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One For The Price Of One (8/3/00)
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Anyone who's been a fan of the recurring whirlwind entertainment extravaganza known as the Stevenote knows a few things about what happens when everyone's favorite iCEO takes the stage. He's going to nurse a water bottle like it contains RDF-enhancement potion instead of good ol' H2O. (Maybe it does.) He's going to hand off a few of the lesser software demos to wide-eyed sidekick Phil Schiller, just to throw him a bone. He's going to introduce some surprising new gear, probably right after saying, "Oh, there's one more thing..." so he can bask in some thunderous applause. And most importantly, he's going to announce a ship date for said new gear that's typically laughably optimistic and way out of whack with reality, as the customers who flock to the Apple Store will probably discover in the weeks to follow.
In particular, most people familiar with Steve's act know that the phrase "available now" loosely translates as "some dealers will get them in a few days, others won't see them for weeks, and most Apple Store orders will be continually delayed ad infinitum-- which will be made all the more frustrating because some of the orders will be filled right away." And thus, the situation with the new "Two Chips For The Price Of One" dual-processor G4s comes as little surprise to most of us. Some dealers report having several systems in stock and ready to sell; others are still waiting for their first shipment. Many customers are bemoaning their missing Power Macs, while a lucky few are happily Gaussian Blurring away with both processors. Business as usual.
Except here's something intriguing: there are whispers that all is not well in MP-Land. Rumor has it that the spotty availability and excessive Apple Store lead times may not be due solely to Apple's usual production goofiness, but rather to an actual defect in the dual-G4 design. MacInTouch readers report that "there's a problem with communication between the processors" and that "Apple's recalled their already-built G4s [at the] last minute. They were ready to ship to the distributors but were then yanked back." Moreover, a Go2Mac source claims that "production on the MP G4s has stopped... because the motherboard is not talking to the second processor." Hmmm... could some of the happy customers who are Photoshopping like mad actually be using only one of those two G4s without knowing it? It may be wise to check out some benchmarks...
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SceneLink (2459)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/3/00 episode: August 3, 2000: It's yet another lawsuit-- only this time, even Apple doesn't know whom it's suing. Meanwhile, delays in deliveries of dual-processor G4 systems may be due to more than just the usual production crazies, and while the G4 seems stalled out in the Megahertz Races, source say not to count it out just yet...
Other scenes from that episode: 2458: "We're Suing... Somebody." (8/3/00) Wouldn't you know it? Yesterday we mourned the recent lack of interesting happenings in the world of Apple, and the signal had barely left our studios before Steve decided to make us look bad. Faithful viewer Tony Misasi alerted us to Apple Legal's latest exciting foray into the wild and woolly world of intellectual property litigation, and this time it's not about cheesy-looking iMac knockoffs... 2460: G4 Clock Speed: 2nd Wind (8/3/00) For those of you who, like us, file Motorola on the Irritation List somewhere between child-proof aspirin bottles and NBC's cancellation of Freaks And Geeks (we never thought we'd say it, but thank heavens for the Fox Family Channel), word has it that we'll need to do a little list reshuffling in the not-too-distant future...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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