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GHz PPC False Alarm #412 (10/30/01)
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Thought the G4 was still waiting to punch through the 900 MHz barrier, right? Well, surprise-- there's actually a 1.2 GHz PowerPC available right now! Wake the kids, phone the neighbors... this isn't a drill, nor is it yet more hype from those wacky guys at Xtrem (whose web site appears to have died weeks ago; you don't suppose they disappeared without shipping that XtremMc, do you? As Goofy might exclaim, "Gawrsh!"). Nope, this time it's the real deal. Honestly. Sort of.
See, it's mostly true, apparently, except that this "1.2 GHz PowerPC" is actually an AMD Athlon processor. An article in Red Herring reports that Transitive Technologies has an emulator called "Dynamite" which is so good, the company claims it "can get a 1.4 GHz AMD Athlon computer to run Macintosh code at 1.2 GHz, much faster than the fastest 866 MHz PowerPC microprocessors." Now, correct us if we're wrong, but saying that software is running at 1.2 GHz is meaningless as a measure of speed; we assume, however, that Transitive means it's seeing performance equivalent to that of a 1.2 GHz G4, if such a beautiful thing actually existed.
The implication of the article is that x86 chips are getting so much faster than PowerPCs, they can actually emulate PPC code significantly faster than the PowerPC can execute it natively-- allowing for the arrival of "a 3+ GHz 'Synthetic' PowerPC inside of 18 months." Personally, we'll believe it when we see it. According to a press release, the company planned to present details of its "virtual 1+ GHz PowerPC solution" at the Microprocessor Forum 2001, which took place a couple of weeks ago; if this were on the level, we figure we might have, you know, actually heard something about that demo by now.
Of course, we were on hiatus back then, so we did a little digging and found a quick mention at The Register of Transitive's technology, so it looks pretty legit. But if it were really as good as the company claims, wouldn't Apple have bought them out by now? Then again, maybe that's why Xtrem disappeared so suddenly... any bets we'll be buying Apple-branded Macs shaped like microphones in six months' time?
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SceneLink (3363)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/30/01 episode: October 30, 2001: Windows XP isn't impressing many people-- but there's still a reason why Mac fans might want to buy a copy. Meanwhile, Dell's obsessive copying of Apple appears to have infected Gateway, and a smallish software company claims to have created a "virtual" 1.2 GHz PowerPC...
Other scenes from that episode: 3361: No Threat-- And Free Stuff (10/30/01) Well, we haven't seen any cold, hard numbers yet, but qualitatively speaking, we're going to have to assume that any anxiety about the Windows XP launch possibly derailing Apple's Mac OS X migration was totally groundless... 3362: This Just In: Dog Bites Man (10/30/01) Sigh... is it possible? Has all the magic gone out of the time-honored practice of calling attention to Mike Dell's psychotic obsession with copying Apple's every move? After all, faithful viewer Dave Burgis pointed out the man's latest "homage"-- a new computer called the "SmartStep"-- and frankly, we're having trouble working up any real enthusiasm...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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