PPC G5 On The Way -- And Fast 526
Sulka writes: "The Register has a report claiming the PPC G5 CPU is ready for production and will be launched by Apple in January. Initial batch would include a 1.6GHz version with 2GHz to follow. 64 bit architecture, 10 stage pipeline, Silicon-On-Insulator and other buzzwords are mentioned." Maybe this will mean cheaper G4s for those of us who buy computers somewhat lower on the food chain, too.
Re:OS X (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple does real R&D (Score:1, Insightful)
Apple invests heavily in real research. They build the OS, custom chips, custom industrial design, etc., as well as investing in creating and/or advancing various standards (e.g. PCMCIA, USB, FireWire, OpenFirmware, DVI) and pushing advanced technologies into their products (e.g. the above list, plus DVD-R, flat panel displays). And a much higher percentage of the retail price of Apple hardware goes for R&D than for any other PC vendor.
I'd also point out that while Apple hardware costs more than no-name PC hardware, their products cost about the same as comparable PC's from brand-name Wintel vendors (aside from recent price cutting due to the PC market sucking), and in some cases (e.g. the iBook and PowerBook G4) their prices are quite good.
There are some exceptions: you see some real R&D at Sony and Compaq, for example. But I think that it would be hard to argue that Dell or Gateway do anything interesting from a technology perspective (as oppposed to marketing or manufacturing)...
Or maybe not... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:puts Apple in a bind? (Score:3, Insightful)
2. If you believe developers, many of them doing carbon ports now are thinking cocoa for future releases further down the road.
3. "it had an excellent API that would have actually seen full support by developers"... just like BeOS saw 'full' support from developers? How many major BeOS apps are there? BeOS Photoshop? BeOS Office? BeOS Quicken? I havent heard of any of these.
4. regardless of how you feel about the iMac and cube, Jobs saved Apple. No two ways about it. If they had chosen BeOS, more than likely Apple wouldn't have made it. You may see that as an argument in your favor, but thats just trolltalk