just in...
Just got some juicy and semi-timely details from a Senior
Motorola Engineer over a beer last night, here in the Heart of
Motorola, DQ, and Lone Star Country. I am fairly confident of
this info. I didn't push him too hard, as he seemed as if he didn't
want to talk about it in too much detail. He didn't seem to know
much about macs, other than as a curiosity. At least he doesn't
have the same insane fever most of us reading this have.
The scoop:
-Just "tapped out" what he refered to as Apollo7 this last week.
-Said it wouldn't be 2ghz, but "more like one and a half".
Odd, I thought, not "one point four," or "one point five,"
but "one and a half"... Commented that current powermacs
use Apollo6 chips.
-Said that they had been focusing on network and embedded chips
manufacture (8540s?), thinking that Apple was a gonner.
Only now that the networking market has slowed dramatically, and they
have seen the strength (and future hollywood following - my words)
of OSX have they renewed focus on Apple, and are making a more concerted
effort to move to high-power, big-guns, processors. He commented
that the next round or two of G4s *will* be coming from IBM, but
after that Motorola will be back and swinging with some more whopper
innovations like Altivec. Apparently this major move has only come
within the last month or so.
-Now for the doozy. According to internal roadmaps, he said they
expect to hit 5 to 6 ghz (!!) by late 2003, early 2004. He said their
next chip will be called a G7!! (He was as astonished and confused about
it as I was.) I don't think I've ever seen a roadmap play out as predicted,
but the numbers along with the renewed Apple/PPC/G4 movement is
heartening news after Motorola's early lackuster performance with the G4.
How long is it, typically, between the time when a chip has
been "tapped out" and when PowerMacs ship? A month? ;;>>