Whats Coming??....Predictions.
Hey all,
I've been reading all of the postings lately with great interest and have decided to start a prediction thread. Of course many are floating around and many will follow, but I have my own ideas of things to come, so here goes:
PowerMac Update:
Single 2.3 Ghz G5 970MP (dual core) $1799
Dual 2.3 Ghz 970MP $2299
Dual 2.5 Ghz 970MP $2799
Dual 3.0 Ghz 970MP $3299
Upgraded systems (i.e. X800 graphics, 2 or 3 400 GB drives, Dual Layer perhaps, although I think Apple will wait until it is more commonplace, maybe more RAM, etc)
Tiger & Tiger Server
iMac Update:
2.0 Ghz G5 17 inch iMac $1299
2.3 Ghz G5 17 inch iMac $1499
2.3 Ghz G5 20 inch iMac $1899
I know people are asking for a 23 inch iMac, but I don't think you'll see one. I think the following is much more likely:
Displays Update:
23 inch Cinema HD $1299
30 inch Cinema HD $2199
44 inch Cinema HD $3499
I don't expect new Powerbooks till MWSF 2006.
I've been reading all of the postings lately with great interest and have decided to start a prediction thread. Of course many are floating around and many will follow, but I have my own ideas of things to come, so here goes:
PowerMac Update:
Single 2.3 Ghz G5 970MP (dual core) $1799
Dual 2.3 Ghz 970MP $2299
Dual 2.5 Ghz 970MP $2799
Dual 3.0 Ghz 970MP $3299
Upgraded systems (i.e. X800 graphics, 2 or 3 400 GB drives, Dual Layer perhaps, although I think Apple will wait until it is more commonplace, maybe more RAM, etc)
Tiger & Tiger Server
iMac Update:
2.0 Ghz G5 17 inch iMac $1299
2.3 Ghz G5 17 inch iMac $1499
2.3 Ghz G5 20 inch iMac $1899
I know people are asking for a 23 inch iMac, but I don't think you'll see one. I think the following is much more likely:
Displays Update:
23 inch Cinema HD $1299
30 inch Cinema HD $2199
44 inch Cinema HD $3499
I don't expect new Powerbooks till MWSF 2006.
Comments
For iBooks, I'd like to see an upgrade to 1.5 GHz, 512 mb RAM and possibly a better video card. (I'm not to knowledgeable about video cards.) I'd also like the PowerBook to be a G5 with 1 GB of ram if possible. That's what I would like.
Dual 2.5 Ghz 970MP $2799
23 inch Cinema HD $1299
or
30 inch Cinema HD $2199
Mmm... mmm... good.
BZ
Powermac 2.5Ghz Dual 970MP(yes Quad Core)
1GB of RAM 400GB hd(3 SATA Bays now)
Dual Gigabit TOE ports.
Dual Layer Superdrive
FW 400/800
PCI Express/PCI-X hybrid
Nvidia 6200 PCI Express card
Bluetooth 2.0 Standard
$2999
Powermac 2.5Ghz 970MP
1000MB RAM 250GB hd
Gigabit FW 400/800
PCI Express
6200 PCI Express card
$2499
Powermac 2.3Ghz 970MP
512MB Ram 160GB hd
Gigabit FW 400/800
PCI Express
6200 PCI Express
$1999
Powermac 2Ghz
512MB Ram 160GB hd
Gigabit FW 400/800
PCI Express
6200 PCI Express
$1499
He does show the low-end model staying with a single 970. If that's the case, chances are it'll be the old AGP motherboard as well.
2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
80 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
100 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.5 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9800XT
160 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 3.0 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
ATI X800 (maybe?)
200 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Airport Extreme and Bluetooth
thats my thoughts, who knows what they'll actually do
I have a PowerMac G5 1.6 Ghz with 1.5 GB Ram and the 5200 Ultra vid card, along with the old 20 inch Cinema and I have been very happy with performance overall.
I do a lot of rendering in my work so I'd like to upgrade to a dual config, but I'm waiting for the update.
I would love to see Apple release something that would just bury the hardware on the PC side, that would be cool, but like most people here I use a Mac for OSX and stability and am generally happy with what is available.
I think something is definitely going to happen before September with the display line. HD on all models and hopefully a new high-end model, and the elimination of the 20 inch, effectively bringing prices down to compete with Dell and the like.
Powermac G5 quad processor 3ghz each. 300 gig HD, 16x dual layer superdrive with LightScribe, 1gig RAM, Video card for 30"+ sizes, displays dual support.
40" plus HD cinema displays.
PowerBook G5 3ghz single processor. 20" inch display with HD resolution, 100gb HD, expandable to second HD, 1gig RAM expandable to 3gig, 16X dual layer superdrive with LightScribe.
Ipod 80gig, with camera connector and AV output to connect with tv to play movies.
Apple DVR solution with HD capabilities and software like Iphoto for videos.
Oh... wishful thinking
Marketing.. there is no way of making a distinction in peoples minds between a "dual 2.5" and a "dual, dual core 2.5"
Apple will have to think if a name for the dual core chips and market them that way. So unless the G5 is to go bye bye there will not be a dual core release
exhibit_13 has it right I think with this.
2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
80 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
100 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.5 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9800XT
160 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 3.0 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
ATI X800 (maybe?)
200 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Airport Extreme and Bluetooth
j.
well no, two things :P
lower prices!!
an audio app like adobe audition
Originally posted by exhibit_13
2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
80 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.3 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9600XT
100 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 2.5 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
Radeon 9800XT
160 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Dual 3.0 GHz G5
512 mb RAM
ATI X800 (maybe?)
200 GB SATA HD
Dual Layer Superdrive
Airport Extreme and Bluetooth
thats my thoughts, who knows what they'll actually do
My worst nightmares are of this exact lineup. What this tells me is that Apple isn't pushing to get up with AMD, and intel, and they are not that concerned with the overall appearance of their computers.
But actually this is exactly what I expect from Apple if they are content with what they offer, and how they get there with their product lines. If this lineup comes out (I imagine it will) it still appears they are careless, and could care less about suiting the needs and concerns of their core customers.
These machines would be considered outdated the day they were released.
-----------------------------
gugy, can you afford your list? What is it your ready to buy, is that it?
"What this tells me is that IBM isn't pushing to get up with AMD, and intel, and they are not that concerned with the overall appearance of their cpu's."
Either way, you don't know the specs of the MP proc... it could have 1mb l2 on-chip cache for each proc... and since it's MP it most likely will be on-die memory controller. Along with the faster FSB... how is that not keeping up? You can't say anything about clock speed, since AMD's 2005 road map doesn't even mention 3ghz. Let alone dual opteron 3ghz.
So how about you elaborate? Is it SLI you're worried about? That I can understand. But as far as processor speed, that looks pretty damn futuristic to me. You have to remember, we have the OS that allows MP in the first place... Windows isn't a very threaded based OS, Unix / Linux is. So even when MP comes out for pc (before longhorn) it won't have the buffs that the 970MP with OS X will have.
For several years Apple have been able to face the power from the wintel world and the mgherz gap thanks to their unique dual machines.
If they let the others come up with the same advantage it would be vey difficult for them.
The only way to keep up is to offer quad machine when the others have dual machines!!
Originally posted by onlooker
-----------------------------
gugy, can you afford your list? What is it your ready to buy, is that it?
I wish I could!
I would love to get the top of the line Powermac and a big display. I am just waiting for the next upgrade. The powerbook could be really cool though.
Originally posted by johnrp
Just my opinion and I may be wrong but there will be no dual core machines.. why ?
Marketing.. there is no way of making a distinction in peoples minds between a "dual 2.5" and a "dual, dual core 2.5"
Apple will have to think if a name for the dual core chips and market them that way. So unless the G5 is to go bye bye there will not be a dual core release
That is poor logic. Just because you can't market something doesn't mean it can't be released. If it has a much higher performance than the previous chip then it will be released. The consumer not knowing what dual core means isn't going to stop amd and intel from releasing there's. The consumer must learn, just liked they learned what ram, hard drive space, and clock speed are. Now they will have to know that 2x2=4 cpus.
Besides that, most of the people that purchase powermacs know what it means. Powermac users are not joe schmoe usually... they have a profession and their powermac helps them do it on a daily basis. MOST people don't go out to spend 3000 dollars on a mac to play games.
At this time we have NAB, which means new pro apps that require Tiger, meaning that Tiger is close.
Then there is the education buying season coming up, which will focus on the eMac (yep, it'll still be there) and iBooks.
I look to WWDC for new PMs as I think that Apple and IBM will want as much time as possible to get things lined up. I have a feeling that Apple will want to see some faster (hopefully dual core) chips on hand before announcing a bump in the PM. My thinking is that the dual cores have a better chance than bumping up the current G5 chip.
I also think that PMs will get a bump before we see the over longed for G5 PB. Maybe Paris . . .
I also think that the iMac might get a bump to 2.0 before too long, but that it will not be part of a Keynote - just added to the Apple Store and let the boards and media spread the word.
I can relax a bit though as 2004 was the year of the Mac (and iPod) in terms of personal spending. When tiger comes out I'll have to get the family pack.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
this year is about software, not hardware. ask anyone who owns a decent G5 PowerMac and ask them if it's slow. It's not. So everyone whining about not having Quad processors just needs to shell out a few bucks. Sometimes I wish rumor sites didn't exist so people wouldn't get so caught up on technologies that probably won't be around for a while, or at least one Mac's. The point is, you don't need quad processors.
For certain values of "you."
There are, admittedly, people who don't need quad processors. They need as many as they can get their grubby little mitts on.
But you need to think long term here. The era of big single cores is ending. You'll see duals and quads increasingly for the simple reason that it makes more sense to go that way than to design and build some gigantic beast of a core on a 65nm process. The reasons are fairly arcane, but very real. Lots of relatively small, simple cores are the future.
So you'll see dual cores, and dual dual cores, and quad cores, and so on and so forth, more and more as the ability of any one core to scale up diminishes. This will happen over a period of years, of course, but the dual core CPUs coming down the pipeline are the beginning of a trend.
Originally posted by emig647
Um... how would dual 3.0 be outdated with an x800... what do you mean not keeping up with AMD and Intel... apple doesn't make the chips... IBM does...so what you mean is:
"What this tells me is that IBM isn't pushing to get up with AMD, and intel, and they are not that concerned with the overall appearance of their cpu's."
Either way, you don't know the specs of the MP proc... it could have 1mb l2 on-chip cache for each proc... and since it's MP it most likely will be on-die memory controller. Along with the faster FSB... how is that not keeping up? You can't say anything about clock speed, since AMD's 2005 road map doesn't even mention 3ghz. Let alone dual opteron 3ghz.
So how about you elaborate? Is it SLI you're worried about? That I can understand. But as far as processor speed, that looks pretty damn futuristic to me. You have to remember, we have the OS that allows MP in the first place... Windows isn't a very threaded based OS, Unix / Linux is. So even when MP comes out for pc (before longhorn) it won't have the buffs that the 970MP with OS X will have.
What I mean is they should have insisted on dual core from IBM last year at WWDC for this year, and they were willing to wait for it, thusly pushing IBM to move the ball forward as fast as possible with the MP processors, and let IBM know they need it to be that way. By the looks of it I think MP processors are a possibility. The list I quoted didn't mention the MP processors.
And then by outdated I mean that AGP is going to be gone weather anyone likes it or not. Apple would have a better appearance with legacy machines if they install it now like everyone else. Waiting is just making used Macs look outdated. So when the next version comes out these will be using old technology, and if they use PCI-E they still have great upgradability options for future graphics cards.