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Well, So Much For Gloating (5/23/01)
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Gamers take heed: according to MacNN (and an Apple Store customer's shipping confirmation), Apple is finally shipping Macs ordered with that drool-inducing, polygon-pushing nVIDIA GeForce3 that Steve first announced amid much fanfare last February in Tokyo. Sure, it's two months late, but hey, considering that it's not an Apple product, maybe we can't exactly fault Steve's minions for the delay. Or can we?
After all, the thing that was so exciting about the Tokyo GeForce3 announcement wasn't just that the long-awaited best-of-breed 3D graphics card was coming to the Mac-- it was also that said graphics card was supposed to be coming to the Mac first. PC gamers had been slavering all over themselves for this card (code-named NV20) for ages, so getting it for the Mac platform first was a real coup-- or would have been, if Apple had been able to ship them in March as originally promised. And now that the first GeForce3-equipped Mac has left Apple's docks, it's worth noting that GeForce3 cards have been available for Wintel systems for weeks now. On the plus side, though, at least Apple got to announce them first. And Mac users got to, uh, order them first. Probably.
To be fair, if the hold-up was partially due to Apple's work on OS support for the hardware, the company had a few other things to work on since the GeForce3 announcement: Mac OS X, the new iBook, the new servers, the 17-inch LCD Studio Display, those retail stores, returning to profitability, etc. Plus, to be fair, Apple did meet its revised ship date of "late May." Personally, we're just thrilled to be getting the card at all-- and the price has dropped significantly since the option first showed up at the Apple Store. So if you're the type of Quake 3 Arena player that figures $400 is a small price to pay for the most lovingly realistic and fluid gore ever to grace a Mac screen, your wait is finally over!
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SceneLink (3069)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/23/01 episode: May 23, 2001: Apple seems surprised by the popularity of its combo drive iBooks, but adapts commendably. Meanwhile, pundits are pondering the possibility of an Apple buyout of either Palm or Handspring, and Apple finally gets the GeForce3 out the door-- while the whole "Mac first" plan went out the window...
Other scenes from that episode: 3067: "Now Batting For CD-RW..." (5/23/01) One of the problems with the way in which Apple chooses to introduce its products (i.e. developing them entirely in secret using a neverending stream of disposable laborers who are shot after they drop so as not to compromise security, then springing the results on an unsuspecting public at major press events and trade shows) is that the company can't very well just ask the public what it wants... 3068: Is It Time To Go Shopping? (5/23/01) Long live the Apple handheld rumors! And in lieu of any of those classic "Apple is about to get bought out by [Disney/Sony/Ross Perot]" rumors that are wont to crop up from time to time, why not spend some time chewing on an "Apple is about to buy [insert name of proposed chompee here]" story instead?...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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