else uses.
The iPod will get bluetooth.
Network connectivity will be much improved.
All machines will support ethernet over power, you plug it in and its part of the local network.
In addition, DSL will be have been reduced to a single chip solution, the mac's phone jack will do modem, fax, DSL, ISDN, and home net.
#*&#^*ing student loans
dual 5GHz G5 processor
OS12.2.7
dual 1tb harddrives
1gb RADEON 12000XT
25" cinema display
And all for only 3000 dollars.