Apple G5 Notebook? My prediction

[Andrew Baxter]

I found this little nugget of information in an Investors Business Daily article that will print this Tuesday:

"IBM says it's developed a new way to make high-performance microprocessors that use little power, thanks to silicon-on-insulator, strained silicon and copper wiring. The Apple (AAPL) XServe G5 server will have the first PowerPC 970FX chip built with the new tech."

IBM makes the G5 processor, it has found a way to reduce the power the processor uses, I therefore predict that before the end of the year we'll see blazingly fast Apple iBook computers with a power efficient G5 processor.

Let's see if I'm right []

[Barry J. Doyle]

I fully agree with your prediction Andrew. In fact, the arrival of the G5 PowerBook is commonly discussed among Mac enthusiasts as being the "next reason to upgrade". Apple no doubt knows this and is surely hard at work on this next generation of mobile machines. Also, since Apple has already made the G4 standard on its iBook models, it is almost a surefire bet that the G5 PowerBook will follow shortly thereafter!

Barry J. Doyle

[Enkidu]

It would seem like the next logical step (and I have to admit, it makes me all hot and bothered just to think about). However, what do you think is going to happen with the pricing? I'm think the G5 books will be incredibly expensive at first, with the G4 books taking a slight price drop, and then slowly being phased out as G5's are phased in. But this brings me to the next problem: Doesn't this seem like Macs are being made more like PC's? One of the main reasons to own a Mac in my view is because upgrading every 2 years isn't necessary. The G4 books came out really recently, and there's already talk of having them replaced by a newer model. I guess the only thing we can really do though is wait and see though...