New G5 Mac Models — Apple Accidentally Spills the Beans!
Apple Computer has always been very tight-lipped about new models coming out, saving their presentation for Steve Jobs’ keynote speech, and at this years WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) Jobs was due, according to rumors, to unveil the biggest upgrade to the Mac hardware and software in many years. But it looks like the element of surprise may be gone, and probably some poor web site developer will lose his or her job at Apple, because the specs for the new G5 Mac computers were accidentally posted on the Apple Store web site.
The page (captured here) shows mostly details from present models, but the text graphic in the upper left area would be for the newer models. Presumably, what happened is that the new graphic was accidentally uploaded and replaced the old one, and no one caught it soon enough. Maybe the graphic was accidentally given the same name as the old one and over-wrote it.
HOWEVER: The details of the new machines almost seem TOO good, meaning that it could have been a prank, a hack by someone to get all the rumor sites and customers juiced up only to be let down. But for such a hack to happen on Apple’s own web site is also a bit much to ask–especially since Apple, so far, is not shooting this one down, which you think they would do immediately.
For those of you who Want To Believe, and want to know about the new machines, here are the juicy details:
* New CPU: PowerPC G5 (presumably IBM’s fast new 970 chips)
1.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz or Dual 2.0 GHz models!* Up to 1 GHz processor bus
The high end dual system would almost certainly blow away the fastest Pentium.
That means the speed that connects the CPU to the RAM, and 1 GHz is amazingly fast;* Up to 8 GB of DDR SDRAM
Apple has always been hobbled by slow bus speeds.
If true, this would increase RAM by four times previously* Fast Serial ATA hard drives
If, of course, you have the moolah to buy all that RAM!
* AGP 8X Pro graphics options from NVIDIA or ATI
* Three PCI or PCI-X expansion slots
* Three USB 2.0 ports
This would mark the debut of USB 2.0 on the Mac* One FireWire 800, two FireWire 400 ports
* Bluetooth & AirPort Extreme ready
Meaning you have to add them, but there are slots for them.* Optical and analog audio in and out
OK, now for a little analysis…
There are some reasons to doubt this was authentic. A 1 GHz bus speed goes beyond what anyone was thinking of as possible. (Update–maybe I’m wrong on this one–apparently a bus at half processor speed is not too much to ask… but I don’t know.)
The graphic that caused the hullabaloo does not exactly match the existing graphic’s styles–it is a bit larger, a bit darker, and has a few wording changes that are non-standard. One hopes that it is not a prank, but one must be realistic.
But still hopeful.
If these specs are true, then the Mac will once again blow Windows machines away, and with a new OS that will beat Windows out by two years on many features, it could be a home run for Apple.
Discussion on this can be found at:
MacRumors.com
Apple’s Discussion Boards
Ars Technica MacAch Forum
O’Grady’s PowerPage
Look for updates and more info to come soon–if not Monday at the WWDC.