PowerMac G5 Specs Released - By Apple
Try as they may, Apple rarely makes it to a keynote without new product news slipping under the Cupertino iron curtain. Normally it is the Mac-related rumor sites that leak the dirt. Or in the case of the LCD iMac, the Canadian imprint of Time Magazine. But this time Apple has nobody to blame but itself, when last night it posted G5 specs to its web site.
Most "above-ground" Mac news sites have politely removed the image, but you can still see a copy of it in various places, including here.
In short, the specifications look very good. 1.6, 1.8, and dual 2GHz (no single 2GHz?) with a 1GHz bus, three USB 2.0 ports, three FireWire, and up to 8GB of DDR SDRAM (who needs 8 gigs of RAM, besides maybe a company like Pixar?). Oddly, the image says nothing about Superdrives, or any CD/DVD drive for that matter. And then the odd mention of something called PCI-X, which is probably some new fangled, hyper modification of the old PCI we all know and love.
Even though the specs have slipped out, it will be quite interesting to see how Jonathan Ive has redesigned the outer Quicksilver case of the PowerMac G4.
Updates:
1) News.com has posted a fair article about the slipped news, and the historical relevance of the big update.
2) Wholly [sic] Crap - Time for an Ass Kicking
3) "Apple Computer is expected to debut a new line of high-end G5 Power Macs on Monday that promises to put the company at the head of the performance race with Windows PCs." - Wired - "Apple Leaks PowerMac G5 Details"
Comments
I could certainly use 8GB of memory. I use my Cube (so forlorn now at 450MHz - sob!) for music recording and editing. I use Propellerheads Reason and Ableton Live 2.0 and while they're quite efficient "new generation programs, adding effects and using lots of samples eats up RAM and CPU power like crazy. CD-quality stereo audio recording takes about 10MB per minute - now imagine having 24 or 48 stereo tracks going at once. And it's common nowadays to record at much higher sampling rates - 48 and 96 KHz - and to mix in 5.1, especially for soundtracks and game audio. Doing non-destructive editing means having a lot of copy/paste buffer space, too. So even we lowly musicians and sound designers need 8GB, not just 3D renderers and video/film editors.
Posted by: AJ at June 20, 2003 9:59 AM
Yep, newfangled PCI-X is also known as PCI Express. Here's the lowdown. I guess there's talk that PCI Express will replace AGP.
Posted by: Scott M. at June 20, 2003 10:29 AM
Uh, actually PCI Express isn't PCI-X.
PCI-X is just a faster version of the PCI that we have now, used mostly for high-bandwidth cards like Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and the like.
PCI Express is a new architecture that swaps out PCI's multiple parallel busses with a switched-link topology. The connection runs at 100MB (yes, megabytes) per second per pin (!)
It also uses fewer connection lines and thus the sockets will be physically different - much smaller, allowing much smaller form-factor computers (potentially).
There's a white paper at Intel here (PDF)
Posted by: AJ at June 20, 2003 11:38 AM
and a bit on PCI-X here at HP/Compaq.
Shutting up, sir.
Posted by: AJ at June 20, 2003 11:45 AM
The Photoshop community could definitely use 8GB of RAM as well. Two words: RAM disk. Rock!
Of course, given how Apple's RAM is usually ludicrously expensive, does anybody want to place any bets as to how much a fully tricked-out G5 is going to run?
Posted by: Geoff at June 20, 2003 2:25 PM
Is there any real reason to buy Apple ram? The "pc" RAM I get at Best Buy (with sweet rebates) seems to work just fine.
Posted by: Lauri at June 20, 2003 5:29 PM
2 words to sum it all up....
1. Sweet
2. Expensive
Posted by: Battersby at June 20, 2003 6:26 PM
1. No matter the specs... I want to see what Ive has come up with.
2. No matter the specs... I want to see what it all costs.
After that lets comment on this matter :-)
Posted by: Priidu at June 20, 2003 7:24 PM
These machines are kind of a huge deal for Apple's Power Mac line. Is anyone curious as to whether this was an intentional leak to cause some buzz (outside of the usually buzzing Mac crowd, maybe) for Monday's announcements?
I'm thinking PR stunt. Not that I'm judging, I'm just saying. It seems to be working.
Posted by: Ryan at June 20, 2003 7:35 PM
I've been thinking the same thing. I'm also wondering if Apple waived the G5 specs to keep everyone focused on PowerMacs while something else may be brewing, remember this is the Year of the Laptop...
Posted by: Greg at June 20, 2003 10:54 PM
8GB of RAM would be so sweet. As short as 1 year ago I was using a 6GB harddrive, for heaven sakes.
Posted by: dowingba at June 21, 2003 5:55 PM
"Wou need 640 KB?" -- Bill Gates, before locking DOS forever on that amount of RAM.
Never say "who need..." in a techno world ;-)
Posted by: François at June 21, 2003 6:50 PM
"Wou need 640 KB?" -- Bill Gates, before locking DOS forever on that amount of RAM.
Never say "who need..." in a techno world ;-)
Posted by: François at June 21, 2003 6:51 PM
So when I cut the other end of the floppy disk, I could extend the capacity to a mindmogling 128kb...
8MB of RAM, any time. I have 1Gig in my powerbook and it slows me down sometimes...
I have the feeling that harddrives are going away, eventually anyway. But wait that is again a different story.
Salespeople at the Apple store in SoHo were pushing the 15" Powerbook as if it were last year's car model and they were really bad car-salesmen. It was odd.
I am ready for a new 15" PowerBook. Can you please make sure that the M key does not feature an upside down W please? This really freaked me out today...
(Seriously, this is not an M, it is a W on its head...)
Hope I did not go too much off topic... ; )
Posted by: Witold Riedel at June 21, 2003 9:24 PM
What I am impressed about is the 64-bit architecture and the 1GHz Speed Bus. With a 64-bit chip and those intense software rewritten (such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro) imagine the speed increase not to mention raw power of the new chips. Alas, the faster speed bus, up to 1GHz, that is just insane. Macs have been known for a long time to have a very slow bus with PC users enjoying those up to 533MHz. The G5 will push data rates up over 6 gigs according to a 970 preview pdf. Serial ATA is another plus for those who work with large files and who needs the biggest and fastest hard drives. Imagine a RAID with serial ATA. Also, a 8x AGP is a very nice compliment for Mac gamers. Lastly, what cannot be overlooked: Analog and Optical audio In and Out. We finally have optical audio which is very good. Hopeefully it will allow for surround sound. Oh yeah. . .and with the RAM, you can never have enough RAM.
I believe that chances are for a 2+ button mouse by Apple is possible at WWDC. Imagine this: Apple's Shake requires you to have a 3-button mouse. I also believe the new Power Mac G5s will have an aluminum type/style casing.
Posted by: Phong Huynh at June 22, 2003 12:22 AM
Hey, AJ! Still reading this thread? You shouldn't feel bad about your Cube -- you *must* have known what you were buying at the time. It is more an exercise in industrial design than a computer.
Posted by: gavin at June 22, 2003 7:47 PM
again
64-bit is not faster than 32-bit
it's slightly slower.
The G5 is faster for almost every other reason BUT that it's 64-bit
It's just a more advanced processor.
Posted by: Drew at June 23, 2003 1:38 AM
This still shouldn't be this funny, but I ran the home page through the Shizzolator. A--tha-double-P-L-E...
Posted by: briguy at June 23, 2003 11:16 AM
Oh that's too bad that PCI-X != PCI Express cause it sure looks good. But I guess PCI Express isn't quite ready for prime time yet....
Posted by: Scott M. at June 23, 2003 4:45 PM
"8GB SDRAM - Add $3750"
Beautiful.
Posted by: Daithi at June 23, 2003 8:26 PM
Click away: Possible RAM Solution
Will that ram work on the G5?
Posted by: ace at June 24, 2003 2:45 AM
