I think the PowerMac has turned into the black hole of computers. Apple has the iMac covering the whole mid range, and other than a little bit of graphics, and expandability, and it covers everything the weakening PowerMac can handle for the most part. Apple has to push the powerMac back into it's own category because it has no real computing domain, or range of it's own. That is probably it's biggest problem. Apple has to re-define the pro Mac market again. This latest update has done little to help the powerMacs independent standing position in those aspects.
Any thoughts?
the latest update has done enough to "hold the fort" while apple prepares to redefine the proMac market
look at their moves in pro/prosumer video, cluster computing, science, and music markets... i say that gives a good hint of their direction for some big power mac push coming by the end of this year
I think the PowerMac has turned into the black hole of computers. Apple has the iMac covering the whole mid range, and other than a little bit of graphics, and expandability, and it covers everything the weakening PowerMac can handle for the most part. Apple has to push the powerMac back into it's own category because it has no real computing domain, or range of it's own. That is probably it's biggest problem. Apple has to re-define the pro Mac market again. This latest update has done little to help the powerMacs independent standing position in those aspects.
Any thoughts?
Doom and gloom aside, Apple's standing relative to the rest of the PC market hasn't really changed since they shipped their first G5. Really they've actually pushed clock rates farther than AMD & Intel have (2 -> 2.7), and the latest common high end consumer GPUs are available (X800, nv6800). PCI-E and DDR2 are starting to make inroads, but their importance at the current time isn't the huge deal that you're making it out to be. PowerMac sales have tapered off because the potential PowerMac market has been largely satiated.
To re-invigorate or re-define the Pro Mac market again, Apple needs to do something big -- and that means getting all the elements to align. Trickling out individual features is expensive for them and doesn't look like a compelling upgrade. Delivering features before the components are ready at Apple's volumes would be suicidal (they've tried it before and proven this). Contrary to popular belief, supplies of the latest and greatest GPUs and memory are constrained in the PC market. For Apple to switch over their entire PowerMac line to PCI-E GPUs and DDR2 (or some other alternative memory) would put them back into the supply problems they've been striving to avoid. Add in potential 970MP, new chipset, new cooling solutions, and (potentially) new case issues and I can see why Apple might be playing it safe rather than rushing headlong into new designs. Shipping 100K+ new machines per quarter is serious business and you don't enter into it lightly.
Programmer excellent point about the supply issue. Since I'm not in the market for a new card I had forgotten about how many problems ATI and Nvidia have had with keeping good stock of their higher end cards.
I don't mind waiting a bit longer for the tech if it new technology will be included. Gotta wonder what Apple comes up with next.
Comments
Originally posted by onlooker
I think the PowerMac has turned into the black hole of computers. Apple has the iMac covering the whole mid range, and other than a little bit of graphics, and expandability, and it covers everything the weakening PowerMac can handle for the most part. Apple has to push the powerMac back into it's own category because it has no real computing domain, or range of it's own. That is probably it's biggest problem. Apple has to re-define the pro Mac market again. This latest update has done little to help the powerMacs independent standing position in those aspects.
Any thoughts?
the latest update has done enough to "hold the fort" while apple prepares to redefine the proMac market
look at their moves in pro/prosumer video, cluster computing, science, and music markets... i say that gives a good hint of their direction for some big power mac push coming by the end of this year
Originally posted by onlooker
I think the PowerMac has turned into the black hole of computers. Apple has the iMac covering the whole mid range, and other than a little bit of graphics, and expandability, and it covers everything the weakening PowerMac can handle for the most part. Apple has to push the powerMac back into it's own category because it has no real computing domain, or range of it's own. That is probably it's biggest problem. Apple has to re-define the pro Mac market again. This latest update has done little to help the powerMacs independent standing position in those aspects.
Any thoughts?
Doom and gloom aside, Apple's standing relative to the rest of the PC market hasn't really changed since they shipped their first G5. Really they've actually pushed clock rates farther than AMD & Intel have (2 -> 2.7), and the latest common high end consumer GPUs are available (X800, nv6800). PCI-E and DDR2 are starting to make inroads, but their importance at the current time isn't the huge deal that you're making it out to be. PowerMac sales have tapered off because the potential PowerMac market has been largely satiated.
To re-invigorate or re-define the Pro Mac market again, Apple needs to do something big -- and that means getting all the elements to align. Trickling out individual features is expensive for them and doesn't look like a compelling upgrade. Delivering features before the components are ready at Apple's volumes would be suicidal (they've tried it before and proven this). Contrary to popular belief, supplies of the latest and greatest GPUs and memory are constrained in the PC market. For Apple to switch over their entire PowerMac line to PCI-E GPUs and DDR2 (or some other alternative memory) would put them back into the supply problems they've been striving to avoid. Add in potential 970MP, new chipset, new cooling solutions, and (potentially) new case issues and I can see why Apple might be playing it safe rather than rushing headlong into new designs. Shipping 100K+ new machines per quarter is serious business and you don't enter into it lightly.
I don't mind waiting a bit longer for the tech if it new technology will be included. Gotta wonder what Apple comes up with next.