How this will be a great 20th anniversary year is beyond me. \
Because by July, Apple will have pulled nearly equal with Intel in raw clock speed, and ahead in both actual and perceived performance. Add in G5 Powerbooks, G5 iMacs, 4th gen iPods and the HP iPod deal all by the end of the year, and it'll be a great anniversary after all.
With any luck, Apple will make it to 3 GHz G5s announced at WWDC, and Steve will be able to fulfill his promise of 3 GHz within a year. Actually, in this case I think it's a good idea to wait a few months. There are a bunch of new technologies that are just on the brink of coming out, and if Apple waits a few months they might be able to really WOW everyone, not just with a dual 3 GHz G5, but also with:
1. PCI Express, 256 MB Radeon 9800 XT available
2. Dual-layer (9 GB) Serial ATA DVD-R drives
3. 2 GB DIMMs available for up to 16 GB of RAM (even though they're available now, they're not "officially supported")
4. Hard drives larger than 250 GB (the largest commonly available for months now)
5. HyperTransport 2 (whatever that is, I've just heard people talking about it)
I doubt many of those things will be included, Luca. Apple has disappointed often in the past by failing to include technologies everyone anticipated the company would provide. The company has shown that it has little desire to be on the bleeding edge. I would be hesitant, therefore, to increase expectations for the incorporation of the new technologies you mentioned.
Yeah... they'll probably just stick with stuff that came out during the time that they weren't updated and should have been. So instead of dual-layer DVD-R drives, for instance, they'll get 8x DVD-R, if that. I really do hope they get PCI Express though, considering the way both ATI and nVidia are fully embracing it starting this spring. It would be a VERY stupid move not to include it. The other stuff they can pass over and it wouldn't matter much... 2 GB DIMMs and 300-400 GB hard drives are specialized and not many people would need them.
Again I would *strongly* caution people not to expect Apple to go from a 2 Ghz part straight to a 3 Ghz one in a single leap. Strictly from a business point of view they know they could easily milk a ~2.5 Ghz part (already a substantial boost) for 6 months or so and give themselves some breathing room.
I think if there are no updates until June, Steve will take it on the chin, release a 2.5 proc., and we'll probably see a 3 Ghz machine in very late 2004/early 2005.
Again I would *strongly* caution people not to expect Apple to go from a 2 Ghz part straight to a 3 Ghz one in a single leap. Strictly from a business point of view they know they could easily milk a ~2.5 Ghz part (already a substantial boost) for 6 months or so and give themselves some breathing room.
I think if there are no updates until June, Steve will take it on the chin, release a 2.5 proc., and we'll probably see a 3 Ghz machine in very late 2004/early 2005.
C.
I agree 100%. That is a huge leap and Apple knows they can get plenty of money out of a d2.5ghz. Intel underclocks cpu's so they can sell them at a slower speed just because they know they can sell more chips that way. When I was working at intel the 1.25ghz chip was exactly the same as the 1.4ghz chip. They had the same die and everything. But intel underclocked them to 1.25 so they could sell more chips. Just because they knew there would be demand for them
Same thing with the g5's... why sell 3ghz when you can sell 2.5 ghz for the same price for the same length of time and make just as much money and NOT worry about the chips not being available. By the time they are EOL... the 3ghz will be ready according to supply. Expect the next update to be ~2.5ghz... maybe 2.6 maybe lower... but 3ghz is a HUGE jump that I can't see any company making unless apple's new strategy is to make yearly updates. In that case its feasible... but that would not be a good choice in this cut throat industry.
I still dont see why so many thought this was a promotion to move powermacs anyway because it certainly wont do that.Now,if they offered a $500 rebate on just the towers that would be a promotion to clear the channels of powermacs.I cant belive Apple would be stupid enogh to think this would make any real increase in powermac sales.The best this promotion will do is sell a few more 23 inch monitors to those who where already interested in getting a tower and a huge lcd.
Comments
We will not see a SHIPPING CPU from Apple until at least July.
Earliest announcement will be WWDC.
How this will be a great 20th anniversary year is beyond me.
Originally posted by msantti
How this will be a great 20th anniversary year is beyond me.
Because by July, Apple will have pulled nearly equal with Intel in raw clock speed, and ahead in both actual and perceived performance. Add in G5 Powerbooks, G5 iMacs, 4th gen iPods and the HP iPod deal all by the end of the year, and it'll be a great anniversary after all.
1. PCI Express, 256 MB Radeon 9800 XT available
2. Dual-layer (9 GB) Serial ATA DVD-R drives
3. 2 GB DIMMs available for up to 16 GB of RAM (even though they're available now, they're not "officially supported")
4. Hard drives larger than 250 GB (the largest commonly available for months now)
5. HyperTransport 2 (whatever that is, I've just heard people talking about it)
I think if there are no updates until June, Steve will take it on the chin, release a 2.5 proc., and we'll probably see a 3 Ghz machine in very late 2004/early 2005.
C.
Originally posted by Concord
Again I would *strongly* caution people not to expect Apple to go from a 2 Ghz part straight to a 3 Ghz one in a single leap. Strictly from a business point of view they know they could easily milk a ~2.5 Ghz part (already a substantial boost) for 6 months or so and give themselves some breathing room.
I think if there are no updates until June, Steve will take it on the chin, release a 2.5 proc., and we'll probably see a 3 Ghz machine in very late 2004/early 2005.
C.
I agree 100%. That is a huge leap and Apple knows they can get plenty of money out of a d2.5ghz. Intel underclocks cpu's so they can sell them at a slower speed just because they know they can sell more chips that way. When I was working at intel the 1.25ghz chip was exactly the same as the 1.4ghz chip. They had the same die and everything. But intel underclocked them to 1.25 so they could sell more chips. Just because they knew there would be demand for them
Same thing with the g5's... why sell 3ghz when you can sell 2.5 ghz for the same price for the same length of time and make just as much money and NOT worry about the chips not being available. By the time they are EOL... the 3ghz will be ready according to supply. Expect the next update to be ~2.5ghz... maybe 2.6 maybe lower... but 3ghz is a HUGE jump that I can't see any company making unless apple's new strategy is to make yearly updates. In that case its feasible... but that would not be a good choice in this cut throat industry.
promo not sign of no revisions
Originally posted by emig647:
I agree 100%. That is a huge leap and Apple knows they can get plenty of money out of a d2.5ghz.
I just wanted to mollify the enthusiasm a little so that people here don't around the bend come July...
Originally posted by ipodandimac:
ahhhh good news from AI!!!
promo not sign of no revisions!
I hope they're right... but when it sounds like people are trying to convince themselves I... have to remain little sceptical.
C.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
ahhhh good news from AI!!!
promo not sign of no revisions
I still dont see why so many thought this was a promotion to move powermacs anyway because it certainly wont do that.Now,if they offered a $500 rebate on just the towers that would be a promotion to clear the channels of powermacs.I cant belive Apple would be stupid enogh to think this would make any real increase in powermac sales.The best this promotion will do is sell a few more 23 inch monitors to those who where already interested in getting a tower and a huge lcd.
Here's another date to throw in to the mix.
Apple Australia has extended its Trade In Trade Up G5 Promotion by a further 5 weeks from 26 March 2004 to 30 Apr 2004.
Originally posted by Dazza
Hi
Here's another date to throw in to the mix.
Apple Australia has extended its Trade In Trade Up G5 Promotion by a further 5 weeks from 26 March 2004 to 30 Apr 2004.
If we believe the end of promos signal new releases we would get updates 10 times a year.
Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
Apple must've fallen victim to the Guinness again. Anyone else seen Guinness' latest "Brilliant!" ad campaign?
Lad, go ahead and tap me a pint...