GadgetLover
Senior Member & Tech Guru
... from my friends at The Register ...
If it [NEW PowerPC 7440 600MHz/700MHz chips!] fails, it may not matter too much, since our source implies the new chip is simply being used to speed-bump the PowerBook before completely new models - described as a "big revision" - are launched next year at Macworld Expo Tokyo, the traditional venue of Apple's PowerBook announcements.
That machine will be based on Apollo, Motorola's third-generation of G4-class PowerPC. Apollo - aka the PowerPC 7460 - is, we hear, coming off the production line and demonstrating good, early yields, up to 1.33GHz. The higher clock speed's impact on power consumption is likely to be balanced by better power management and a more compact 0.13 micron, silicon-on-insulator chip fabrication process.
Our source tells us the new PowerBooks are likely to appear towards the end of this month. Certainly some sort of upgrade is expected shortly following Apple's inventory-clearing price cuts made at the start of September. UK channel sources tell us that Apple's key distributors, Computer 2000 and Ingram, have no stocks of 400MHz or 500MHz PowerBook G4s, though both note that's due to change any day now. Nor is the complete absence of machines in any way untypical.
If it [NEW PowerPC 7440 600MHz/700MHz chips!] fails, it may not matter too much, since our source implies the new chip is simply being used to speed-bump the PowerBook before completely new models - described as a "big revision" - are launched next year at Macworld Expo Tokyo, the traditional venue of Apple's PowerBook announcements.
That machine will be based on Apollo, Motorola's third-generation of G4-class PowerPC. Apollo - aka the PowerPC 7460 - is, we hear, coming off the production line and demonstrating good, early yields, up to 1.33GHz. The higher clock speed's impact on power consumption is likely to be balanced by better power management and a more compact 0.13 micron, silicon-on-insulator chip fabrication process.
Our source tells us the new PowerBooks are likely to appear towards the end of this month. Certainly some sort of upgrade is expected shortly following Apple's inventory-clearing price cuts made at the start of September. UK channel sources tell us that Apple's key distributors, Computer 2000 and Ingram, have no stocks of 400MHz or 500MHz PowerBook G4s, though both note that's due to change any day now. Nor is the complete absence of machines in any way untypical.
