Upcoming G4 Powerbook specs...
Hey!
Unfortunately, it looks like we're not getting a G5 powerbook any time soon, but...
Just thought I'd let everybody know (in case hadn't seen this already) what another rumor site is saying about the new powerbooks coming out in the months ahead...
The 7457 is Motorola's follow-up to the current top-of-the-line G4, the 7455. It not only doubles the G4's on-die L2 cache to 512KB, but expands its external L3 cache support to 4MB (though only 2MB can be used as cache per se; the rest is available as "private memory"). The clock speed will max out at 1.3GHz, but the extra cache sizes should improve performance even on the 1GHz version compared to current G4-based PowerBooks. So too will its 200MHz frontside bus, which paves the way for 400MHz DDR SDRAM support.
If you want to get the whole scoop, go to
The Register
Please comment on the reliability of the sources (which seems to be good) and also your opinion on whether these specs are worth waiting for... (i'd say they are)
thanks.
Unfortunately, it looks like we're not getting a G5 powerbook any time soon, but...
Just thought I'd let everybody know (in case hadn't seen this already) what another rumor site is saying about the new powerbooks coming out in the months ahead...
The 7457 is Motorola's follow-up to the current top-of-the-line G4, the 7455. It not only doubles the G4's on-die L2 cache to 512KB, but expands its external L3 cache support to 4MB (though only 2MB can be used as cache per se; the rest is available as "private memory"). The clock speed will max out at 1.3GHz, but the extra cache sizes should improve performance even on the 1GHz version compared to current G4-based PowerBooks. So too will its 200MHz frontside bus, which paves the way for 400MHz DDR SDRAM support.
If you want to get the whole scoop, go to
The Register
Please comment on the reliability of the sources (which seems to be good) and also your opinion on whether these specs are worth waiting for... (i'd say they are)
thanks.
Comments
Quick! Apple needs to revise the 12-inch PowerBook before I fall for a PowerMac G5.
Escher
Originally posted by Escher
I just hope the benefits of the PPC 7457 mentioned in the article come to the 12-inch PowerBook at the same time as to the 15-inch PowerBook! I'd be quite happy with a 1Ghz 7457, consequently improved battery life, 200Mhz FSB and 1GB RAM in the Rev.B 12-incher. A 1.2Ghz PPC 7457 and DVI-out would be icing on the cake, for which I'd be happy to pay a premium.
Quick! Apple needs to revise the 12-inch PowerBook before I fall for a PowerMac G5.
Escher
only 1 GB RAM?
...well I always wondered if the odometer rolled at 10000, now I know.
OT/
A little house-cleaning and consolidating, maybe?
Originally posted by Jonathan
only 1 GB RAM?
Max RAM, of course! Two user-accessible RAM slots are not too much to ask of a PowerBook. Gotta move up from my iBook's 576MB. Jonathan, how 'bout a drink now that the WWDC hubbub is over?
Escher
Running PS7, Quark in classic, Freehand, Acrobat, PowerRip. Suitcase, Entourage, and Safari/IE pretty much does it.
MSKR
7457 G4 processor (as stated above with improved bus and cache)
15.4 screen
Firewire 800
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
Airport Extreme - Built-in Bluetooth
(Actual) 5 hour battery life
Gigabit Ethernet
NVIDIA Geforce 440 Go Video or ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 or better
DVI out
Hopeful features:
Backlit keyboard
No fan- very quiet fan
Priced at :
$1.999 Combo - 60GB
$2,499 Superdrive - 80GB & more RAM
Retractable feet in the rear (a la the good old days)
MSKR
The 7457 is Motorola's follow-up to the current top-of-the-line G4, the 7455. It not only doubles the G4's on-die L2 cache to 512KB, but expands its external L3 cache support to 4MB (though only 2MB can be used as cache per se; the rest is available as "private memory"). The clock speed will max out at 1.3GHz, but the extra cache sizes should improve performance even on the 1GHz version compared to current G4-based PowerBooks. So too will its 200MHz frontside bus, which paves the way for 400MHz DDR SDRAM support.
The Register
I went to Motorola's PowerPC site to see the specs on the 7457 about 6 months ago and again last night. They're different. I remember it mentioned 200 MHz FSB and up to 4MB L3, as above, but now it says 133 MHz and 2MB L3.
http://e-www.motorola.com/webapp/sps...018rH3bTdG8653
Product Features
The MPC7457 processor's 32-bit superscalar core contains:
¥ Three issue (plus branch) capability
¥ 128-bit wide vector unit -- AltiVec technology
¥ Integrated 512K on-chip L2 cache (twice the size of previous generation)
¥ Full Symmetric Multi-Processing capability (SMP)
¥ 36-bit physical address space for direct addressability of 64 Gigabytes of memory
¥ Hardware and Software Tablewalk
¥ High-bandwidth 133 MHz 64-bit MPX Bus/60x Bus
¥ 8 BAT registers
¥ Three power-saving user-programmable modes to reduce power drawn by processor
¥ Parity checking support on L1, L2 and L3 cache arrays
It now also says support for up to 2MB backside L3 cache. Since it says that at 1 GHz it dissipates less than 10W, two of them would be nice in a 17" PB. At least it seems possible.
Barring any freaky, out-of-the-blue surprises in the next few months, hunker on down and prepare to wait it out. Good luck!
Originally posted by Kecksy
Rumor has it ATi's new Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro will be making it into Apple's new line of Aluminum PowerBooks.
I'll take one.
I saw read that there is a Compaq Presario 15.4 inch notebook with the following specs:
"The display supports WUXGA (1,920 by 1,200 resolution), WSXGA+ (1,680 by 1,050) and WXGA (1,280 by 800)."
This seems a bit much for that size of screen. Has anyone seen one of these? Can you read that screen without special glasses? The resolution of the 17 Al PB might be tolerable (1440 x 900) in a 15.4 inch package.
I currently use a cinema display (1600 x 1024). I could tolerate that in a much smaller package. It would be good to achieve a vertical resolution of 1024 pixels.
---
Slightly off topic, did you notice Steve changing glasses during the keynote? I think this is the first time I've seen him do that.
Originally posted by neutrino23
Slightly off topic, did you notice Steve changing glasses during the keynote? I think this is the first time I've seen him do that.
Funny, I noticed that too. It even seemed to mess up his flow a little bit.
Originally posted by pscates
Why are there three separate "upcoming PowerBook" threads in Future Hardware? They're all pretty much saying the same thing/same topic.
A little house-cleaning and consolidating, maybe?
Exactly.
Originally posted by Escher
Max RAM, of course! Two user-accessible RAM slots are not too much to ask of a PowerBook. Gotta move up from my iBook's 576MB. Jonathan, how 'bout a drink now that the WWDC hubbub is over?
Escher
Sounds good. I'll shoot you an email soonish, when I get a chance.