News for Friday, 21 October 2005

The first PMG5 Quad 2.5 GHz will not arrive before couples of weeks but Apple has already published online some information related to the new PMG5 high-end model
The Quadro FX 4500 requires more power than delivered via the PCI express slot, so a cable plugged between the graphic card and the motherboard will provide the remaining power necessary.
So at the end, to feed 4 G5 processors and 1 power-consuming graphic card, the PMG5 comes with a massive PSU able to deliver 1kW! quite a record.
For recent Apple's hardware, processors are under voltage even when the computer is turned-off.

Griffin just rolled out their iTrip compatible with the iPod nano.

The size of the item involved the creation of a very different add-on.
This iTrip will use the player screen and have a USB connector allowing it to be supplied while used.
Though elegant, this iTrip will force those who use a protection on their nano to wear it off.

The always excellent ArsTechnica published a test of the new iPod video. They even open it and tear it off. You will see video in action, and they confirm firewire isn't supported. The article is HERE.

As Apple put online the tech specs of the new G5s ( HERE), we manage to get a few more info on those machines.
For a start, while the Store won't mention it, Apple mentions a Geforce 7800 GT (we discuss it in the previous news item).
We don't know why this card was finally not sold, but it's a shame in our view.
You'll also learn that the G5 will not only use classical DDR2, but also its ECC version. For critical uses, this is a must, though it's much more expensive.
Yet the weakest point, as previously related in our news, is the fact of abandoning PCI-X et PCI. What will users of additional cards do ?
Either their investment will be lost, or the PCI-Express version of those cards doesn't exist.
To sum up, this machine came both too early and too late.
[Upd.] Apple abandonned the external AirPort and Bluetooth antennas. They're now built-in.
[MàJ] About system buses.
The new G5s now have one bus for two cores. Of course, this will limit bandwidth.
Yet, if IBM didn't change its CPU specifications, the two 970 MP cores communicate internally, using a very fast bus between them.
Thanks to this "detail", the impact of a single memory bus on performances should be quite minimized.

With the last AGP G5s, we had retrieved something rare on a Mac, having powerful and almost on the edge video cards.
The Geforce 6800 Ultra and Radeon X800/X850, though expensive, offered top of the notch performances.
We'd hoped that PCI Express would bring us even more in this area, yet this is not the case.
Apple once again managed to disappoint us in their graphical offer. The Geforce 6600 LE and 6600 are simply outpaced, ageing cards.
This could have been dealt with if BTO would have offered more performant cards, yet the 7800 GT still to be seen on some documents ) has no commercial existence. And anyway, why not offer a wider selection from the 7800 GTX, even more powerful, to a Geforce 6800 Ultra as mid range card ?
Of course, there is the Quadro FX 4500, yet its costs is prohitive, and buying it only for gaming purposes would be a non-sense. Why not then buy a PC for hardcore gamers instead ?
To sum up, while the G5 moves forward, non professional video goes backwards. It's a frustration for customers who'd fancy a game from time to time, and that will be even more when we'll swith to MacIntel. Potential switchers will have much more solid comparison grounds, and such a drawback will cost much to Apple.
It might also be the only way Apple found to prevent Mac OS X X86 be installed on PCs: only supporting graphical cards no one will accept, save for some convinced MacUsers.
PS: it's in our memory the first time ATI won't offer a model in a G5 line. Is the fact the X1000 is late responsible for this?
PS2: while waiting for the 7800, you may still d/l its manual here:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/NVIDIA_GeForce_7800GT_Graphics.pdf

Now that Apple officially unveiled their 970MP, IBM began to communicate freely about this CPU.
That's why we learn in a communiqué (HERE) there now are low consumption PPC 970FX. Two models exist, a 1.4 GHz G5 consuming 13W and another 1.6 GHz consuming 16W. Those are typical, but not maximal consumptions.
Those who feel that Apple was too quick to abandon PowerPC will find there some argument to feed their resentment. Yet one will have to follow what IBM will offer in the next years (though their partnership with Apple being down, R&D might slow down), to know if this difficult choice was a good one.