[tkmd]

As if you guys havent seen articles.these but I initially disregarded them. G5 all the way - but then I thought this chip (exxx) would be too easy of a fit in the PB. Why would Freescale spend the R and D and manufacturing costs to make this chip if Apple would not be a buyer that signed on already? I am not aware of any other use for a altivec enhanced chip other than Apple.

[iREZ]

I think these are the Rev D's everybody is already mentioning before the G5 comes out. 2GHz G4 or a 1.6 - 1.8 G5, hmmmm.......tough call but I'm more interested in the fact that when Moto was with Apple they sucked and now they're up to all this cool stuff, and when IBM was doing cool stuff they signed with Apple and now they're sucking. Hopefully IBM get's their act together and we see a G5 in the next PB but hey a 2GHz G4 is nothing to laugh at.

[rareflares]

i think it'll be a nice long while before we see a G5 Powerbook (at least another year or two). This basically confirms my thoughts.

Apple will probably use these Freescale chips for a good 2-3 revisions before using IBM's G5.

Not only is heat a problem with the G5 but so is power consumption/battery life. These dual-core G4's will do much better than a single G5 would performance-wise given that the FSB will increase.


Anyone got any prediction of when this revision will appear? I say late September to late October.

[manero]

Originally posted by rareflares:
Anyone got any prediction of when this revision will appear? I say late September to late October.

Sounds reasonable. The Cram & Jam rebate ends in September, too. Coincidence?

[iREZ]

Call me crazy (pause for people to say "YOUR CRAZY") but I'd like the next revision to be a G4 at 2GHz. It would have less problems due to it being the 4th Rev. and it would have plenty of power. The only downside I'd see is actually giving people a 2GHz G4 and then when the G5 come out, it'd only be at 1.8 which most people will b!tch and complain about.

[sniffer]

Well. We'll know more in october.

[SEkker]

From my now misplaced note...

Sure looks like there will be the possibility of at least 3 more upgrade paths for G4 powerbooks:

1) scale the current G4 to ~2GHz
2) Build a dual core G4 processor
3) Scale it to beyond 2GHz

This sure gives Apple and IBM plenty of time to get their low-power G5 CPUs ready. We might not see a G5 PB before IBM can make them low-power at >2GHz.

Apple will be working with Moto Jr for some time to come.

[Lateralus]

I for one am very excited to see that Freescale/Motorola is aggressively continuing development of the MPC74xx family and developing future G4-derived processors. It bodes very well for those of us with G4 towers, since we actually have something to look forward to down the line with processor upgrades.

[wuzup101]

I'd love to see a "mobile" chip like the Pentium-M. Something with a decent amount of kick but that allows for long battery life. Then again, a dual core G4 would be insane, especially with both cores running at nearly 2ghz! Anyway, the G5 can come in 3 years for all I care... it'll just make it easier for me to not feel outgunned. I can pretty much say that the next powerbook will definitely be a G5 and not the first rev either... wont happen for quite some time!

[EmmEff]

Originally posted by manero:
Sounds reasonable. The Cram & Jam rebate ends in September, too. Coincidence?

I had the exact same thought myself (after considering taking advantage of the Cram & Jam promo)... I'd like to see the 1.5GHz be put into the 12" PB since that's the model that I am looking to purchase. You guys spending the big $$$ on the 15" or 17" can have the new CPU

[StevenWRX]

i said screw the waiting.. placed my order for a new 1.5GHz 17"

[anamexis]

Just because the chip will be done does not necessarily mean we will see a Powerbook utilizing it just yet. I wouldn't be surprised if we have to wait until at least MacWorld SF to see the new Powerbooks.

[TheDrew]

Agree. We're aways away from new powerbooks.

Dual Core means new hardware chipset and new code for OSX to optimize, I think its a bit further out than just the completion of the chips. Let alone cooling and battery life for mobile solutions.

[cszar2001]

Originally posted by StevenWRX:
i said screw the waiting.. placed my order for a new 1.5GHz 17"

Way to go!
Should keep you happy for the next 2 years.

[SEkker]

This announcement has me even more convinced it will be well worth replacing the internal HD on this revA PB17. I really do not think we'll be seeing a G5 PB in less than 18 months, so I'm going to plan an update with a fast HD (I want the 100 GB model that's shipping OEM but not available retail) to hold me over.

Of course, that means that a week after it's installed, Apple will ship the 2 GHz G4 models...!

[StevenWRX]

Originally posted by cszar2001:
Way to go!
Should keep you happy for the next 2 years.

yessir, cant wait... should be here tomorrow.

[wuzup101]

Originally posted by SEkker:

Of course, that means that a week after it's installed, Apple will ship the 2 GHz G4 models...!

Yup that's how technology works ... they'll just go right to the G72 in the powerbooks... a mythical processor that just reads what your'e thinking and does everything faster than your brain ever could. lol... oh yeah and it'll be $500 cheaper for every PB... and 26 hrs of batt life w/ a 65x dvd+/-RW... DVD's will of course hold 30gigs so that you can back up all your data off of your 500gb 15000rpm internal drive...

[StevenWRX]

lol ^^^



my new 17" is "out for delivery"

w00t!

[SEkker]

Hey, an external 30 GB DVD burner is available now (for a mere $3k/drive!)

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by manero:
Sounds reasonable. The Cram & Jam rebate ends in September, too. Coincidence?

yes it is a coincidence.

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by wuzup101:
Yup that's how technology works ... they'll just go right to the G72 in the powerbooks... a mythical processor that just reads what your'e thinking and does everything faster than your brain ever could. lol... oh yeah and it'll be $500 cheaper for every PB... and 26 hrs of batt life w/ a 65x dvd+/-RW... DVD's will of course hold 30gigs so that you can back up all your data off of your 500gb 15000rpm internal drive...

I'm afraid you don't know how close we are to getting that.

[SEkker]

latest FORBES article suggests that dual core CPUs won't be available to the consumer before summer/fall 2005.

The article went on to suggest that most software is not dual core/cpu aware, but that hyperthreading is similar. And I would think the dual DPU aware Mac software would be ideal for this strategy, which IBM has in its roadmap for G5s.

The analogy is that of a gas engine, with each core representing a cylinder. Making a single cylinder engine is possible but much less efficient than our current multi-cylinder machines.

[nonno]

i guess that
powerbook - G5
Ibook- G4 dual core