Once a fencesitter... seeing into the future isn't hard

cdong4

So folks, I return once again, MWNY is comin round, so i decided to get up to date on the front of future apple computing. I feel that after watching things like this go on for about 5 years now, its pretty easy to guess what apple is going to do (im sure those with even less years can predict the same). Anyhow so here I will post my prediction based on little facts, but rather just previous apple unveilings.



I was going to purchase a G4 in June, but I saw the offers all ending right before MWNY, and there was no way in hell I was going to purchase one then, I wanted a Dual processor machine, without going super big bucks on the dual gig. (its alright though, at work we have a dual 800 which i added some stuff to, maxed the ram, super drive etc, and dual 72gb ultra 160 drives, the machine is holding off my urge to have a new machine of my own).



So I don't think we've heard anything about apple stopping the production of El Cap (not kim kap) cases, or the stopping of any significant production of PowerMac's. My guess is that we do not get a new montherboard, but slightly revised. Firewire 2 probably a sure bet, USB 2, maybe but I wouldn't count on it. As far as a DDR, or more up to date memory (and memory bandwith) solution, it would not suprise me if Apple didn't do much about it for this revision. I'm not sure of the tech specs, but woudl a 150 bus and PC150 RAM be possible with the current G4's?. I think we will see new mobo architecture (UMA3?) when we get a "G5"... and we'll have DDR ram and hopefully ATA/133 (at least 100).



Case revision, i'm sure something, white cases would not surprise me at all, wouldn't bother me, but f***ing christ apple I know you can do something cooler than that. look where apple has gone with white so far, iBook, iPod, iMac... BUT!!! PowerBook, and Xserve are both Ti/Metal cases, so a PowerTower in the same style wouldn't surprise me either.

(edit: I just went downstairs to our main offices, two Xserve Boxes sitting on the floor )



Dual G4's 1.4Ghz seems completely plausible to me, but without the exceeded premium, dunno. I would also say expect the typical Apple here is our super cool new machine with these specs that won't be available til two months from now.



Displays, haven't read anything (which isn't saying much because I'm not caught up at all). But I would guess HD all digital displays in at least the 17", phase out the 22", maybe make the 17" low end and 19" middle and 23" cinema top.



I could go on... and I will for a little bit more



some complain and say what is so hard about putting up to date, if not cutting edge technology in at least the PowerMac... um i'll give you an example, I bought a top of the line G4/450 when they just came out, DVD-RAM drive, absolutely useless, and I have no idea how much more I paid for it. Apple has been extremely prone to putting in newer technologies in their machines only to be the only ones supporting it. I'm making it seem worse than what has really happened, but you get the idea. Apple does pull back to some extent so a more universal support is at their doorstep. The average mac user suffers to some extent, but if you are buying a new G4 tower, you can probably afford to put the newest whatever in your machine outside of Apple.



For all you persistent bastards who will never give up on the idea of an Apple PDA or wireless, self contained computing

Evolution of the 4 quadrant grid.

Hexagon structure. (number the angles on a hexagon starting with 1 at the top, and going clockwise). 1) iPod 2) iBook 3) PowerBook 4) xServe 5) PowerMac 6) iMac.... and I could only imagine there would be a #7 at the center, joining all 6 together in someway, maybe a wireless screen with a stylus, control all of those machines wirelessly somehow, or something. this is a stretch, but im trying to give some hope to those who are so damn persistent on the idea of something like this.



for those who like to flame and rag on grammar. i wrote this in my last ten minutes at work.



[ 07-09-2002: Message edited by: CDonG4 ]



[ 07-09-2002: Message edited by: CDonG4 ]</p>

mandricard

Good to see you back, even though I am now officially a "persistent bastard."



Hope Springs Eternal,



Mandricard

AppleOutsider



Ps. I am banking on a new case.

moogs

Holy Reincarnations Batman, it's CDON! Man, that's a blast from the past. Good to see you back, though I don't personally have any interest in wasting calories on MW prognostications. I just like this forum for the entertainment value. It just went up a notch too.



Welcome back.

cdong4

yeah well it was a good little fun post for me, didn't lose too many calories, or much time, or patience, hopefully someone will realize that it doesn't matter what we speak of here, apple is going to release what they want based on the fact they want to make money, simple as that. (making money accounts for consumer satisfaction etc).

cdong4

I didn't see that apple extended its Crystal clear savings promo to August 12th, well crap.



Maybe the promo will still run on older systems, and new systems won't apply, or maybe no new PowerMacs until August... hmmm \

zo

Hey! Welcome back CDon! Hope your nick gets to be CDonG5 soon

leonis

Hey Mr. CDon



How are you doing this day?



Anyway....here's the term from the rebate form



---------

The following terms and conditions govern this offer: ? Order and take possession of qualifying Apple products from July 8, 2002, through August 12, 2002. Apple products must be purchased

from an Apple retail facility or a participating authorized Apple reseller located in the fifty United States or District of Columbia. QUALIFYING PRODUCTS: Apple Power Mac G4 computers:

M8705LL/A Power Mac G4 (800MHz); M8666LL/A Power Mac G4 (933MHz); M8667LL/A Power Mac G4 (Dual 1GHz); Z058 Power Mac G4 (Configure-to-Order); Apple displays: M7649ZM/A

17-inch Apple Studio Display; M8058ZM/A 22-inch Apple Cinema Display; M8537ZM/A 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display. ? This offer is not valid with the purchase of refurbished equipment.

You must be an end-user purchaser, and not a reseller, to obtain this promotional offer.

-----------------





That means even the new machines come out they won't be allowed for rebates.

cdong4

i hope my nick becomes that soon too!







[ 07-10-2002: Message edited by: CDonG4 ]</p>

cdong4

it would be nice to gear from someone who is in the retail sector, and to find out if they know if apple is clearing out the current model or not, and how rapidly etc.

cdong4

just called a friend who is in the retail sector he said dual 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 is possible in the G4, no single processor machines, apple wants to go all dual processor to resolve the issue with the megahurtz gap. he said an iMac speed bump, no price protection on them currently, 1Ghz iMac comin round the mountain. so yeah.... cool stuff.

nagha

CDonG4, your last post is the greatest one i've read and i hope it's true because i've been sitting on the fence so long, the dead wood has come back to life and there's branches and leaves in places i don't want them to be.



Here's hoping for a Dual 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 line of puters.



na

myahmac

all i know is i want a dual something at the low end at the same price with maybe a gforce 4 mx. i wouldnt mind not having it. but dual anything in the low end would kick ass

cdong4

His claim of 1.2 1.4 1.6 are in no way for certain, he has just come to learn that apple wants to move to more dual processor focused line of machines (I think that means eventually in iMacs and such as well). Dual 1.0 to 1.4 makes sense to me. 1.0 having 1MB L3 DDR and the 1.2 and 1.4 having 2 possibly? or all having 1MB, doesn't the Xserve have to be speedbumped accordingly though?.

yurin8or

dual low end's will just detract from high end sales...and i cant see apple doing it...why do you think they have the existing setup (1x800, 1x933, 2x1000) the way it is.



as far as jiggamahertz, i dont expect anything past 1.2



[ 07-14-2002: Message edited by: yurin8or ]</p>

junkyard dawg

All duals would be nice, but it's difficult to imagine. Last time Apple was desperate for MHz, they went dual ONLY on the mid and high end. I can see them doing so again, but the low end tower just doesn't have the margins to put a dual in. But I'd love to be wrong.



Also, Apple could neuter the low end tower's CPUs so they have no L3 cache or something like that. Maybe that would be one way to keep their margins?

bombthroat

I agree with Junkyard Dawg as far as Apple keeping a single processor at the low end and a dual config on the mid and high end systems. I think this is only practical for them unless they have had some luck with Motorola where they actually got their act together and are making 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 in mass quantities (doubt that).



I have no fear though, as Apple always seems to have something up their collective sleeve.



I'm looking forward to getting a PowerMac from whatever config they are planning to offer. I do plan to wait until they are shipping with Jaguar though. My Ti PowerBook with 10.1.5 will have to do until then.

clive

[quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

<strong>Also, Apple could neuter the low end tower's CPUs so they have no L3 cache or something like that. Maybe that would be one way to keep their margins?</strong><hr></blockquote>



That's essentially what they've done before, so I think it's likely they'll do that again (hmm, somthang's up, I'm agreeing with JYD!?).



However it has always struck me as a missed opportunity for Apple to not offer duals BTO throughout the pro line. I think people would pay $200-300 for an extra low-end processor where they don't want to pay $700 to get to the mid range machine.



As far as CDonG4's predictions... I think it's all now going to happen at Seybold for the pro line. Personally I wouldn't expect a new case (maybe "refreshed"), because I think that the El Capitan is pretty much perfect.

derrick 61

[quote]Originally posted by myahmac:

<strong>If you had game like me You would still have your girl.

</strong><hr></blockquote>



Apparently I have game at least as good as you, because I still DO have my girl!



<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> :cool:

i-bent-my-wookie

Has anyone else looked into iMac availability? I tried to buy one about a month ago and no one in the city (Calgary) had anything but dirty demo models and no sign of any orders being filled soon.



Then a few weeks later I read about an OVER-supply of iMacs in the channel in business week or some rag like that... Yet the supply here was down to zero nearly. No sign of a superdrive model anywhere in this end of Canada. No single store owner had anything good to say about future availability and they all said I should sit on my hands until MWNY.



So I bought an iBook, love it.



But anyways, to re-iterate... Are the current iMac supplies fat or thin in your guys/gurls part of the world?



Will I be complementing my iBook with a 1GHz iMac buddy or will I have to wait and simply stick to ftp'ing off my PIII (I need more space for iTunes!).



Hope to hear from y'all

futuremac

hey cdon!

nice to see you back



im on the fence too still on this athalon xp box. im looking to go dual for my first powermac but id like ddr, and a faster bus.



(by the way the imac 700 mhz i briefly had last winter was FAST! and that was a g3! cant imagine how the g4 imacs feel, so coming from a new pc convers perspective using os 10.1 it was good)



also i have the geforce 4600 ti in this comp question: can i take the gforce ti card out of my pc and put it in a powermac?? is it a simple matter of just downloading mac drivers? or sre the mac geforce 4600 cards diffrent?

taboo

[quote]Originally posted by futuremac:

<strong>hey cdon!

nice to see you back



im on the fence too still on this athalon xp box. im looking to go dual for my first powermac but id like ddr, and a faster bus.



(by the way the imac 700 mhz i briefly had last winter was FAST! and that was a g3! cant imagine how the g4 imacs feel, so coming from a new pc convers perspective using os 10.1 it was good)



also i have the geforce 4600 ti in this comp question: can i take the gforce ti card out of my pc and put it in a powermac?? is it a simple matter of just downloading mac drivers? or sre the mac geforce 4600 cards diffrent?</strong><hr></blockquote>



Might wanna do a search on XLR8yourmac and see what they say....from what I can tell, some of the PC nVidia cards will work, and some won't. Most that will require a flash while in a PC. Anyway, they're pretty good abouyt saying which is which on that site.