My cousin works for Moto...
I've never posted "inside" info before, and have never made a prediction on these boards.
My cousin works for Motorola, and I talked to him today for the first time in a couple of months. Since the new PowerMacs were introed today, I asked him about it, since he works in the semiconductor division, but not w/ PPC. He is good friends w/ several ppl in PPC development, though, and he gave me a little scoop "off the record."
Directly from him:
1)the so-called "Apollo" G4 will come out in March or April in Apple computers - no details on PowerMac or PB or what speeds they will be.
2)the Apollo will be ramped up throughout the year in Apple computers - again, no details
3)the G5 won't be in any Apple computer until next year, and his friends in PPC development laugh their butts off when they read rumors about the G5 coming anytime this year
The only things he's told me before have been true - such as he told me at Christmas 2000 that the G4 wouldn't break 1GHz before 2002. He has also warned me about speed-bumps right before I was going to buy a new machine. That was also true.
This is all accurate, AFAIK. YMMV.
My cousin works for Motorola, and I talked to him today for the first time in a couple of months. Since the new PowerMacs were introed today, I asked him about it, since he works in the semiconductor division, but not w/ PPC. He is good friends w/ several ppl in PPC development, though, and he gave me a little scoop "off the record."
Directly from him:
1)the so-called "Apollo" G4 will come out in March or April in Apple computers - no details on PowerMac or PB or what speeds they will be.
2)the Apollo will be ramped up throughout the year in Apple computers - again, no details
3)the G5 won't be in any Apple computer until next year, and his friends in PPC development laugh their butts off when they read rumors about the G5 coming anytime this year
The only things he's told me before have been true - such as he told me at Christmas 2000 that the G4 wouldn't break 1GHz before 2002. He has also warned me about speed-bumps right before I was going to buy a new machine. That was also true.
This is all accurate, AFAIK. YMMV.
Comments
Secondly, the poster has been a member of AI for a while and has made reasonable posts.
Thirdly, posters of false info tend to be optimistic.
That said, I question how much they guys at Mot know about Apple's release schedule. Apollo's in March or April? I doubt the the PowerMacs will be updated again that soon unless G5's are ready. And they probably won't be in Powerbooks that soon because that would likely mean Powerbooks would be faster than PowerMacs. Even if such a release is reasonable, I doubt the engineers at Mot would know.
As for the engineers knowing know Ghz G4 until 2002 in December 2000, I doubt they know that far in advance.
I also doubt them knowing when Apple will announce a speed bump.
Now, let the great credibility debate begin!
The only hesistation I have is the GeForce 4 MX. Many people seem to think this card sucks compared to the GeForce 3. Hopefully that will be rectified on Feb 5 by nVidia.
<strong>
Secondly, the poster has been a member of AI for a while and has made reasonable posts.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thanks... like I said, I've never posted rumors or anything like this before, b/c I've never heard any reliable info like this since I found these boards.
[quote]Originally posted by qazII:
<strong>
That said, I question how much they guys at Mot know about Apple's release schedule. Apollo's in March or April? I doubt the the PowerMacs will be updated again that soon unless G5's are ready. And they probably won't be in Powerbooks that soon because that would likely mean Powerbooks would be faster than PowerMacs. Even if such a release is reasonable, I doubt the engineers at Mot would know.
As for the engineers knowing know Ghz G4 until 2002 in December 2000, I doubt they know that far in advance.
I also doubt them knowing when Apple will announce a speed bump.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
As far as Apollo's in March or April, that's just when he said they'd be available in volume. Also, what I meant was that he didn't mention PowerMacs or PowerBooks, so I don't know what they'll go into. Sorry for the confusion.
As far as the GHz G4, all I know is that when I told him I was holding out for a GHz G4 at Christmas in 2000, he told me not to hold my breath - that they wouldn't be at that speed for at least another year at the rate they were making progress.
The speed bump info was from last summer, and he told me that his friends in PPC indicated that faster chips were available, so I should wait b/c they would probably be announced soon. He didn't have any hard info on Apple's release dates, just that the faster chips were available.
Like I said, he's been accurate in the past, but all of this info comes from his friends in the PPC division. Who knows, maybe IBM is involved and we're all wrong. All I know is what I was told, and I'm passing it along to you... his friends told him that G5s wouldn't be around till next year.
Does your cousin ever comment on how odd it is to walk by the PPC division and see a bunch of people walking around with their head's up their asses?
<strong>3)the G5 won't be in any Apple computer until next year, and his friends in PPC development laugh their butts off when they read rumors about the G5 coming anytime this year
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And thus our worst fears are confirmed. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
Probably best to start getting used to it.
Some fourm members here will choose to believe him now and others will go kicking and screaming till the bitter end. If you read over the other threads it's pretty clear who's. I just hope this thread doesn't get as personal as some of the others...
If a 'vocal few' continue to trash people who come here and post GOOD INFO this place will turn into a fantasy land where you'll hear great stories of soon to be released G5's but that's about it.. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
Dave
[quote]Originally posted by I Have Questions:
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As far as Apollo's in March or April, that's just when he said they'd be available in volume. Also, what I meant was that he didn't mention PowerMacs or PowerBooks, so I don't know what they'll go into. Sorry for the confusion.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think this means no Apollo Macs till MWNY or WWDC or the earliest.
[quote]<strong>
As far as the GHz G4, all I know is that when I told him I was holding out for a GHz G4 at Christmas in 2000, he told me not to hold my breath - that they wouldn't be at that speed for at least another year at the rate they were making progress.
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OK, that makes sense.
[quote]<strong>
The speed bump info was from last summer, and he told me that his friends in PPC indicated that faster chips were available, so I should wait b/c they would probably be announced soon. He didn't have any hard info on Apple's release dates, just that the faster chips were available.
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This is VERY interesting. If these chips were available last summer, then what has MOT bin doing all this time. If they've run into another barrier, I think Apple will drop MOT ASAP.
Or was Apollo really that hard? Perhaps Apple expected to have Apollos by MWSF. In this case, I also see Apple dropping MOT ASAP.
[quote]<strong>
Like I said, he's been accurate in the past, but all of this info comes from his friends in the PPC division. Who knows, maybe IBM is involved and we're all wrong. All I know is what I was told, and I'm passing it along to you... his friends told him that G5s wouldn't be around till next year.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If IBM was doing the G5's, this would reconcile the G5 rumors swimming around and the denials by this poster and moki. I hope this is the case.
<strong>Directly from him:
1)the so-called "Apollo" G4 will come out in March or April in Apple computers - no details on PowerMac or PB or what speeds they will be.
2)the Apollo will be ramped up throughout the year in Apple computers - again, no details
3)the G5 won't be in any Apple computer until next year, and his friends in PPC development laugh their butts off when they read rumors about the G5 coming anytime this year
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yep, that all sound about right to me. I don't think it'll make many people happy re: the G5, though. Talk about waiting for Godot...
So if this Mot. guy is saying no Apollo for a few months, either 1. he doesn't know what he's talking about, or 2. Apollo is something else.
Maybe Apollo will be the .13µ G4, although that would contradict all reports on what the Apollo was going to be. Hmm.
<strong>From what I read last summer Apollo was to simply be a 7450 with SOI. Thus, 7455 to differentiate and a 7451 for the lower power variant.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I thought 7451 was just 7450 with a few bugs fixed.
Not happy about it, but I guess I have to admit that this is more plausible than the mid-year G5 speculation. Especially in light of Moki's cold, realistic insistence.
I just hope its available before this summer. I'm tired of my 8600/200.
- Mark
<strong>First of all, I predict that more people will believe this guy do to Time's recent success.
Secondly, the poster has been a member of AI for a while and has made reasonable posts.
Thirdly, posters of false info tend to be optimistic.
That said, I question how much they guys at Mot know about Apple's release schedule. Apollo's in March or April? I doubt the the PowerMacs will be updated again that soon unless G5's are ready. And they probably won't be in Powerbooks that soon because that would likely mean Powerbooks would be faster than PowerMacs. Even if such a release is reasonable, I doubt the engineers at Mot would know.
As for the engineers knowing know Ghz G4 until 2002 in December 2000, I doubt they know that far in advance.
I also doubt them knowing when Apple will announce a speed bump.
Now, let the great credibility debate begin!
Actually product engineers generally do have an idea of when a product will be headed for production, and what the time frame will be before it gets delivered. All of that is worked into the actual delivery date, by and large.
You know, product X needs to be ready to begin production by date Y. Facility Z has such and thus capacity, blah blah. Additionally, there is quite a bit of coordination with the production facility to be sure that production starts on time and the process can satisfy the expectations.
Anyway, his cousin's info sound credible to me. That and 3K will get you a new PM.
tsukurite
<strong>Well, I just read an article in eetimes that somewhat says what this 1st post in this thread says. If that's the case, then I'll wait for the apollo G4 with DDR and until they are offered with the good video boards (radeon 8500 or the good Gforce 4 board).
I just hope its available before this summer. I'm tired of my 8600/200.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think you'd be extremely stunned at how fast a dual 1ghz G4 tower would be compared to your 8600, especially running OS X.
I've played around on a dual 800 quite a bit, and man, things are very fast and fluid with OS X on that box. I imagine the dual Ghz machines are even sweeter.
<strong>
Actually product engineers generally do have an idea of when a product will be headed for production, and what the time frame will be before it gets delivered. All of that is worked into the actual delivery date, by and large.
tsukurite</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, but these are product engineers for a different company.
The MPC7445, pin-compatible with Motorola?s MPC7441 in a 360-pin CBGA package, is designed to deliver lower power consumption at speeds up to 800 MHz with a core voltage of 1.3V and 256KB of integrated L2 Cache.
So expect new powerbooks with a top speed of 800Mhz in march. The MPC7445 chips are currenty sampling.
I got all this info off of Motorolas site. <a href="http://www.Motorola.com"; target="_blank">www.Motorola.com</a>
<strong>
Yes, but these are product engineers for a different company.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Perhaps I misspoke.
I meant Moto engineers know when the chip needs to go into production. There are differences between the G4 in our Macs and the imbedded (embedded?) chip, correct? So, there are some engineers who need to know when Apple is expecting them. Right?
So, if you know that a chip for Apple starts production on a certain date, you could reasonably assume that it will be available to the public in a short while (~four weeks?) as Apple isn't one to just sit on it's inventory if it doesn't have to.
tsukurite