“The first of Apple’s all-new G5 Power Macs should be in Australian stores this week, sources say, and it’s possible personal computing may never be quite the same again,” reports David Frith for Australian IT. “The new Mac desktops — the first personal computers by any maker to sport processors that can handle data in 64-bit chunks as well as the conventional 32-bits — are the ‘fastest personal computers on the planet,’ according to Apple chief executive Steven Jobs.”
“More important[ly]: they are the first PCs to break the 4GB random access memory (RAM) barrier, opening the way to a new generation of extremely powerful applications — especially in graphical fields,’ writes Frith. “The first G5s began shipping in the US early last week, making Apple the winner in the race to bring 64-bit computing to the desktop. In second place: the US chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, which is planning to launch the Athlon 64, a 32/64-bit chip for Windows desktop PCs, in September. AMD’s much bigger rival Intel has no current plan for a 64-bit desktop chip, but will tweak more performance from the 32-bit Pentium 4 later this year with a new design dubbed Prescott.”
Full article here.
I wouldn’t hold my breath about the “in Australian stores this week” part of the story. Apple said last Monday that G5s were shipping in the U.S. yet no Apple retail stores have them yet, nor apparently do 99.9% of the customers who pre-ordered one. Almost seems like someone jumped the gun with the announcement up at Cupertino.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about the G5s too and can’t wait to see one for myself, I’m just beginning to worry a bit and wonder what the hold up is.
There have been photos of G5 boxes in some campus store. I forget where. But they’re not shipping in massive bulk yet, I don’t imagine.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. The 2 Apple Stores in my area have not received anything and have no clue when they will get them in. My visit to the Apple Store this weekend was made even more strange by the fact they had setup a G5 display (with an empty podium where the machine is supposed to go) and all of the employees even had G5 t-shirts on. However, everyone that asked got no concrete information whatsoever on when to expect them. Just seems rather odd for Apple to announce a week ago now that they’re now shipping but even their own retail locations have no clue what is going on or when they’re coming…
Ditto Lance. I visited the store in Sacramento and saw the same thing, but no details from the employees as to when I could see it. All this waiting!!!
No sign of the G5s in Sydney yet, (Wednesday 27th). Store staff are all saying Friday 29th, but they sound unconvincing – more likely it’s what they have been told to say. It’s a frustrating wait for someone who is nearly over the line to change from Windows to Mac, but want to see the goods first.