New G4+ Processor Turns Up On Motorola's Road map, Speeds Up To 2 GHz [Corrected]

by , 4:00 PM EDT, October 22nd, 2002

[Corrected: We made two rather unfortunate mistakes in this article as originally published. The first was that we called the first of the new processors mentioned in the road map below the PowerPC 7455. The 7457 is the correct designation, and the article has been corrected. The second was that we said the road map targeted the 7457 for between 867 MHz and 1.3 GHz. In actuality, the high end for the 7457 is actually targeted at 1.8 GHz, and the article has also been corrected to reflect this. Thanks to Observer Pope for pointing out both errors in the comments below. - Editor]

Just when IBM had Mac users hot and bothered by their new PowerPC 970, a new processor has shown up on Motorola's PowerPC road map. An anonymous Observer tipped us off to the new processor, which has being dubbed the PowerPC 7457. The 7457 shows up in the road map in the G4+ family after Motorola's current PowerPC 7455.

The 7457 seems to be coming in two iterations, the 7457 (corrected from a typo of "7455" - Editor), which is targeted for 867 MHz to 1.8 GHz, and the 7457-RM, which is targeted for the 1.3 GHz to 2 GHz range. There is no indication in the document in which this new road map was published (that document actually deals with the 8420 series, and you can download it directly from Motorola's Web site) as to when the 7457 may enter the market, nor are there other details available.

IBM's PowerPC 970 is targeted for speeds up to 1.8 GHz when it ships in late 2003 (see our report on the processor for more details).

Spin: We've no idea if this chip is planned for Apple but it does lie in the G4 product line. Hopefully more details will emerge soon.

The Mac Observer Spin: