Welcome to the Gigahertz Gap
Some comments on my feelings about today's show...
I thought everything was teriffic - really beyond my expectations in every area except one: PowerMac. Why? If you're going for a 15" screen and you aren't planning on a PCI upgrade, the high-end iMac (800) saves you over $1000 compared to the 867 PowerMac, despite the Crystal Clear promo, and gives you 128MB more memory to boot.
The reality-distortion field created by these great new products has distracted us from our speed problem, but for how long? Intel and AMD announced 2.2 GHz today/tomorrow. I don't know about anyone else, but being stuck at 867MHz as our fastest chip...I no longer feel comfortable referring to this as a MHz gap. At a difference of almost 1.5GHz, this is certainly now a GHz Gap.
Apple needs to get out of this fast - with a large jump. Anything under 1.4GHz, at this point, leaves us in roughly the same situation we are today.
How soon can Apple close this gap?! Or can it?
-S
I thought everything was teriffic - really beyond my expectations in every area except one: PowerMac. Why? If you're going for a 15" screen and you aren't planning on a PCI upgrade, the high-end iMac (800) saves you over $1000 compared to the 867 PowerMac, despite the Crystal Clear promo, and gives you 128MB more memory to boot.
The reality-distortion field created by these great new products has distracted us from our speed problem, but for how long? Intel and AMD announced 2.2 GHz today/tomorrow. I don't know about anyone else, but being stuck at 867MHz as our fastest chip...I no longer feel comfortable referring to this as a MHz gap. At a difference of almost 1.5GHz, this is certainly now a GHz Gap.
Apple needs to get out of this fast - with a large jump. Anything under 1.4GHz, at this point, leaves us in roughly the same situation we are today.
How soon can Apple close this gap?! Or can it?
-S
Comments
When the new iBooks came out, they were better in many respect to the Powerbook, but Apple survived, and a few short months later, the TiBook came out.
SdC
I will leave my DP G4 on desk until a real G5 comes out.....
After this show I start to feel regret about spending almost two thousand Canadian dollars on OSX and the native apps
<strong>Basically my next computer purchase will be a 1900+ Athlon XP based PC.
I will leave my DP G4 on desk until a real G5 comes out.....
After this show I start to feel regret about spending almost two thousand Canadian dollars on OSX and the native apps
Hey everyone,
It's what you can do, not how fast the processor spins.
Try to do anything that iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto or even iTunes can on you 2.2 GHz PC.
Sure I'd love if the mac was way faster, but that's not an option, and watching my iMovies, publishing web sites effortlessly and making DVDs is power that the other guys don't have.
If you're a pro and you can get the PC working as well as a Mac, then true, it may be rational to go Windows, but as a consumer the mac is now far and away the best computer available.
Let's wait a month to see what Apple has in store for the towers. They must have been working on a MHz strategy for quite some time now given Motorola's clear inability to keep up with Intel/AMD. If it's quad processors or another fabricator or a different fabrication process Apple will break out of this dilemma within the next 12 months. I'm impatient too, but that's got to be the reality.
When will Apple finally change chip suppliers, when it's a terahertz gap?
<strong>Then Apple should reduce the price of the PowerMacs.</strong><hr></blockquote>They did, it's called the iMac.
Seriously - instead of faster PowerMacs, you basically get cheaper ones. But they really need a PowerMac upgrade FAST. Sales are going to absolutely plummet.
<strong>
I no longer feel comfortable referring to this as a MHz gap. At a difference of almost 1.5GHz, this is certainly a Gigaherts gap
-S</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree completely.
Apple desparately needs to put itself on the forefront of speed and technology again. Remember the days when the G3 was twice as fast as intel's PIII? Apple needs a 1.6ghz G5 in the next few months. Anything less, and we will still be playing catch up forever. No matter how cool apple's digital hub stratagey is (which I must say is pretty cool), It can't win if everyone knows that "macs are slow."
On a more positive note, I think the new imac rules, and it will be a success. And I do have hope for a G5 soon, apple isn't dumb(hopefully....)
Many of the people here complaining don't really give a hoot about iAnything. We use comps for a living and most of our apps are cross-platform. I have used Macs since the Mac II, and for the first time I am pricing an Athlon system. 800DP vs. 1.6GHZ DP. That's what the gap is right now, and its equals anywhere from a 50% to 200% reduction in rendering times. That's why people want faster machines--we get more work done.
<strong>
Hey everyone,
It's what you can do, not how fast the processor spins.
Try to do anything that iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto or even iTunes can on you 2.2 GHz PC.
Sure I'd love if the mac was way faster, but that's not an option, and watching my iMovies, publishing web sites effortlessly and making DVDs is power that the other guys don't have.
If you're a pro and you can get the PC working as well as a Mac, then true, it may be rational to go Windows, but as a consumer the mac is now far and away the best computer available.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Those ishits don't cut it for my works.
I am pretty sure that when my hardware purchase fund comes next week I will be buying TWO Athlon XP 1900+ PCs
Also if nothing happens on the so called pro-mac line up on March I will be selling all my mac software in order to get the PC versions of them. Serious.
What a difference...from 1.6GHz G5s to nothing. Heh...even the pessimists were expecting a 1GHz PowerMac.
Oh, and why not the AMD Athlon XP2000+ that was released today? Drool... :cool:
If the Ghz gap keeps widening I see two possible outcomes-
1. x86 chips become powerful enough to emulate Motorola chips at speeds that compete with the actual chips.
2. Apple has no choice but to switch to x86 and come up with some slick way of emulating a G4 environement for Carbon and Classic Aps.
I hope that Apple is at least researching #2, just in case.
earlier.
Apple's going backwards.
Now the G4 iMacs are out they will do the job they were designed for, which is convert Wintel home users and convince 1st time buyers to choose Apple.
Obviously the current towers represent bad value now, so what can Apple do without a working G5?
I reckon a Dual 700 G4 will become the bottom end, dual 867 mid range, and possibly a dual or quad 900 for the top end.
<strong>Hey Leonis, can you list all the software titles you're gonna want to sell once you go XP? I might be interested.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I will do cross platform upgrade so I don't need to sell any of them with the exception of Final Cut Pro 3
I predict that by MWNY, we'll see:
Apollo G4 in Titanium, iMac, at speeds around 1 GHz.
G5 Powermacs, up to 1.6 GHz.
That's what I figure. Maybe that's too optimistic, but I think Apple knows the precariousness of their position right now, and they are doing everything they can to deliver on MHz. I think we are in the calm before the storm.
And I think that for those of you who switch to Wintel, in a few months you'll be sorry that you spent all that money on Wintel software, when G5s are hammering the pentiums and athlons.
<strong>You people who are switching to Wintels...do you really need that extra MHz,</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes.
You don't need that 'extra speed' doesn't mean others don't need that too.
If you go to my other topics in the general discussion section you will understand why I am so mad and frustrated.
[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>