User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Speculation and Rumors »

iMac G5 not until 2Q 2005?


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
iMac G5 not until 2Q 2005?
Thread Tools
matt
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Phoenixville, PA
Send a message via AIM to matt Send a message via Yahoo to matt  
2004-06-28, 22:41

After watching today's WEAK WWDC Apple is taking there normal conservative approach to releasing hardware. Obviously they do not want to ruin their niche market by releasing all the goodies now.

So here is my prediction:

We will see iMac updates in the next couple of weeks. bump up the specs, G4s up to 1.5Ghz

4G iPods will be released toward the end of the summer. 4G pods will have the same dial as mini, and will also be 802.11g to talk to Airport Express, and sync with iTunes. maybe a slight upgrade to mini, but doubtful.

eMacs and iBooks will follow with an update in Fall, same bump up as iMac G4 1.5Ghz.

G5 PowerBooks will be the big deal at the January Expo with more details on Tiger.

And then after all of this the consumer market will get there first G5. Spring 2005.

I hope I am way off, but this is based on Apple's past. The new CPUs go in the Power line first, then the consumer line. (i HOPE i am wrong)

comments??
  quote
Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-06-28, 23:14

I am not trying to say pro then consumer. I would think apple will focus on the next computer to get G5 will be a notebook(most likely powerbook). It would show that the G5 can go in any computer apple can choose. With the latest article about mobileG5, I would say November we will see powerbook go to G5.

giggity
  quote
matt
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Phoenixville, PA
Send a message via AIM to matt Send a message via Yahoo to matt  
2004-06-28, 23:22

Apple, which never reveals the future of their hardware, said that they will not release the G5 PowerBook until next year. I firmly beleive this is a huge obstacle and it will not be premiered until January's Expo.

Although it will be a pretty pathetic Xmas for Apple sales if they follow the path i stated above.
  quote
sunrain
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Portlandia
 
2004-06-29, 02:40

Quote:
Originally Posted by matt
Apple, which never reveals the future of their hardware, said that they will not release the G5 PowerBook until next year. I firmly beleive this is a huge obstacle and it will not be premiered until January's Expo.

Although it will be a pretty pathetic Xmas for Apple sales if they follow the path i stated above.
Yeah, Steve seemed pretty frustrated about the speed issues with the G5 in the keynote. Putting cutting edge technology like that into a 1" slice of heaven comes with a whole other set of problems outside of chip fabrication. I don't really think we'll see G5 powerbooks until they are able to make use of fuel cells as well. Seems like a worthwhile slam dunk to wait for. Power and battery life.

"What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with, and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."
- Steve Jobs
  quote
oldmacfan
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Mile 1
 
2004-06-29, 08:49

Some thoughts of my own. After watching the keynote last night it became clear as to why Tiger will be first half of 2005. Steve stated the added 64 bitness of Tiger was a high priority of developers and Apple is responding. What Apple doesn't have and why it will take time, is that Apple only has one Mac that can really use Tiger. Apple needs most or all of the new Macs to be able to use Tiger. Apple has to get more G5 based products up and working before Tiger is released.

From what I see of Tiger, my two older macs will not be capable of running it (Rev C iMac, and Ti PB 400). So I guess it is time to buy Panther for this will be the last OS upgrade for my 2 trusted machines.

One scary thought is that half of the installed base is still using OS 9 or earlier.

Mile 1
  quote
Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2004-06-29, 08:51

The PB I can understand, but what is holding up the G5 in the iMac? No power/battery issues there and I think a few simple design changes could accomodate the heat issue. I still can't believe it won't arrive within a few weeks or at least by September. We'll see.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
  quote
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-06-29, 08:56

What? Tiger won't be G5 only. That would be stupid. We're not using Windows here - there isn't a 4 GB limit for 32-bit processors (Really there isn't! The G4 can support something like 16 GB of memory, it's just the x86 architecture that can't go above 4 GB), and you're not limited to running a 64 bit OS on a 64 bit computer. This is UNIX. It will work.

FYI, the very last 68k Mac (the PowerBook 190) was discontinued in 1996. Apple didn't release a PPC-only OS until late 1998, with OS 8.5. Besides, OS X is a whole different beast from the Classic OS. If Apple wanted to drop support for G3s and G4s, they would have to physically remove any code relating to the processors to artificially make them "incompatible." Rest assured, a 1.5 GHz PowerBook G4 will run all the latest OSes just as well as, say, a B&W G3/300, which also has a modern architecture. It'll be faster, but compatibility should be identical.
  quote
oldmacfan
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Mile 1
 
2004-06-29, 09:39

I am not saying they will drop support for G3-4's, but it will have a lot of features that will be next to unusable on my older machines.

My thinking is that this will force me to get two new machines (happily).

Mile 1
  quote
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-06-29, 09:50

Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmacfan
I am not saying they will drop support for G3-4's, but it will have a lot of features that will be next to unusable on my older machines.

My thinking is that this will force me to get two new machines (happily).
Next to unusable? I doubt it. Maybe by 10.7 or 10.8. And you'll probably have to upgrade your graphics card before you upgrade your processor. To make full use of CoreImage, you need one of the newest graphics cards available, that supports per-pixel control. It'll throttle back and let the CPU handle more or less depending on your graphics card, but to make full use of the feature you have to have a Radeon 9600 or higher, or a GeForce FX or higher. Midrange video cards (Radeon 8500/9000/9200 and GeForce 3 and 4Ti) will do an okay job, and low end ones (Radeon 7000/7200/7500, GeForce 4MX and 2MX) will not be able to make much use of CoreImage.

Also, a G4 should be able to kick ass for a long time as long as Apple simply leaves in the AltiVec optimizations they've already done for OS X. G4s are better at AltiVec tasks than G5s, because the G4 has a more advanced variant of AltiVec than the non-Motorola G4.

BTW, there's a much more in-depth discussion of CoreImage here I have very little idea of what these people are talking about, but it does sound kind of cool.

Anyway, you can keep thinking that there will be a bunch of G5-only features in Tiger and later OSes... if that drives you to buy more expensive (i.e. fun) toys for yourself, go ahead! I say see what comes out - Apple's been really good at making OS X run well even on older hardware, so I don't think you'll be disappointed if you run it on your TiBook 400.

Last edited by Luca : 2004-06-29 at 09:57.
  quote
jph1971
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2004-06-29, 12:42

If Apple is waiting till '05 to introduce the G5 iMac, why havent't we seen any updates to 1.5 GHz - or at least 1.33 GHz (though this would have been a really small step even by Apple/Moto standards) - when the powerbooks were released?

I still want to believe it is due to the imminent release of a G5-consumer machine.



jph
  quote
bborofka
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via AIM to bborofka  
2004-06-29, 13:40

I have a feeling matt's schedule is right, even thought I hope it's not.

Apple should kill the iMac and make a PowerMac G5 Express. Flexibility and affordability should be the keys, and no attached monitor. LCDs have a much longer life cycle than it's accompanying computer. There's no reason to have to chuck a 17" or 20" LCD with your computer.
  quote
stoo
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-06-29, 13:41

Quote:
G4s are better at AltiVec tasks than G5s, because the G4 has a more advanced variant of AltiVec than the non-Motorola G4.
Although the Altivec unit in the G5 isn't as refined as (and have more pipeline stage than) the one in the 745x G4s, most Alitvec code quickly becomes bandwidth limited. I'd be interested to see a 1.5GHz G4 versus a 1.6GHz G5 benchmark: does anyone have any links?
  quote
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-06-29, 13:49

www.xbench.com

My upgraded 1.33 GHz G4 got a higher AltiVec score than the highest-ranked dual 2.0 GHz G5 on the site. I got killed at most everything else though

Here's the comparison. This was before I moved all the components, including the processor upgrade, to my Quicksilver G4, but they're running at nearly the same clock speed. This link shows my score when running at 1.35 GHz on a Gigabit Ethernet motherboard, and right now I'm at 1.33 GHz on a Quicksilver motherboard. The score should be very similar to what I'd get if I were to test it today.

http://ladd.dyndns.org/xbench/merge....044&doc2=60365

So as you can see, the G5 (which is the highest scoring G5 on the site) got a significantly lower AltiVec score than mine did. For the faster dual G4s, like the monster dual 1.42 GHz, I would expect the AltiVec scores to be a very major improvement over the G5s.

Last edited by Luca : 2004-06-29 at 13:57.
  quote
matt
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Phoenixville, PA
Send a message via AIM to matt Send a message via Yahoo to matt  
2004-06-29, 16:13

actually i found a slight loophole in my schedule, that may satisfy all of us G5 iMac fans.

Apple is having its Expo (5day event) overseas in Paris right before school starts. I assume Apple will probably mention to Paris they are getting an Apple Retail store, but it would be a beautiful time to introduce the iMac G5. Then not only can they get some students to buy the new iMacs, but they will have enough time to spread the word (and more importantly manufacture) for the holiday season.

I think I could have started an iMac G5 rumor site last year, and made good money off the ads because of the number of hits I would get.

Last edited by matt : 2004-06-29 at 19:37.
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 19:21.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova