PPC 970 XServe Demo at MWSF

fahlman · December 19, 2002 1:25PM

**PURE SPECULATION** Apple will demo an XServe based on the PPC 970 at MWSF. They have had test parts for sometime. There will be an announcement that pre-orders will be taken and they will ship in limited quantities this summer. Due to the limited sales of the XServe line this would not be hard to do.

[ 12-19-2002: Message edited by: fahlman ]

matsu · December 19, 2002 1:49PM

Unless a significant G4 speed bump combined with a price drop hits the towers at MWSF, desktop and pro sales will go into stasis sometime in mid Q1'03. If there's any chance of shipping limited quantities of PPC970 then they may as well demo it and take pre-orders 'cause ain't nobody gonna buy even DP1.5Ghz G4's unless they cost about 200-500 less across the board from highest to lowest.

krassy · December 19, 2002 2:39PM

[quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

Unless a significant G4 speed bump combined with a price drop hits the towers at MWSF, desktop and pro sales will go into stasis sometime in mid Q1'03. If there's any chance of shipping limited quantities of PPC970 then they may as well demo it and take pre-orders 'cause ain't nobody gonna buy even DP1.5Ghz G4's unless they cost about 200-500 less across the board from highest to lowest.<hr></blockquote>

hmm.. right.. i'd buy a dual 1.5Ghz for a price between the low end and high end tower... in case this would not happen i have to wait until the 970 arrives :-)

drboar · December 19, 2002 2:43PM

I agre with Matsu

A 970 server would kill tower sales as everybody would wait for the 970 towers. Unless Motorola suddenly can maufacture G4s in the same speedrange (1.5-2.0 GHz)...

My guess is also that there will be no 970 upgrades for earlier computers due to the large differences in bus design. I will save my pennies until the 970 is out

matsu · December 19, 2002 2:53PM

[quote]Originally posted by Krassy:



hmm.. right.. i'd buy a dual 1.5Ghz for a price between the low end and high end tower... in case this would not happen i have to wait until the 970 arrives :-)<hr></blockquote>

Isn't quoting fun? If a 1.5Ghz G4 materialized I don't think it'd be for other than the high end. At the same price as the current 1.25. Resulting in something like DP1ghz DP1.25ghz and DP1.5ghz for the PM's. Or maybe SP1.5Ghz, DP1.25, and DP1.5ghz. If Apple were going to stretch the SP consumer machines into the same Mhz reaches as their DP pro machines they wouldhave done it already. Methinks they might be afraid that buyers see a SP1.25 iMac as faster than a DP867-1Ghz. If the bottom powermac adopted an SP config of the fastest PPC they can find, mebbe they'd be less reluctant to stretch the iMac up to whatever high-end G4 they've got ready. That way buyers don't juxtapose 1.25 iMacs vs 867 PM's (even if it's DP) or 1.5 vs 1Ghz (DP again, assuming G4 bumps are ready).

Whatever happens in PM land, we can only assume that the iMacs will live with G4's for some time. With a 200Mhz FSB (and hopefully some L3 cache) .13u G4's in the 1.2-1.8Ghz range wouldn't be so bad.

Back to my pre-rambling point about PM's. If the price points are the same, 1.5 isn't going to entice to many buyers in the pro leagues. They ploded along this far and will wait it out for 970's which by most accounts, with heavy hinting from IBM, will be ready to go by Q3. However, if PM's suddenly sprouted 200-500USD cheaper configs, then sales would stay brisk because a deal is a deal, G4 or not.

krassy · December 19, 2002 3:03PM

[quote]Originally posted by Matsu:



Back to my pre-rambling point about PM's. If the price points are the same, 1.5 isn't going to entice to many buyers in the pro leagues. They ploded along this far and will wait it out for 970's which by most accounts, with heavy hinting from IBM, will be ready to go by Q3. However, if PM's suddenly sprouted 200-500USD cheaper configs, then sales would stay brisk because a deal is a deal, G4 or not.<hr></blockquote>

yes of course - quoting is fun... ok - if you're words are heard by stevie jobie than the 1.25GHz dual would at the price point where i'd buy a new mac... but: not at the performance-level that i want at this price... Q3 will be the good one for me to buy i think...

[ 12-19-2002: Message edited by: Krassy ]

lemon bon bon · December 19, 2002 3:38PM

"Unless a significant G4 speed bump combined with a price drop hits the towers at MWSF, desktop and pro sales will go into stasis sometime in mid Q1'03."

I like that. I've never heard the 'power'Mac sales described as pending 'Stasis' before.

(Heck, haven't they been in 'Stasis' for some time now? Much like the G4

!)

With the 970 around the corner? You'd have to be nuts...

Lemon Bon Bon

fryke · December 19, 2002 7:03PM

Okay... we're seeing product cycles of about 6 months at Apple nowadays. PowerMacs will be updated 01 or 02 2003. We'll then see another upgrade 09 or 10 2003. The PowerPC 970 will only be used in 2004 (earliest), as production won't be ready until the end of 2003. So Apple will provide two PM upgrades until PPC 970. Just talking high end, I think we'll see 1.4 GHz PPC 7457 soon, 1.6 GHz PPC 7457 in Autumn and then, well: Either 1.8 GHz 970 or 7457-RM.

scott · December 19, 2002 8:29PM

This is not going to happen. Apple might have a demo of a 970 XServe at the Developers conference but not at a users Expo. Apple wont take preorders for something that might ship in 6 months. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />

matsu · December 19, 2002 8:32PM

PPC 970 macs will ship as soon as IBM ships them. Ain't no way Apple doesn't have hese babies working in a lab already. Mid 03, no later, unless they been scratching their asses over at infinite loop, god knows they haven't exactly been doing much in the hardware arena.

the mactivist · December 20, 2002 9:38AM

I'd think that the developer confernce (usually in april or something) would be a better place to demo a product that is aimed at IT, publishing, multimedia and research markets (IE, not consumers).

spiffyguyc · December 25, 2002 8:00AM

Maybe to potentially large clients behind closed doors. But who knows if Apple's even been given 970's stable enough to put together a demo at this point. They've learned their lessons from the past - no way will they pre-announce such a product 2 or more quarters before the product is supposed to even start manufacture. They'd be gutting their own sales and end up with a shitload of unsold inventory of current products. Exciting, but just not fiscally responsible - look what happened to Palm because they were overeager to get new products to market.

S

macluv · December 25, 2002 8:27AM

*** PURE SPECULATION ***

Pigs will fly at MWSF.

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

You guys and the 970...

[ 12-25-2002: Message edited by: MacLuv ]

bigc · December 25, 2002 12:18PM

[quote]Originally posted by fryke:

Okay... we're seeing product cycles of about 6 months at Apple nowadays. PowerMacs will be updated 01 or 02 2003. We'll then see another upgrade 09 or 10 2003. The PowerPC 970 will only be used in 2004 (earliest), as production won't be ready until the end of 2003. So Apple will provide two PM upgrades until PPC 970. Just talking high end, I think we'll see 1.4 GHz PPC 7457 soon, 1.6 GHz PPC 7457 in Autumn and then, well: Either 1.8 GHz 970 or 7457-RM.<hr></blockquote>

That sound reasonable to me. SJ did say they would have options. I'll take a 1.4Ghz 200 MHz FSB if they come out in Jan or Feb (probably late Jan as that seems to be tne norm now), that will be about 50% faster than my DP 1GHz DA QS. That will keep me to the second gen of the 970 or the 7457-RM. I assume they will use both a DP- RM and a high priced 970 for the renderers and movie guys (beyond my current needs)

[ 12-25-2002: Message edited by: Bigc ]

chucker · December 25, 2002 2:33PM

[quote]Originally posted by MacLuv:

*** PURE SPECULATION ***

Pigs will fly at MWSF.

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

You guys and the 970...

[ 12-25-2002: Message edited by: MacLuv ]<hr></blockquote>

PPC 970 XServe Demo at MWSF

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