[blizzard]

From a Mac OS Rumours report:

According to Apple internal documents passed on by a trusted source, the company recently laid plans to announce the addition of ATi's next-generation RADEON graphics accelerator and updated built-in accelerator chips on several of its models (largely the RAGE 4XL, a 128-bit unit similar to but significantly faster than the RAGE 128 PRO) at Apple Expo Paris, five days from now.

Now, ignoring the obvious distaste that various members of this forum seem to have towards MOSR, in this little tidbit of info lies the answer to one of my longstanding question, and the key to happiness for a number of iMac owners who wish for better game performance. It is a sure thing that the iMac will get this 4XL chip (when is up for debate) but at least now we all know what it is, no? And it looks like it will be a nice addition to the lineup, too. It should hopefully make the currently decent (arguably, even CAPABLE) iMac game machines even better.

There. I'm done. =)

Blizzard.

[Ca$h68]

hrm. I know we've talked about iMacs being game machines, but...


PC F*CKING I SLOTS DANGIT! OR AGP! EITHER! GIMMIE A FERAKING SLOT! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

Ca$h

haha...ca$h, heres what you can expect in replies to your posts...."well if you wanted expandibility, buy a G4 tower"....deja-vu...n'est pas ?

[Ca$h68]

Yeah. Here's my response:

A. Too expensive....

B. Too big....

C. Not portable...

D. Dont need that much expandability. Just want a good graphics card.

[blizzard]

We all know how you feel about the iMac and PCI slots, Ca$h. However, the somewhat sad fact is that, well, it ain't gonna happen. I was holding hope for something along those same lines before Macworld, but then Apple introduced the Power Mac G4 Cube, which fits all of the criteria you mentioned except for cost (which is also another big debate). So, now that the Cube is here, Apple obviously isn't gonna tinker with the iMac setup. My reasoning is that if they improve what they have then good for them. Plus, I imagine it would be difficult for them to justify putting an upgradeable video card in the base $799 iMac. Perhaps the DV SE, one might argue, but all the iMacs are built on exactly the same platform. Apple's boxed themselves in pretty tight. I just want to see what this Rage 4XL is made of. If it boosts game performance another 5 fps, then the iMac will be capable of around 45 fps, 640x480, max settings in Q3. That's G4 territory. Let's just wait and see how this pans out.

Blizzard.

[Ca$h68]

yeah, and thats just it. G4 territory is freaking PATHETIC. PAAAATTHHHEETTTIIICCCCC. They should bump up the iMacs video capabilities, sell a CRAP load of them, then realize the towers suck , and make htem better. I watched a $1200 PC push ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY frames per second on a Q3 timedemo. That was amazing.

Ca$h

It seems awfully soon for the iMac to get another upgrade. I suspect Apple will wait at least 9 months before upgrading the iMac again. I would love to see a better video card on the iMac, I might even buy an iMac if you could get it with a Radeon, but that's not going to happen.

I predict that Radeon will be BTO on the powermacs, and maybe the cube, but the iMacs will remain unchanged.



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Maybe Apple is waiting for a Radeon with an ADC connector?

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Why 1394 won't be like "1394".