Apple is aggressively going to update soon
I have it under good authority that Apple will be updating most of their product lines at or before the WWDC.
Towers will be first with the introduction for the first time into the lineup, 90 nm 970FX's. Speeds are widely spaced at 2.0 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and 3.0 GHz. The last specimens I saw were all dual processors but this is something that may change. They also had a wider range of ratios, spanning integer and half integer rations between 2 and 6.Their motherboards are different, as they have a new main controller. the new controller has support for the DDR-2 SDRAM running at speeds of 266MHz. This translates to a 533 MHz part. One change will be that they will no longer need to be added in pairs on the low end motherboard. the high end motherboard will support dual channel memory however.
Of more drastic importance is the PCI-Express architecture that will eliminate AGP from the board. Most systems I saw had ATI Radeon 9800 chipset on a PCI-Express card, but they (ATI) will not ship a PCI-Express version of the 9800. I believe the 9900 will be the first to use PCI-Express as the connection method.
Both limited supply of DDR-2 RAM and the PCI-Express parts from ATI and Nvidea are believed to be responsible for the delays in the PowerMacs.
PowerBooks are expected to be updated to the G5 at WWDC in June using the 970FXe, a lower power version of the 970FX. Speeds will be 1.5 GHz and 2.0 GHz using an advanced form of variable speed control that can throttle the CPU to one fourth it's rated speed one moment and run up to full speed a moment later. It can do this in 50 x (the ratio) MHz increments. The system controller is a collaboration between ATI and Apple. It contains a 9800 core with 64 MB of VRAM (with pads on the board to support an extra 64 MB), a DDR-1 memory controller, and a HT controller to a secondary controller with the rest of the i/o. The motherboard has 512 MB of system RAM soldered on with 2 slots open. I have only seen 15" & 17" screens in plastic laptop cases meant to conceal it's design or dimensions.
iMacs & iBooks may be updated as soon as in the next few weeks. They are to be updated with 7457 and 7447 processors in the range of 1 GHz and 1.25 GHz on the iBook and 1.25 GHz and 1.5GHz for the iMac. The iMac is in generic tower casing, suggesting a change in enclosure.
Towers will be first with the introduction for the first time into the lineup, 90 nm 970FX's. Speeds are widely spaced at 2.0 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and 3.0 GHz. The last specimens I saw were all dual processors but this is something that may change. They also had a wider range of ratios, spanning integer and half integer rations between 2 and 6.Their motherboards are different, as they have a new main controller. the new controller has support for the DDR-2 SDRAM running at speeds of 266MHz. This translates to a 533 MHz part. One change will be that they will no longer need to be added in pairs on the low end motherboard. the high end motherboard will support dual channel memory however.
Of more drastic importance is the PCI-Express architecture that will eliminate AGP from the board. Most systems I saw had ATI Radeon 9800 chipset on a PCI-Express card, but they (ATI) will not ship a PCI-Express version of the 9800. I believe the 9900 will be the first to use PCI-Express as the connection method.
Both limited supply of DDR-2 RAM and the PCI-Express parts from ATI and Nvidea are believed to be responsible for the delays in the PowerMacs.
PowerBooks are expected to be updated to the G5 at WWDC in June using the 970FXe, a lower power version of the 970FX. Speeds will be 1.5 GHz and 2.0 GHz using an advanced form of variable speed control that can throttle the CPU to one fourth it's rated speed one moment and run up to full speed a moment later. It can do this in 50 x (the ratio) MHz increments. The system controller is a collaboration between ATI and Apple. It contains a 9800 core with 64 MB of VRAM (with pads on the board to support an extra 64 MB), a DDR-1 memory controller, and a HT controller to a secondary controller with the rest of the i/o. The motherboard has 512 MB of system RAM soldered on with 2 slots open. I have only seen 15" & 17" screens in plastic laptop cases meant to conceal it's design or dimensions.
iMacs & iBooks may be updated as soon as in the next few weeks. They are to be updated with 7457 and 7447 processors in the range of 1 GHz and 1.25 GHz on the iBook and 1.25 GHz and 1.5GHz for the iMac. The iMac is in generic tower casing, suggesting a change in enclosure.
Comments
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
Sounds reasonable to me.
lol thats such a cool gif
First he says he has it under good authority, then talks about the sytems he has seen. Well which is it? Did someone TELL you about this stuff or did you actually see it YOURSELF?
Originally posted by clonenode
It's all crap to me unless we get some kind of verification.
Off course, but at least it's better than something big this way comes on...Tuesday. Time will tell.
Look into your computer screen, directly, and out through our's, closer..... closer...... now say you promise this isn't just your theories or predictions, but promise that this is near-factual information. We know where you live.
-By the way Welcom to Apple Insider...
I just want the PowerBook G5s before I got to university in the autumn... Universiollge.
- There is no Radeon "9900", the next graphics cards (PCI-Express) from Ati will be called the X800 Pro and the X800 XT.
- When Apple sticks it's most stylish desktop computer into a generic case, Bush will be awarded the Nobel Prize for peacekeeping and people's faces will turn into butt-cracks just like in that South Park episode.
Another thing, I love it when the rumor-posters leave only one post!!! Come back and post more, lead the discussion. Don't WIMP OUT!!!!
OK PEOPLE LIGHT THIS THREAD UP!!!
1 - I don't see Apple changing the iMac enclosure BEFORE they turn it into the iMac G5. If it's just another G4 speed bump, the enclosure should stay the same. Going G5 in a new enclosure simultaneously seems more Apple-like.
2 - If the PowerMacs are going to be 2 to 3 GHz, and the PowerBooks are going to be 1.5 to 2 GHz, then I don't see why the iMac would remain a G4. The G5 1.5 chip would be perfectly reasonable, and would not encroach on PowerMac/PowerBook sales. Anything less than a G5 in the iMac is not going to revive sales of the line.
3 - If the iMac were to move to G5, then the iBooks and eMacs could both use the 1.5 GHz G4 chips. Then NONE of Apple's machines would be slower than 1.5 GHz chips, and that would be good for advertising and consumer perception.
Oh well...I'm not saying the previous info is wrong. These issues are more my opinion of what Apple SHOULD do...not what they will necessarily do.
-- Ensoniq
you have until 2pm EST on tuesday april 13 to verify that you're not full of shit.
if you are for real, ignore this and welcome to AI!
Originally posted by FormerLurker
Dorsal Lives!
Not quite the parallel i'd draw just yet. Dorsal came back and answered questions. Dorsal's info was confirmed when updates came. Neither of these things has happened yet.
Hopefully this stuff is real. Hopefully this is another Dorsal, or even Worker Bee. (err maybe not worker bee, because if such is the case, we won't be seeing SPF Jeff again)
cheers.
Originally posted by Cosmo
Not quite the parallel i'd draw just yet. Dorsal came back and answered questions. Dorsal's info was confirmed when updates came. Neither of these things has happened yet.
Hopefully this stuff is real. Hopefully this is another Dorsal, or even Worker Bee. (err maybe not worker bee, because if such is the case, we won't be seeing SPF Jeff again)
cheers.
Dorsal was so full of shit it was crazy. He would post about the boxes he supposedly received, and yet what came out was so vastly different. You can't say he was confirmed. Surprisingly (wink wink) he disappeared after the G5s came out, and they were 100% nothing like what he was "working" with (MOT G5s...PC2700...266MHz Bus...)
Even his old "info" was suspect. While he was fairly accurate about the speeds of the quicksilvers, his motherboard predictions didn't pan out. Dorsal's posts were always just vague enough to be true.