New iMacs and dual 2.7 GHz Power Macs this month?

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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That's what Think Secret says:

* Dual-2GHz
o 512K L2 cache per processor
o Dual 1GHz frontside buses
o 512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (4GB max.)
o 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o 128MB DDR SDRAM ATI Radeon 9600 video card

* Dual-2.3GHz
o 512K L2 cache per processor
o Dual 1.15GHz frontside buses
o 512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (8GB max.)
o 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o 128MB DDR SDRAM ATI Radeon 9600 video card

* Dual-2.7GHz
o 512K L2 cache per processor
o Dual 1.35GHz frontside buses
o 512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (8GB max.)
o 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o 256MB DDR SDRAM ATI Radeon 9650 video card

They mention a 970MP possibility, but from the L2 cache specs, that sounds like the same 970FX. The 970MP was supposed to have twice the L2 cache per core.

BTW, I believe the Radeon 9650 is supposed to be the RV351, but I've never seen one for sale here.


* "Good" 17-inch, 1.8GHz
o 512K L2 cache
o 512MB DDR SDRAM
o 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o Combo Drive (CD-RW/DVD-ROM)

* "Better" 17-inch, 2GHz
o 512K L2 cache
o 512MB DDR SDRAM
o 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o SuperDrive (supporting dual-layer as well as DVD±RW/CD-RW burning)

* "Best" 20-inch, 2GHz
o 512K L2 cache
o 512MB DDR SDRAM
o 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
o SuperDrive (supporting dual-layer as well as DVD±RW/CD-RW burning)

All the iMacs get the Radeon 9600 (dunno if that's pro or not).

They also say the eMac is to get updated, but only to a G4 1.42 (with Radeon 9600).
 

remagavon

Platinum Member
Jun 16, 2003
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Only a 200mhz speed bump :(

I hope they're going to have the top end include dual cores or really that's not a very big improvement over what they've got now. PCI-E is going to be introduced as well isn't it?

I'm going to join the student developer program (currently don't have a mac at all) and will purchase a top end powermac but I might wait another generation if these specifications are correct. Still good hardware though, might have to get a mini to hold me over :)
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,047
1,676
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Originally posted by: remagavon
Only a 200mhz speed bump :(

I hope they're going to have the top end include dual cores or really that's not a very big improvement over what they've got now. PCI-E is going to be introduced as well isn't it?

I'm going to join the student developer program (currently don't have a mac at all) and will purchase a top end powermac but I might wait another generation if these specifications are correct. Still good hardware though, might have to get a mini to hold me over :)
Yeah, that 200 MHz at the top end ain't earth shattering. The mid-range got a reasonable boost though.

It doesn't look like there will be PCIe either, although I wasn't expecting that until the next revision anyway.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably get the mid-end dual 2.3, and save a few bux. Maybe spend those bux on a GPU upgrade or something.

Originally posted by: ohnnyj
Where is the PowerBook G5?
In the quarterly financial conference call, the Apple guy said it's still the "mother of all thermal challenges". :(
 

hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
7,326
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Dual 2.7 eh? thats pretty fast...512mb ram??? radeon 9600???? WHAT???

how much are these, like...$4000??? assuming you upgrade it, what would you do with it, that hardware won't play most games (as in they dont port it to mac)

i don't like mac...non gaming computers, and they are expensive, and not worth the cash...and the ipods? please...i can get superior mp3 player for less...

mac is evil....
 

remagavon

Platinum Member
Jun 16, 2003
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Originally posted by: Eug
Originally posted by: remagavon
Only a 200mhz speed bump :(

I hope they're going to have the top end include dual cores or really that's not a very big improvement over what they've got now. PCI-E is going to be introduced as well isn't it?

I'm going to join the student developer program (currently don't have a mac at all) and will purchase a top end powermac but I might wait another generation if these specifications are correct. Still good hardware though, might have to get a mini to hold me over :)
Yeah, that 200 MHz at the top end ain't earth shattering. The mid-range got a reasonable boost though.

It doesn't look like there will be PCIe either, although I wasn't expecting that until the next revision anyway.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably get the mid-end dual 2.3, and save a few bux. Maybe spend those bux on a GPU upgrade or something.

Originally posted by: ohnnyj
Where is the PowerBook G5?
In the quarterly financial conference call, the Apple guy said it's still the "mother of all thermal challenges". :(


I was considering using the once-lifetime discount - the top end mac would be $2300. :) So I'm waiting for someting pretty eath shattering, heh. I agree that the midrange did get quite a boost and it may be worth looking at regular education discounts on those systems. I'm basically a 2nd year programming student so I don't know very much yet, but I'd like to learn both platforms as I go along even if Mac programming isn't being taught anything near widespread (at least in my region). Xcode looks pretty amazing.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
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Originally posted by: hans030390
Dual 2.7 eh? thats pretty fast...512mb ram??? radeon 9600???? WHAT???

how much are these, like...$4000??? assuming you upgrade it, what would you do with it, that hardware won't play most games (as in they dont port it to mac)

i don't like mac...non gaming computers, and they are expensive, and not worth the cash...and the ipods? please...i can get superior mp3 player for less...

mac is evil....

Yawn. I wonder why we keep hearing that people are switching all the time? Why *nix enthusiasts and unix gods (Bill Joy) are using Apple products? Why scientists are picking up the machines to get work done.

Games? We have better games. :evil:
 

remagavon

Platinum Member
Jun 16, 2003
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Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I'm looking forward to a new iBook update...

As am I. If they upgraded the video to something that could support all of the 10.4 features then I'd definitely consider one over the mini (for low range pricing). It'd be around $400 more for something faster and portable. :) Here's hoping.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
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Originally posted by: remagavon
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I'm looking forward to a new iBook update...

As am I. If they upgraded the video to something that could support all of the 10.4 features then I'd definitely consider one over the mini (for low range pricing). It'd be around $400 more for something faster and portable. :) Here's hoping.

I'm hoping for 512MB of ram by default. :p
 

Lorn

Banned
Nov 28, 2004
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Originally posted by: hans030390
Dual 2.7 eh? thats pretty fast...512mb ram??? radeon 9600???? WHAT???

how much are these, like...$4000??? assuming you upgrade it, what would you do with it, that hardware won't play most games (as in they dont port it to mac)

i don't like mac...non gaming computers, and they are expensive, and not worth the cash...and the ipods? please...i can get superior mp3 player for less...

mac is evil....
Your asshole must be pretty big after releasing all of that waste. Go wipe the snot from your nose, brat.
 

wakawaka

Senior member
Jan 30, 2005
266
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Originally posted by: Thin Lizzy
Nice. Though I was hoping to see a 3GHz G5.

Didn't that Steve guy promise 3GHZ a while back?

Anywho, these updates aren't anything to look twice at, thats for sure.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
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Originally posted by: wakawaka
Originally posted by: Thin Lizzy
Nice. Though I was hoping to see a 3GHz G5.

Didn't that Steve guy promise 3GHZ a while back?

Anywho, these updates aren't anything to look twice at, thats for sure.

That Steve guy? :laugh: Don't pay attention to the tech industry, eh?
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Originally posted by: wakawaka
Originally posted by: Thin Lizzy
Nice. Though I was hoping to see a 3GHz G5.

Didn't that Steve guy promise 3GHZ a while back?

Anywho, these updates aren't anything to look twice at, thats for sure.
Yes, but unfortunately IBM(Apple's G5 supplier) totally dropped the ball on that, they weren't expecting to have so many issues with the 90nm process.:(
 

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
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Whatever. At work i have to use a G5 dual 2GHz, 1.5G ram, etc and the thing is a slug next to my 3500+ with 1G. Everything, literally every piece of software i use, runs noticably slower. Even aspects of the OS are slow as hell. Im certainly not a user who will switch--ever.
 

remagavon

Platinum Member
Jun 16, 2003
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Originally posted by: homercles337
Whatever. At work i have to use a G5 dual 2GHz, 1.5G ram, etc and the thing is a slug next to my 3500+ with 1G. Everything, literally every piece of software i use, runs noticably slower. Even aspects of the OS are slow as hell. Im certainly not a user who will switch--ever.

10.4 gives ~50% boost in user interface on the g5 systems according to an early review (using xbench). That along with the new acceleration should speed things up for you. Also if you're using a top end Mac at work, why are you comparing the same software you can run on a PC?:) Any company would obviously use PCs over Macs to save cost if they could.
 

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
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Originally posted by: remagavon
Originally posted by: homercles337
Whatever. At work i have to use a G5 dual 2GHz, 1.5G ram, etc and the thing is a slug next to my 3500+ with 1G. Everything, literally every piece of software i use, runs noticably slower. Even aspects of the OS are slow as hell. Im certainly not a user who will switch--ever.

10.4 gives ~50% boost in user interface on the g5 systems according to an early review (using xbench). That along with the new acceleration should speed things up for you. Also if you're using a top end Mac at work, why are you comparing the same software you can run on a PC?:) Any company would obviously use PCs over Macs to save cost if they could.

Well im pretty sure they are running the most recent version and it if it runs this slow then there HAS to be speed improvements with Tiger. Im comparing the same software because i work at home just as much as in my office. So, when i say "noticably" slower i mean both in launch and run times. Plus, even with 1.5G this "super speedy mac" likes to get hung up reading from the scratch disc...honestly i cant find anything worthy of spending a $0.01 on a mac. But then thats my $0.02. ;)
 

remagavon

Platinum Member
Jun 16, 2003
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Originally posted by: homercles337
Originally posted by: remagavon
Originally posted by: homercles337
Whatever. At work i have to use a G5 dual 2GHz, 1.5G ram, etc and the thing is a slug next to my 3500+ with 1G. Everything, literally every piece of software i use, runs noticably slower. Even aspects of the OS are slow as hell. Im certainly not a user who will switch--ever.

10.4 gives ~50% boost in user interface on the g5 systems according to an early review (using xbench). That along with the new acceleration should speed things up for you. Also if you're using a top end Mac at work, why are you comparing the same software you can run on a PC?:) Any company would obviously use PCs over Macs to save cost if they could.

Well im pretty sure they are running the most recent version and it if it runs this slow then there HAS to be speed improvements with Tiger. Im comparing the same software because i work at home just as much as in my office. So, when i say "noticably" slower i mean both in launch and run times. Plus, even with 1.5G this "super speedy mac" likes to get hung up reading from the scratch disc...honestly i cant find anything worthy of spending a $0.01 on a mac. But then thats my $0.02. ;)

Seriously though, why are you using a Mac if your software is interoperable btween OSes?:p
 

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
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Im a postdoc in a lab that went from dual PC/Mac to exclusively mac a few years ago. Reason? Monetary. Either buy TWO versions of Office, Adobe, Matlab, etc or just one for mac. Plus my advisor is a bit of a macophile--well, at least he likes to bash windows every chance he gets. Even though he has never used a windows OS beyond NT4 as far as i can tell. Maybe i should sneak into his office and install virtual PC. :evil: Wait, that emulation software runs slow as hell, even slower because its running on a mac ;) ...no chance to convert him back i suppose. :(
 

tren001

Member
Feb 6, 2005
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When I first started in my department three years ago, many labs used Macs, because I guess they were good for Photoshoping large files (a high quality scan from a confocal microscope could be up to a 50 mb .tif file) and such, but gradually over the years, the whole department has PCfied. My lab went from Mac to Mac/PC to all PC. It's just so much cheaper to get PCs and their components and accessories. Go through dell, and you could probably replace your computers twice as often as if you were on macs, which means your newer PCs will do photoshop faster than ancient macs. And for the final nails on the coffin, many of the new nifty research software (anything from statistical, to graphic, to niche software like specialized DNA analysis tools) only work on PC, so no more macs.

For me, someone who does a lot of work on a computer, and enjoy gaming, and like to tinker with new components and gadgets, PC versus Mac is a no brainer. PC all the way!
 

volrath

Senior member
Feb 26, 2004
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Speed improvements in 10.4? Windows XP UI 4 years ago was faster than 10.3 is now. It doesn't matter if you catch up now.