G5 not in Janurary?

[MacManiac1224]

I think that this is correct, if this report is correct:
http://www.macedition.com/nmr/nmr_20020914.php

It goes into how Apple is going to use the new IBM Power4 chip in thier Powermac's, but it will not be released until later in 2003, I am thinking MWNY with a shipping date of a month or 2 later. It sounds like it is pretty on the nose.

The only thing is, if Apple does use this chip, then we will know in October, becasue on October 15, 2002, IBM is going to be talking about the new chip, and most likely they will talk about when it will be available. Let's hope and pray that they say by Janurary, then we can start the new year with 64-bit Power Mac's!

What do you guys think?

 

[RBMaraman]

That sounds pretty good. I want the G5 ASAP, but I wouldn't mind if they unveiled it at MWNY, since I'm going to be able to attend it for the very first time! Yes!

 

[Switcher]

Backward compatibility ?

Please correct me, but... I've heard somewhere that the Power4's vectorial engine wasn't really compatible with the Altivec...

 

[barkmonster]

The heretofore-unspoken name of IBMÕs G4 Replacement is GPUL (short for GigaProcessor UltraLite). It is Multi-core, 64-bit Microprocessor that supports Vector/SIMD Multimedia eXtension (VMX), the generic Title for the Technologies comprising Altivec (a k a Velocity Engine).

VMX is exactly the name used to describle altivec in an article from '98 that appeared in Macworld magazine that quotes from both IBM and Motorola sources on the future PowerPC G4 (we we're screaming along with 266Mhz G3s at the time).

 

[dongmin]

one of the juiciest rumors we've had in a while. But what's their track record of late?

Multiple core sounds nice. So does Altivec-compatible.

But what's this stuff about the "Apple Processor Interconnect Bus"? Is that Apple's rebranding of Hypertransport or RapidI/O?

This Most Worthy CPU also being fine-tuned to work with the Apple Processor Interconnect bus (ApplePI), Apple’s Replacement for the venerable MaxBus.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Originally posted by dongmin
one of the juiciest rumors we've had in a while. But what's their track record of late?

Multiple core sounds nice. So does Altivec-compatible.

But what's this stuff about the "Apple Processor Interconnect Bus"? Is that Apple's rebranding of Hypertransport or RapidI/O?

The Naked Mole Rat is Mactheknife from MacWeek fame. He's not prone to making outlandish claims. I remember he was the first to break Connectix's plan to ship a PC emulater(which became VirtualPC)

He's been right on plenty of rumors. This is great news. ApplePI would replace the MPX Processor to Memory bus which is currently limited to 1.3GBps SDR.

 

[void]

I heard somewhere else that Power4 is not compatible with AltiVec. But this guy seems pretty reliable...

 

[nuckinfutz]

Originally posted by vjv
I heard somewhere else that Power4 is not compatible with AltiVec. But this guy seems pretty reliable...

I highly doubt this because IBM as a member of the AIM Alliance had probably input on the SIMD unit. As a matter of fact Altivec was a name chosen by Motorola. Apple doesn't use "Altivec" they use Velocity Engine to describe it.

This makes me believe that IBM is able to use the vector instructions which are identical to Altivec although they won't call it Altivec. Their codename for it was VMX.

 

[Switcher]

Apple's nextGen...

Hmmm, if all this stuff is right, the future of the PPC looks bright.
So, could look...

 

[jefhatfield]

whatever company apple goes with after the G4, it certainly does not seem likely as soon as january...they just put out the DDR g4s

i predict mid-2003 for next gen powermacs, but hoping for sooner, or course

 

[JustAGuy]

Does anyone else find it funny that the top two threads are now "G5s in January!" and "G5s not in January!"

Well, at least we've got this January G5 issue under control...

 

[ftaok]

About this IBM/SIMD talk.

I find it highly ironic that IBM is now seeing the benefits of having a SIMD processing unit on their PPC chips. When Moto first introduced Altivec, IBM declined to use it. They steadfastly resisted introducing it in their own chips. Apple, saw it's benefits and went along with Moto's plans.

That decision probably cost IBM a lot of sales with Apple.

I guess IBM is now back in the SIMD game because of Apple's business.

Just ironic, I guess.

 

[oldMac]

IBM & Altivec

I suspect that the conference call (several years ago) went something like this:

Motorola Engineer: "We can deliver Altivec and give you a big speed advantage for a certain small subset of applications."

Motorola Salesman: *pipes up* "This will give you a big marketing advantage."

Apple Guy: "That sounds good. How about you, IBM?"

IBM Engineer: "We could do that, but I think it would be a mistake. The complexity of that unit will likely hogtie the processor's scalability. We could work on it a little more, but don't recommend it right now."

Apple Guy: "Motorola?"

Motorola Salesman: "IBM doesn't know what they're talking about. Our technology must just be better than theirs. There's no way this will slow us down. In fact, we'll beat the pants off of Intel."

Apple Guy: "Sounds good to me."

Motorola Salesman (whispers to Mot engineer): "We can do that, right?"

Motorola Engineeer: *shrugs*

 

[jefhatfield]

i remember when i was screaming, along with spikey and some others, to kill off motorola and apple connection and go ibm on all fronts...but now, i am not so sure

the new powermacs got a pretty glowing review in the latest macworld and people i know with the pentium 4 sometimes swear the pentium 3 was faster

i think a dual 1.25 ghz g4 is still sexier than a 2 ghz+ pentium 4 any day of the week!

and that includes tuesdays

 

[dongmin]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
i remember when i was screaming, along with spikey and some others, to kill off motorola and apple connection and go ibm on all fronts...but now, i am not so sure

the new powermacs got a pretty glowing review in the latest macworld and people i know with the pentium 4 sometimes swear the pentium 3 was faster

I'm sure the new dualies are great machines, especially with Jaguar, but there are some fundamental limitations with the G4. It seems to have run its course. Time for something new.

 

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by dongmin


I'm sure the new dualies are great machines, especially with Jaguar, but there are some fundamental limitations with the G4. It seems to have run its course. Time for something new.

the latest version of the G4, apollo, can scale up to 1.6 ghz or more, so there is still another six months there, but maybe moto can come up with better processor and deliver...but if not, then go ibm