The last of the G4 Powerbooks

R

Redbrick


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So it looks like the G5 is not going to happen for the powerbook line...in light of recent announcments. Do you think a dual G4 will happen between now and when we start using intel CPUs? (Personally, I'm glad Apple is going with intel...my brand new -30 day old- powerbook has been nothing but a beautiful laptop.)

...just curious...

:yinyang:
 
Benjamindaines

Benjamindaines


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it might happen
"we have some great PowerPC computers in the pipeline" -Steve Jobs WWDC 2005
 
PowerBookG4

PowerBookG4


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You never know, I think it could happen after watching Steve Jobs and his keynote today.
 
K

Kokopelli

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Qualifier: This is not an orginal thought by me. Just something I read on some tech site or another that I happen to agree with.
<roughly translated thoughts>
Dual Core G4s are sort of a dead end proposition at this stage. They might happen but the performance improvements will mostly be incremental in nature. Without redesigning the mainboard to a modern memory controller architecture a dual G4 PowerBook would be somewhat constrained by memory bandwidth.

If Apple were planning on staying with the PPC architecture it might be worth their while to do the redesign and put out a solid dual G4 laptop. With the eminent transition to x86 however it seems less likely.
</roughly translated thoughts>

The question in my head is when in this 2006-2007 timeline are the PBs going to switch over. Technically they are more properly supposed to be on the "high end." But they are a place where the migration would have the most immediate benefit and quickest adoption for the core Mac user demographic. The mini is also likely to be an early transition but that is more to attract the new generation of switchers, not the established customer base.
 
OP
R

Redbrick


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Kokopelli said:
Qualifier: This is not an orginal thought by me. Just something I read on some tech site or another that I happen to agree with.
<roughly translated thoughts>
Dual Core G4s are sort of a dead end proposition at this stage. They might happen but the performance improvements will mostly be incremental in nature. Without redesigning the mainboard to a modern memory controller architecture a dual G4 PowerBook would be somewhat constrained by memory bandwidth.

If Apple were planning on staying with the PPC architecture it might be worth their while to do the redesign and put out a solid dual G4 laptop. With the eminent transition to x86 however it seems less likely.
</roughly translated thoughts>

The question in my head is when in this 2006-2007 timeline are the PBs going to switch over. Technically they are more properly supposed to be on the "high end." But they are a place where the migration would have the most immediate benefit and quickest adoption for the core Mac user demographic. The mini is also likely to be an early transition but that is more to attract the new generation of switchers, not the established customer base.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly....they would have to redesign the mainboard unless they've had this all along. I'm more inclined to believe perhaps a slightly higher clocked CPU with more features...maybe a H.265 accelerator, Wimax, Dual layer burner, integrated TV tuner(not)...but not a dual G4.
 
A

Amen-Moses


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Redbrick said:
My thoughts exactly....they would have to redesign the mainboard unless they've had this all along. I'm more inclined to believe perhaps a slightly higher clocked CPU with more features...maybe a H.265 accelerator, Wimax, Dual layer burner, integrated TV tuner(not)...but not a dual G4.
Click to expand...

The dual-core G4 is a possibility though.

Amen-Moses

Correction: After more investigation it appears that the twin core e600 G4 from Freescale is in a completely new package from the G4+, it has 667Mhz FSB, PCI-Express & Gigabit Ethernet so yes a mainborad redesign would indeed be required.

:eek:neye:

Looks like my dreams of owning a dual core PPC laptop will never come to be ...

Amen-Moses
 

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