New ghz PowerMacs next Tuesday...

[serpicolugnut]

or at least that's what's being reported. Apparently, dealers have been notified that new stock of machines with 800, 933, and dual 1ghz processors should be arriving on Tuesday...

Seems like this is a stall move to prepare for G5's this summer with new mobo...

[julguribye]

From ThinkSecret:

More details emerge on updated Power Mac G4
By Nick dePlume, Publisher and Editor in Chief


As anticipated by Think Secret in the days leading up to Macworld Expo/San Francisco, there was clear disappointment among many Mac users as Apple failed to roll out new professional desktop units despite hints from the company that the expo would bring speed gains.

In that article, we predicted that faster Power Mac G4s using an "Apollo" chip at 1 GHz or faster would be unveiled not too long after Macworld. "Apple has the chips, but not in great quantity. It makes sense to wait a month," a Motorola source told us at the time. Nevertheless, it is important that Apple begin shipping the new Power Macs as soon as possible, to prevent a lackluster pro desktop quarter due to the fast G4 iMacs. As one Apple representative said on the show floor, Apple has to release new Power Macs in the near future so to not undermine its product line.

(Although Apple has considered marketing the Apollo G4 as a G5, the company is not on the verge of releasing desktops with a true G5 chip, as we first reported last month. The fact that several hardware and software developers are referring to the chip in their documentation may indicate that such a marketing plan exists, however.)

Since Macworld, a few new details have leaked out. Word on the show floor from multiple vendors is that the motherboard of the new G4 will have a new 66 MHz PCI bus with a theoretical maximum sustained throughput of 512 MB per second. Another show floor informant said that the new Power Mac's AGP slot could be an AGP Pro, but stressed that it could easily change at the last minute. According to the source, Apple hasn't seen any significant performance gains from the AGP 4X slot to AGP Pro.

So, when will we see the new pro G4s? For the past two weeks, estimated ship dates have ranged from late January, to Seybold (February 19), to Macworld Expo/Tokyo (March).

Sources are now indicating, however, that the release may come as soon as next week, confirming a recent report from our friend the Blade from MacEdition's NMR Report. The Blade's reporting on 1.4 GHz may also be on the money, the same source says. Apple representatives at Macworld hinted that 1 GHz would just be the starting point, but just how far Apple can get with the Apollo chip hasn't been quite clear.

At press time, Apple has not informed journalists of a media event next week for the Power Macs, but the company may do so later in the week.


I belive new G4's are right around the corner

[tagliatelle]

This is rumored before, but seems more concrete... I think it is most psychological. "comparing processors and the vrooooom instinct"

[ulrik]

Great...Ghz G4s. Hopefully, they are not running with PC133 RAM.

[serpicolugnut]

Great...Ghz G4s. Hopefully, they are not running with PC133 RAM.

I would bet that they are nothing more than the current Quicksilver models with nothing more than a speed bumped processor. I'm sure Apple is going to release the new G5's this summer, and with it a new motherboard. I doubt they would debut a new motherboard in what is essentially a minor modification...

[ulrik]

Well, I don't know enough to say how big the change in the architecture of the board would be. The shark-series of motherboards is just getting old, and feeding a Ghz G4 from a 133 Mhz RAM bus just seems wrong for a computer which claims to be a workstation. I don't wanna badmouth the G4, it's a great Mac, but it is time for faster (DDR) RAM, if you ask me. Then again, I tend to agree that this speed bump is just to keep the G4 better than the iMac, and to fill the gap until the G5 is released.

BTW: What about Gigawire? I haven't followed the rumours, was this also just another joke from SpyMac or are they really releasing a new BUS type???

[serpicolugnut]

Gigawire is a recently registered Apple trademark, and probably meant to be the marketing term for either wireless Firewire or Firewire B. Either way, I doubt this will find it's way in to the next QuickSilver revision.

From all the rumors, the next motherboard revision should feature Gigawire, AGP Pro, USB 2.0, and the new Hypertransport bus that Apple is licensing from AMD.

[julguribye]

USB 2 is 480mbps, right?
And FireWire is 400...
Gigawire is at least going to be 800!
FireWire2/GW will beat the hell out of USB2!

...And my point is?