Will your next Mac have this?

Which functionality should absolutely be in the next Powermac?

  • USB 2

    Votes: 45 36.9%

  • FIREWIRE 2

    Votes: 57 46.7%

  • DOLBY 5.1 SURROUND SOUND

    Votes: 39 32.0%

  • DDR 266Mhz RAM

    Votes: 29 23.8%

  • DDR 333Mhz RAM

    Votes: 70 57.4%

  • Multiple button mouse

    Votes: 56 45.9%
  • Total voters
    122
  • Poll closed .
N

Nachohat

je suis donc je pense
I will soon need to buy a new computer and I've been looking around on both sides of the fence. I know Apple is struggling with the processor issue and I know that it is not interely in their control but they can still add several other things to their hardware besides a faster processor that would greatly make their products faster and more on par with the Dark Side.

I'm amazed at how many things are now integrated onto PC motherboards but not on macs. Right now you can buy a 150$ US motherboard with USB 2, Dobly 5.1 Surround Sound, Firewire, ethernet and DDR 333Mhz RAM. This would cost close to nothing for Apple to implement in the PowerMac.

I can't blame them for not having the G5 out, but DDR RAM is dirt cheap and more than a year old and all we got is PC 133Mhz crap. Creative is going bankrupt because nobody needs a sound card anymore, except for mac users... It is understandable that USB 2 is forgotten because is competes with Firewire; I'll forgive Apple for that since I don't really need it either. And what about a three button mouse? I would be curious to know how many PowerMac owner replace their one button mouse; the percentage must be pretty high.

I want my next comp to be a Mac but right now I would have to pay more than twice the price to be fed half the technology.
 
We'll probably see FireWire at 800 mbps...but not FireWire2/Gigawire...I'm wondering if this is all that the Zayante buyout is providing Apple? Seems like that would be something they could do themselves by just adding another controller...hopefully we will get something more than this...

As for sound, it is traditionally one of Apple's lowest priorities (for example, their OS 9 Sound Manager was really poorly implemented, and while OS X's Core Audio is much better - low latency, very stable - it still needs more work and better developer documentation I hear). More support for that fact is seen in the way they removed the sound input port from all their models and only in the latest PB revision has it come back. (and no, Apple, buying an external USB line-in is NOT just as good) It's not like they use especially high-quality sound cards in the machines anyway, and the internal speakers of the iBook, PowerBook, and iMac are crap as well (even the PowerMac could use an extra speaker so sound output wasn't so darn quiet).
If you want to hear great speakers in a laptop, try a Toshiba - their speakers really churn out great bass! The iMac's lack of decent speaker is understandable though b/c of lack of space, but it would be GREAT if Apple used the same speakers as Toshiba in their laptop line.

DDR RAM is definite since the Xserve has it (i.e. engineering it to be on a Mac motherboard is now done) - I'm too lazy to find out what the MHz are on the Xserve's RAM, but I imagine it would be the same on the upcoming PowerMac. Anyone know?

USB 2 is also unlikely because it is first of all not Apple's product, secondly not especially popular/widely used yet, thirdly owned by Intel, and fourthly, inferior to FireWire in a lot of ways - a biggie being that it requires the computers' main CPU for data transfer between devices whereas FireWire does not.

Multibutton mouse? well, it would be awesome for the pro line. Some think that the new 3 button mouse requirements for Shake suggest that it may be coming (but didn't Shake require a 3 button before Apple bought it out anyway?) Rumors have cropped up about this many times before, but somehow I think that if Apple hasn't changed to a multibutton mouse in the last 18 years, they won't do it now...but, come on Apple, prove me wrong! Please!

you didn't mention one thing: we might see an improved IDE bus as well, but that is only something that should be done, not something that is absolutely required (hrmmmm...reminds me of DDR RAM a year ago...) :)
 
Why only a Front Side Bus of 333?

I want what someP4 PCs have:
533Mhz FSB, with 1066MHz DDR Ram.

Look at the machines from http://www.alienware.com
These PCs really made think about switching to the PC side. :eek:
I am really not so sure if my next Computer will be a Mac, it depends on what Apple will have to offer the end of this year...
 
I've only heard good things about Alienware (at least as a gaming platform). Apart from the fact that their laptops don't use the P4-M but the desktop P4, I thought their computers were pretty good. Could you elaborate more, r4bid?
 
What's the point of USB2?

Intel has been promoting it for video. We all know this is going to fail miserably. It's also a pain to mix USB2 and USB1.1 devices, you basically need to buy an espensive USB2 hub.

I don't get it.
 
I don't think we'll see Firewire 2. Because the new iPods (5, 10, 20) are equiped with the "old" firewire. Or maybe it could be when they use the same port for both Firewire 1 as Firewire 2, but is that possible?

Because i don't want that i can't use my 10GB iPod (bought before MWNY) anymore when i buy a new mac....

Mneih, we'll see.



senne.
 
Senne : Don't worry about Firewire 2 (or the 800mbps version), it will be backwards compatible (meaning that Firewire 1 devices work with the Firewire 2 port at Firewire 1 speeds). All you will need is new devices that use Firewire 2 to use the full speed of the bus. Your iPod will work with Firewire 2 at the same speed it works at now.

Holmes: Realistically I think that Apple will definatly use DDR 266Mhz RAM since that is what is used in the Xserve. I'm a bit dissapointed of this because 333Mhz DDR costs almost the same price and you get a good performance boost. DDR 400Mhz is the next step but it should only be ready towards the end of the year.

I don't know much about Rambus RAM (ie RDRAM). DDR has pretty much won the battle and many will admit that RDRAM was ahead of its time. I'm not sure what's the deal with RDRAM @ 1Ghz, that's pretty crazy :D

Sometimes it amazes me to see how stupid some companies can be, and how out of touch they can be with their customers (example: what is up with those stupid Subway commercials?! They almost make me want to stop eating there). I think Apple needs to listen to it's customers more. They might be trying to keep their profit margins high, but if they keep selling us previous generation computers they will just sell less volume and make less profit in the end.
 
The Reason for RDRAM to not succeed were the high prices in the beginning, I think.
But now they are not much higher than DDR.
Also they are only supported by the P4, I think.

But it seems to really make a difference:
My brother (PC guy) told me there is a benchmark with the same machine with DDR 200MHz and RDRAM 1066MHz with Quake 3.

The DDR config got something like 280 fps, the RDRAM config something like 380fps. Not that anyone needs these high fps, but I think it shows what a difference RDRAM can make (if the processor is fast enough)

Even if we get DDR 266MHz in the next Powermac update, this is technology that is really old.
I wished Apple would start to be a little more innovative again.
The last Mac upgrades were something like: "Hey, it is tested on the PC side for months, so there is no harm in using it, too!"

If there isn't soon a Powermac that kicks the butts of PCs, or at least catches up, I don't see why Apple shouldn't dump the Powermac line and just go with nice little iMac consumer computers. At least the prices should drop.
Even if I don't need the power, as some people claim, it just doesn't feel right to pay a higher price for inferiour hardware.
 
Damn straight! :D Who want to pay more for less? It's just not logical. A fancy case and a great operating system shouldn't cost twice as much.

I was checking out RDRAM at www.rambus.com . They will soon be selling 1333Mhz RDRAM! That is a clock speed ten time that of which is used currently in the PowerMac line! Apple really needs to get it's act together fast. :(

I just don't understand how they can be so inovative in some areas and so behind in others.
 
apple should really stop spending all their time on making them look all nice n pretty and should start inovating in the hardware side, (i.e. cpu's over 1.5GHz, DDR400, Gigawire, faster airport) n give wintel machines a run for their money
 
Nice 'n' pretty is up and down, faster hardware is side to side. Its not like they can take their gay english industrial designers and put them to work in the chip labs. "These layouts are GARISH! It's a jumble of wires and boxes! What the hell is a nand? I want simplicity!"

I'm recently off the mhz crack addiction and I don't care how fast the machines are. Its fast enough for everything but games. But there's no games for mac so who cares. People need to concern themselves with getting sh*t done, not what they're going to do it with. The computer industry right now is where American cars were in the 70's. Yeah, your chevelle has a billion footpounds of torque, but where are you going? (I'm talking about home users here).

But you're right, mac does need to do something to speed up if they want to attract pc users. Too bad they can't cause they just made everybody switch to OSX. Get used to slow for a while.
 
none really, but its just funny to hear, n u know no stait guy can come up with cool looking designes like that , haha:D
strait guys design pc's
gay guys design mac's
 
Originally posted by DualG4X
none really, but its just funny to hear, n u know no stait guy can come up with cool looking designes like that , haha:D
strait guys design pc's
gay guys design mac's
Click to expand...

and that's funny because............

and that's good because............

and that makes a difference because............
 
As the source of this topic I'm going to take responsibility for it:

Just stop it right now. I'm sorry I brought up the industrial designer. His batting stance has nothing to do Apple or their computers. He's a damn fine ID and he designs good computers.


Ok so now we can stop talking about how gay he is.
 
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