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Apple leak new G5 specs
Falcon1
Elite Ranger
in Zocalo v2.0
Apple made a mistake last night an accidently released the specs for the new pro towers that will be announced on Monday at the World Wide Developers Conference. Here's the specs:
1.6ghz, 1.8ghz and dual 2 ghz G5 processors
1ghz bus
8gb ddr ram
Serial ata hard drives,
pci-x
agp 8x
optical audio
usb 2
firewire 800 and 400
It is most likely the chips used are the new IBM PPC970 processors which are derived from IBM's Power4 server chips. Anyway if these specs are true these machines are gonna be bloody fast and will toast anything Intel and AMD can throw at them. Also they are 64bit chips and will be the first consumer aimed 64bit chips to hit the market beating AMD to the mark. I'm looking forward big time to the benchmark tests and in particular to when Apple release the 64bit version of OS X... 'Panther'!!! Its gonna fly!
1.6ghz, 1.8ghz and dual 2 ghz G5 processors
1ghz bus
8gb ddr ram
Serial ata hard drives,
pci-x
agp 8x
optical audio
usb 2
firewire 800 and 400
It is most likely the chips used are the new IBM PPC970 processors which are derived from IBM's Power4 server chips. Anyway if these specs are true these machines are gonna be bloody fast and will toast anything Intel and AMD can throw at them. Also they are 64bit chips and will be the first consumer aimed 64bit chips to hit the market beating AMD to the mark. I'm looking forward big time to the benchmark tests and in particular to when Apple release the 64bit version of OS X... 'Panther'!!! Its gonna fly!
Comments
had to by the g4 laptop in april. just had to do it.
8 gigs of ram would ooooooooooooooooooooooooo be so badass with FCP4 oooooooooooooooooooo
That, and those things are going to cost a billion bucks a pop, I built my new box for about half of the cost of a top of the line apple.
What would you rather have, 2 high end gaming boxes or a pretty photoshop editor? I guess it all depends on what you plan on doing with it.
optical in for sound means and easy inpath for audio...
with one of those Macs you could do mega high quality audio, I'm talking studio master kind of stuff, with 8 gigs of RAM you could have 24 plus tracks of unmixed sound at 22+hz, the music boys will be drooling.
dont forget Final Cut Pro for Video... rated as pro gear for a third the price
nor forget as you say 'pretty tool for Photoshop'
PC gaming btw, if you hadnt noticed is being phased out... my bet is it will be mostly consoles in 5 years, theres more money in consoles for the developers, only the hard core PC game builders will bother with it, esp with the hundreds of new console game building tools entering the market every day
brave new world boys and girls, brave new world
you've basically sed wot I sed..:D
where?
yet another first person shooter?
or another crappy rts?
wait wait howbout a MMORPG where i can go and kill little crab things for 10 bucks a month.
NO I got it! well just make a crappy game but make it look really pretty therefore requiring people to purchase a new 450$ card just to actually run it.
innovation in gaming is like saying christ is back. it hasn't happened since mario 64. since then its been different variations on the same concept.
Best game ever, Final Fantasy 6. so :p
i.e the GTA Series. Up until GTA3, it was just plain revolutionary in gaming. It successfully implemented Free-form gameplay on the PC, and kept it alive for ages.
But anyhoo, that's an old example. :D I still think the PC has its uses. i.e. Simulations on consoles = TEH SUCK. Try imagining orbiter or a decent flight simulator on a PS2, Gamecube, or XBox. Ouch. Or hell, Real Time Strategy is horrible on most consoles. You simply cannot have the same level of control as you do on a PC, if only because of the physical limitations of the interfaces on each.
and now I'm jsut rambling on, so I'm going to go to sleep now. *poof*
SB: You said PC gaming is being phased out. Most normal people would take that to mean "going to dissapear".
22+khz isn't even CD quality, hardly studio quality, which is mixed at the highest possible bit rates and then sampled down.
Yup, computer gaming is dying, just look at the vacancy of cool stuff coming up - Half-Life 2 (physics engine too advanced to run on consoles), Doom3 (too graphically intense for consoles), Homeworld 2 (AI and unit counts too advanced for console's limited ram).
PC games will never die, ppl have been saying it will since Nintendo came out, it still hasn't happened. The biggest reason being that console, for console prices, simply cannot exceed the ablities of a PC, espcially when they are generaly sold FOR A LOSS by the manufacuter that then has to make it up in game royalty and licensing fees, which is why console games run a higher average price with a lower average game time. Oh, and don't even get me started on modability.
Black and white was something different, but if my shit is pink instead of brown its different, but still shit.
Homeworld i wouldn't know about because i wont buy it or play it. Yes im still bitter at sierra. so sue me.
An i agree with simulations and RTS games being better on the PC. This is true. BUT they haven't changed except get prettier graphics in a while.
The same is on the Console side. I contend that there has been very little innovation in ALL of gaming. That what they do is just make the same old stuff with better graphics.
Sure, they all share similar elements, but it's more like reading different fantasy books-they all have things in common, but they are all different and unique and fun in their way. The fact that they are accessable in that you can just jump into any FPS with a minimal learning curve is great.
That and console controllers STILL suck. ;)
Say whatever you want, but until Mac has the software library to be compelling and a price point that is even remotely competitive, they will remain in their 4% market share niche.
The thing is - in order to "swtich", it isn't so easy, you not only have the higher cost : power ratio of the mac, but you have to replace your ENTIRE software library assuming that titles exist that are even remotely close, and whenever apple feels like it, they relase a new OS that requires upgrades (sometimes horribly delayed) for ALL of your software in order to get it to work. Or they will change their hardware inputs entirely, so you have to buy all new peripherals. Then they offer neato software built in, but then charge for the version upgrades, or suddenly strip your free .mac services and charge huge rates for it. And you just take the abuse silently and buy the newest 4,000 mac
Even IF it's "awesome" for video and/or audio, it will only fit a niche market of the amature enthusast, the pros have their own very high tech equipment, and the "typical" user doesn't have the money to spend on something like that, or no interest in it anyway.
i.e., give something a new twist.
The towers I mentioned are aimed at 'Pro' users... not Jo Bloggs who has a desk job and just wants to do emailing when he gets home. These are towers for people who 'use' their machines for intensive tasks. Sure I could buy an iMac or an eMac, but their 'consumer' macs, not for pro users. So it you don't want to pay for a pro tower, don't! My biggest gripe with pc users is they slag macs off without ever having used one. alot of my pc using mates did the same until they saw my G4, looked inside the case, realised how well built and designed it was, and were seriously impressed with OS X.
Apple's prices are high because they only have a 4-5% market share. Its easy for the likes of Dell to offer huge discounts since they have a 25% share. The more share you have, the more you can pass on the price reductions to the consumer. If Apple succeeds in increasing its share by even another 5% pricing will change. Anyway with the new PPC 970 and its significantly cheaper price (over half of the Motorola ones) we should see a steady drop in the prices of new Macs.
With regards to innovation Apple seem to be the only pc company out there innovating... shame the rest of the pc just end up copying Apple instead of innovating themselves.
Im a gamer through and through and thats what irriatates me with todays market because most games worry about the graphics. Especially with FPS. Some are different, and yes some have a story thats worth a damn but ALL require the VERY latest in 3D cards that require you to shell out another 400 bucks just for the card that will be obsolete in 4-6 months when the next cool game comes out requireing a brand new graphics card. Its ridiculus and no matter how good the story or innovative the gameplay is it's just plain crappy that they require new graphics cards all the time. and dont just say thats pc gaming because thats crap. Consoles aren't much better but at least they have a longer shelf live then a graphics card.
[B]News Flash Keyan...
optical in for sound means and easy inpath for audio...
[/B][/QUOTE]
[b][i]Double News Flash:[/b][/i]
Sound Blaster Audigy 2: Optical In/Out, THX Certified, Dolby, 6.1,...
I even have optical in & out on the on-board sound in my Soyo Dragon Ultra, and 5.1 Dolby to boot (C-Media).
Apple is actually catching up on this one, not setting the pace.
-R.
[B]Anyway with the new PPC 970 and its significantly cheaper price (over half of the Motorola ones) we should see a steady drop in the prices of new Macs.[/B][/QUOTE]
At best, the Motorolla CPU costs $300 (doubt it's even half that). if the IBM cpu is half the price, net effect is only $150, at most. Kinda trivial. Apple does get a premium. But I do believe they add value for it. Their PCs are eye candy that shows off well in the home. Apple has always excelled at their packaging. The closest PC is probably one of the new AlienWare boxes, and even those are far off the mark by comparison.
That being said...you guys can try and go PC vs Mac on technical merits, but the truth of the matter is there are very few technical differences between the machines nowadays that actually [i]make a difference. [/i]
XP vs X? [i]Preference.[/i]
It's [i]ALL[/i] simply a matter of preference, so it's probably saner to agree to disagree (or go outside and argue about the shade of blue the sky is...)
Just my thoughts.
-R.
I gladly own both :)
I think your about right with the price of the Moto chips. The other thing though is that the motherboard is supposedly cheaper so it all adds up. Thing is though anybody who's good with computer tech will build their own pc and save some money. Everbody else will go and buy one ready built from the main pc brands or from some small hsop down the street that closes a few months later. When ever friends of mine ask for advice on pc's I tell them to build them if they can. After our experience with Dell's in work I wouldn't wish them on anyone. If they're interested in a mac then thats great. it all depends on what they use. My parents back home have a pre-black Dell which does the job. My mum never used a mac before so I never forced the issue.
I have yet to actually build a pc myself... I probably will at some point as alot of these nice B5 mods coming out will never make it to the mac and I doubt my all powerfull Toshiba 75mhz P1 labtop can hack it! ;) But thats all I'll be using a pc for... gaming... in particular ones that never make it to the mac... mostly ones related to *spit* Sierra.
XP v X... well XP is an improvement on what went before, its alot more stable and has much improved multi tasking. However its not rock solid unlike X. Since I got my mac in december its locked twice and both were my fault, attempting to shutdown while it was spinning up from sleep mode. My P4 2.6ghz in work crashes a hell of alot more, and is slow as hell thanks to yet another 'security' update from M$... the only way around it is to re-install from scratch. So far M$ have made no attempt to release a fix for this slowdown bug even though it was commented on a few tech sites on the web. XP's looks are a lame attempt to appear like X. I hear the new version of Longhorn will have an animated minimise windows option... it will ripple to the task bar. I rolled my eyes when I read this... Apple uses a shrinking 'genie' effect for its windows. Lame copying again from M$. Oh and the best yet is the new version of Frontpage.... they've basically looked at Dreamweaver MX and copied it... ok thats not a Mac specific one but it springs to mind with regards to 'innovation'.
Anyway, yes we can argue until the cows come home on this one. At the end of the day its down to preference. You either like em of you don't.
Oh yeah and glad my post pulled you out of hiding Rick ;) Haven't seen you about the forums for a bit.
The only time I have ever rebooted the machine I am typing this on, over the course of the last 2 years, was due to a software install or a hardware addition that required it. This PC is on 24/7.
What may even make people cringe is this: My actual Win2000 [i]installation[/i] is about 3 years old, and had been transferred through 3 CPU/MoBo upgrades and Ghosted to through 4 Hard drive changes without having to re-install it. It's currently running on a 160GB 4-disk EIDE RAID on a 2.4GHz P4.
'magine that...I could probably do a commercial for MS :)
My experience has shown me that most of this "stability" comparisons between windows and the mac are marketing gibbereish, as is the issue of multitasking. People having problems with Bluescreens probably either installed "questionable" software, or have an unstable device installed in one of hte PCI slots. This will crash either machine.
Both OS's use pre-emptive threads *unless* they have 2 or more Microprocessors (or, in the case of intel, a Hyperthreading CPU which has 2 threads). This is not a function of UNIX or NT, but rather a limitation based on the architectures the computers are based on.
Read: OS X [i]and[/i] WinXP task swap (or timeshare) CPU time when they run. I know in the case of XP you can set priority on a thread: I'm sure X does the same.
As for Dell, I really can't say much bad about them: their cases are easy to open, have excellent ventillation and internal cable / card management (it's the [b]ONLY[/b] PC I know of that actually has a pressure bar for the AGP card). I didn't have any issues with the 12 CAD stations I installed at my last job.
Someone earlier metioned something very valid about sound...unless you have an nFORCE-based PC, you're really going to need a Dolby Box (or card) to do high-end work.
All that said and done, I really have no biases. I have owned Apple IIs, PCs, 3 Macs, and a couple of (somewhat delapidated) SGIs during my life with computers. When I was younger, I did get into the whole Amiga/Mac debate (as JohnD can attest), but with age comes wisdom...I guess :)
That doesn't mean, however, that I do not have preferences... ;)
Now, I can say, without question, that the worst computer [i]ever[/i] was the Sun 386i, a DOS/UNIX hybrid that they later aborted and gave everyone who had one full credit towards a newer machine.
-R.
By "questionable" I mean software that may not "do the right thing," not (neccessarily) juarez.
Just wanted to be clear :)
-R.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Rogue Trader [/i]
[B]Im a gamer through and through and thats what irriatates me with todays market because most games worry about the graphics. Especially with FPS. Some are different, and yes some have a story thats worth a damn but ALL require the VERY latest in 3D cards that require you to shell out another 400 bucks just for the card that will be obsolete in 4-6 months when the next cool game comes out requireing a brand new graphics card. Its ridiculus and no matter how good the story or innovative the gameplay is it's just plain crappy that they require new graphics cards all the time. and dont just say thats pc gaming because thats crap. Consoles aren't much better but at least they have a longer shelf live then a graphics card. [/B][/QUOTE]
On these points, I do agree. Most of the big-selling games sell because they look pretty. Woo. I don't play or buy those games (with the exception of Max Payne, cause the bullet time thing is fun for a while).
However, there is innovation going on. It's just unfortunately hidden behind the mass of clone games that publishers seem to love.
Tread Marks. First on the tank warfare scene...and well...gosh darnit its FUN.
but innovative? frankly, NOTHING is going to be new anymore. I mean that in both real life and gaming. I mean seriously, if somone announced that we had a space ship in orbit that can get to the nearest solar system in less then 24 hours. It would be cool, but sci fi's been doing it for 50 years! Its not a new idea, just a new reality. Face it, there ARE no new ideas, just variations on old ideas.
To complain that something is wrong with videogames because they are all variations on a theme is senceless when reality is the same way.
As far as the Mac vs PC thing goes, I hate it when people are like "brave new world blah blah blah"...as has been pointed out in the other thread, to get all of that is OVER 13,000 DOLLARS, and the rate of depreciation is INSANE on any desktop computer. Sadly, one could purchase 4 high end x86 based PCs for the same price, which when doing processor intensive things like rendering it just makes more sense to set up 4 in a renderfarm...
The other feature that is oddly missing is hardware SATA RAID - with all of that speed and memory, it's too bad they left the hard drive bottleneck in there.
Sure, it's nifty, but, as I said before, the highest end versions are only going to appeal to a small niche market, which is the same way with high end PCs...for the casual user, they are going to go with what is cheaper and more accessible, which is still the PC. Since the majority of "high end" computer consumers are hard core gamers, they are going to stick with the PCs that they can build and mod themselves, with a lower cost to boot. There are a few graphics and audio professionals who have their orders in already i'm sure, and that's cool for them, it's what they want and if they have the means go for it.... I guess what I'm trying to say is that apple isn't about to take over the PC market anytime soon, they are good machines for those who like them and use them, but there are many other factors that will prevent them from converting every desktop to a mac, and anyone who thinks they will is suffering from acute fanboyism.