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Kenstee · May 30, 2003, 10:19 AM

Got your credit card out and ready for the upcoming "new" 970? Well, you might want to put it back in your wallet...

From Macosrumors:

If you think the POWER4-based PowerPC 970 is impressive, just wait for its cousin from the POWER5 family -- the IBM PowerPC 980. It will reach 4.5GHz-5.0GHz+, support system busses even more incredible than the 970's 6.4GB/s FSB, include a much more powerful Altivec unit, a high-performance on-board memory controller, and countless other improvements that will mean performance levels well in excess of ten times today's. The best part is, the 980 is currently scheduled for only a little over a year from now. Of course that could very well slip...but so far, IBM has executed its timetables for the 970 extremely well -- no more opposite a story could be imagined from what we have seen out of Motorola for the past five years. Expect IBM to deliver very well on its promises to Apple to lift the company out of its hardware performance quagmire in the next two years. There can be no question, based on the very happy mood we've seen in Cupertino recently....the performance equation is going to be tipping quite rapidly and quite clearly in Apple's direction post-haste.

chabig · May 30, 2003, 12:06 PM

We won't see the Power5 based processors in a Mac until 2005 at the earliest. And of course, there will be something better after that.

It's no surprise that computers in the future will be more powerful than computers today. That's no reason to put off buying a computer. If you follow that logic, you'd never buy a computer.

Chris

iDaver · May 30, 2003, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by chabig:
That's no reason to put off buying a computer. If you follow that logic, you'd never buy a computer.

I don't agree, necessarily. If you're pretty sure you can get a computer in a few months that is twice as fast as what you can get today for about the same money, and you can wait, by all means, wait. There are times that waiting makes more sense than other times, certainly.

iWrite · May 30, 2003, 01:35 PM

Do you walk back and forth to work?

You must, because there's always a newer and faster car coming out "in a few months" with better gas mileage and features.

tikki · May 30, 2003, 01:49 PM

Originally posted by iDaver:
I don't agree, necessarily. If you're pretty sure you can get a computer in a few months that is twice as fast as what you can get today for about the same money, and you can wait, by all means, wait.

Then why don't you wait a few MORE months after that, and then a few MORE months after that...

you get my point.

besides, is mosr. They have **** for credibility.

iDaver · May 30, 2003, 02:29 PM

Originally posted by tikki:
Then why don't you wait a few MORE months after that, and then a few MORE months after that...

you get my point.

Oh, I see your point. I'm just saying it's good to make an informed decision, based partly on rumors (whether reliable or not) and on historic product upgrade cycles.

For instance, I think anyone who follows the Mac web would be foolish to buy a PowerMac right now, unless they really have to have one RIGHT NOW.

Eug · May 30, 2003, 03:03 PM

As has been rehashed several times in this sub-forum, it's rather unlikely a PowerBook with the PPC 970 will appear soon. While I might wait until July to buy a PB, I wouldn't expect it to be anything other than a G4.

OTOH, I wouldn't be shocked that July may bring a PPC 970 PowerMac. That said, I still favour a PPC 970 based PowerMac coming out later.