IBM 970 in Powermac's in MWNY?

[MacManiac1224]

IBM 970 in Powermac's in MWNY? I think it makes perfect sense. IBM is saying late next year to throw Apple followers off track. Personally I think Apple will come out the new Powermac's in Janurary or Feburary with speeds:
low end:
dual 1ghz

middle of the road:
dual 1.25ghz

High end:
dual 1.4ghz? maybe 1.5ghz?

It makes perfect sense: I think that Apple will release these machines in MWSF, and then in the last MWNY ever release:
low end:
IBM 970 1.25ghz

Middle of the road:
IBM 970 1.5ghz

High end:
IBM 970 1.8ghz

Maybe a dual machine, or the option of a dual machine, but I don't think Apple will release a dual becasue IBM will most likely not have sufficent quantities.

I think this is pretty conservative. Also I think that the machines will be shipped at a later date: maybe the low end at MWNY time, mid in august, and high end in September, this way they space everything out for IBM to catch up with the orders.

What do you guys think?

 

[strider42]

I don't think IBM has any incentive to "throw us off track". They didn't create this for apple. they created it for themselves and hope to sell it to others. They aren't going to lie to stock analysts and industry insiders watching this technology just for apple to be able to surprise us.

 

[Chaszmyr]

I don't think we will see dual initially, because the 970 should be fast enough to keep up with the market in a single processor configuration. However according to The Register the IBM 970 is AltiVec equipped, which means it does have the ability to multiprocess the way the current G4s do

 

[MacCoaster]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
However according to The Register the IBM 970 is AltiVec equipped, which means it does have the ability to multiprocess the way the current G4s do

Altivec has *NOTHING* to do with the capability of symmetric multiprocessing.

The CPU itself just supports it or not.

Case in point: Dual/Quad/Oct/etc. Intel P4 Xeon has SSE2, so does the normal Pentium 4.

 

[Chaszmyr]

The Apple representitive at the local CompUSA told me that AltiVec contained instructions for preemptive multitasking... but its possible I was misinformed.

 

[vniow]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
The Apple representitive at the local CompUSA told me that AltiVec contained instructions for preemptive multitasking... but its possible I was misinformed.

This was at CompUSA right?

 

[gbojim]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
The Apple representitive at the local CompUSA told me that AltiVec contained instructions for preemptive multitasking... but its possible I was misinformed.

Just FYI - it's the OS that makes preemptive multitasking work not the CPU (yeah I know the CPU has to support protected and user modes but every CPU in a desktop or server made since the mid 80's has that).

 

[MacCoaster]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
The Apple representitive at the local CompUSA told me that AltiVec contained instructions for preemptive multitasking... but its possible I was misinformed.

That is Mac OS X's job. AltiVec contains instructions for mathematical operations that help a lot with multimedia.

It's not "possible" that you were misinformed. It is a FACT that you were misinformed.

Also, preemptive multitasking != symmetrical multiprocessing. SMP is how dual, quad, oct, ad infinitum work. Synchronously passing data to all processors available and waiting for data to assemble back together fully.

Edit: gbojim, grrrrrr, you won. But hey, I had more detailed description. heheheh

 

[Chaszmyr]

It was at CompUSA, that's all you had to say. I shouldn't have overlooked that source

 

[peter2002]

Apple won't be using this 970 anytime soon. 2005 at best, if ever. A new chipset would be required, plus tons of new drivers and all software would be have to rewritten to be fully optimized. Not likely to happen in such a depressed tech sector we got.

Motorola is all we can pray for now. Motorola needs to stop monkeying around, get off their duffs, stop drinking imported champaigne, and go to Intel and license some of their tech to get the G4 clock speed up to 3GHZ, ASAP. If they did that, we could easily see dual 3GHZ G4s or G5s PowerMacs in January 2003. That is the most viable, fastest, and cheapest solution for both Apple and Motorola.

Peter

 

[MacAztec]

Peter2002

Actually...you need to read a few articles

Nothing needs to be re-written. All that matters is the actual Operating System. No programs, games, or anything else. If the OS can run it, and apps run on the OS, then it works.

hahah, i laughed when i heard 2005

 

[snoopy]

Originally posted by strider42


. . . (IBM) didn't create this for apple. they created it for themselves and hope to sell it to others. . .

IBM would not start a project like this just hoping they could sell it to others. Likely, their in house usage would not have justified the very high cost of developing this chip. They started this project with a signed up customer, Apple. The two must have worked together on this project a couple of years, at least. Yes, it also meets IBM's needs, so I'm sure they were eager to work with Apple.

 

[snoopy]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr


I don't think we will see dual initially, because the 970 should be fast enough to keep up with the market in a single processor configuration. . .

Don't be so sure. I don't think Apple wants to just keep up with the market. They want to get ahead of it.

Also, Apple bought companies that make very high-end video and special effects software, which require a lot of processing power. Duals, even quads, of the 970 would make workstation class PowerMacs for running such applications.

 

[Sherman]

Okay seriously, 2005? Do you know ANYTHING about the 970?

It's ****ing backwards compatible. Only a small portion of the down and dirty part of the OS needs to be re-written. The rest of it is fine.

On another note I seem to remember hearing that the 970 uses less power than the G4, would this make 970 laptops viable, or am I just daydreaming again.

Power4 Titanium. Mmmm...

 

[hacurio]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
I don't think we will see dual initially, because the 970 should be fast enough to keep up with the market in a single processor configuration. However according to The Register the IBM 970 is AltiVec equipped, which means it does have the ability to multiprocess the way the current G4s do

"Altivec" "multiprocessing"

What are you talking about?

It doesn't have anything to do with altivec.

Besides, I think we will definitely see dual PowerPC 970 Power Macs. The 970 is a great processor and it will finally put us back on track, it has a impressive ranking in SPEC 2002 (compared to G4’s) but we will need a dual machine to beat the crap out of a P4 box.

 

[cubist]

They'll ANNOUNCE machines in August...

... and ship them in November (2003).

They may ship laptops at the same time.

MWSF we should see the 933 PBG4 with bluetooth and superdrive. The 667 will be discontinued. Prices will drop a little. No change to the iBooks. Later in the year, the line will move to all G4s with the iBook topping out at 800MHz. They will string us along until fall 2003. They have to, you all know it.

970 machines will be announced at MWNY or shortly thereafter. They will be pricey, and they won't be ready to ship. eMac and iBook, and maybe iMac too, will stay G4 until 2004. PowerMac and PowerBook will be getting 970's, but don't expect to have one in hand until around November (over a year from now). Relax.