Pengu said:
Im curious as to why you think 3.0ghz is necessary?? surely if you buy a Dual 2.5 G5 now, the increased productivity will far outweigh the increased speed when a Dual 3 is finally released??
Thank you all for your thoughtful and knowledgeable response to my question about when we can expect the 3ghz G5 desktops. Let me try to explain my desire to wait:
- First, because I see it as potentially a major new hardware benchmark for Apple. Not just because of the speed, but because I think Apple will take advantage of the "numerical specialness" of reaching (maybe even exceeding) the so-far-unreachable goal of 3ghz. How will they take advantage of it? Probably by giving this new machine a fairly healthy dose of new technology: seriously upgraded video hardware; perhaps some new, faster type of RAM; faster bussing; etc.
I'm no hardware expert, so please hold your flames if I haven't stated something right, or missed an obvious point.
But having been a Mac user since 1984 (my first: a "Fat Mac" with 512k RAM and a single-sided floppy; hard drives were an extraordinarily expensive luxury back then), and having had a lot of experience watching how and when Apple releases product, I believe that the release of the 3ghz G5s is going to be significantly more important than just another incremental speed boost.
- A hoped-for reduction in the "kicking yourself 'cause you could have waited just a few months longer and gotten a machine that will be functional longer" phenomenon.
This ties to the first point I made: I'm by no means wealthy. It takes me a number of years to save enough money to replace my Macs (usually, four to five years). So, the last thing I want to have happen is to get impatient, buy a dual 2.5ghz G5, then groan and whine in a three months when the massively upgraded 3ghz machines hit.
- A slightly increased period of time before my machine is no longer the most seriously bad-A$$ Mac on the planet.
Yes, I'll admit it: I like to own (if only for a matter of weeks or months) the fastest Mac in existence. Hey, I'm a pathetic loser, desperate for the approval of others, okay??!
I have a strong feeling that once Apple hits 3ghz, it will be a slightly-longer-than-usual period of time before they release the next speed boost. This is just a hunch, based again on literally a couple of decades of watching how Apple typically does things.
So, that's about it. I appreciate the point that some of you have raised that, by waiting, I am giving up the increased productivity that I could be experiencing on a dual 2.5ghz Mac. No doubt about that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile these two old sayings:
"Good things come to those who wait."
AND...
"He who hesitates is lost."
Your continued comments on this matter are useful to me, and again I extend my sincere thanks to all of you who have responded.
Marty