Briefly: PowerBook G5, MWSF satellite feed, product availability...

Hypertransport enabled PowerBook G5?

The Inquirer claims to have obtained a copy of a Digital Video and Multimedia News writeup from the Electronics Summit 2004, a conference held for electronics editors. The document lists some of the ‘design wins’ of different technologies, and seemingly references an Apple PowerBook G5.

"Number 7 on the list is Hypertransport, that well known technology used in AMD 64 chips and Power Macs," the publication says. "But perhaps the most interesting confirmation is that Hypertransport has a design win for the Apple PowerBook. This would appear to be confirmation that a G5 PowerBook is definitely turning up and that despite thermal problems, it is at least in the works."

HyperTransport technology, which is featured in Apple’s G5-based Power Mac systems, is a new high speed, high performance point-to-point link for interconnecting integrated circuits on a motherboard. It can be significantly faster than a PCI bus for an equivalent number of pins, and is primarily targeted for the IT and Telecomm industries. However, any application where high speed, low latency and scalability is necessary can potentially take advantage of HyperTransport technology.

Apple offered employees Macworld satellite feed

Although Apple did not offer its fans and retail stores a live web steam or satellite feed of this year’s Macworld Expo keynote presentation, the company did broadcast the event over satellite for its employees, AppleInsider has been told.

The broadcast was available to employees in Cupertino, as well as those working for Apple overseas, including those in Ireland and several other countries.

"We were all very excited to see the MWSF via satellite here in Cork, especially the Mac mini,” said one employee, who works for the company’s technical support division. “But we were not that exited about the iPod shuffle," he jested. "Almost every trouble-call is a Windows user with iPod issues."

Apple product inventory update

Apple is feverishly working to churn out ample quantities of several hot products early this year. While making strides towards quenching the demand for iMac G5s and iPods, the company is reportedly experiencing significant backlog of the following products: PowerBook G4s, most Xserve Raid configurations, the Mac mini, and iPod shuffle.

According to data obtained from reliable sources, the backlog on shuffles extends only several days, while Xserve Raid and Mac minis are carrying wait times in excess of three weeks. Meanwhile, the data suggests that new PowerBook models should arrive within the next 10 days.