Apple launches faster Power Mac G5
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Apple Computer Inc. rolled out its fastest-ever desktop computer on Wednesday with processors that run as fast as 2.5 gigahertz, but the company fell short of its earlier goal to offer a 3.0 gigahertz chip-based system by this month.
Apple has been counting on its chip supplier, IBM, to shrink the size of components to permit higher speeds for its microprocessors, the brains that run a computer. As more transistors are fit onto smaller circuits, the speed at which a processor can run increases.
The PowerPC 970FX processor made by International Business Machines Corp. has components that are as little as 90 nanometers across, down from the previous generation of 130 nanometer manufacturing technology. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
"We certainly hoped that's where we would be but the entire industry has had a bigger challenge to get to 90 nanometers than people would have liked," said Phil Schiller, head of worldwide product marketing for Apple.
As a result, Apple will not this year sell a Power Mac G5 with microprocessors running at 3.0 gigahertz, or 3 billion cycles a second, he said. "As soon as we can, those systems will be out there," Schiller said.
"It's one of the rare times that IBM has let down a customer," said Richard Doherty, director of The Envisioneering Group in Seaford, New York, adding that the problem was likely that at 3.0 gigahertz, the chips produced too much heat.
When Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced the dual-chip Power Mac G5 last June, he said that Power PC chips, also known as the G5, running at 3.0 gigahertz would be available within 12 months' time.
"We recognize that statement was made a year ago but can't comment on our customers' product and technology plans," said IBM spokesman Chris Andrews. "If you look at the challenges others are facing in the industry with that same transition ... we'd argue that is a very significant performance boost we were able to provide."
Uneasy transition
"Both for IBM and Intel the move to 90 nanometer has been more difficult and they've been the leaders" in using the latest-generation chip-making technologies, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at market research firm Insight 64. "Every time you make these technology transitions it's more difficult than the last time."
In January, the world's largest chipmaker, Intel Corp., said it would delay its new line of microprocessors code-named Dothan by a few months after a validation test had found problems. Intel ultimately rolled out the new chips, an update to its Pentium M line of chips, on May 10.
For IBM's part, the company had trouble producing enough properly functioning Power PC 970FX chips from a single wafer, a measure known as yield in the industry, Brookwood said. "The company hasn't been terribly specific other than to say the yields weren't where they wanted them to be," Brookwood said.
IBM has been losing money in its chip division as it seeks to bring its new $3 billion East Fishkill, New York, plant on line that uses the latest chipmaking technology.
Previously, Cupertino, California-based Apple's Power Mac models used microprocessors that ran as fast as 2.0 gigahertz. The latest models all use two processors in each computer.
Apple said it expects to ship the 2.5 gigahertz models in July, while versions with two 1.8 gigahertz microprocessors and two 2.0 gigahertz processors are now available.
The 2.5 gigahertz chip is one that Apple is currently selling in a computer server it launched a few months ago.
The company, which earlier this year said it was having problems with its supply of chips from IBM, said it believes it has gotten past those supply challenges and will be able to meet expectations for the new G5.
"We're feeling very good about our ability to supply that product in July," said Tom Boger, desktop product marketing vice president for Apple.
Apple introduced the system about a year ago and previously the least expensive model had only one 1.6 gigahertz microprocessor. The system prices now start at $1,999 and run to $2,999, while the previous range began at $1,799.
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