Problem with PowerMac Sales

C

callieX

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At this website
http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/display_news.cfm?NewsID=2533

I read the following.
"One trouble spot for the company was its high-end Power Mac G4 line, for which sales dropped 25 per cent from last year’s first quarter. The crunched economy is partially responsible for that, said Apple chief financial officer Fred Anderson, but he also pointed blame at Quark, which has not yet released an OS X-native version of its QuarkXPress desktop publishing software. "

I think another major factor is promise of the mythical G5. This has been on the rumor wire for atleast two years now. I know I have been waiting. Only because it seems like it always just the around the corner. I think many are afraid that if and when it comes it will denote a major hardware upgrade and they do not want to be on the wrong side of it.

For example buying a 7300 right before the G3.
Buying a serial/SCSI model right before firewire/USB.

I know machines always get better and cheaper but there are always certain data points that denote a major change.

Any thoughts
Calliex
 
I want the next processor. Im sick of these, "the G4 is faster then the pentium", and the "the pentium is faster then the G4" arguments (even tho the G4 is pretty damn good comparied to the pentium). The G4 needs change. Its old. Its starting to REALLY show that, an a little change would CERTAINLY not hurt Apple. Hell, maybe a new PowerMac design would be nice too, but all i really care about is the processor. Oh well, maybe soon...:D :p
 
So you rather want some 'The 970 is faster than P4' or 'P4 is faster than G5' arguments?

When the IBM PowerPC 970 appears on the market, it'll be about 1.5 or 1.8 GHz behind the P4 processors. So don't expect anything to change really in the arguments...
 
No I do not want 'The 970 is faster than P4' or 'P4 is faster than G5' arguments?'

I think the the vapor (G5 or whatever processor) is hurting Apple powermac sales, because if people think something radically new is right around the corner and they don't need a machine right away they will wait.

Since the G4 chip is close to being maxed out eveyone is speculating that a major change is close. How close is anyone's guess. It is easy to keep waiting. The annouce something in Janurary that doesn't ship unitl March. You look at them in March and start ready things on the net. The next thing you know it is only a few months until July when the next big announcement happens. I tend to look a computer purchases like cars. Never buy the new thing out until atleast a few months have passed in case they find a problem and fix it.

calliex
 
if the ppc970 debuts at 1.2ghz in a year its likely the p4 will be over 4ghz making the ppc970 roughly 2.8ghz behind the p4.

then there's amd and the 64-bit clawhammer which is expected to debut at around 2ghz with over a 3ghz rating sometime this year.

i dont think ppc970 is the answer. i think if apple truly wants to compete with the PC market, they're going to have to switch to similar CPUs at comparative speeds. i think the answer lies in amd.
 
Eh, I still take pride in the fact that my Yosemite Power Mac G3 400 was one of the first 12 to hit the Minneapolis / St. Paul area! :D
 
Originally posted by callieX

Buying a serial/SCSI model right before firewire/USB.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did...
No more though now that I know about rumor sites (the bane of Apple's product announcements but the reassurance for the educated buyer).
 
The 970 isn't a direct competitor to Pentiums or Athlons, those are 32bit chips. The 970's direct competitors are Itaniums and Opterons. Both are 64bit chips designed for highend workstations and servers (the same market the 970 is designed for). Both chips are in the ~1.5GHz range right now (even though Opterons have yet been launched). AMD has stated that Opterons will be launched at 2GHz.

If IBM can indeed launch the 970 by second or third quarter at 1.8 to 2.0GHz, the GHz gap would be quite small to non-existent.

Incidentally, the AMD Opterons are amazingly well performing chips.

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/as-16.01.03-002/
 
As has been stated, the IBM Power4 chip is supposed to be released soon. Who wants to buy a system they know will be obselete within only a few months? Personally I think that is more of a rip off then paying 2,000 + dollars to run the best OS on second class hardware to begin with...
 
I really hate how I can't get a clear answer to what Apple is going to do. I'm looking to buy my first Mac. I have my eys set on a DP 867 G4 MDD. Now, I know that eventually new stuff will come out but what's really bugging me is that there's no real clear answer. Do I buy now while Apple is still shipping with OSX and OS9 or do I play the waiting game? I'm a student studing multimedia but really want to get into video and post, so I know that the DP 867 is good enough for what I want to do but I' would really be eeeked if a month after Apple releases a new CPU based machine without any real warning.

Atleast with Intel based machines you know for certain that in a couple of months (really morel ike a couple weeks in my experiences!)your machine will be old news, but atleast you can prepeare your self and brace for it.

Also, as a current P4 owner (1.3ghz 423-pin), I think the current Apples, well atlest the 500mhz G4 we have at school can keep up pretty well, and thats using OS9. I really don't care about speed, I'm not friggin' NASA or whomever who needs a 10ghz moster to play Doom 3 or whatever. I use to run Photoshop on a P1 166mhz machine so I can handle waiting 3 secs for a filter to render or something.

Also, one of the things that I like about Apple is that it's not hardware driven, but more what can you do with you PC as a tool. Maybe that's just the impression I get from the outside as a non Mac owner, but I had the silly idea I could still use my DP 867 (when/if I get it) for up to 5 - 6 years with any major upgrades.

I just hope Mac owners aren't like PC owners, getting all cought up with the latest vidoe cards and cpus just to play the latest stupid games or whatever. Ican't afford to play that game!
 
Okay, once again, with more ooomph, maybe...

The IBM roadmap is clear about releasing the PowerPC 970 to the market *late* in 2003. A PowerMac using it is not months away. It's more than half a year away, maybe they will even only be released in January 2004. Also, Apple has made _one_ statement about this chip, and that was that they had no intention of using it in PowerMacs. Of course this can still change, but 'waiting for the 970' is a bit like 'waiting for the G5'.

Keep in mind that Motorola is about to release the PowerPC 7457 at speeds of 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 GHz (which will be used by PowerMacs in late January, early February). Motorola will release the PowerPC 7457-RM at speeds of up to 1.83 GHz in late 2003, about when IBM will release the 970 at similar clock speeds.

jb22 said: Also, one of the things that I like about Apple is that it's not hardware driven, but more what can you do with you PC as a tool. Maybe that's just the impression I get from the outside as a non Mac owner, but I had the silly idea I could still use my DP 867 (when/if I get it) for up to 5 - 6 years with any major upgrades. I just hope Mac owners aren't like PC owners, getting all cought up with the latest vidoe cards and cpus just to play the latest stupid games or whatever. I can't afford to play that game!

If you look at the specs below, you'll see that I'm using a two year old PowerBook which works fine. Sure, a new PowerBook is still a lust object to me, and I'd buy one this very moment if I had the money, but you're right: In comparison, a two year old HP, Sony, Dell notebook looks very, very bad.
 
I doubt that there will be much, if any, public warning when macs start shipping with a new CPU. I would kill the sales of the existing units in the distribution channels.

However, apple will have to notify developers that their products may need a recompile or whatever to run on any new CPU's. I can't see a move to a new CPU that requires developers to do any more than recompile their software.

I'm not holding my breath for any new mac's this year. I'd expect an update to the current powerbooks and powermacs in July (speedbumps + GPU update) then maybe they'll hit the ground running in Jan 2004 on new CPU's.

A clue to new CPU powered macs could be a drop in price to clear out all the existing stocks. It would be a hell of a Christmas sale.

This is of course pure speculation.
 
I just bought a dual 867 MP for work. I had delayed that purchase as long as I could for reasons similar to you, but the fact is that I needed it now. With limited info on what the future will bring (!), I had to make a decision. I'm sure one day, there will be faster and cheaper PowerMacs, but no one knows when this day will come.

So your question should be "Do i need a new PowerMac in the next few weeks?". If the answer is yes, then go get yourself a new PowerMac....
 
Most rumour sites have mentioned that the PowerMacs will be updated about a month after MWSF.
 
I just hope Mac owners aren't like PC owners, getting all cought up with the latest vidoe cards and cpus just to play the latest stupid games or whatever.
Click to expand...

Nope, lately we're getting caught up with buying the powerbook 12" just to say we got one. Hehe.
 
Actually, for a couple of hours last night I thought about getting a 12" Powerbook with Superdrive but then changed my mind when I saw that it would cost more then a DP MDD 867 with SuperDrive and Radeon 9000 video card.

Heck, even the 17" iMac cost more then a DP 867 with Superdrive!

I really want to place my order for a new MDD G4 but I'm going to wait a week longer, just to see if any new comes out regarding new Power Macs with fire wire 800 and maybe otehr improvements.

Does any one know if I order my Mac after the Jan. 25, will it ship with the lates "i" apps like iDVD 3? Could iLife be included with newer Macs?
 
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