Look at what Apple is pulling out of their sleeves. Particularly, check out their new PowerMac lineup. It seems they've made some big strides forward, enough to challenge the power of PC's once again.
First, the disclaimer: I'm talking exclusively about their hardware. I would never use MacOS, but it's possible to install LinuxPPC on these machines.
Here is what I mean by power:
* The G4 is known for far superior clock-for-clock performance, at least compared with a Pentium3 (more so w/P4). Does anyone know how a Tbird's performance compares to a G4, clock-for-clock? I wouldn't cross out the possibility that a G4/733 could challenge a Tbird/1200.
* The G4, as far as I know, draws very little power, which lets it produce extremely little heat. Apple is known for designing their cases with few, and recently, no fans at all. This results in a computer that doesn't add ambient noise. Tbirds are obviously on the opposite end, dissipating >50 watts of power. (My retail Tbird 1100 is undervolted @1.55V, which keeps it in the low 40's. But I still have to use a fan.)
* Apple seems to have graduated from kindergarden with the introduction of what seem to be:
1) 133MHz FSB
2) AGP4X support and GeForce2 MX cards finally appearing on PowerMacs
3) Built-in Gigabit ethernet! :Q
4) Combo CDRW/DVD-R drive in top model--it's a real DVD-R drive--you can get $10 blanks from Apple or elsewhere and read produced DVD-R's from any DVD drive!
5) The performance of a dual G4 533MHz in supported apps is scary--it's definitely faster than any single PC processor to date.
There are obvious drawbacks--software/hardware support is still limited, and the cost is 2-3X what my Tbird 1100 box cost me (since you get awesome deals on PC equipment). But still, it looks to me like Apple is really competing again--their new systems seem like luxury rigs with impressive horsepower and excellent noise/environment characteristics.
First, the disclaimer: I'm talking exclusively about their hardware. I would never use MacOS, but it's possible to install LinuxPPC on these machines.
Here is what I mean by power:
* The G4 is known for far superior clock-for-clock performance, at least compared with a Pentium3 (more so w/P4). Does anyone know how a Tbird's performance compares to a G4, clock-for-clock? I wouldn't cross out the possibility that a G4/733 could challenge a Tbird/1200.
* The G4, as far as I know, draws very little power, which lets it produce extremely little heat. Apple is known for designing their cases with few, and recently, no fans at all. This results in a computer that doesn't add ambient noise. Tbirds are obviously on the opposite end, dissipating >50 watts of power. (My retail Tbird 1100 is undervolted @1.55V, which keeps it in the low 40's. But I still have to use a fan.)
* Apple seems to have graduated from kindergarden with the introduction of what seem to be:
1) 133MHz FSB
2) AGP4X support and GeForce2 MX cards finally appearing on PowerMacs
3) Built-in Gigabit ethernet! :Q
4) Combo CDRW/DVD-R drive in top model--it's a real DVD-R drive--you can get $10 blanks from Apple or elsewhere and read produced DVD-R's from any DVD drive!
5) The performance of a dual G4 533MHz in supported apps is scary--it's definitely faster than any single PC processor to date.
There are obvious drawbacks--software/hardware support is still limited, and the cost is 2-3X what my Tbird 1100 box cost me (since you get awesome deals on PC equipment). But still, it looks to me like Apple is really competing again--their new systems seem like luxury rigs with impressive horsepower and excellent noise/environment characteristics.
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