Briefly: Mac OS X 10.4.1, Apple tablet, Xbox 360 photos and specs

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
First Tiger Update May Be Near Completion



Based on information already present on several internet web sites, it is believed that Apple has seeded the second external build of its Mac OS X 10.4.1 Update.



Specifically, reports point to a 36MB Mac OS X 10.4.1 build 8B13, which now includes over three dozen bug fixes to the retail version of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" that went on sale late last month.



According to reports, this latest build lists only one known issue, which pertains to USB Lexmark inkjet printers.



It's believed that Apple could be ready to release the update around May 17th, when the company is also expected to begin shipping its new Final Cut Studio video production suite.



DVD Studio Pro 4, a component of Final Cut Studio, will require Mac OS X 10.4.1, according to an inadvertent post on Apple's own Web site, which has since been removed.



Tablet Mac Patent Granted in the US



The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple this week with a patent for the tablet-based Macintosh design that made headlines on the internet about a year ago, TMO is noting.



Apple had previously applied for a European design trademark on the device. However, sources believe it's unlikely that this product will ever see the light of day.



Apple has also recently received design patents for the Mac mini's power adapter and the iPod belt clip.



Xbox 360 Photos



Microsoft intends to preview its new gaming console, dubbed Xbox 360, to the world on Thursday via an MTV special, according to The Associated Press. The Redmond, Wash.-based company reportedly invited 200 people to attend the Los Angeles taping and asked them not to reveal what they saw until the show's broadcast. Fat chance.



Photos of the much anticipated next-generation gaming console are now plastered across the internet.



(TeamXbox Photo/ File)



Each Xbox 360 will be powered by a custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU sporting 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each, 2 hardware threads per core, 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core, and a 1 MB L2 cache.



The units will also sport 3 USB 2.0 ports, WiFi, a detachable 20GB drive, 512 MB GDDR3 RAM, a custom ATI graphics processor with 10 MB of embedded DRAM and a customizable face plate interface to change the console's appearance.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    audiopollutionaudiopollution Posts: 3,226member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AppleInsider

    Photos of the much anticipated next-generation gaming console are now plastered across the internet. The Xbox 360 will reportedly come in two distinct models: a grey-colored version (visible in the photos) will require no subscription to Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming environment, while a gold version will offer subscription benefits.





    As far as I know, there is only one colour for the system (to be supplemented with skins). You are confusing the specs for the system with the rumoured 'Silver' & 'Gold' membership levels for XBox Live.
  • Reply 2 of 48
    republicrepublic Posts: 168member
    And the current rumor shows different levels of involvement in the Live community; the difference is not all or none like the article implies. audiopollution seems to have it, though.



    That said, the Live approach, if true, is very aggressive. Unlike Live subscriptions now, everyone gets a piece to see what online gaming is like without a PC. The rumor even suggests free gaming on the weekends for non-paying members for 360-era XBL.
  • Reply 3 of 48
    tak1108tak1108 Posts: 222member
    IBM 3.2ghz chips.



    This is coming out in 2008?



  • Reply 4 of 48
    tednditedndi Posts: 1,921member
    great now how can we run tiger on it??



    IBM obviously will sell the chips to the redmond guys first and we get what is left over...



    Grrr!



  • Reply 5 of 48
    bwhalerbwhaler Posts: 260member
    I hate to say it since I love the company, but the bugs in Tiger are disgraceful.



    It obviously needed at least a couple more months of serious debugging. I used to build software for a living and I know the difference between, "every app has bugs" and something that was shoved out the door to make a deadline.



    Tiger was shipped to a deadline. Totally unacceptable.





    Sure, I am happy 10.4.1 is shipping so soon--which proves out my point.



    What worries me is the size of the update. A few dozen bug fixes? I have booked hundred to Apple which should never, ever, been in shipping software. 36MB? This update should be 200 MB worth of patches.



    I hate to be so negative, and I really love Tiger, but I really wished Apple would of waited until late June.
  • Reply 6 of 48
    ionyzionyz Posts: 491member
    3.2 GHz triple-core PowerPC? So can we now implement that rule; all games published be designed for HDTV. No need to make excuses, full 1080i. Fun times will be had by all.
  • Reply 7 of 48
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BWhaler

    I hate to say it since I love the company, but the bugs in Tiger are disgraceful.



    It obviously needed at least a couple more months of serious debugging. I used to build software for a living and I know the difference between, "every app has bugs" and something that was shoved out the door to make a deadline.



    Tiger was shipped to a deadline. Totally unacceptable.





    Sure, I am happy 10.4.1 is shipping so soon--which proves out my point.



    What worries me is the size of the update. A few dozen bug fixes? I have booked hundred to Apple which should never, ever, been in shipping software. 36MB? This update should be 200 MB worth of patches.



    I hate to be so negative, and I really love Tiger, but I really wished Apple would of waited until late June.




    I agree. I've been saying this on other threads on the site, but have been shot down by "fans". I think it could, and should have been released for the dev. conv. in June. That's when it was expected anyway. I can't see what the rush was all about.
  • Reply 8 of 48
    igrouchoigroucho Posts: 63member
    so in service for MS they're not only able to master 3 GHz but w a SOLID margin!
  • Reply 9 of 48
    tazznbtazznb Posts: 54member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TednDi

    great now how can we run tiger on it??



    IBM obviously will sell the chips to the redmond guys first and we get what is left over...



    Grrr!







    I agree with you completely. What a bunch of crock!!
  • Reply 10 of 48
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    You guys should be thankful others are buying IBMs chips or we would stay sub 3ghz for much longer.
  • Reply 11 of 48
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Can someone explain why MS can get a 3.2GHz PowerPC into an XBox and we can't get one in ANY Mac. We're still 500MHz below and these have three cores!
  • Reply 12 of 48
    Because it won't be out for a year or so. If apple were to announce powermacs now that were due out that far in the future then surely they would have multicore 3hz+ processors. Its not about microsoft getting stuff first.
  • Reply 13 of 48
    kotatsukotatsu Posts: 1,010member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jonnycherry

    Because it won't be out for a year or so. If apple were to announce powermacs now that were due out that far in the future then surely they would have multicore 3hz+ processors. Its not about microsoft getting stuff first.



    Xbox 360 is out in November, so it's not a year away.
  • Reply 14 of 48
    jms698jms698 Posts: 102member
    So, I guess this means we can expect Steve Jobs to make some "surprise" PowerMac announcement at WWDC in June.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    Can someone explain why MS can get a 3.2GHz PowerPC into an XBox and we can't get one in ANY Mac. We're still 500MHz below and these have three cores!



    Less complex chips. They will likely be in order execution, issue less instructions per cycle and each core won't have the execution resources of a single G5 core. End result is each core will actually run notably slower than a G5 in reality.
  • Reply 16 of 48
    igrouchoigroucho Posts: 63member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    You guys should be thankful others are buying IBMs chips or we would stay sub 3ghz for much longer.



    We´re not stupid, we ARE thankful. It's GREAT MS also takes on the latest & greatest of chip-technologies, it makes for a viable prosperous platform.
  • Reply 17 of 48
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Telomar

    Less complex chips. They will likely be in order execution, issue less instructions per cycle and each core won't have the execution resources of a single G5 core. End result is each core will actually run notably slower than a G5 in reality.



    In addition, these are optimized for the purpose. THey are cheaper chips as well.



    MS is also losing $1.2 Billion a year on their game division according to the NY Times, almost $3.5 billion since the XBox came out.



    Apple can't afford those losses.



    This is what a large monopoly can do. If they were anyone else, they would have exited the market.
  • Reply 18 of 48
    > If they were anyone else, they would have exited the market.



    Microsoft established from the beginning that the Xbox is a long-term investment. They never claimed to be profitable in the short-term.



    It takes a lot of cash to catch up with Sony and Nintendo, who have both been in the industry for much longer. Nintendo's been in the business forever. Sony's been in it for 15 years. Microsoft? No more than 6-7 years.
  • Reply 19 of 48
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sabnetwork

    > If they were anyone else, they would have exited the market.



    Microsoft established from the beginning that the Xbox is a long-term investment. They never claimed to be profitable in the short-term.



    It takes a lot of cash to catch up with Sony and Nintendo, who have both been in the industry for much longer. Nintendo's been in the business forever. Sony's been in it for 15 years. Microsoft? No more than 6-7 years.




    True. But no one else would to attempt to compete after those losses.



    MS has a larger strategy than just video games for this.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Good news for the tiger update. I found that Tiger is a little too buggy for the moment.

    I hope that this update will fix most of these problems.
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