Shall we start over?

banana nut bread · February 4, 2003 8:30AM

Given the massively underwhelming nature of today's iMac announcement, shall we now begin to speculate about the next revision?

Perhaps in the Fall Line we'll see the following:

1.25Ghz G4

133Mhz Bus

128Mb GeForce4 (Ti4200 chipset)

512Mb DDR RAM

17" LCD

4x Superdrive (slot load)

120Gb HD

Ethernet (10/100 works for me)

FW800

USB 2.0

56k modem

Bluetooth built in

Speakers

Keyboard/Mouse

Airport Extreme ready

$1599

Any takers at that price point?

powerpc · February 4, 2003 8:41AM

you don't get 1.25GHz on a 133Mhz bus.

Try again

[ 02-04-2003: Message edited by: PowerPC ]

banana nut bread · February 4, 2003 9:16AM

[quote]Originally posted by PowerPC:

you don't get 1.25GHz on a 133Mhz bus.

Try again

[ 02-04-2003: Message edited by: PowerPC ]<hr></blockquote>

Golly, I'm sorry. 9.5*133 = ~1.26Ghz then, if it makes you happy. Sorry for rounding down, didn't realize this group was so massively picky...

o and a · February 4, 2003 10:08AM

well if g5 comes out at a top of 1.8ghz for the fall then imacs should have 1.2ghz for sure maybe more maybe dual. depends on cost i guess. we'll see...i think 1.2 might just be a little too real for me i like being a tad optimistic.

pscates · February 4, 2003 10:13AM

Has Apple, in nearly five years of having iStuff, ever bumped the speed - in one fell swoop - 200+MHz?

I think it's more likely that they'll stay at 1GHz for some time to come (all of 2003 to be exact). Hell, they went 13 months with them all at 800MHz (okay, this ONE time - going from 800MHz to 1GHz - because it was so damn long and overdue, I guess).

But I seriously doubt that in six months or so there will magically appear a 1.25GHz iMac. I think it'll get FireWire 800 and a wireless keyboard/mouse before it goes beyond 1GHz.

octane · February 4, 2003 10:29AM

Especially since Steve-o said Apple is concentrating on notebooks, "2003--the year of the notebook" from MWSF.

gar · February 4, 2003 10:42AM

[quote]Originally posted by Banana Nut Bread:

Given the massively underwhelming nature of today's iMac announcement, shall we now begin to speculate about the next revision?

<hr></blockquote>

i don't think this update is underwelming. especially if you consider that the next revision will show up at mwny 2003.

but now something different considering an imac update in 5-7 months: a couple of months ago i read somewhere on a rumoursite that the 17" imac will be discontinued in june, what does that mean?

new imac with higher resolution 17" screens, an imac with a even larger screen than the current 17" or the discontinuation of the entire imac line?

addison · February 4, 2003 10:54AM

Loop Rumors has the iBook getting a G4 in May. What would be the difference between the 12" iBook and the PB's, not much. Unless the PB's and Pm's are going 970 at the same time, begining of June perhaps.

iMacs to get the 7457-rm earlynext year after the PM's have moved to the 970. The iMacs will never go dual IMO.

This would then give us avery logical line up.

PM & PB's 970.

iMacs 7457-RM

iBooks7457-RM

eMacs 7455

CRT iMac killed off.

Logical and all machines would have a preformace level that would not look silly against any PC's.

outsider · February 4, 2003 11:41AM

[quote]Originally posted by octane:

Especially since Steve-o said Apple is concentrating on notebooks, "2003--the year of the notebook" from MWSF.<hr></blockquote>

They said year of the portable, not notebook. Portable is more all-encompassing. If tablets make it big this year, that would be classified under portable as would a PDA sized unit too.

addison · February 4, 2003 11:53AM

I do not understand this facination with a keyboardless computer. It is a far quicker and more accurate method of entry than a pen.

No I think a Pad would sell worse than the illfated Cube, but I am sure it would be deemed cool here.

rickag · February 4, 2003 11:58AM

[quote]Originally posted by Addison:

iMacs to get the 7457-rm earlynext year <hr></blockquote>

It may be logical, but I personally would not count on a MPC7457-rm early next year, at all. The leaked Motorola roadmap originally showed it as a proposal. Slight chance this could have been a proposal Apple turned down.

Motorola in a press release, 10/17/01, said the MPC 8540(yes i know this is not a desktop cpu but uses much of the same technology) would be sampling the second half of 2002 and their customers are waiting waiting waiting waiting.

addison · February 4, 2003 12:10PM

[quote]Originally posted by rickag:



It may be logical, but I personally would not count on a MPC7457-rm early next year, at all. The leaked Motorola roadmap originally showed it as a proposal. Slight chance this could have been a proposal Apple turned down.

Motorola in a press release, 10/17/01, said the MPC 8540(yes i know this is not a desktop cpu but uses much of the same technology) would be sampling the second half of 2002 and their customers are waiting waiting waiting waiting.<hr></blockquote>

O.K. I'll go with that, then I guess we will get...

PM & PB's 970.

iMacs Gobi

iBooks Gobi

eMacs 7455

CRT iMac killed off.v

Does that sound better?

eman · February 4, 2003 2:09PM

[quote]Originally posted by Outsider:



They said year of the portable, not notebook. Portable is more all-encompassing. If tablets make it big this year, that would be classified under portable as would a PDA sized unit too.<hr></blockquote>

Really? I could've sworn he said notebook.

giant · February 4, 2003 2:36PM

[quote]Originally posted by EmAn:



Really? I could've sworn he said notebook.<hr></blockquote>

that's because he did

flounder · February 4, 2003 2:51PM

I will be in the market for an iMac this summer/fall so maybe this is whishfull thinking......

But I foresee the 970 in the powermacs causing a massive imac jump to:

1.42 Ghz G4

167 Mhz bus

1 meg L3

FW 800

64 meg radeon 9000

kurt · February 4, 2003 3:02PM

[quote]Originally posted by Flounder:

I will be in the market for an iMac this summer/fall so maybe this is whishfull thinking......

But I foresee the 970 in the powermacs causing a massive imac jump to:

1.42 Ghz G4

167 Mhz bus

1 meg L3

FW 800

64 meg radeon 9000<hr></blockquote>

I think you are right. These iMacs seem to be a bit of a stopgap until faster PowerMacs come out. I think there will be a much better speed bump before the end of the summer. Apple will not be waiting 13 months for the next update.

That being said, there is a very good chance I may buy one of these (17" 1GHz). I want a faster computer than my current B&W G3 until the 970's come out. My kids are young and next year the iMac will get handed down to them. It will still do what I want for now and will play the kind of games they are into. By the time they might want a gaming machine who knows what will be out there.

And yes I admit it, I don't really need a 970 but am enough of a geek that I want one.

algol · February 4, 2003 6:15PM

If you look over apples current lineup it really seams as if the whole thing is just a "stop gap" untill the PPC970 comes out. I'm not sure if even apples know exactly when they will get a hold of the 970. The way they have been updating things leads me to believe that none of the current models are expected to last more that 6 months. Some BIG updates later maybe. One can only hope...

tommybrando · February 5, 2003 1:27AM

[quote]Originally posted by pscates:

Has Apple, in nearly five years of having iStuff, ever bumped the speed - in one fell swoop - 200+MHz?

I think it's more likely that they'll stay at 1GHz for some time to come (all of 2003 to be exact). Hell, they went 13 months with them all at 800MHz (okay, this ONE time - going from 800MHz to 1GHz - because it was so damn long and overdue, I guess).

But I seriously doubt that in six months or so there will magically appear a 1.25GHz iMac. I think it'll get FireWire 800 and a wireless keyboard/mouse before it goes beyond 1GHz.<hr></blockquote>

When the G4 broke the deathgrip that 500 mhz had on it, it shot to 733 in one revision.

luca · February 5, 2003 1:49AM

And in August 2002, the PowerMac went from 1000 MHz to 1250 MHz, a 250 MHz jump. The most recent revision to the PowerMac brought it up by 170 MHz (not too impressive).

The most recent iMac update was a 200 MHz gain. The last PowerBook speed bump was also a 200 MHz gain. 200 MHz jumps are pretty much the norm now, because as clock speeds increase, every added MHz is a smaller percent gain. The recent 100 MHz additions to the iBook have been somewhat disappointing on paper but the iBook is still a very nice computer.

Year of the portable/notebook? Steve can say notebook because none of Apple's portables/notebooks/laptops are so huge that they only qualify for "portable" status. Even the 6.8 lb 17" PowerBook is far lighter than the largest PC portables.

1.2 GHz fits onto a 133 MHz bus just fine. I expect the next iMac to be 1 GHz low end and 1.2 GHz high end. Apparently Apple's strategy is to put the eMac for the two lower price points and the iMac for the two higher ones, so they'll probably continue. Next eMacs will get a new style motherboard, with Airport Extreme, 133 MHz bus, DDR, etc. Hopefully we'll see FireWire 800 on at least the top end iMac next time. I hope, I hope... and better graphics. Radeon 9000 high end, GeForce 4MXs for the rest. Still disappointing, but much better than now.

spartacus · February 5, 2003 2:51AM

Apple need the 970 by this summer. How can I push my director to buy a pricy Mac if there is no big advantage in performace between Wintel and Mac?

I know that there's MacOS X ,etc. But for price of a low end PM(2*1,2GHz) you can get a 2,5+ Wintel.

My suggestion for this summer is:

PM 970 at 1,4 / 1,6 / 1,8

iMac G4 at 1 / 1,2 / 1,4

PB G4 all 1,2 (high specs like 167Mhz or 200 FSB)

iBook G4 1 (low specs like 100Mhz)

PB 970 for jan 2004

Apple needs those specs to compete in performance with Wintel. And my boss will sure buy one of the PM.

It's not too optimistic I think. Now Apple pushed the 2X processors but I think they will have difficulties to offer 2x at the same price of todays PM. Think Workstation for video&3D&Science.

rickag · February 5, 2003 8:18AM

Addison

I honestly have no clue what will be in Apple computers. I'm just very skeptical of anything from Motorola for the desktop market. They make great embedded, networking, communication etc. chips, heck they've won awards, but well you know the rest. <img src="embarrassed.gif" border="0">

Shall we start over?

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