Why new round of G4s may not be here that long

tarbashtarbash
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
It looks like these new G4s may live a life similar to the old B&W 450 G3, that was announced prior to the G4 and was only on the market for around 3 months or so.



There's a new education monitor promo for these new G4s that expires March 31... right after Macworld Tokyo and Seybold...



I know this always isn't the best indicator of release dates, but I find it rather odd that Apple is doing a promo right out of the gates on these puppies and ending it right around MWT and Seybold... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Also, this was a silent update. Very silent. They didn't even bother to call the press or anything. And where is the press release? Can you say stop-gag?
  • Reply 2 of 53
    tarbashtarbash Posts: 278member
    I don't think Apple could have waited for 3 months with no PowerMac sales. They had to have something to keep their pro sales somewhat afloat.
  • Reply 3 of 53
    zoephzoeph Posts: 16member
    They did however update the product pages with info which wasn't there before - as if the new PM's are more than a simple processor update. Much attention is given to the L3 cache (which now says DDR, although IIRC it was DDR before), the architecture (specal page), etcetera.



    Also look at the spec page:



    <a href="http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html</a>;



    [quote]The result? The dual 1GHz Power Mac G4 is an astonishing 72 percent faster than the fastest PC on the market with a 2GHz Pentium 4 processor.<hr></blockquote>



    (Italics added.) Right. As if dual processor Wintel boxes wouldn't be faster.



    Apple seems a little desperate in making us believe MHz doesn't matter.
  • Reply 4 of 53
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    Yeah, like Windows XP Home edition can handle multiprocessors well any way.
  • Reply 5 of 53
    tarbashtarbash Posts: 278member
    Hehe, I was just about to say that Fran.



    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 6 of 53
    zoephzoeph Posts: 16member
    Just stating a 2 GHz Pentium 4 isn't the fastest PC on the market. It doesn't really matter if the OS is MP-aware when you're using apps which are. As we all know, PS 7 isn't out yet.
  • Reply 7 of 53
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    Wow. Apple sure knows how to beat a dead horse. I won't fall for it though. These absolutely must be a stop-gap! My guess is that the G5 won't be ready till around March and Apple knows this. The PowerMacs went 6 or 7 months without an update, and Apple had to do something. At least this is what I'm hoping is true. I still don't get it. I was told the G5 would be here 1st quarter but things aren't looking up. Not even Apollo or DDR RAM to feed us over. Can you say lame?
  • Reply 8 of 53
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    I bet that lady at Micro Center would've known about these. I should've just asked. I was just listening watching and she was definitely a good person to have in the Mac section. A LOT better than CompUSA. Oh well.
  • Reply 9 of 53
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    These updates are good hold overs, not even bad specs for "hold overs" iMO.
  • Reply 10 of 53
    bob sacramentobob sacramento Posts: 19member
    [quote]Originally posted by TigerWoods99:

    <strong>Wow. Apple sure knows how to beat a dead horse. I won't fall for it though. These absolutely must be a stop-gap! My guess is that the G5 won't be ready till around March and Apple knows this. The PowerMacs went 6 or 7 months without an update, and Apple had to do something. At least this is what I'm hoping is true. I still don't get it. I was told the G5 would be here 1st quarter but things aren't looking up. Not even Apollo or DDR RAM to feed us over. Can you say lame?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    yeah i have to agree. I was so ready to buy the new PM but this is not the one for me. the specs are just too old school. and it got worse when apple changed the home page to the Dual 1GHz PM, starving the new iMac of much needed publicity - lame lame lame... now i'm hoping for G5 either at Seybold or MWT
  • Reply 11 of 53
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    G5 at Seybold or MWTY? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />



    It's not going to happen. These things aren't even going to be in foreign countries until Seybold or MWTY. Sorry, but I'm thinking you're looking at MWNY at the earliest for the G5 (big shock).



    These machines are great. A dual 1 GHz G4? That's like 4 of my PowerBook!
  • Reply 12 of 53
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    Definitely. This just ain't the Mac for me, and buying one would just be dumb at this point as we know the G5s can't be far off. Seybold is Febuary so I doubt that could happen. We're looking at another couple months wait till MWTY or WWDC. This bites, because my old beige G3 tower is just not cutting it (not to mention numerous problems). Hopefully I can get concrete evidence that G5s are coming out at either of those 3 events so I can start the waiting process.



    3 reasons why I think these are stop-gap solutions:



    1)same motherboard/case

    2)low-key update/no press release

    3)they simply needed something to hold over sales for a couple months



    I would hope Apple wouldn't stick with PC133 if they weren't planning on getting new towers out before MWNY.



  • Reply 13 of 53
    mr.potatoheadmr.potatohead Posts: 99member
    Here's my take on why this product introduction was so low-key. The 1 Ghz mark was so heavily hyped back before Intel and AMD crossed it that, for Apple to announce 2 years later, "We have 1 Ghz Macs!" is pretty embarrasing. Even now, the promotion is focusing on the "Dual 1 Ghz Macs," as if two 1 Ghz CPU's = a 2 Ghz CPU.



    This announcement is too close to MWSF for Jobs not to have included it in his keynote if he weren't trying to play it low-key. Announcing it at MWSF would have brought a lot of obvious comparisons in the press between Apple releasing a 1 Ghz Mac at the same time Intel releases a 2 Ghz Pentium IV.



    Hopefully, Tarbash is right and these systems will be eclipsed very shortly.
  • Reply 14 of 53
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    Fran441,



    MWTY was moved to late March this year so it's not out of the question at all. It was very easy for Apple to just bump up the MHz and add new graphics cards in these new PowerMac. Not much more work than say keeping the machines they already had. Assuming G5 info has been correct (Architosh can still be right, then they are probably putting the finishing touches on the new machines (i.e. G5, new mobo, new case, etc.) in order to get them out in the next couple months. Besides that, I have a pretty good inclination that it's not that far away.
  • Reply 15 of 53
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Well it looks like the G5 won't be out till MWNY. I think Apple waited too see if the G5 would be ready. It wasn't ready in time so these relitively easy speedbumps would have to do. They didn't use Apollo because they want to reserve it for the PowerBook update before MWNY, probably in Tokyo. 1GHz and 733MHz Powerbooks I think. Then in NY, the G5 at speeds of 1.2-1.6GHz running with PC2700 DDR-RAM. When is MWNY?
  • Reply 16 of 53
    zoephzoeph Posts: 16member
    [quote]Originally posted by Fran441:

    <strong>G5 at Seybold or MWTY? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />



    These things aren't even going to be in foreign countries until Seybold or MWTY.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I can order them right now (Holland). Do you think I'd have to wait a month or more before I'd have one?



    [quote]<strong>That's like 4 of my PowerBook!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    More like 2,5 of your PowerBooks, if you'd have to believe Apple.



    <a href="http://www.apple.com/powermac/processor.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/powermac/processor.html</a>;



    Look at the FCP comparison.
  • Reply 17 of 53
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Although I was hoping for G5 I'm releived the speed bump is finally here. It was killing me bacause of the speculation. Just bring out the damn machines! It's better than nothing. Now we can speculate about g5 for NY.
  • Reply 18 of 53
    linekerlineker Posts: 27member
    When will everyone realise that there's a lot of mileage left in the G4, and that G5 isn't a chip that Apple will use in the short term?



    G5's won't be around till the Autumn at the earliest, and the first announcements in the G5 line will be devoted to embedding markets, not desktop ones - that's why the PowerPC roadmap lists G5's as running from 800MHz.



    Much more likely is a bump in G4 speeds to 1.5GHz in the Autumn, then 2GHz early 2003.
  • Reply 19 of 53
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Good move Apple.



    I'm not sure if pros will bite, but many who have money ready to buy may just do so now.

    I mean you can only wait so long until it gets

    ridiculous.
  • Reply 20 of 53
    tarbashtarbash Posts: 278member
    Even if these machines are trickling in foreign countries around Seybold, remember that if Steve announces G5s at MWT that they probably won't ship until a month after that, which would be late April, or possibly even early May for the high end.



    As I said earlier, the G3 tower bump to 450 MHz back in '99 didn't last long until it was eclipsed by the next gen G4 PowerMacs.

    (Apple still plastered it all over their page tho)
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