IBM's Power PC 970 processor is better known to Mac users as the Power PC G5, and after IBM announced the dual-core 970MP processor earlier in the year, many people speculated as to whether dual-core Power Macs were also on the horizon, incorporating these new chips. Both companies had been shipping dual-core, single-processor chips for most of this year already. Where this is a big deal is for dual-processor systems where each processor is also dual-core: suddenly you double the number of available processor cores again, to four, and this gives a huge performance boost to applications written to take advantage of multiple processor cores.ĪMD have been making a great deal of noise about their dual-core, dual-processor capable Opterons this year, and Intel had just released dual-core, dual-processor-capable Xeon processors as I was writing this article. Indeed, for two-core systems, there isn't much difference. Of course, Apple, like many other computer companies, have been supplying systems with two processor cores on separate chips for some time, so you might be wondering what the big deal about having the two cores on one chip is. A dual-core processor basically combines two independent processor cores and caches on a single chip, giving you pretty much the performance of a dual-processor system in a computer with only one physical processor chip. If you've read anything in the technology or computer press recently, you can't fail to have heard about dual-core processors. Would Pro customers have to wait until the middle of next year to see a significant leap forward in Mac architecture, when Intel-based Macs are scheduled to begin shipping? Or would Apple integrate newer Power PC processors and technology into these products to keep Pro customers happy - and, perhaps more importantly, keep them buying new Macs? Four Heads Are Better Than One But just what do the new high-spec computers mean for musicians?Įver since Apple announced the transition to Intel processors earlier in the year, there's been a great deal of speculation concerning what would happen to the company's Pro line of Macintosh computers, namely the Power Mac and Power Book. Photo: AppleĬhristmas came slightly early this year for Mac enthusiasts, with significant product announcements, including new dual-core, dual-processor Power Mac G5s. The new Power Mac G5 Quad is a seriously powerful beast, featuring four 2.5GHz G5 processor cores, the ability to host 16GB RAM, and PCI Express slots for graphics and other expansion cards.

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