“Apple says it bought P.A. Semi to get its hands on some patents and a bunch of very bright engineers who are already used to working together. I’m sure that’s true – but they also got an irresistible opportunity to shake the money tree while doing something good for the country,” Paul Murphy blogs for ZDNet.
“P.A. Semi designs PPC chips primarily for advanced military and robotics applications and the one they talk about in public, the PA6T-1682M, has had an unprecedented uptake in the industry – so much so that major defense contractors include Lockheed Martin and Curtis-Wright have locked in ten year supply contracts on it,” Murphy writes. “The chip itself is impressive: it’s a 15 watt, 2+Ghz, dual core, dual Altivec, 64bit PPC “system on a chip” with 2MB of level 2 cache per core, hardware packet management (including cryptology), on board memory busing, and eight concurrent PCI/E channels.”
“Why would Apple use it in a laptop? Because Apple has been facing pressure from U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) customers for more secure (i.e. non x86) gear that’s made in America and because all of P.A. Semi’s big customers are long term experts at selling to the DOD. In other words, what Apple really wanted here was technical expertise, but what they got along with it was specific market expertise and a golden opportunity to sell from three to five hundred thousand American made, PPC based, MacOS X machines to the DOD every year,” Murphy writes.
Paul Murphy is betting that Apple will make PPC laptops again. Read the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: 3Ghz within a year!
Mac OS X has the best solution for multiplatform apps, so it would not be a big deal to offer both PPC and Intel. Processing power and battery life are the main consern for most buyers so if PPC offers more than Intel, why not use it?
RoboJobs: “Dead or alive Mikey, you’re coming with me.”
Ballmer: “I’d buy that for a dollar.”
Because Apple has been facing pressure from U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) customers for more secure (i.e. non x86) gear that’s made in America
Isn’t all of Apple’s hardware assembled in China, or at least outside of the U.S. and Canada?
I’d love to see stateside manufacturing again, but isn’t it unlikely at this point?
I can see Apple continueing to sell intel x86 processors that can run windows, just like every other PC maker, and introducing PowerPC options at a premium price, with superior processing power. This way apple will be able to sell hardware that is significantly better than PC makers, while still serving the people who have to run x86 operating systems.
Mac OS X is already made to run on both PPC and x86
Jobs ALWAYS says opposite, so if he says that Apple will not make PPC laptops, you can be sure they will, you can bet on it.
Plus, this is like a gold mine, diamond mine, all those DoD contracts!
Special issue MacBook, MacMil Private, MacMil Desert…
$$$$$$$$$$$
@Afib
Good one! Too bad others didn’t catch it.
As much as I have trouble seeing SJ helping hawks I must admit that I like the idea of the US military running a super-duper locked down and limited version of OS X on PPC hardware. If security through obscurity has any merit that combination would do much to limit exposure and maximize overall security and stability.
major defense contractors include Lockheed Martin and Curtis-Wright have locked in ten year supply contracts on it,” Murphy writes. “The chip itself is impressive
So what if the chip is impressive. Isn’t a ten YEAR contract extremely naive, technology-wise?
What if in 1998 Lockheed decided the 233mhz G3 was “impressive” and signed a ten-year supply contract? Would we really want our defenses based on such outdated tech today?
Is this guy on drugs? Apple will never again produce PowerPC-based Macs. It would be kind of cool if it did, but it won’t.
” . . . Isn’t a ten YEAR contract extremely naive, technology-wise?”
Wouldn’t that depend on the wording and terms of the contract which could include flexibility provisions and required annual terms amendments to accommodate technological advancements?
Or not. Either way.
Cool. Bring on my Super Mac Pro
1 Quad-core Xeon
1 Quad-core PWR-whatever chip
1 x-core Cell
All connected with the Krack-Bridge.
sorry had to say it
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Cool new newton osx touch wifi 3g ppc power to the pocket bye bye every other pda
It only makes sense for them to buy the company for the engineering team in and by itself. The fact that Apple has other systems using that architecture and OS X works fine with either build is only another plus.
However if the DOD wants something like that for security reasons it only makes more sense that Apple does it having a Unix based OS. More secure and more resistant to anything Win based naturally. The more diversity of systems the DOD has the less chances they can be compromised.
If anything has shown recently that the Chinese have been getting into our systems (if you followed that story) recently then you know being diverse is a good thing.
I’d agree with almost every positive post here on this one! It can only help Apple Inc. and the DOD too! Wasn’t the Navy or Air Force looking for something recently besides M$ stuff?
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Anyway, I’m sure they need some “specific” computing hardware and some that would be loosely based on iPhone, iTouch MBA & whatever else you can throw at it! A useable & portable touch device would be way more useful than a BAT(Big Ass Table) from M$! Having OSX on all CPU platforms is a boon & no brainer advantage to Apple in the extreme run! Proprietary hardware plus security through obscurity and the ability to run on anything pretty much? No question that would be a great deal for the DOD & us consumers. Most new or evolutionary tech comes passed down from defense contracts on R&D;. Now if NASA can get in on the deal things might be lookin’ up. (No Pun Intended!)
Hmm, just a thought: “I wonder what Mr. Jonathan Ives & company come up with for the military?! That would have to be the most kick arse and user friendly to us and the most un-user friendly devices known to man! Dang! I won’t be around long enough to see that documentation under the Freedom of Information Act! LOL Then, if NASA was next wOw!! 😀
@ sourced again Here’s a clip from The New York Times 12.24.1999 and here’s what the gov got from the Intel guys to upgrade the older CPU:
”The Hubble not only has new brains, it’s thinking,” said Steven Robinson, mission communicator at the Johnson Space Center here. While the new computer is a big improvement for Hubble, having 20 times the speed and 6 times the memory of the old one, it is hardly state-of-the-art by current personal computer standards. Hubble’s new brain is powered by an Intel 486 DX2 chip running at a speed of 25 megahertz, a processor long obsolete in desktop computers now driven by newer Pentium chips. NASA officials said computer chips used in space must be specially manufactured and tested to work in that harsh environment, which keeps them generations behind what is used on Earth. ”You have to keep in mind that we don’t do Windows, we don’t have disks and we don’t do the Internet,” Mr. Campbell explained, jokingly.
A RAD750 (133-166mhz) chip used in the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which BTW are still going. It was available in 2K1, too bad the Hubble didn’t get one back in the day. In ’98-99 the PPC750 was out and the generation before that outperformed the Pentium IIs, running up to 500mhz I believe. So the DOD, Apple & us will benefit no question.
Funny stuff.
It’s true–the RISC architecture was faster at lower clock speeds . . . for some things. It would be insanity for Apple to abandon x86 at this point, and I’m sure they’re aware of it.
I doubt this resurrection is in any way imminent. Remember all of the obstacles getting the PPC 970 to run cool enough to use in laptops? How the heck would they get one in an iPhone? I think something else entirely is afoot. . . .
@ericdano
That would be pointless, because it would alienate the big software makers who can’t seem to make universal applications. In an ideal world, that would be a great plan, but unfortunately we don’e live in an ideal world….we inhabit one in which Microsoft and Adobe exist.
I don’t believe a word of this. This is nothing but conjecture on the writer’s part.
I’ll tell you, I do enjoy the security I get on my PowerPC Mac. Seriously, no one is coding a virus for my platform…no one.
Apple’s not going to release another PowerPC based computer. The intel line has caused a massive sales boom with the ability to run windoze, why would they go back to their old ways? They wont! They’ll just use the talent to improve on what they have currently.
I’ve worked for the Navy for 19 years and we are still using Windows 2000 Professional on Crappy Dells. That is why you hear soooooo many cuss words in the offices. My 17″MBP isn’t allowed to connect to the server. Mega-Frustration going on. Ohhh, but we just got all new 20″ widescreens to make everyone think they got a new cpu. I hope I get to see the day Mac’s take over.
Maybe Apple’s switch to Intel is just a part of the Master Plan.
Go in, and as is happening, everyone is switching to Mac’s.
Then make the move back to PPC. Nah…………….?
@sorry
You don’ tknow Shit!
“major defense contractors include Lockheed Martin and Curtis-Wright have locked in ten year supply contracts on it,” Murphy writes. “The chip itself is impressive
So what if the chip is impressive. Isn’t a ten YEAR contract extremely naive, technology-wise?”
No, it is not. You need to have reserve parts and production of those weapons takes years. You dont change chips every month you get newer one. The design has to stay the same as long as possible. Instead it would be ridiculous to change the parts and the desing all the time.
Steve wants to keep all the doors open.
With Mac Os X Apple can run whatever program in whatever processor in whatever device whenever they want. I think it is a marvelous idea
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