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Featured Article:

Freescale To Launch Smaller, Faster G4 Processor

by , 5:15 PM EDT, September 28th, 2004

Tony Smith of The Register (UK) has published a look at Freescale's upcoming smaller, faster G4 processor. Freescale is the name of Motorola's spun-off semiconductor division that now makes PowerPC processors.

According to the article, the processor will be the first 90 NN G4 processor, making it smaller and cooler than the current generation G4 processors that power Apple's PowerBooks, iBooks, and eMacs. The processors are also expected to be faster, coming in faster than 1.5 GHz. From the article:

The new chip is Freescale's first 90nm G4 and is based on the company's e600 core, the foundation for Freescale's upcoming line of dual-core chips. The 7448, however, contains just one core, clocked to beyond 1.5GHz. It contains 32KB of L1 cache and 1MB of L2, double the 512KB of L2 found in the MPC7447A currently driving Apple's PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 notebooks.

Indeed, the 7448 is likely to provide Apple with its next notebook speed bump, as the company struggles to fit the hot-running PowerPC 970FX - aka the G5 - into a laptop.

However, it will have to wait: the 7448 is not expected to sample until H1 2005, Freescale said.

There's much more detail on the new processor in the full story at The Register.

The Register Article

Observer Comments

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Close Name:AFCdtLoeb Posts: 2533 Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:34 pm Subject:

::::Imagines getting a G4 PB with one....::::


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Close Name:jacrav Posts: 268 Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:09 pm Subject:

1.8 GHz 12”, 60 GB HD, DVD±R, 512 MB Memory
2.0 GHz 15”, 80 GB HD, DVD±R, 512 MB Memory
2.25 GHz 17”, 100 GB HD, DVD±R, 1 GB Memory

Let’s dream … ??????


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Close Name:AFCdtLoeb Posts: 2533 Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:51 pm Subject:

They'll go G5 first. They wont do anything with the PB until they can keep heat and amperage exactly as they are.


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Close Name:Guest
Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:24 pm Subject: emac then PB

Apple wants to keep all the lines as similar as possible. It is possible to put the G5 into an emac and keep the price the same.

It would be embarrassing to be able to buy a G5 in an emac but not in a PB.

Once IBM can lower the heat and energy requirements of the G5, it will make it into the PB.

There might be an intermediate G4 for the PB.


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Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:23 am Subject:

Yeah if it takes another year to get a G5 chip that can run in a laptop, I don't think Apple is going to wait that long before making ANY updates to their laptops. A nice speedy, dual-core G4 would be the perfect intermediate speed bump.


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Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1960 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:29 am Subject:

Quote
Biff wrote:
Yeah if it takes another year to get a G5 chip that can run in a laptop, I don't think Apple is going to wait that long before making ANY updates to their laptops. A nice speedy, dual-core G4 would be the perfect intermediate speed bump.


Exactly.

They're pretty proud of their Powerbooks as "Pro" machines. I don't imagine we'll see G5 laptops before 2006, myself. There's no WAY they could keep selling the current machines for that long and have them retain their status.


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Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:17 am Subject: Biff

Maybe they can use some of those 2.3GHz G5's. Oh wait those are only for Virginia Tech.


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Close Name:AFCdtLoeb Posts: 2533 Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Wed Sep 29, 2004 1:28 pm Subject:

Apple wont go dual core. Remember the MDD G4? 2x G4's would suck down a battery and pump out just as much heat as a single G5.


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Close Name:Guest
Fri Oct 08, 2004 5:46 pm Subject:

Quote
AFCdtLoeb wrote:
They'll go G5 first. They wont do anything with the PB until they can keep heat and amperage exactly as they are.


the processor box in the power mac is too big... so a g5 processor is hard to put in a soo slim notebook.... maybe they'll make a special g5 mobile....


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