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Wait 'Til Next Year (8/31/98)
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For those of us poor schmucks who aren't lucky enough to stumble across one of the magic G3/366's, we have to look forward to Apple's next-generation Power Mac G3's, expected for introduction at January's MacWorld Expo. There's been a ton of speculation on these systems so far, and Mac OS Rumors has just thrown more data onto the pig pile.
According to Rumors, current prototypes of the next-generation Power Macs are using 100 MHz system busses to run G3 processors at 350 and 400 MHz. Altivec, the processor extensions that several people are referring to as "MMX done right," will show up in systems running 500 MHz and faster G3's probably in spring, and eventually Apple will transition over to G4's in the summer. The new Power Macs also include a 2x AGP slot on the motherboard, allowing for super-fast graphics expansion (though it may be a while before graphics card vendors start bringing AGP cards over to the Mac).
The new systems don't seem to represent any real breakthrough in performance, with the 400 MHz model benchmarking only 30% faster than a current Power Mac G3/333. Still, that's a respectable improvement, and given the fact that the price of these new systems is expected to start at around $1800, Apple's making sure that it has attractive computers to offer at several price points. And when we say "attractive computers," we're not just talking about the feature set; if all the rumors flying around are true, the industrial design of the new systems makes the iMac look like a beige box. We're still hoping for a sneak preview during Steve Jobs' Seybold keynote, but we're not holding our collective breath...
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/31/98 episode: August 31, 1998: A sharp-eyed storegoer in Sacramento claims to have seen a Power Mac G3/366 at the local Fry's, which is odd only because the machine doesn't officially exist. Meanwhile, illicit details about next year's Power Macs continue to trickle in via certain unsavory sources, and Macromedia plans to announce a new version of Authorware, conspicuously lacking a Mac version...
Other scenes from that episode: 979: Now You See It... (8/31/98) Strange things are afoot... Remember how Apple recently added a 366 MHz Power Mac G3 to its price list, only to pull it again almost immediately? Unfortunately, they didn't pull it fast enough to prevent several catalog resellers from printing and mailing thousands of catalogs advertising the nonexistent machine... 981: Big Guys Jumping Ship? (8/31/98) Uh oh... Judging by the 500 or so new Mac applications announced since the iMac's May unveiling, most developers are eager to get back on the Mac development bandwagon, but apparently Macromedia may be jumping off...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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