Next PowerBook Rev. When, What
I looked through the topic list but didn't see this. I am probably going to be in the market next spring...depending on how my AAPL stock is doing. My Pismo will be 4 full years old and is getting long in the tooth...as MOSR would say.
I would hope for this:
When: Spring 2004
What: ---PPC G4 topping out at 1.5GHZ
---Fixes in production control/screens/hinges, etc (I'd be going
for a 15")
---Top clock speed available for 15" model
---5400 RPM drive standard
So mostly a nice speed bump with some fixes. That would do it for me. I guess the real question is when.
I would hope for this:
When: Spring 2004
What: ---PPC G4 topping out at 1.5GHZ
---Fixes in production control/screens/hinges, etc (I'd be going
for a 15")
---Top clock speed available for 15" model
---5400 RPM drive standard
So mostly a nice speed bump with some fixes. That would do it for me. I guess the real question is when.
Comments
Originally posted by DHagan4755
you can expect the regular PowerBook refresh in the spring (April/May).
According to the currently available information, the most one can expect regarding powerbook updates for the next 6 months or so, is what DHagan4755 said: a regular spring update. However, it is difficult to believe that Apple will update e.g. the 17" powerbook from 1.33 GHz to just 1.42 GHz (less than 7% but possible). It seems that the most powerful G4 available today clocks at 1.42 GHz and there is little, if anything, known for its future.
and that productline hit its seeling in comparision to the powerbook next april albeit they boost the powerbook line before that.
so new powerbooks before april. like DHagan4755 said.
I have said before that i think the next PB rev will be a g4, not a g5. With all the rumours of what IBM is doing with the g5 and the fact that the apple tech who repaired my white spotted screen said that apple seems to be preparing to put a g5 in the lap PBs, i am beginning to thikn that the next rev will be a g5. He explained that the new fans are way better than what was in the TiBooks and he believes this is in preperation for the heat of a g5.
Also, with the g4 iBooks being so close the powerbooks in terms of performance, i cant' see apple keeping the g4 in its consumer line for much longer.
Originally posted by Cosmo
Also, with the g4 iBooks being so close the powerbooks in terms of performance, i cant' see apple keeping the g4 in its consumer line for much longer.
agreed upon...
Originally posted by shabbasuraj
agreed upon...
actually i don't agree, now that i see my own typo
i think the g4 will stay in the consumer line for a while longer (maybe a year or two (MAX))
i meant to say that i don't see apple keeping the g4 in its pro line for much longer
(you all know what i meant anyway, right?)
If 2003 was the "year of the laptop", 2004 is certain to be dubbed the year of the G5 by Steve. iMacs with G5s soon and G5 towers getting significant speed increases is a given, but I'm really interested to watch how the Powerbook line evolves. I'm sure that the appropriate tradeshow crowd will go nuts whenever Apple rolls out G5 Powerbooks, as the level of sheer anticipation will be quite high.
All of the above said, the really interesting stuff is going to be Apple's approach to the enterprise market. G5 Xserves will be cool, seeing dual 3GHz G5 desktop boxes around summer 2004 will blow most people away, but I'm the most interested to see the overall developments in the business sector for 2004. It's a sure bet that the constant stream of security vulnerabilities and virus updates in the Windows world is slowly driving sys admins nuts, so I personally see a great deal of potential for Apple to start making serious inroads into the business market.
Also worth mentioning that a couple of traditional corporate PC vendors have done a fair bit of ball dropping recently (*cough* HP *cough*)...
Originally posted by Cosmo
actually i don't agree, now that i see my own typo
i think the g4 will stay in the consumer line for a while longer (maybe a year or two (MAX))
i meant to say that i don't see apple keeping the g4 in its pro line for much longer
(you all know what i meant anyway, right?)
Two more years with the G4 would be beyond idiotic. Everything in Apple's lineup should move to G5's as soon as possible.
Motorola is preparing a next-generation two-core G4-class PowerPC processor,[..]
The chip, as yet unnamed - at least in public - will contain two PowerPC cores with AltiVec, Motorola's SIMD engine. It will also contain its own memory controller, capable of connecting to DDR and DDR 2 SDRAM, according to documents seen by The Register. [..]
As one presentation says: "We are putting a dual core PowerPC on our roadmap," and that a "high performance dual core is on our roadmap in a manufacturing process that provides a cost-effective solution." That suggests a 100nm as per the G4+ or, more likely, 90nm process .
The chip is some way off, with a 2004 appearance at the earliest.
From an article appearing in The Register back in April 03.
Since Apple execs have repeatedly gone on record stating that G5 in a mobile computer is some time away and since Moto despite their miserable situation surely did see the blow coming when IBM featured their 970 a year ago, this is what I would consider a likely scenario:
Powerbook 15" and 17" going single-processor/dual-core in March/April with a native DDR-interface and an optimized chipset. Of course, Moto could just fvck up again and Apple has to release a 1.44 Ghz stopgap generation until they can hack together a gen1 Powerbook G5 based on the 970+/980.
Originally posted by Jim Paradise
Two more years with the G4 would be beyond idiotic. Everything in Apple's lineup should move to G5's as soon as possible.
i agree with you, but i don't think they can put a g5 in the consumer line until the entire pro line has finished the move to g5s. If apple cannot get the g5 into the PowerBook until next summer, then they won't be able to start moving the consumer line to g5s until then.
Considering apple has been using the g4, for what, 4 years now and they only recently switched the ibook to a g4 processor, i don't think it is unrealistic to imagine apple using a g4 in at least some of its consumer products for at least another year, maybe two
hopefully ibm will come through and by this time next year the transition to the g5 (6?) will be complete, but i still believe that to be an optimistic prediction.
A single G5 has a higher degree of parallelism than a dual G4, though to handle multiple simultaneous threads will require SMT. Will Apple/IBM put SMT into the 90NM 970? Who knows, but it will be a better utilization of the high degree of parallelism in the G5 and a better alternative to a dual core G4. The biggest problem with the G4 is the FSB constraint, and Motorola doesn't seem to have a plan to take the G4 FSB to 400MHz which is currently necessary. The G5 gets there pretty easily. The rumor is that the 90NM 970 has a built in memory controller and a larger L2 cache, well we will see. But if it is true, performance will take another significant bump up even without an increase in frequency. Too, with more of a SOC approach, the Powerbook will require less support chips, it will also have a smaller 90NM ASIC controller with less transistors. Bus Slewing and voltage will be controlled automatically by the processor using PowerTune along with dynamic shutdown of whole portions of the 970. Enabling 1.4 - 2GHz Powerbook G5's to really sizzle at cooler temperatures.
It is very unlikely we will see a G5 in a power book in January or even the spring. I'd be shocked if they could get the power usage into the range a portable needs and still run at a decent clock rate. We are talking like a 75% drop in power used. I won't say it impossible but on the other hand it would be a magnificant jump in the family.
A faster G4 is a very good possibility and if cuopled with the reight memory and frontside bus improvements has excellent potential. The fact that it is potentials and not a reality does indicate the issue with Motorola, if they have the ability to rev the G4 they have not let the cat out of the bag.
the issues you have mentioned will hopefully be resolved by the time you look to buy so hopfully you won't have to gamble there. by that time of the year you will not want a G4 running at less than 1.6GHz in a laptop. You could very well go out and buy a PowerBook in a few weeks and hopefully get the engineering revs to correct some of the problems as things like the display issues can not be delayed fix wise.
there are also rumors going around that Apple and IBM are working on a laptop specific processors. So maybe we won't get either the 970 nor the G4.
Dave
Originally posted by SDW2001
I looked through the topic list but didn't see this. I am probably going to be in the market next spring...depending on how my AAPL stock is doing. My Pismo will be 4 full years old and is getting long in the tooth...as MOSR would say.
I would hope for this:
When: Spring 2004
What: ---PPC G4 topping out at 1.5GHZ
---Fixes in production control/screens/hinges, etc (I'd be going
for a 15")
---Top clock speed available for 15" model
---5400 RPM drive standard
So mostly a nice speed bump with some fixes. That would do it for me. I guess the real question is when.
SMT, while a good way to increase the performance of a processor, is not in any way competition for SMP implementations. Beyond that a dual processor offers its own potential methods for power savings. Now I'd love to see a 970 or dirivative in a PB, I'm just not going to hold my breath. 32 bit processors should be much more effiecent for the foreseeable future.
With Apple well known issues with its 32 bit supplier we could see them take drastic action such as a 970 in a laptop. But unless they have made tremendous strides in performance it does seem unlikely at least in January.
Dave
Originally posted by stingerman
Dual core G4 doesn't make any sense, since a single G5 would be easier to put into a PB even at 130NM, but we do expect the 90NM sometime in 2004. When, well who knows? Apple isn't saying till the day they release it.
A single G5 has a higher degree of parallelism than a dual G4, though to handle multiple simultaneous threads will require SMT. Will Apple/IBM put SMT into the 90NM 970? Who knows, but it will be a better utilization of the high degree of parallelism in the G5 and a better alternative to a dual core G4. The biggest problem with the G4 is the FSB constraint, and Motorola doesn't seem to have a plan to take the G4 FSB to 400MHz which is currently necessary. The G5 gets there pretty easily. The rumor is that the 90NM 970 has a built in memory controller and a larger L2 cache, well we will see. But if it is true, performance will take another significant bump up even without an increase in frequency. Too, with more of a SOC approach, the Powerbook will require less support chips, it will also have a smaller 90NM ASIC controller with less transistors. Bus Slewing and voltage will be controlled automatically by the processor using PowerTune along with dynamic shutdown of whole portions of the 970. Enabling 1.4 - 2GHz Powerbook G5's to really sizzle at cooler temperatures.
I have this little inkling that we will see something in January. I mean, if they are going to put it in an iMac, they can put it in a PowerBook. The move to aluminum cases was not mere cost-saving aesthetics, either. Then this combined with the rumors about varous cooling techologies being looked into...well, it can go several different ways.
But really, Apple has built up quite a mountain of progress this year. To see the PowerBooks stagnate for another year would be bad, and I know people are going to say, "Oh, please! They're fast enough for most people!!" Yes, I know. I used my 350 G3 the other day the first time in a long time -- my 867MHz G4 seems QUITE nice now. But business is business --- and right now, as attractive as OS X is, people buying laptops want the numbers, regardless of how hideous or heavy it might be.
Wow, I think we can tag that as the earliest "what should I get for college next year" thread ever!
Hey, since I am in full admissions mode right now, might as well think about what I am going to bring.