Any rumors on a possible G6?

[egon]

According to Wikipedia, the G5 was introduced in 2003. And Wikipedia also states the G4 being introduced in August of 1999. I don't know when the G3 was introduced, but with a four year difference between the G4 and G5, perhaps 2007 is a possible time frame.

However, I agree with the assessment that the next major step for Apple will be the dual-core machines. Perhaps also quad-chip machines, as some PCs are now coming out with. I would think a next-generation chip would be 2007 at the earliest. Maybe late 2006. Perhaps IBM's recent Cell chip might be part of that?

 

[Lt Major Burns]

By the way Burns, are you sure your Cinema Display is better than your G5? A high bar to set.

that statement is based upon real-world everyday stuff - when you buy a new mac, the box that purrs away crunching numbers only gets faster, in increments, to your previous box.

jumping from a 1152x856 desktop using illustrator with all it's palettes to a 1680x1050 desktop in widescreen, and the jump from crt to the very, very good apple panel is amazing - the colours are so accurate, the pixels VERY sharp, so clear. it's also the thing you look at most. they're both very well designed - but i'm more glad i bought the cinema display than i am the g5.

don't get me wrong! the G5 is amazing, but i can justify the extravagence more for the screen. i could probably live with a mac mini, for most everyday stuff, although my graphics work is getting a lot more intensive of late, and the fans are whirring loudly a lot more often now....

 

[Lt Major Burns]

According to Wikipedia, the G5 was introduced in 2003. And Wikipedia also states the G4 being introduced in August of 1999. I don't know when the G3 was introduced, but with a four year difference between the G4 and G5, perhaps 2007 is a possible time frame.

However, I agree with the assessment that the next major step for Apple will be the dual-core machines. Perhaps also quad-chip machines, as some PCs are now coming out with. I would think a next-generation chip would be 2007 at the earliest. Maybe late 2006. Perhaps IBM's recent Cell chip might be part of that?

it seems to me that all the chip manufacturers are having a hard time squeezing more clock speed out of their chips, so a new way of thinking is needed - the multi-core idea is a good one, but i see it like any other dual-processor machine - it doesn't get faster, just easier. we stiull need more speed, so i'm not that excited by dual core. i've heard somewhere that top-level research is going into (don't laugh) sub-atomic processing, which is a long way off and in theory is reaching clock speeds of say 15ghz and above, and that the problem is keeping the heat below nuclear meltdown.

however DON'T quote me on that - i could well be talking out of my arse

 

[Oscar Castillo]

Although there's been a lot of hype around Cell, there may simply not be enough resources within IBM to branch off into so many PPC based architectures. The delays we see may be all due to not having the "assembly line" for each different PPC based chip and not just a design issue - heat, cooling, etc.
With new Playstation and Xbox due out in the near future, the volume of chips required to satisfy the demand Sony and Microsoft put on IBM may be a factor.

 

[Lt Major Burns]

so are both next-gen consoles using PPC architecture?

 

[egon]

No laughs, Lt. Burns. I've heard about those too, but I think it will be a LONG time before that would land in the commercial realm. One possibility, and I know it may never catch on, is the asynchronous chip that companies like SUN have been working on. Even Intel's test chip resulted in three times the speed at half the power. That would be a nice step in chip evolution, but I somehow think that it will take a leap in the minds of the decision-making execs to try that one out on a large scale.