1. Altivec will blow a P4 out of the water: This isn't true either. The P4 has a unit called SSE that performs the same sort of 128 bit simd operations that the G4 does. In addition to that, it does it at a higher clock speed. The truth is that when you compare "apples to apples" Intel builds better processors than motorola.
It is true that the P4 has a vector processing unit called SSE, but it is not even close to Altivec. The one thing Moto has done exceedingly well is to develop Altivec.
Altivec is very well documented, and it has more "hooks" or ways to code for it. I'm not a technical guru, but based on my understanding of what a few tech gurus have told me, the result of these "hooks" is that Altivec is far easier to optimize code for than SSE.
Thus, you still see Macs running Photoshop faster than P4s. This is because even with SSE optimizations, the P4 cannot beat a G4 with altivec optimizations. SSE is an afterthought on the P4, but on the G4, Altivec gets lots of attention from Moto.
So for now Altivec keeps G4 macs in the game, but when the G5 finally arrives, it's going to crush x86. Finally Macs will not just keep up with pentium 4s, they will surpass them in performance, by far. It's going to be a bright few years after the G5 is introduced. Undoubtedly, Intel will catch up and gain the lead again, but that's the nature of the CPU race, someone is always in the lead and the leader changes every few years. That's why all these people who are clamoring for Apple to dump Moto are missing the point, that motorola will eventually get their sh!t together, take everything they've learned not to do with the G4, and make a bitchin' processor!
