Report: Apple website leaks PowerMac G5 specs - "The world's fastest personal computer"?

MacRumors.com ^ | June 19, 2003

[HAL9000]

According to a report tonight at MacRumors.com, the Apple website listed the specs (apparently by accident) of the new Macs expected to be introduced on Monday at the Worldwide Developer's Conference.

The information was found via the Akamai internet service that Apple uses to accelerate web page downloading.

The purported specs are -

The world's fastest personal computer.
1.6GHz, 1.8GHz, or Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 Processors
Up to 1 GHz processor bus
Up to 8GB of DDR SDRAM
Fast Serial ATA hard drives
AGP 8x Pro3 PCI or PCI-X expansion slots
One FW800, two FW400 ports
Bluetooth & Airport Extreme ready
Optical and analog audio in and out

Although the specs are not confirmed - and everyone is surprised at the rapid introduction of a dual 64-bit 2 GHz PowerPC G5 computer (using IBM 970 chips) - there is a reasonable chance that the information is accurate.

The rumors will be verified or shot down on Monday. Apple will also demo a preview the 64-bit version of their Mac OS X operating system at the WWDC.

[savedbygrace]

8GB RAM? Cool.

[goldstategop]

How much is the price??

[savedbygrace]

SATA drives. Arright!

[HAL9000]

How much is the price??

They didn't leak that, but there are reports that the IBM 970 chips are cheaper than Motorola's G4s.

[Fred Mertz]

I hope the rumors are true. Don't tell Bush2000 about this;^)

[Billy_bob_bob]

Here's hoping this is true. We'll all find out Monday.

[The KG9 Kid]

Sounds like a fire-breather.

[savedbygrace]

Well, they fixed the page now. It's back to the 1.42 & 1.25 models.

I don't think it was intentional, so I suspect somebody over at Apple is in a whole heap a' trouble right now.

[DB]

"Fast Serial ATA hard drives"

Hi Hal, 800 Mbps Fire Wire is basically the same speed as an 8 bit wide ATA-100 bus. The serial ATA would have to be 1.064 Gbps to be as fast as current ATA-133 standards. What speed is "Fast Serial ATA hard drives"?

[savedbygrace]

Now I'm reading it more carefully, and I think somebody's yankin' our chain.

1.6GHz, 1.8GHz, or Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 Processors

Seems to say that the 1.6 & 1.8 models are single processor boxes. Not likely, IMO.

[HAL9000]

For the sake of comparison, I went to the Dell Store and priced a Precision Workstation 650 with dual 3 GHz Xeon processors, hyperthreading and 1 GB of RAM. The price was calculated at $4,264 (before tax, shipping, etc.)

[HAL9000]

From explosivelabs.com - Serial ATA - The Dawn of a New Era

[thedugal]

It's amazing how fast your CPU cranks when you aren't running any apps. Apple is like a turd that won't flush.

(actually, they have their uses, but don't expect this development to increase sales)

[MediaMole]

Serial ATA is 1.5 Gbps.

A second generation of Serial ATA is supposed to be 3 Gbps.

[DB]

Thanks!

That will be an improvement.

[HAL9000]

don't expect this development to increase sales

I think you're wrong, and expect a large increase in PowerMac sales. It will increase iMac and PowerBook sales as well, when the IBM 970 chip replaces the G4 in those computers and the 64-bit operating system is released.

By the way, Mac users are not hurting for applications. Most of us have every application we want, and they're better than anything available on Windows.

[Djarum]

2ghz @ 64bit + 1ghz bus = smoooooookin'

[HAL9000]

I'll be offline for a few days, so I'll just respond in advance: You're probably wrong.

[ThinkDifferent]

Seems to say that the 1.6 & 1.8 models are single processor boxes. Not likely, IMO.

Depends. Supply of processors could be tight (I don't expect the dual 2.0 to ship for awhile), and/or G5 performance could be so good that even single 1.6 and 1.8 machines can beat high-end Wintels.