970 Is Shipping

[Charles Martin]

> From: doug lauber <dugster77 at earthlink.net>
> What's a 970?
> Can I use it in my G4 933?   -doug

The PowerPC 970 is a chip being produced by IBM that many hope will 
appear in the next generation of Mac computers. It's approximately 
twice as fast as a Motorola G4 chip at the same speed (partially due to 
the new bus and motherboard design it will require), and though not 
confirmed officially is incredibly likely to be the next chip Apple 
uses in it's machines. It is hoped that "970-class" machines will start 
showing up in the late summer/early fall. There is wide speculation 
that Apple will show off a prototype at the WorldWide Developers 
Conference (WWDC) in June, but it's just speculation.

As for whether an existing G4 can use a 970, the answer is "not anytime 
soon, if ever." I learned a long time ago never to say "never" when it 
came to the cleverness of Mac upgrade-card makers, so perhaps someday 
there will be an upgrade card for your G4 that uses a 970. I don't 
think you should count on it though, as it appears to need a much 
faster bus and other "motherboard-level" improvements to really 
maximise it's potential, so it seems unlikely (but again, who knows?).

Bear in mind that much of what Kunga states as fact is either rumour or 
just plain made up by him. I don't why he does that, all it does is 
cause confusion and doubt. I don't think he understands the harm he is 
doing by making false or unsubstantiated claims.

Given the significant performance improvement that the 970 will 
ALLEGEDLY give these new machines, it's probably best to start saving 
up for one as I am doing. If they come to pass, great, and the sooner 
the better. If they don't (or don't appear for a good while yet) -- 
I'll use the money on other improvements.

Never put a lot of stock in rumours. The track record among the rumour 
sites is below 50% accuracy. You could call Miss Cleo and probably do 
about as well.

_Chas_

"Here is the thing you will learn from really using an OS X Macintosh, 
and must somehow accept on faith if that's what it takes to get you to 
Switch: Apple makes design decisions based on a sincere desire to make 
your life better." -- Glenn McDonald