[Ti] Apple defends new PowerBooks' lack of L3 cache

[Rod Duncan]

I guess the recent decision to put Applecare on the not-so-old and 
venerable Ti 667 DVI with the 1 MB L3 cache wasn't such a bad idea 
after all, since I do a lot of video. I'd like to see a head-to-head 
with comparable CPU's (1 GHz machines?) with and without the L3 
cache. Doing cache intensive work with video etc.

As I bought an external 4X DVD burner earlier, I guess I'll wait for 
the "Next Big Thing." G5 portables in 2004.

Do like the ambient keyboard lighting though. Long overdue. But is it 
only available on the full meal deal 15" with the Superdrive? Or did 
I misread their spec sheets?

Rod

>
>
>>  Apple defends new PowerBooks' lack of L3 cache
>>
>>  By Nick dePlume, Publisher and Editor in Chief
>>
>>  September 23, 2003 - Apple excited customers last week at Apple Expo
>>  Paris with the introduction of new 12-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch
>>  PowerBook G4 models.
>>
>>  Some mobile professionals, however, have pointed out an omission in
>>  the new portables' tech specs -- L3 cache.
>>
>>  Across the entire product line, the new PowerBooks feature a 512K
>>  SRAM level 2 cache, but the old 17-inch PowerBook featured a 1MB L3
>>  cache. Even the aging Titanium PowerBook G4 featured a high-speed L3
>>  cache, also at 1MB.
>>
>>  Internally, Apple has recognized that the lack of an L3 cache may be
>>  an issue with some buyers. In fact sheets on the new PowerBooks that
>>  the company provided to sales reps in the field, the issue was
>>  raised, but Apple defended the omission, calling L3 cache unnecessary.
>>
>>  "When performing day-to-day tasks, such as reading email, browing the
>>  Web, and typing Word documents, an L3 cache does not provide
>>  significantly improved performance over the already fast PowerPC G4,"
>>  the company told sales reps, pointing to the acceleration provided by
>>  the Velocity Engine."The removal of the 1MB L3 cache may cause
>>  concern among members of the video editing community because video
>>  encoding to MPEG-2 made use of our L3 cache. Some members of this
>>  community have come to look for L3 cache in products that they
>>  purchase," Apple acknowledged.
>>
>>  "However, the faster processor and doubled L2 cache will compensate
>>  for the slower L3 cache. This should make the overall experience
>  > faster."
>
>Pretty lame IMHO!
>
>Has anyone tried VPC on one of these? I was told that VPC made considerable
>use of the L3 cache.
>
>Aha! So maybe this is a swipe at Microsoft (Kidding).
>
>jg
>

-- 
---------------------------------
Rod Duncan

"Buy a Mac and be thought a fool
or buy a Windows box and remove all doubt."