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Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets
  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.


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Thursday, September 19, 2002
01:49 - Ultralites on the horizon
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,543317,00.asp

(top) link
Here's the word, as official as we've seen it so far, regarding the mysterious IBM/Apple dealings. In short: It's real. It's coming. It just won't be here for a year yet.

It's called GPUL, for "GigaProcessor Ultralite", and it's a POWER4-based 64-bit multicore CPU that will start production in late 2003 (possibly with four-way and eight-way cores) running at 1.4-2.0GHz. Clock-for-clock, it'll get about twice the performance of a G4; plus it has the 162-instruction VMX set, which they don't refer to as Altivec in any of the released material-- but which is evidently 100% compatible with Altivec. Which means "this transition should be less complicated than Apple's early-'90s move from 68000-series Motorola processors to the PowerPC family". And that was pretty damned smooth, as such things go.

So that's for next Christmas, and likely targeted for servers (e.g. Xserve) and top-end tower workstations, not for laptops and entry-level machines (after all, the GPUL will be power-hungry... not nearly as much so as the POWER4 or the Itanium 2, but way more than the G4). So what about the interim? It's clear that the G4 is getting too long in the tooth to really impress anymore. Commentators on the Ars Technica forum thread on this topic note that the G4 stumbled all over itself when it was released-- it had some powerful advantages, but it was hobbled by long ramp-up time and that now-infamous CPU-speed scaleback and the long stall at about 500 MHz, which seems like only yesterday. Many of the faithful have had a love-hate relationship with the G4; it's the best we've had available to us, it feels nice, it sounds right, but it just doesn't give us the chills to talk about it in mixed company anymore. We need something better, and soon.

Hence this little number:

Meanwhile, sources said, the long-awaited PowerPC G5 CPU from Motorola is likely to break cover perhaps as soon as early 2003. The G5, according to published product road maps from Motorola, should be available as 32- and 64-bit products with backward compatibility, though Motorola has provided few additional details.

In other words, a 64-bit version of the G4 at higher speeds, with the best benefits of Book E design specs and the power-stinginess that the PPC line has become known for. The G5, which may be available early next year, could take over the entire line, starting from the top down-- the G4 moving to the iBooks, and finally itself being replaced by the G5 when the GPUL takes over the top end at the conclusion of the year.

So all the contradictory rumors turn out to be (possiby) true: there's an IBM chip and a Motorola chip, and they've both got a future on the Mac. And suddenly Apple's got all kinds of options for directions to take their future development.

It's clear to me at least that this hydra of a plot has been in the works for at least a year or two. It's been kept wrapped up quite tightly for a long time. Apple evidently saw the writing on the wall back when the G4 was languishing at sub-700MHz speeds, and took the necessary steps. And now we're about to reap the rewards.

No, nothing's guaranteed. But my fingers are crossed for a very entertaining 2003.

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© Brian Tiemann