Bill you say: <In essence the Apple Corporate Policy has been to make computers with no upgrade path >
This was posted a couple of days ago but you probably missed it.
Axcerps from NewerTECH - The Next Generation. A Basic Primer of CPU Performance in the Next Generation
The whole story: in the enclosed link
I pulled some quotes that I found interesting.
"Conclusion: Don't get hung up on performance. If you don't need it, don't buy it. A Ferrari makes a nice, albeit expensive, set of wheels, but a rotten taxi in Manhattan. Even if you can afford it."
UMAX the good clone.
"Apple has leaked information about the third generation of PCI-based Macs powered by 604er CPUs which will range from 250MHz in the 8600 to a 9600 driven by a 350MHz powerhouse. With these new systems they intend to gain their primary benefit not from the megahertz, which remains primarily a marketing buzz word, but from the use of In-line cache first developed by UMAX."
And in conclusion:
"Newer Technology has added a new concept to the upgrade path provided by Apple, Power Computing and UMAX. For the first time in history, upgrades make economic sense. It used to be that if you dropped a $1000 upgrade into a $1000 machine, you ended up with a $1200 computer. Now you can drop a $1300 CPU: the MAXpowr PRO, into a brand new 9600/200 worth around $3000 and have a faster machine than the 9600/350 costing $5600. Now that's not a bad deal. Only from Newer. And of course, MacCPU."
www2.maccpu.com
As an interesting aside, the 603e is roughly equal in performance to the Intel Pentium MMX, making the 300MHz 603e 50% faster than the highly touted 200MHz Pentium MMX. And the 604e is faster than the fastest Intel chip the Pentium II, still in the testing stage
Yes now that upgrade paths are really needed they will be provided.
www2.maccpu.com |