“The Cell processor… could have 10x the capability of current PC processors. The Cell processor is a member of the PowerPC family that was jointly developed by Sony, IBM, and Toshiba. Sony’s goal was to design a new kind of processor optimized for the next generation Playstation, but the Cell processor has implications for the entire computer industry,” Dan Knight writes for LowEndMac. The Cell has the potential for “a lot of power, and it’s going to run at high clock speeds. As [Tech writer] Nicholas Blachford observes, ‘The speed difference is so great that nothing short of a complete overhaul of the x86 architecture will be able to bring it even close performance wise.”
Knight writes, “The Cell processor will run at speeds over 4 GHz (4.5-4.6 GHz is often mentioned as a top speed for the current design). That’s faster than anything Intel or AMD offer, and nearly twice the CPU speed of the fastest G5 [and] the Cell will be relatively energy efficient, according to PCWorld, and should work with air-cooled designs. Steve Jobs has got to love that!”
There are some drawbacks, of course, if Apple adopts the Cell, Knight explains, “The Cell processor is a member of the PowerPC family, and although IBM claims it can run programs written for the PowerPC, that doesn’t mean they’ll run the same way. While the Cell is very powerful and very efficient, there are differences that will have to be taken into account when optimizing software for the new processor… The Cell needs very, very, very fast memory, and the two architectures supported run at 3.2 GHz (XDR) and 6.4 GHz (FlexIO). That’s probably going to mean very expensive memory.”
“With IBM already claiming the Cell processor can run current PowerPC software, it’s not hard to imagine Apple adopting it for future CPUs. A single 4.0 GHz Cell processor in an iBook or Mac mini would undoubtedly run circles around today’s 1.25-1.33 GHz entry-level Macs, and a quad processors Power Mac at 4.0 GHz should handily outperform today’s 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5,” Knight writes. “In fact, if ‘the mother of all thermal challenges’ stymies Apple long enough, it’s conceivable that when the PowerBook moves from a G4 CPU it will instead adopt the Cell. All speculation, of course, but the Cell opens up a bunch of possibilities for Apple – not to mention for the rest of the personal computer industry to move away from costly Intel and AMD CPUs and the malware magnet known as Microsoft Windows.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Merrill ups Apple price target on likely Cell chip use, Apple up big in pre-market trading – February 15, 2005
Intel has no answer to the ‘Cell’ processor; will Apple use it in Macs? – February 09, 2005
Will Apple use the ‘Cell’ processor in Macs? – February 09, 2005
Will Apple take advantage of powerful new ‘Cell’ microprocessors? – February 07, 2005
A PPC chip using Cell technology- maybe.
An Apple Mac using the 1st gen Cell chip- little to no chance.
Mac_Type_Gu
UNIX lives on. crApple is holding hands to cross the busy road they do not fully understand the workings of.
Fundamentals of OSX, security, file system..etc it is blatantly obvious that unix is responsible for.
Most mac users I classify as computer illiterate.
PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3
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PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3
PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3…
you be trippin dude
Trippah is definitely tripping … Apple has a lot of experience in writing OS’s … some good and some bad … experience matters! And all OS’s are related and build off each other … UNIX has a variety of flavours but still shows its DEC PDP heritage!
Long before Mac OS X (2001) and even Linux (1991), Apple created A/UX (1988) with System 7.0.1 running on top
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUX). Of course the ancestor of OS X was coming soon (1989) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTSTEP).
Of course Apple may have been initially better off putting System 6 (smaller footprint) inside a multiuser/protected OS such as A/UX.
KernelPanic …
The only reason Windows NT (and later derived Windows revisions e.g. Windows 2000 is NT 5.0, Windows XP is NT 5.1) was any good was because it was based on VMS technology. Though not enough to be as good as VMS (probably too much baggage!).
A/UX would have been more than a worthy match for Windows NT (and so on) but it was killed off too early (the lights were on in Apple management offices but nobody was home! Steve Jobs was already working on NeXTSTEP which eventually became Mac OS X!
MW is “went”, as in some early opportunities for Apple came and went!
“Most mac users I classify as computer illiterate.”
Oh yeah, and the average Windows users aren’t? Hahahahah yeah, tell me another good one…
A vast majority of MacOS X users I know (and I am one as well) are network engineers and server administrators in large data centers. You are probably a burger flipper and you love to use your Windows system to relax after a hard day at work by playing games and talking about stuff you don’t know anything about on web sites like this on…
SIGH why do i bother with this site? Sometimes I need a break from work, sitting in front of a MAC coding 8 hours a day gets boring.
“Oh yeah, and the average Windows users aren’t? Hahahahah yeah, tell me another good one…”
Tell yourself another one. Who the phuck even mentioned Windows? your lame ass.
Do these fools think there is only Windows and OS X out there? or perhaps windows is the only OS crApple users can compare to, to be on top. And thus is not hard.
All the saying though, I am happy that you have a CUTE graphical interface.
“..network engineers and server administrators in large data centers.” Did you happen to be trained by CISCO?
I’ve noticed, that pretty much every computer user, with the exception of *SOME* System admins, are complete dumbasses on any platform.
Alot of people *claim* to know things, but most of the time, its just their cornhoolio bungholes talking.
“Half” as in : Half of the users out there are morons, the other half are idiots and Half of the system admins out there dont know half of half of what they claim to know.
</PoopShoot>