dual core powerbook?

Ive been reading here that Apple might be releasing a dual core processor for the powerbooks in January. Has Apple made any official announcements regarding this? Would it be a good idea for me to wait? Do Mac's have new model problems similar to many first year production cars? Also I'm curious about the possible specs of the dual core, if its two processors on the same chip would it be something like two 1 ghz processors together? If so then what is all the fuss about trying to get a g5 into a powerbook, wouldnt a dual core 1 ghz be equal to a single 2 ghz? Why arent the dual core chips already out, are they having difficulty with the engineering? Im not an engineer so sorry if these questions sound silly. Thanks for the help

no but i'm hoping steve announces it in his keynote.

i already got a 1.5 ghz powerbook. and a dualcore 1ghz is no way near the speed of 2 ghz singel, even a dual core 2.5 ghx powermac is not the speed of a 5 ghz singel processor.

a dual g4 is much more likely than a singel g5, but both would cause more heat (try touching my powerbook after a nigth of photoshop work, it is VERY hot)

we will just have to wait and see.

and buy the way. sing this petition http://www.petitiononline.com/rct3fm/petition.html

A dual core CPU running at 1GHz, or even a dual CPU, is not as fast as a single running at 2GHz. Nevertheless, the fact that tasks can be divided to each core (or each CPU), it would be quite fast, as long as the OS and the applications take use of that feature.
And also the G4 and the G5 cores are very different starting with the G5 being a 64bit CPU, and the G4 being a 32bit CPU. There are more significant differences, but explaining them would be too complicated anyway.

Honestly, because af the heat an energy issue, and because of availibility issues at IBM, I don't see a G5 PowerBook coming anytime soon.
At least not in the same slimline design the PowerBook has nowadays.

A dual core G4 from Freescale would make more sense, because even with 2 cores it gets less hot than the G5, and power consumption is by far lower too. And the fact that it's pnlayout is compatible to the existing G4 would make its integration very easy for Apple.

thanks, I was wondering if I should go ahead and order the powerbook now or wait until the dual cores come out if they do, my only concerns are how long it will be until then and reliability of the first few models that come out. Thanks again

mlazuka said:

thanks, I was wondering if I should go ahead and order the powerbook now or wait until the dual cores come out if they do, my only concerns are how long it will be until then and reliability of the first few models that come out. Thanks again

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Dude, if you want the laptop now, get it now. By the time you're done enjoying it they'll have a proper cooling system for the G5 anyway. Besides, if we're always worried about having the newest and fastest processor we'll all go CRAZY because unless you kill off everyone at Intel, AMD and IBM, you're never going to be able to keep up. The PowerMacs that are out now are GREAT computers. And even if there's a better computer in a few months they'll still be great computers.