New IBM chip could serve a PowerBook G5, but is it too little too late?
IBM's announcement of a low-power 970FX PowerPC G5 processor yesterday came as a bit of a surprise to some analysts and industry insiders who believe the chip could be the first worthy contender to power a G5-based laptop from Apple, but question if Mac maker will choose to use it.
By comparison, Freescale's recently introduced MPC7448 PowerPC G4, the successor to the chip used in Apple's current PowerBook G4 systems, will consume about 10 watts of power running at 1.4GHz, and just under 15 watts of power at its top speed of 1.7GHz.
"The [low-power 970FX] mobile G5 may surprise some given Steve Jobs' comments at his keynote that one of the key reasons why Apple is moving to Intel is that IBM cannot come up with a low-power G5 processor for use in a PowerBook," American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a research note released to clients on Friday. "The irony of this is that these new mobile G5 processors consume 13 to 16 watts, very competitive with Intel Pentium M processors" which power today's Centrino laptops.
The current generation Pentium M mobile processors are believed to draw between 10 and 15 watts of power, with typical operation in the 13 watt range, according to Intel documents. By some industry standards, chips that consume less than 10 watts do not always require a cooling system, while those drawing a bit more power are often accompanied by cooling fans.
"For Apple, the good news is that it now has more choices on PowerPC processors to bridge the gap over the next two years as it transitions to Intel processors," Wu said. "But the bad news is that we believe it will remain a marketing challenge to say that Intel Macs are the future and at the same time be selling powerful dead-end PowerPC Macs over the next two years."
Tim Deal, an analyst for Technology Business Research, also believes Apple's switch to Intel chips may have buried any hope for a PowerBook G5 this late in the game. "Apple has made it quite clear that a PowerBook G5 is not in the companyâs product roadmap," the analyst told AppleInsider. "After the companyâs announced move to integrate Intel processors, the introduction of a PowerBook G5 would contradict Appleâs implication that IBM is unable to meet its ongoing product evolution."
Still, Deal acknowledges that demand for a PowerBook G5 exists amongst consumers. "If Apple could meet that demand, then there is likely a revenue opportunity in the introduction," he said.
The time between now and mid-2006 — when Apple is expected to begin introducing the first Intel-based Macs — has raised concern amongst some analysts who wonder if sales of PowerPC-based Macs will slip as consumers anticipate the company's first Intel-based systems. They fear changes in demand for Apple's current offerings could affect short-term Mac revenue growth.
Apple last updated its PowerBook G4 product line in January with 1.5GHz and 1.67GHz processors from Motorola's Freescale subsidiary. If Apple choose not to use IBM's new low-power 970FX G5 chips, it seems unlikely that any forthcoming PowerBook update would sport a processor faster than Freescale's recently announced 1.7GHz MPC7448 PowerPC G4.
The first PowerBook to sport an Intel processor is not expected until July 2006 at the earliest.
90 Comments
July 2006 at the earliest? Where does that come from?
This will be a tough choice for Apple. If the power requirement is within specs, can Apple introduce a Powerbook with a 1.6GHz G5 processor when the current one has a 1.67GHz G4? Many might see this as a step back.
I'm not sure that power would be an issue. If Freescale's 1.7 is 15 watts, and IBM's 1.6 is 16 watts, there isn't much difference there.
Remember that a 1.6 G5 is about the same as a 2 G4. As the G4 usually compared has a 2MB L3 cache, and the 7447 and new 7448 has none, it might be equivelent to a 2.2 G4 here in the portable space.
That's really not bad.
July 2006 at the earliest? Where does that come from?
Jobs statement that the first machines would be out by the next Dev Conf.
Jobs statement that the first machines would be out by the next Dev Conf.
Yeah. "BY", as meaning BEFORE. Steve said they expect to have Intel-powered systems on the market by WWDC 06 - that means before he steps on stage - that means anytime between Jan '06-the day before WWDC '06.
Regardless of what analysts and others think, I'm sticking to my hypothesis that we'll see the first Intel-powered Macs at MWSF 06 and I think the first systems up will be Apple's PowerBook - maybe the iBook, as well.
The low powre G5 is a face save for IBM. very last minute. They just handicapped a 970 FX to get the power down. sure, it consumes watts just a little less efficienct than Centrino, but then angain, the Centrino is just as fast, clock for clock as the G5. Add to that the fact that 2.1 GHZ Centrinos are out NOW and the idea of a mobile G5 just looks terrible - especially considering that the next G4 may outperform it on average. Low Power consumation, but low power output too. bummer. I suppose it would perform marginally faster than the current G4, but my goodness, it should be much further along. anyway, at least now we have good proof that IBM was not innovating and Apple HAD TO go Intel. At least they improve year on year, even if the last year was marginal(industry wide).
I cannot wait for my Merom based PB. We will probably see Yonah based Ibooks and Minis and Merom based Imacs and PBs while Powermacs will probably get whatever killer CPU is out in two years.
In either case, I love the current PB so much, I would probably buy it with a 1.8 GHZ G5 (factory overclocked or not), but not 1.6. I just do not see how Apple could improve upon its design.