The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

DealsOnTheWeb Daily Deal: OneCall's Weekend Sale - 20 Great Items at Great Prices All Weekend Long

(Barely) Faster Portable G4s From Moto, But G5s Could be Close

by , 9:00 AM EST, February 24th, 2004

C|Net is reporting that Motorola has introduced slightly faster G4 processors that should run cool enough for a laptop. This could allow Apple to release faster PowerBooks, but the processors clock in at only 1.42 GHz, 70 MHz faster than the 1.33 GHz processors currently offered in Apple's top of the line 17" PowerBook, and 170 MHz faster than the 1.25 GHz G4s in Apple's 15" PowerBook.

That's hardly enough of an increase to spark a new round of upgrades, but C|Net quotes an analyst with the Microprocessor Report as saying that G5s could be making their way to a portable sometime soon. From C|Net:

Motorola said it is now producing samples of a 1.42GHz PowerPC processor, a chip analysts say might soon find its way into the PowerBook, Apple's high-end laptop. Motorola said the chip has a typical power consumption of less than 20 watts, a level that makes it suitable for laptops. The chip also contains multimedia instructions that are required for chips that Apple bills as G4 processors.

"It certainly would be a fit for a portable Mac," Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron said. "It's obviously up to Apple whether they would do that versus using an IBM (chip)."

[...]

However, analysts say that now that IBM has moved the G5 line to its 90-nanometer manufacturing process, a G5 PowerBook should not be far off.

"I doubt it would be later than July or August," said Peter Glaskowsky, editor in chief of Microprocessor Report. "If everything had been just on a slightly different schedule we might have seen them at Macworld."

Apple is already using that lower-power chip in its rack-mounted Xserve G5.

There's more information in the full article at C|Net.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Apple would be hard-pressed marketing a speed bump from 1.25 GHz (or 1.33 GHz) to 1.42 GHz in the PowerBook line. Few would trade in their old PowerBook G4 models for such an increase, limiting sales of such a rev mainly to those who would have bought one anyway. With most product cycles, a substantial part of Apple's sales go to Mac users upgrading their Macs, and without that, the company's sales would definitely suffer.

So what's a multibillion dollar company to do? We have little doubt that Apple has this all planned out without any help from us, but we definitely hope there is a G5 PowerBook in the works. Apple could offer a small MHz increase in its PowerBook line if it moved from the G4 to the G5. That might be necessary, as the fastest G5s will definitely be too hot and power-hungry to plunk into a mobile form factor, but the G5 name has a lot of cachet, and that will help move lots of PowerBooks. Time will tell, and we look forward to seeing how this works out.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Comment on this Article

Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.


Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.


Recent Headlines - Updated Friday, July 4th, 2008

Fri., 7:30 AM
Happy Fourth of July!
Thu., 4:50 PM
Apple Slashes $400 from SSD Drive in MacBook Air
4:05 PM
It's Official - Firefox Sets Guinness Record for Downloads
3:30 PM
Apple Files Patent for a Multi-touch Gesture Language
2:20 PM
Editorial - Mac's Market Share and the Cascade Failure of Windows
1:35 PM
iPodObserver - Apple Slurps Up Samsung's NAND Flash for iPhone 3G
1:05 PM
WSJ: Tips for Switching from Windows to Mac
12:05 PM
iPodObserver - Google Intros Google Talk for iPhone
11:35 AM
iPO Just a Thought - iPod nano Versus iPhone: Decisons, Decisions...
10:55 AM
YouTube Ordered to Turn Over All User Records to Viacom
10:10 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Apple vs. Cell Carriers: Who's Winning the Game
9:25 AM
iPodObserver - Rumor: Best Buy, Radio Shack to Sell iPhone 3G
8:45 AM
.Mac Bookmark Sync Deadline Extended to July 6
8:10 AM
Adobe Reader 9 Hits the Streets
 

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

  • Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
  • OWC: NewerTech NuPower Batteries for iBook and PowerBooks Designed+Built in USA to run longer, LAST LONGER TOO! Free Battery Recycling Return Label; Quality High-Capacity from $99.95
  • New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $104 / 4GB $172 / 8GB $338. Click to Maximize your Macs...
  • Mac observers can now play Party Poker for Mac as well as Mac casino games by going to MacPokerOnline.com.
  • RamJet Memory: MacBook 1Gig $39, 2Gig $78, 4Gig $195! Mac Pro 2Gig $115, 4Gig $189! 500G Seagate SATA II $139! Click here
  • For the latest Apple products use Ciao a comparison website to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate cell phones.

  • Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
  • Special Report: WWDC 2008
  • Special Report: iPhone
  • __________
  • Help TMO Grow
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!
  • New Media Expo 2008

Apple Stock Quote

  • AAPL: $170.12. Change Today: +1.94.
  • (Prices delayed up to 20 minutes.)
  • Discuss in our Apple Finance Board

Hot Topics

Top Deals From DealsOnTheWeb