On The G5 Production Schedule, Oh No! Say It Ain't So!
According to an InfoWorld article, the G5 is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Here's the paragraph:
This doesn't sound right. Perhaps they have not ramped up to full production? The complete article ishere.
Quote:
From the fab, IBM gains independence from other suppliers. It gains the ability to use 300mm wafers that yield 2.5 times more chips than standard 200mm wafers. That means IBM can choose to drive its prices down or its profits up, depending on market conditions. And IBM has something to sell that lots of companies want. Companies including AMD and Apple, for starters. Our tour guide confided that the PowerPC 970 chip (Apple?s G5) is not yet in production in Fishkill, but it takes no time at all to get a new chip into the line.
From the fab, IBM gains independence from other suppliers. It gains the ability to use 300mm wafers that yield 2.5 times more chips than standard 200mm wafers. That means IBM can choose to drive its prices down or its profits up, depending on market conditions. And IBM has something to sell that lots of companies want. Companies including AMD and Apple, for starters. Our tour guide confided that the PowerPC 970 chip (Apple?s G5) is not yet in production in Fishkill, but it takes no time at all to get a new chip into the line.
This doesn't sound right. Perhaps they have not ramped up to full production? The complete article ishere.
Comments
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
According to an InfoWorld article, the G5 is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Here's the paragraph:
This doesn't sound right. Perhaps they have not ramped up to full production? The complete article ishere.
"is not yet in production in Fishkill" doesn't necessarily mean it's not in production at all. It just means its not in production at Fishkill. The G5 could be in production at this very moment in other IBM fabs.
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
According to an InfoWorld article, the G5 is NOT IN PRODUCTION.
This doesn't sound right. Perhaps they have not ramped up to full production? The complete article ishere.
Actually, this doesn't sound wrong, given the release date of the PowerMac G5, and given that people who've played with models on the MWCP show floor have had decidedly mixed experiences with them. I imagine the boards themselves are in the latter stages of being finalized and tested. If IBM has had good luck with yields on the 970 - and all indications are that they have had good luck - then they won't have to start making the 970 long before Apple is making PowerMacs - sometime in August, perhaps. Fishkill's a big, efficient fab. It shouldn't have much trouble filling Apple's requirements.
If this is true, all the rumors about production starting in spring were way off. Fishkill might have done a relatively large run on their prototype fab in the spring, prompting Apple to do a manufacturing run so that they'd have a bunch of machines to hand out to big developers and to use as demos. That might have been the source of the rumors.
Alternately, considering some of the sites that offered those rumors, they could have been pulled out of thin air. Wouldn't be the first time.
(I note that there was a rumor floating around that IBM was using a plant in Maine to make 970s for sampling while Fishkill was being finished...)
I have a feeling that some tour guide would know about as much as the Apple Retail store guys. And that is all of about nothing.
How could Apple have test machines, if the G5 wasn't being produced yet?
Originally posted by kupan787
I have a feeling that some tour guide would know about as much as the Apple Retail store guys. And that is all of about nothing.
I don't know how IBM is, but I've given plant tours as an engineer. In some plants I've visited, there are guys on the production line designated to give tours. To me, "tour guide" is just the term for the person giving the tour, and not necessarily an official position, like if it would be Disney World.
From the rumors I've read it sounds like the non duals will be shipping first in late August, dual G5s around the end of August to first week of September, and finally retailers will start getting stock in mid to late September once the pre-orderered machines have been filled.
Originally posted by CDonG4
I've thought for a long while that the processor wasnt ramped up yet, any speculation as to why we've only seen the mystery metal box inside the tower that has the nice mirror gradient G5 text on it? something has been fishy, and i think this explains it a little more.
My speculation is that it's a heat sink, not a "mystery metal box."
Originally posted by Auream
My speculation is that it's a heat sink, not a "mystery metal box."
Exactly, and a cool thing that says G5 to boot.