[krove]

I was just curious as to how many people are anxiously awaiting the next-gen processor (IBM PPC 970) that is most certain to arrive before the end of the year (if not within the next few months).

I've been holding out for what has seemed like forever for a better front-side bus, DDR, etc, etc... What's your deal?

[dampeoples]

I'm planning on upgrading, just waiting to see what the prices are like before I can make a decision though. I'd like the fastest one available, but do i need it? No, this G3 would do just fine, although a littel slower

[AssassyN]

If somehow I can come up with the cash, I plan on getting a next-gen processor PowerMac (be it the PPC970, "G5", whatever) by early 2004. I won't get one as soon as they come out, as I've just purchased an entirely new setup, but I *will* have one next year.

[Commodus]

Seeing as how I got my PowerBook at the end of 2002, I'm not about to drop everything to get a PPC 970 tower. In fact, assuming other predictions come true, I suspect that my next Mac will be a PPC 970-based PowerBook. Can't wait...

[beb]

I want to be the first on my block to have an FP iMac with a 970 in it.

[KeilwerthSX90R]

Depends on price and performance -- honestly depends more on performance but it should depend on price

It really depends on how big a jump there is between my MDD and the 970s.

[BlackGriffen]

For me, depends mostly on finances. I may or may not be able to gather the scratch together to purchase such a machine. Definitely not this summer, though. Possibly in the fall or next spring. I may complain about the speed of my old iBook 300, but mark my words, this little boy's got some fight left in him yet!

BlackGriffen

[Superchicken]

I'm gona get an iBook 900 probably right after the WWDC, after that I'll probably wait a year maybe a year and a half and then the itching for a new tower might be satisfied.

[katorga]

I'd be very very tempted to go with a dual 970, nice radeon card and 23" display, but I would really rather have a 15" or 17" 970 powerbook and 23" display.

[DBvader]

no, i bought a dual 867 when they came out, so i cant afford a new powermac.

i may get a powerbook/ibook in a few years.

[derekn]

Ditto here. Got a dual 867 and I'm very happy with it. It's nice for bragging rights to have a 1.4Ghz or 1.6 Ghz system, single or dual processor but I don't honestly need THAT much power. This system gets the job done, I will eventually get a 970 based Mac most likely since it'll be the only PowerMac, just not right now however.

[Judge_Fire]

Yes, if it is available in a quietish Mini Tower/Cube type of enclosure that takes up little room, but is large enough for an AGP card.

J

[juanvaldes]

nope. Just got a new system last summer, can't afford a new tower.

[Simon]

Yes, as soon as it's in a 17" flat panel iMac. Or 19"...

[RevEvs]

I currently have one of the original G4's that i bought the day of the announcement, I plan on doing something similar when the next-gen machines are out. Hopefully with duals and a 20" flat panel

revs

[acadian]

While I'm happy for all you PM guys, I'm hoping the announcement of the 970 will accompany the announcement of updated 17" PB's with at least 1.25 and the 9600. Holding on to my cash for that.

[Orion27]

It's gotta be a quantum leap. Will Panther run
on the current Macs? Migrating to new 64 bit
apps. Premium price because of pent up demand. I don't see this shaking out at least untill January-February 2004. My upgrade cycle seems to be 3 years. I can't imagine what
we will be seeing in 2006. Quite frankly though, I'll be upgrading well before if the
performance curve is really compelling. Right now i'm really in the market for a Radeon 128
MB 9800 that I can plug my 20" Cinema
into. That's not asking too much is it?

[Cipher13]

A revision B, yes. My G4 400 is getting long in the (saw)tooth.

They better be cheaper than the current offerings...

[Simon]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
They better be cheaper than the current offerings...

No. They won't. Rather more expensive.

[Commodus]

Simon:

How would we know that they're more expensive? I understand that a PPC 970 costs roughly as much as its Pentium 4 equivalent. The only potential killer aspect that I can see is the mainboard, since it may need some particularly advanced features (like dual-channel and/or DDR400 memory, a high-bandwidth system controller, etc.).

I don't expect Apple to start selling $1299 1.4 GHz PPC 970 desktops, but I also think that they'll try to avoid a price like $1699.

[Shaddim]

No doubt Apple will have a $1499 970 based PowerMac upon it's release. That's a very important price point to them.

Yes, I'll be ordering a 970 based tower. I'll get all the machine I can for <$2000.

[Kate]

When there will be a 970 PowerMac this year, i'll order one if it's got a reasonable price/performance ratio.

However, until then I'll stick to my nearly retired G3 until I can forget the G4 era entirely.

[:XI:]

I'll stick with my 933 until next year (maybe until around june next year). I'd buy Sooner if they wiped everything else off the board.

In the mean time, if my 933 needs a boost I'm going to try and get my hands on an Apple Dual Gig cpu card and heatsink

[dazzla]

This is the one. I'll be deeply upset if Apple don't use these CPU's.

I've been saving, I don't need a new computer, but after selling my iMac for a PC, I now want another Mac.

The Dual 1.6's would be sweet!


Please Apple

[compulov]

I'd love to get my hands on a 970 if they can seriously whip the P4 (or at least run with it). All I really use my PC for these days is encoding tv shows that I've recorded to Divx, my PC handles it 30ish fps using Virtualdub (P4 2.53), while my 867 PMG4 (single proc) is, umm... much slower (took 4 hours to encode a 1 hour recording). If apple can beat that, they'll have my bux, cause I use my Mac for everything else -- ipod, itunes, irc, umm... other stuff that begins with 'i', and stuff that doesn't

-Leigh

[Simon]

Originally posted by Commodus:
How would we know that they're more expensive?

They won't be cheaper because Apple knows that those people who haven't jumped ship yet will pay the 1499 for such a CPU any time. They probably also know that those people would even pay 1599.

Heck, they will be selling entry PowerMacs with more CPU power than the current top model.

Fact is Apple doesn't give didly-squat about what PCs cost and how they compare CPU-wise.

Life's tough, but with Windows it would be tougher.

[Nick_G]

Well I bought a G4 800MHz tower last June and I'm happy with that at the moment. Besides, I probably won't get another Mac for 2-3 years as I can't afford one now and hopefully by then my Multimedia course will have landed me a better job earning half-decent money.

I can't wait till Apple release the first 970 Macs though. They should halt the sliding sales in Power Macs. Hopefully they will flatten the Wintel machines like the G3s did when they came out!

[Xaaron Swiftblade]

If I can afford one I'll definetly be getting a 970 when it's released (or atleast by the start of next semester). If it's too expensive I'll probably settle for a current one for alot less, all I know is I need some sort of computer (I hardly consider my g3 powerbook with no usb port a computer). One can handle only so much DVEC! (the digital video editing center at Temple U, if you knew it, you'd feel my pain )

[Kenneth]

Please count me out...

I'm happy with my DP1.25Ghz FW800.

Anyway, my next system will be a PPC 970-based PowerBook.

[mac freak]

I've been waiting for this for years...

It's why I bought a PC (for gaming) last year. Buying ANOTHER G4 just seemed pointless... now I'm damn pleased I didn't!

I'll buy a high-end, or next-to-high-end dual 970 Tower.

[krove]

I had a feeling that people were holding out for the really good stuff...800 MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR400, FW800, etc..

Ooo...The WWDC is looking to be an exciting show if Jobs presents the PPC 970!

[dazzla]

Originally posted by krove:
Ooo...The WWDC is looking to be an exciting show if Jobs presents the PPC 970!

And if he doesn't then it's going to be on of the biggest disappointments of all time

[:XI:]

Originally posted by dazzla:
And if he doesn't then it's going to be on of the biggest disappointments of all time

Nah, there are plenty more things to be disapointed about. More important things.
pessimist? me?

[DaedalusDX]

Originally posted by dazzla:
And if he doesn't then it's going to be on of the biggest disappointments of all time

SIGH.

Its getting sort of boring to hear people labelling things "biggest disappointments of all time" based on RUMOR information.

Its one thing if rumors leak out accurate information in anticipation of something big like this, but keep in mind that rumors are just that. RUMORS. You'll have a tough time filtering out leaked information and pure speculation and conjecture.

Even if a 970 machine exists somewhere in a lab, and Apple is going to release it in the future... that does not mean that these rumors sites know 100% Job and Co.'s product rollout schedule... How could they? Rumors focus on leaked information based on prerelease machines and sources familiar with development. Its rare that these sources come from within management which plan the release of such products...

Basically... VERY FEW people know for sure what Steve Jobs will talk about on stage for WWDC.

970? its a maybe, but definitely nothing to get disappointed about if its absent. It won't be the biggest disappointment if Steve gets up there and spend the entire hour and half talking about Panther and sit down.

[dazzla]

Originally posted by DaedalusDX:
970? its a maybe, but definitely nothing to get disappointed about if its absent. It won't be the biggest disappointment if Steve gets up there and spend the entire hour and half talking about Panther and sit down.

It would be for me, I want another Mac but there's no way I'm buying crippled G4's.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by DaedalusDX:
970? its a maybe, but definitely nothing to get disappointed about if its absent. It won't be the biggest disappointment if Steve gets up there and spend the entire hour and half talking about Panther and sit down.

Yes, it will be the biggest disappointment -- the past yearn and a half have been a disappoinement for graphic designers (2-D and 3-D). The situation should have been taken care of already. And this is the year to do it. None of this "maybe 2004" ****. But we shall see what Steve has in store. Hopefully some good news.

[Capt Shane]

Originally posted by krove:
I was just curious as to how many people are anxiously awaiting the next-gen processor (IBM PPC 970) that is most certain to arrive before the end of the year (if not within the next few months).

I've been holding out for what has seemed like forever for a better front-side bus, DDR, etc, etc... What's your deal?

same here but every time I am about to buy a new one I second guess my self that another one 500 times better and cheaper will be out in a year... I still have my 450 G4 which was top of the line in like 1999

So when will a new mac come out that I think is worthy of purchase... only time can tell I guess

[pdot]

waiting for the ppc 970 15" Powerbook.

[cgc]

If my wife would let me, I'd get the top model. But as I am eyeballing a $2000 camera lens right now, it might be hard to get the Mac also. I will feast my eyes and fantasize, however.

[NYCFarmboy]

I just purchased a 1.42 duel tower a month ago, so no hurry...

I want to wait a bit and let the bugs get worked out on the new chips before upgrading... so if it comes out in July, I'll get one in January 04 after they get the next update and bump in speed.

As I understand it, a lot of software will have to be rewritten to take advantage of the 64 bit versus 32 bit or whatever it is we have now.

This is going to be something new... I got burned on the first os x. The 2nd generation of X (Jaguar) is nice, but the original sucked.

I have a suspician the first generation 970 chips will be problematic and want to wait before jumping in and getting one until AFTER they are proven to work.

[Eug]

Originally posted by pdot:
waiting for the ppc 970 15" Powerbook.

Same, esp. if the towers' pricing scheme doesn't change.

However, for the PowerBook, I might wait for revision 2 of the PPC 970 PowerBook. My 1 GHz TiBook should suffice until 2004.

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by NYCFarmboy:
As I understand it, a lot of software will have to be rewritten to take advantage of the 64 bit versus 32 bit or whatever it is we have now.

Not true.

64-bit is completely 100% backwards compatable with 32-bit software. However, software will have to be re-written to take advantage of 64-bit CPUs.

[Evangellydonut]

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
Not true.

64-bit is completely and 100% backwards compatable with 32-bit software. However, software will have to be re-written to take advantage of 64-bit CPUs.

Or have someone write a really good compiler 'n recompile the programs :-p
Anyway, other than Photoshop and other heavy video/graphic editing software, there isn't much stuff that can take advantage of the 64-bit bus in the near future.

[zac4mac]

I myself, could give a squat about 64 bitness. What i'm looking forward to is that wicked fast bus and whatever other I/O magic comes with the 970. A dual 1.8 or, even better, a 2+ should be a worthy jump from my DP550.
I was ready last year, but the G5 evaporated, and as much as I love this duallie, I don't want another G4.
I'll go just a little deeper in debt and get the high end.
Time for my Macs to all move down a notch.

[chrisutley]

At this stage, every single day that passes without a 970 annoucement is a disappointment. This has nothing to do with rumors, it's about a burning demand for faster boxes from Apple's existing customers. Not to mention all the people riding the fence, and not jumping to the Apple side because PC's continue to pull further and further away from Macs in terms of price and performance.

Originally posted by DaedalusDX:
SIGH.

Its getting sort of boring to hear people labelling things "biggest disappointments of all time" based on RUMOR information.

[RealMac]

Like some of the other posters here, I recently bought a G4/867 Power Mac G4. The RAM has been bumped up to 1.25GB and a 120GB hard drive was added.

FWIW, the first revision of Apple's hardware lately has had a bad track record. I think 970 based macs would be no different.

So my advice would be to wait unless you really need 64-bit processing.

Actually, if I had the extra cash to spend right now (in the middle of a job change)and wasn't at least a semi-rational in my purchasing decisions... I'd pick one out as soon as they came out.

[-Q-]

I've been squeeking by with my upgraded beige G3 for way too many years now. The processor upgrade helped quite a bit but even with that (and maxing the RAM) it just too old to be my main productivity machine anymore.

Once the 970s are released, I'll look at the available machines and make a decision. I probably won't need the fastest one, but I may get it anyway.

I'm really hoping that with the alternate revenue streams Apple has coming in (music store, .Mac, iPods, etc.) they'll start to aggressively price their PowerMac systems to compete with the cheaper Wintel products. But probably unlikely. They seem to like their fat margins.

But unless they're completely overboard in their pricing, I'll probably go for the 970 as soon as it's released.

[osxisfun]

3d people should not wait either. They will get 3X speed jump in rendering speed right off the bat based on IBM's spec sheet.

[jcadam]

Originally posted by chrisutley:
At this stage, every single day that passes without a 970 annoucement is a disappointment. This has nothing to do with rumors, it's about a burning demand for faster boxes from Apple's existing customers. Not to mention all the people riding the fence, and not jumping to the Apple side because PC's continue to pull further and further away from Macs in terms of price and performance.

HAHA SUCKERS!

This rumor is dissapointing enough to be true.

If the PowerMac 970 is announced at WWDC I'll eat a bowl of my own feces.

Of course, I suppose if the 970 is very expensive Apple could do one of the following:

Keep PowerMac G4s at the low end, with PowerMac 970's as the fastest and 'ultimate' configurations.

Release an entirely new machine priced above the PowerMacs (Xstation?) Perhaps the PPC 7457 in PowerMacs.

Either way, it's a certainty that the 970 will find it's way into XServes.

[jwest]

While I'm still quite happy with my dual 450 tower I am very intrigued by the potential performance boost with the 970.

If they pan out then I'll most certainly be buying.

Here's hoping!


____________________
Dual G4 450
ibook (dual usb)
PowerMac 8500
WGS 7350
Quadra 610
LC III