My official Powermac prediction
I have no inside info, but here is my official prediction for the new powermac line:
New Case
266 motherboard
DDR RAM
Firewire 800
Apollo G4
GeForce 3 in top two models
24 bit sound
Superdrive across the board.
1.2Ghz, 256 RAM, 40 GB HD - $1800,
dual 1.2 - 256 RAM, 60 GB HD - $2400
and dual 1.4 - 512 RAM, 60GB X 2 - $3200
Ports:
3 usb, 3 firewire, gb ethernet, modem, digital sound, headphones.
I think the new case will be quite a bit smaller than the current one, but still have room for 4 PCI cards and one AGP 4X. I think there will be room for two hard drives in total, as well as an internal zip and internal 5.25" device. i think the new case will be white with clear plastic. i think it will be a lot more boxy than the curvacious current models.
I hope they also make a larger tower model with room for more than one 5.25" device and several hard drives, but I doubt that they will.
I think we'll see these machines before the summer...
so that's it. comments?
New Case
266 motherboard
DDR RAM
Firewire 800
Apollo G4
GeForce 3 in top two models
24 bit sound
Superdrive across the board.
1.2Ghz, 256 RAM, 40 GB HD - $1800,
dual 1.2 - 256 RAM, 60 GB HD - $2400
and dual 1.4 - 512 RAM, 60GB X 2 - $3200
Ports:
3 usb, 3 firewire, gb ethernet, modem, digital sound, headphones.
I think the new case will be quite a bit smaller than the current one, but still have room for 4 PCI cards and one AGP 4X. I think there will be room for two hard drives in total, as well as an internal zip and internal 5.25" device. i think the new case will be white with clear plastic. i think it will be a lot more boxy than the curvacious current models.
I hope they also make a larger tower model with room for more than one 5.25" device and several hard drives, but I doubt that they will.
I think we'll see these machines before the summer...
so that's it. comments?
Comments
G5 to the top with gForce4
If we assume the current G4 tops out at 867, that would make the Apollo about 1.1Ghz.
Even if we assume the current G4 can get to 1Ghz, which is highly doubtful, that still only gets the Apollo up to 1.3 Ghz at best.
If they end up using the .13 process on the G4 at some point in the future, then perhaps. But (hopefully) the G5 would be out by then, and the .13 G4 would go into laptops and iMacs. So that's a long time down the road.
new case
G5
DDR 333 RAM and bus
Firewire 1600Mbit (Gigawire)
USB 2.0
ATA 133
AGP 8x
60-160 GB HD
256-512MB RAM
1-1.4 maybe 1.6GHz at least one dual config, maybe a quad, nVidia GeForce 4 BTO or top model, lower models GF3 ti 200. 3 USB 2.0 ports, 2 Gigawire ports, Airport option, Gbit ethernet, full keyboard and a 2 button wheelmouse (it's about time), new case bigger than the current one, yet still white. Either a big cubic shape or a zoomed tower. 3 internal 3.5" spaces, 2 external 5.25", one external 3.5", the more the better. 4x PCI 1x AGP, 3-4X RAM, possibility of Serial ATA or internal Gigawire optical ports too.
Price range 1900-3500$
Maybe a new name.
Ok, knowing apple its rather going to be a 867-933-1000MHz speedbump on the current QS machines, but I may dream, may I?
G-News
From what I understand the Apollo revision is a bigger jump than from the PII to the PIII.
The P4 also varies already. Northwood si partially a lot faster than Willamette, especially since it has more L2 cache.
I hope your right and it occurs quickly. Just a note, see link below.
News Release - 9-Apr-2001
<a href="http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=mot&script=411&layout=-6&item_id=164832" target="_blank">http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=mot&script=411&layout=-6&item_id=164832</a>
"In addition, Motorola offers specialized features such as Silicon on Insulator (SOI)"
"Motorola is currently running embedded microprocessor cores on this advanced 0.13 micron process. Production is expected to begin in second quarter of this year in MOS13, Motorola's most advanced 8-inch facility in Austin, Texas."
This means that Motorola has @ least 8 months manufacturing experience making products with HiP7.
That's why when the Motorola rep was quoted as saying the next G4 would have SOI on a 0.18µ die, I was somewhat chagrined.
I still believe the next update will be Feb. using SOI, but not 0.13µ. Then Apollo will follow @ MWNY in July? on the 0.13µ die and maybe, if we're lucky DDRsDram(I still don't expect this until the G5 arrives in late 2002 early 2003) <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
Reality Distortion Field, well, here we go:
PowerMac G5 1.0 /1.2/1.4 Ghz
Up to 4 processor (BTO)
Mobo @ 400 Mhz / DDR up to 4 GB
RapidIO / HyperTransport (Apple Hybrid Solution)
ATA 133
Aqua 3D & Vector Accelerator or whatever
Gigawire / USB 2
GeForce 4
[ 01-08-2002: Message edited by: jeromba ]</p>