MWSF - Apple sets expectations high

Originally posted by ulrik
There is a BIG difference between a new instruction set (like MMX) and the jump to 64 bit! Man, 64 bit means new laws! It's like the physical laws of our world change! That's what it's like when you change from 32 to 64 bit!

No offence, but this comparison is so very wrong!

No offense but it sounds like you should brush up on your microprocessor architecture. MMX extensions are 64 bit so the comparison is right on target. The replacement to MMX instructions, SSE instructions, are 128 bit. The earth didn't shake when either were introduced and each is just as important as Altivec. (They do pretty much the same thing.)

Actually, it's improper to brand a CPU as "xxx" bit. So many parts of the CPU work with different sized registers. While some of the G4 is 32 bit, as you pointed out, other parts are 64 bit and others are 128 bit. They Altivec implementation is 128 bit (and it's impressive but still hampered by it's clock speed).

Anyway, as long as the chip is backwards compatible I don't see why you can't just release it. The do it all the time in the x86 world and the physical laws of our world have remained constant according to my observations.

Vanguard
 
My best friends cousin has worked for Apple (actually it was an internship) since the beginning of the summer. When my friend went to Nebraska for their family Christmas, his cousin went on and on about how freaking awesome this new machine is. He even confirmed it was a flat panel iMac, but was adamant about the fact that it was NOTHING like machines such as the Gateway Profile (an all-in-one flat screen computer).
So that is what I'll put my money on, but I sure hope there is more than that because I've never seen hype like this from Apple, and I don't believe they are stupid enough to lead us on that bad. I would love X.2 that was as fast as OS 9.
Come on Apple, surprise us...
 
Lemme say this, FCP3 will take advantage of QT6 once QT6 is in the machine. The API into QT hasn't changed much to really warrant an app like FCP3 needing to be optimized, and QT6 isn't going to be groundbreaking in the API department. Apple could slam MPEG-4 file format support into QT6 and all QT-based apps would benefit. Nice, isn't it?

On the topic of 32 -> 64 bit changeovers, Motorola already explained that the G5 was compatible with the previous 32 bit instruction set AT FULL SPEED. So why not release the G5 when possible? People who don't wait for the 64 bit apps won't really see a difference, and for the most part, there won't be a difference, even when 90% of the apps are 64 bit compliant. The difference will be system routines optimized to take advantage of the wider 64 bit register moves and so on. Non-Altivec blitting will see a nice boost, so will other apps that move a lot of memory. 64 bit registers really don't do that much good except in being able to accurately describe large integers above 2 billion, and more accurate floating point without a speed loss. Some will like this, some won't see much come out of it.

As a side note: MacOS X will never quite reach the 'speed' of OS 9. The front app in OS 9 usually chugs a good 90+% of the CPU. MacOS X prevents this through pre-emptive multithreading, which has overhead, and prevents apps from being able to poll. That said, there are ways to improve performance to get darn close (changing whole design paradigms from co-op to pre-emptive), but there will always be something preventing it from being perfectly on par (except for the fact that OS 9 had become rather bloated with add-ons, and may not be optimal, but Apple seemed to stomp most of the optimization problems out of 9.2.x). Not to mention the fact Apple has already stated that OS X 10.2 won't be out until mid year. A build number of 6B11 within the past couple of weeks shows this is the case.
 
Look on Apple's website! It says it right there: "Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond."

Who else is thinking 1984 redux?
 
If on the day before the expo, Apple's website says "Think 1984. Only this is 2002.", I will seriously be pissing in my pants. ;)
 
Alrighty then. The flat-panel iMac thingumajig will be startling. I mean it's going to be something (somewhat) really new.
Besides, I think "big" refers to a 16"+ TiBook.

That's gonna be it.
Or not... ?

-What really strikes is the lack of leakage.

Side note: rfraley, is that WinXP ???
 
Originally posted by vanguard


No offense but it sounds like you should brush up on your microprocessor architecture. MMX extensions are 64 bit so the comparison is right on target. The replacement to MMX instructions, SSE instructions, are 128 bit. The earth didn't shake when either were introduced and each is just as important as Altivec. (They do pretty much the same thing.)


Oh, there is a rather big difference if you have a 128 bit unit for SIMD
operations, like the Altivec, and a TRUE 64 bit processor.

You can actually only use these units if you have to execute the very same command for several times. That's what the SIMD is all about. But if you have a native 64 bit environment for all your operations, that is a big difference.

 
Man, this sounds very very interesting. I've seen reports about flat panel iMacs and G5s on the rumor sites, so apparently Apple wants us to believe something else - or something more is coming.

I won't rule out the flat panel iMac, but there's got to be something special about it. For one thing I think Apple may be ready to drop the G3 across the whole product line. It's 2002 now - the time has come.

As far as I know gigabit Ethernet is still expensive, so I don't think it's possible for Apple to drop 10/100 completely yet.

Apple has been working for some time trying to get the graphics cards to somehow natively support the layering and effects in Aqua. I believe they've had enough time to work this out and it's possible we might see some amazing new capabilities added to Aqua that take advantage of new graphics cards. I'd go even further than that, in fact, and speculate that such a card would also incorporate font rendering and display PostScript as well, with full support for Quartz rendering on the surfaces of 3D objects.

There will be a revolutionary new 3D architecture able to render objects built from bezier curves in 3D space and generate various surface maps and deformations from procedural / fractal waveforms. The composite result of all these new technologies will be objects that lose no detail no matter how much you magnify them.

As long as we're Thinking Different, I'm going to imagine the ultimate combination of all these factors, with DDR RAM, an amazing new BUS architecture, and perhaps a new slot architecture to replace the venerable 4x AGP thrown in for good measure. All these amazing new features will live in an expandable box larger than the Cube that connects to a digital flat-panel specially made for the new machine.

In the spirit of ultimate integration the new display architecture will include a built-in television / radio tuner and DVD decoder, on-board DivX support, and the further capability of rendering any of these video sources directly on the surfaces of 3D objects.

Apple won't stop there, of course. Taking advantage of new developments in holographic storage technology the new Macs will have no hard drives. Instead all data will be optically stored into a crystal lattice in a cube made of artificial diamand doped with gallium arsenide. Each 1cm x 1cm x 1cm cube will hold 32 terabytes of information. Data transfer to and from this new storage meduim will be instantaneous.

Not content to stop with AltiVec, Apple will make use of their secret research in neural networks to bring us the first computer that can process analogies in natural language. The new Inference Engine won't process the kind of data that need bit-level accuracy but will instead be capable of taking creative routes and making strong intuitive guesses. Because it's a Neural Network it will learn from you as you work, adapting to your style of working. Before long your Mac will be able to guess what you want - before you want it.

As if that wasn't enough, Apple engineers will come on-stage to personally unveil the most advanced Quantum Computer ever built. IBM's recently-announced seven-atom Quantum Computer can only solve one simple problem. The Apple Quantum Engine will be able to compute all possible combinations of any problem in zero-time, making all existing encryption methods obsolete.

A special hub will connect the Quantum Computer, Neural Network, and Holographic Storage together in a unique way that allows them to share data freely. Photoshop operations that take two minutes on a 2GHz Pentium IV will occur instantaneously on the new Power Macintosh QNH. Final Cut Pro will render transitions and effects - you guessed it - instantaneously. Virtual PC 5 on the new machines will run Windows 6 times faster than the fastest Athlon.

At the end of the Keynote Steve will appear to walk off stage - but suddenly come running back. "Oh wait," he'll say with a sparkle in his eye, "There's one more thing I almost forgot." At this point Bill Gates will be wheeled out on a gurney strapped down with piano wire. To the amazement of everyone Bill will smile and announce that he has decided to make his greatest contribution to the Mac community, the sacrifice of his putrescent miserable life. At which point the entire audience will erupt into a riot, demanding that Bill simply have his limbs amputated and chanting "Poor misguided Bill! It's Ballmer we want to kill!"
 
I think the new iMac is going to be what some speculated the iPod would be. It will be the center of your home entertainment system:

computer+Tivo+MP3 server

I'm sure a lot of people want something like this.

Maybe it can us your TV as a second monitor. OSX should be able to handle creating overlays for your TV (for program info or an iTunes diplay perhaps).

Maybe it has a remote that will work with iTunes and your other AV components. This would be pretty handy.

What do you think?
 
Apple has 2 strong points: Software and Design.

Apple hardware is not high end, it's just expensive. So I shall most probably no be impressed by some new hardware. Even flat screen iMacs. If you once have seen the portable computers that Japanese use on their work place, the iBook or PowerBook look like big fat old timers. Same for G4... even 2 G4 don't beat the fastest Pentium, and the Pentium is less expensive.

No, the string point is software: the one you have as system (OS 10), the one you run on your machine (voice and handwriting recognition), and the one you access through the web (iTools).

The other strong point is design (Mac OS... again, 1984 Mac Plus, iMac, Cube, iPod, and even Newton). And I keep telling that we don't know what the iPod can do. It has 2 ARM MCU... this is enough for real time MP3 and GSM... or GPS... or ? Do it communicate wireless ? Not yet. But why ?

Therefore a revolution, if it includes hardware, it will be there only to enable new services.
 
Originally posted by Daeyin

or are they keeping a tight lid to keep expectations low so we are not dissapointed?
Hm, I think they would be doing a bad job on that with their hype "Prepare to be blown away"

I tried not to believe in the rumors of the G5 being shown on the Expo, and I didn't expect to see a TFT-iMac.
But now, after having visited the Apple site today...

I hope Apple does not only blow hot air...

Now, as I think of it... "Prepare to be blown away" --> Hot air?
:D
 
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