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Picking Up Speed (5/27/98)
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We've all seen (or at least read about) the pre-release 400 MHz Power Mac that Apple's been trotting around to various demonstrations here and there, and there's no doubt that the G3 inside is a killer. That 400 MHz G3 is expected to become available in production Power Macs and PowerBooks very shortly, further extending the Mac's performance lead over shipping Wintel systems. But what of the future? Now that Apple has reportedly quietly dropped development for Rhapsody for Intel beyond the 1.0 release and we're all reliant on Apple hardware with PowerPC processors, can we expect the PowerPC architecture to continue to outpace the Intel processors in competing PC's?
According to InformationWeek, the answer is probably a resounding yes. In an article about how even IBM is hedging its bets against the upcoming Intel/HP Merced processor by porting its AIX variant of Unix to that new chip, it's ironic to find mention of a 600 MHz PowerPC due as soon as the first quarter of next year. Beyond that, we're supposed to expect a 1 GHz PowerPC by the year 2000, with a copper-technology version not far behind. Sounds like we can all look forward to plenty of speed in our processors for years to come.
So will these super-speedy new PowerPCs make it into Mac systems, or are they destined solely for IBM's RS/6000 Unix workstations? Someone more knowledgable about computer guts could probably make a better guess than your humble AtAT staff, but this new PowerPC chip is a 64-bit processor; we're pretty sure that the existing Mac OS won't take full advantage of that fact. (Actually, we're not entirely certainly whether it'll run at all-- perhaps the chipheads in our viewing audience know better?) Nevertheless, the prospect of a 600 MHz PowerPC is an exciting one, and it bodes well for the future of the Mac-- provided Merced doesn't steal the show. It's a marketing game much more than a technical one, in many respects, and while the Merced is expected to be used only in high-end workstations and servers, that could certainly change by the time the thing actually ships. See? Isn't competition cool?
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SceneLink (742)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/27/98 episode: May 27, 1998: Apple's got a pocket full of quarters and an itchy trigger finger; time to get more games on the Mac. Meanwhile, the PowerPC keeps getting more powerful, and some PC manufacturers are finally able to offer their customers a choice of internet browsers...
Other scenes from that episode: 741: Brave New Markets (5/27/98) So Thursday's the day that Apple makes its big pitch to the game developers of the world at E3, the largest electronic entertainment expo showcasing the latest and greatest game hardware and software in existence... 743: Market Forces Dictate (5/27/98) Speaking of competition, the recent antitrust action against Microsoft may finally be introducing some changes into the browser market, which Microsoft pretty much has been yanking away from Netscape over the last couple of years...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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