On Friday, Oct 11, 2002, at 00:35 Europe/London, Tim Collier wrote: > I didn't know my Mac was lagging behind in technology?! Maybe you have > it confused with some other Mac?! > And, hey thanks for being to "positive" in regard to my favorite > Personal Computer. Are you sure you belong on this list?
Tim, Look at the new G4 machines: 1. The bus speed is a thoroughly unsatisfactory 167MHz (it's still 133MHz on the 867DP), compared to 233MHz on AMD units and 400MHz on the intel P4. This is not taking advantage of the DDR-RAM that has been shoe-horned into the case (which IMHO is too small but at least perfectly formed!). 2. There is still no on-board USB-2 which is rapidly becoming a standard on PC motherboards. It is not in copmetition with FireWire as Firewire-2 is due in the next year or so which offers 1600Mbps line bandwidth. 3. The hard drive bus system has 1 ATA100 and 10 ATA66. My dad bought a new, and fairly cheap mobo 2 months ago for his PC and it has 2 ATA133 channels. 4. By the end of next year AMD and intel expect to have their 64-bit CPUs on the market. This will dramatically increase the speed of PCs and leave the Mac standing. As I mentioned in my original post, the situation with the uncertainty of the future of Apple's CPU selection is putting many people (me included) off buying a new Mac. If they are calandered as having a replacement by 2004 they will find themselves flattened by the PC competition before they get there. Oh and they have OS X to port too. Other innovations like PCI Express, touted as faster than AGP 8x, and Serial ATA are also set to be unleashed next year and at this rate it looks like Apple will not be in a position to take them up until early 2004, by which time most new PCs will certainly have ATA-Serial already. I think PCI Express will be a more long-term development but Apple will have to grab it while it's fresh.... Don't get me wrong I like Macs, my G3 is a great machine and I will upgrade it to G4 eventually and enjoy OS X but I am not living in a dream world about it. I am sure you are getting a great deal of enjoyment, productive use and what not from your new G4. I think they are overall well design apart from the Firmware bug regarding the fans and OS 9.2.2. They look nice, the inside is well laid out and looks easy to work on from what I have seen. I'm sure many people will buy/have bought them and most will be very satisfied but what I can't help thinking is if, and I'm not starting 'a port to PC' argument here this is just a hypothetical thing, you could install OS X on an AMD or intel 2.4GHz CPU'd PC then it may well be even faster than it is on the current range of Macs and probably slightly better overall as a result. Unless a great deal of rationalisation, acceleration of adoption of technology and general waking up is done Apple will find themselves once again in a situation where their product line has gone stale and no longer meets the competition with drawn swords, more like foam batons. -- Mark Benson AIM - SilValleyPirate Visit FlatPackMacs online: <http://fpm.gotdns.com> Mac LC Central -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:g-list@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:g-list-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:g-list-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lemlists.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
