Updates skewed to Intel?

Quote
Jusrus said in another thread:
As updates come through, are they going to be more skewed to Intel? I'm certainly finding in other non-Apple packages that PPC support is already starting to wane.

I'm in the middle of deciding on a new computer, and a refurb Quad G5 looks pretty attractive for price, performance and known stability. But if what you're seeing is true, that's a big warning. Can you be specific about what support is "waning"? Anyone else noticing this?

The conventional wisdom is that "Universal" imples that PPC will continue to be supported for some time (how long is "some time"?). I would hate to see a G5 go obsolete in terms of being able to keep up.

Scott

For sure they will start releasing more and more for the intel and less and less for the ppc. Just like they did with the 'lite' and 'fat' ppc versions years ago. At first there were programs for both platforms, but gradually support dropped off for the older technology. Otherwise software writers would still be pumping out versions for Mac OS 7.

The G5 will definitely come to a time where it can not keep up with current technology. It's just a matter of how long that is and whether you need the new technology in that time. I'm going to take a punt and sayyyy.. within three years there will be intel only programs. I have no factual basis for this, just a guess based on previous changeover periods.

im gonna play on judes special team and further the punt saying that a modern day G5 quad with current software (and a good fast drive setup) will continue to be a viable production tool for the next 3 to 5 years easilly (and id gamble so much as to say 5 to 7 years)

Previous examples of the G5Quad in terms of reliability and the ability to stretch out their usefulness would be, in my opinion, The 2002 Quicksilver G4s and the old 9600s.
Mostly because they were easy to hotrod (the 9600 could take 6 cards) and any engineering quibbles had been worked out on previous models. Raise your hand if you have a painful memory of changing RAM on a 9500.

This is being typed on a QuicksilverG4 with all the RAM and drives it can take. A perfectly fine DV and offline edit system.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

I'm counting on Wayne's scenario, and don't doubt Jude's at all. I'm betting that the G5 will be a "viable production tool" for 3-5+ years in terms of performance; the question is whether FCP 6 will come out as Intel-only, or will it be FCP 7? When will OSX "KittyKat" be Intel only? 3-5 years would be acceptable, 1-2 years would not, if I went for a G5 now.

I'm still on FCP 3 (blush) so I'm not a leading edge guy, but I'm hoping to avoid the quandary I'm in now, with hardware that can no longer keep up to even get to FCS.

And I'm real curious to know what Jusrus is talking about when he says "PPC support is already starting to wane".

Scott

If you're still on FCP 3 then you're good at making your technology last. I really doubt that you will run into trouble in the next 1 to 2 years. Even if some new format comes out that only works on some bizzare souped-up mega-computer of the future, it will take several years for it to get seriously adopted on a large scale.

I'm not sure what the deal is in the US, but here in Oz if you work in boradcast you just need to be able to do widescreen by 2008, and the G5 can handle that easily. Even my old dual g4 can handle that.

andrew, youre dead on! the machines you mention are some of the best boxes apple ever made. add to that list the quadra 840av. ANY of these boxes could still be making billable product to this day. though some might cough and wheeze a bit ; )

sure the NEXT version of fcp may be intel only - but you, as a professional have to ask yourself: what new features does it offer (other than speed), THAT I really NEED to produce billable work? and unless there is some fundamental paradigm shift in production techniques, the answer will likely be a recurring situation of the same old point - if you NEED it, you can generate the capital to buy it in 4 jobs or so. and if you cant, you didnt really NEED it to begin with...

I suspect support will be tied into the version of the OS more - and the OS will understandably become more reliant on the type of processor. More apps rely on key technologies in 10.4 - and have announced allready they will only run 10.5 in their next versions...
Apple are allways going to be pushing the latest version of the OS and Hardware - understandably if they are trying to get people to upgrade and they have better tools at their disposal. But i can't see a Fast PPC not managing quite happily for a few more years to come!

You're all wrong. HiDef is going to push the G5s out the door in two years, tops. The first time a client delivers a 1080 job in an "inconvenient" format and you start to experience four-hour renders is the time that machine becomes e-mail only.

"This job took fifteen minutes in the shop down the street."

"I need to check my email. Anybody seen the G5?"

Koz

Not totally wrong, but generally the non PCI-express G5's are not going to be able to do HD Def very well. PCI-E is the real difference here, I believe.

Just as the long term software development will slowly focus strictly on an Intel Mac vs Mororola Mac, so will the faster bus structures like PCI-Express drive the market for video capture cards and storage devices.

But, to throw out a long standing processor history in favor of this new kid on the block, is maybe not the best move forward. Historically, that is. But Apple is bound by some laws that require it to support their older products for some period of time.

Wow - I got a topic started via a quote of mine! I must be moving up here in the world!

I think there are three main issues here :-

1. NO machine decides how 'billable' your work is. There is absolutely no doubt that quality work can be completed on machines as old as a G3 to this day. Certainly, moving to HD is obviously going to require more grunt than this, but until HD is a requirement for making money, its not necessarily a concern. As Jude says, Australia has a (supposed) timeline for crossover to digital of 2008, at which point I hope those here are ready for HD, cause I'm sure there will be money to be made as others catch up.

2. Apple may be better than Microsoft at keeping there redundant machines capable of running new OSs - as you can see from the Tiger specs here - [www.apple.com] - but the change to Intel and multi core/processor machines is going to make it harder for them to do this in the future. In terms of OS support for older PPC models, I reckon a good way to judge is to look at when Apple stopped selling PPC models (hmmmm....12 inch iBooks?), and go 3 years from that to allow for Applecare support - mid-2009?

3. I would think the line of other Apple software should probably also follow the timeline I suggested in point 2. My bigger concern would be other software that we ALL rely on with our work. I have purchased and installed Toast 8 on my G5 and Intel MBP. From version 7.whatever it was up to (which was universal), the speed on MPEG-2 DVD encoding has completely flipped - on the same test file (1 hour PAL DV -> DVD) the MBP 1.83 outstripped the G5 by over an hour - until last week the reverse was true. In fact, Toast 8 has become SLOWER on my G5.

So, to sumarise my ramble, if you buy a PPC based Mac now, you'll be fine using the tools available today, just don't necessarily expect to use the ones created even 12 months from now.

Hope that all makes sense - bit early in the morning for me here!

Justin.