On Dec 8, 2003, at 06:38 pm, Charles Martin wrote:
(anyone know if they still run 68k stuff??)
It does, mostly.
About as well as most PowerPC chips then ;-) I can just see the 20th Anniversary stunt now - Steve Jobs uses MacDraw on a G5 dual 3GHz system - "No other computer manufacturer has managed to integrate this kinda level of backward compatibility into it's products..."
One of the disadvantages of owning a Mac is, in some people'sIn 16 years of using the Mac I've only had to call TS once -- and that was just to confirm something I already knew. Reports I've seen from laptop owners (who tend to need TS more than desktop owners) seems to be pretty good really. Apple's TS gets consistently good ratings from the notoriously (and strangely) anti-Mac Consumer Reports.
experience (not mine I have to add) the support hasn't quite been up to
scratch.
Every time I have called the UK and Ireland Apple Store they've been very good and well humoured. The only slight glitch I ever had was one half of the organisation (the website side) processed my order for Panther and the other side (the phone side) couldn't find any reference to it!
That's presuming the PC market is going to stand still land let it get it's ass whipped by Apple.
I don't think they have much choice in the short term. Look at the forecast:
late summer '04: Macs at 3GHz, PCs possibly at 4GHz (don't hold your breath)
32-bit technology may reach 4GHz but you may (and I'm not saying I know you have :-) ) have left out the one thing this thread is about. 64-bit 'non-PowerPC' CPU technology will advance quickly, probably as quickly as the G5/6.
-- given that a 1.8GHz G5 seems to hold its own against a 3.0GHz PC, I don't think a 4GHz PC will be able to outrun a 3GHz Mac.
A 4GHz 32-bit computer would struggle against any 3GHz 64-bit CPU.
Summer 05: Quite possibly a true 64-bit MacOS, and quite possibly a 5GHz+ G5 (G6?) for Macs
For PCs: Given their track record, possibly as much as 4.5GHz chip, and still another year before Longhorn arrives. Yes you read right: I predict the Mac will actually SURPASS the PC in raw GHz rating sometime next year. And in performance, I think by Jan 2006 there will be no dispute as to who is faster.
By June next year 64-bit non-PPC CPUs will also be speeding up and flaming 4GHz or 4.5GHz PCs. The fact is there are 64-bit CPUs on the market now that are comparable to the G5 and they are not going to stand still. Speed is not what will kill the 'PC' as we know it - it's the fact that it will rip it's market down the middle by having 2 dedicated loyalties (Intel and AMD zealots, of which I'm the latter!) and they will cease to be compatible with each other (but both are still compatible with their 32-bit roots) as soon as they start moving to true 64-bit software.
Here's an interesting conundrum. Notice I have ceased refering to the new 64-bit Intel and AMD CPUs as 'PC' CPUs. Both 64-bit CPUs are x86 compatible but in essence are not x86 CPUs (the same way a PowerPC isn't a 68k CPU even though it runs 68k software). Add to that they are no longer on common ground (64-bit wise anyway) and what do you refer to them as???? You can't strictly tether them to Windows as they might be running a UNIX-ish OS, and even then 'Wintel' only refers to half the market, I suppose the other half will become 'WinAMD' or something.
I think a market that has sat on it's collective laurels for a long time as 'The Personal Computer' in effect (everyone calls them PCs not IBM compatibles) is about to get a severe system shock. I saw it coming way back in the days of the 486, but I'm distraught that it's taken this long to come about. The whole x86 architecture and rhetoric is so dated it's a joke, the only way the 32-bit CPUs can be made to perform these days it to bolt half a car's worth of ally to them and ram em up to silly speeds. 64-bit is more than 'another CPU upgrade'. It is going to change a lot of stuff, and along the way upset a lot of people, move a lot of accumulated dust from shelves and generally pick the 'PC' industry up by the nuts and throw it across a room :-).
-- Mark Benson
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