"Mike,
Thought this might interest you. This is an email my sister received from the computer services at Dartmouth about new iBooks. She is a graduate student there and has been in contact with them about getting an iBook. I would think it to be quite reliable. What is most striking to me is the $999 for the entry level model. Great price.
Martin

$999, CD-ROM, 12.1", 700MHz G3, 128MB, 20GB
$1299, Combo Drive, 12.1", 800MHz G3, 128MB, 30GB
$1599, Combo Drive, 14.1", 800MHz G3, 256MB, 30GB
Cheap!"

" You are likely already aware of this, but Motorola has a PDF detailing the PowerPC 7457,
http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/PPCSALESFACT.pdf

It doesn't have any real performance gain over the 7455, its listed as having a CPU speed range of 733 - 1300MHz, and identical SPEC and MIPS to the 7455. It does move to the 0.13µ process, has 512k L2 cache, supports a 200MHz frontside bus, and 4MB backside bus.

Its power consumption is lower, 7.5W @ 1GHz, (that's estimated typical, not max. wattage. -Mike) so it will be good for the Powerbook, and will hopefully scale to higher speeds for the Powermac.
Nickk"

Page 3 of that doc (noted a "for internal use only" BTW) shows the 7457 as 1v-1.3v core voltage and that it's pin compatible with the 7451 and 7455 CPUs. Page 4 of the doc has a table of features showing the 7455 has 512KB of on-chip L2 (twice the L2 of previous 745x CPUs), supports bus speeds of 166-200MHz and supports up to 4MB of L3 cache (vs 2MB of L3 max for prev. 745x CPUs).

The original G4/7455 1GHz had a max wattage of 30W if I remember correctly. (Page 4 of the doc linked above shows typical wattage for the 7455 @800MHz as 11.2W but that's for the latest rev/lower voltage (1.3v) 7455. The rev 2.1 (1.6v) 7455 CPUs seem to run fairly hot in Macs like the dual 1GHz.)
Last Thursday's news page had a story/link to the latest 7455 specs doc that noted the latest revision of the G4/7455 has lower core voltage, 1.3v (and therefore wattage) as well as higher bus/cpu ratios. The 7457 however looks like a much better fit (temperature wise) for future Powerbook G4s and desktop G4s. Of course everyone's hoping that by late next year the IBM PowerPC 970 will be used in Macs.

Michiro Isobe (author of several articles here on the Systems page regarding G4 CPU module designs) wrote in reply to this post:

" Dear Mike,
I have read today's article on MPC7457 and I want to add some comments. Your reader has misunderstood the PDF document and said "It doesn't have any real performance gain over the 7455." In reality, the document suggests MPC7457 has a good headroom.
(I think he was just referring to the table on page 4 that shows the same SPECint95 , SPECfp95, and MIPs performance ratings for the 7455 and 7457 CPUs at the same clock speeds.-Mike)

Usually, Motorola has classified their PowerPC chips into three grades. They are "N spec" (fast, ultra-low power), "L spec" (Faster, low power) and "P spec" (Fastest), as written on page 2 of the PDF in the article. And, PowerMac has always used "P spec" chip. In the document, "L spec" MPC7457 will achieve 1.3GHz with Vdd = 1.3V.
According to the leaked SNDF 2002 presentation, the Vdd of "P spec" will be 1.4-1.5V. It suggests "P spec" MPC7457 will be higher than 1.6GHz in frequency and about 30W in power consumption.
Best Regards,
Michiro Isobe "

" Audio Hijack will enhance the audio output of any Cocoa or Carbon* application on your Mac. Use it to add professional-quality DSP effects to any application which outputs audio content and to record audio output from all your applications. "

See their press release for more details and links to testimonials.

" Hey Mike,
Looks like this might be Graeme's final 1.32 release. Haven't had a chance to look at the app to see if it's been changed, but this package includes the PB (punkbuster) installers.

(from Graeme's plan file update)

" Mac Point Release 1.32
Has been uploaded to id's ftp site. This version comes with an installer, and places an installer for Punkbuster, the anti-cheating software, as a package in the Quake 3 Arena directory.

Fixed since the initial 1.32 test:
- Punkbuster support (installer included)
- F13 key brings down console for international keyboards
- NSEvent event timing added for keyboard/mouse events
- Optional IN_ cvar for mouse scaling to avoid Mac OS X bug
- larger default zone/hunk memory for mods
- vm compiler provides full jump/branch support for all mods
- support for 11khz sound (non-default) for speed
- keyboard repeat rate left untouched on exit
- Gameranger launch support
- Numpad support added / French numpad support added "

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/mac/Quake3-132.pkg.sit
- KanxeR "

• Newer Tech G3/300 in 8600/200 (rated 8)
• Other World Computing G4/550 in B&W G3 (rated 9)
• PowerLogix G4/800 Dual in G4 Cube (rated 9)
• PowerLogix G4/800 Dual in G4 Cube (no rating - noted PS board failure)
• PowerLogix G4/800 Dual in G4 Cube (rated 8)
• PowerLogix G4/800 Dual in G4 Cube (rated 8)
• PowerLogix G4/800 Dual in G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Powerlogix G4/800 in G4/AGP (rated 8)
• Powerlogix G4/1GHz in G4/450 Cube (rated 10)
• Sonnet G4/1GHz in G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Sonnet G4/1GHz in G4/AGP (rated 9)
• Sonnet G4/1GHz in G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Sonnet G4/1GHz in G4/AGP (rated 7)
• Sonnet G4/800 in G4/AGP (rated 5)
• Sonnet G3/500 in B&W G3 (rated 6)
• Sonnet Harmoni G3/500 in iMac (rated 8)
• Sonnet Cresendo/WS G4/500 in Powerbook G3 wallstreet2 (rated 8)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

Multi-Format Card Reader
• USB Olympus MAUSB-4W used w/G4 AGP (OS X)
  
  DVD-ROM Drive Reports:
• IDE Artec (didn't note model#/speed) in 95/9600 using IDE PCI card (OS X) (listed under "other" brands)
• IDE Asus E616 16x/48x in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (listed under "other" brands)
  
  DVD-R DVD Recorder Drive Reports:
• IDE Pioneer DVR-104 in Beige G3 (OS X)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-104 in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
  (includes comments on flashing to A227 firmware)
  (problems noted)
  
  DVD+RW Drive Reports:
• IDE Verbatim RW5125 used w/B&W G3 (OS X)
  (no iDVD or ITunes support)
  
  Combo DVD+CDR Reports:
• IDE LG 4120B (12x8x32x + 8x DVD ROM) in G4/AGP (OS X)
• IDE Matshita CW-8571 (8x8x32x + 8x DVD-ROM) in G4/AGP (OS X)
  
  IDE CDRW Drive Reports:
• Lite-On LTR-48125S (48x12x48) in G4/AGP (OS X)
• Memorex 48MAXX in PowerCenter/Pro using IDE PCI Card (OS 9.2)
  (FYI - Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT, B&W G3 and 8600/9600 Macs.)
  
  Firewire CDRW Drive Reports:
• LG CD-RW CED-8080B (8x4x32) in FW case used w/8500 (OS X)
• Samsung SW-240B (40x12x40x) in FW Case used w/PowerBook G3 2000 (OS X) (using modified iTunes support files in FAQ)
• TDK 24x10x24B Cyclone used w/G4 Cube (OS 9.2)
  
  IDE Hard Drive Reports:
• Toshiba MK2018GAS 20GB in PowerBook G3 wallstreet2 (OS 9.1)
  (Problems noted) (FYI illustrated PB G3 wallstreet HD install guide here)
  
  Firewire Drive Reports:
• ACOM Data Model HD040FE-CU 40GB used w/Beige G3 (OS X)
  (listed under "other" brands, problems noted)
• Toshiba MK4018GAS in FW Case used w/B&W G3 (OS 9.1)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. [If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.]
(Entries today will be added the following newsday. Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• 1 year ago today
• 2 years ago today
• 3 years ago today