800/1000 MHz in portables

[Dekatophil]

It is time to put the new faster IBM G3 chips to action. Preferably in portables but desktops as well. It is time ? They're all new, you might say. What I mean is that Apple has to seriously rethink their "the G4 must be faster than the G3" policy. The iBook is a success. It would become more so with faster, more efficient chips. It would -in my eyes- be unwise to sacrifice that potential in order to maintain a marketing phantom that requires the G4 processors ("professionals") to be faster than the G3s. Nobody really believes in the whole contrievance anyway.
A G4 still has its advantages. If I'm into vector scaling etc., I'll still go for a G4 processor, even at a lower clock speed. The G4 is aimed at professionals, and they know what they need.
I'd like to discuss this "open letter" and await your comments on Apple's speed policy.
Shoot away....

[.dev.lqd]

I think that it's part of their strategy to maintain a well defined product line.

iMac, iBook

PowerMac, PowerBook

The former is value, portability, convenience, ease. This is of course at the expense of performance.

The latter is for professionals. If you want the speed, you lay down the green. Even complete neophytes to computers can understand this. They don't need to understand what the difference in chips is- even though they might infer it from the naming convention of G3 vs. G4. They just now this- the more they put into the purchase, money wise, the more they get out of it. Agreed- it lacks in flexibility, but it increases accessibility. Retarded marketing execs who want to buy a laptop just to have a laptop and want to pinch pennies know right where to go. The idea is to let people make relatively informed choices without needing to be particularly informed. IMHO anyways.

Compexity in the product line equals confusion in the customer. And your average CompUSA sevice rep will sell-sell-sell them a new dell after they try and explain everything to them. It fits in with their retail store operations- inform the customers and make it easier for them to feel confident in a purchasing decision.

Anyways- must go to school in 5 minutes.

[apb3]

also, one of the huge selling points, as mentioned above, is price/value. Boost the G3s and price goes up.

Anyway, you'll see a nice boost for the portables today. and config changes as well.

cheers.

[Dekatophil]

I don't think the price wd go up significantly.
Actually Apple *did* it just now with the new iBook(s).
At least one model is faster than the "smaller" TiBook (550MHz).
Do you think a 700MHz G3 wd really hurt ?

[apb3]

In many ways, yes.


As stated earlier, product differentiation is a big deal. G3/700 starts to look like a G4 to the masses. Why buy the pro machine when you can get the G3? Not good for apple.

Also, IBM/Moto would have to commit to building in large quantities to make it work. The speed bumps on the portables we just saw were tiny. And I'm sure apple's margins are equally as tiny since the iBook is the hot item now. Volume makes up for the low margin - to a point.

Also, a big thorn in my side is the Mhz/Ghz thing. Read the arstechnica deconstruction of the megahertz myth. Anyway, getting off track and need to catch a flight to my lovely (second and true home) Iceland for a meeting.