[09/03/2002]
Latest word on the new PowerMac benchmark debate
eWeek had some comments from Apple on the topic. The main points: the benchmarks focus on CPU, instead of total system performance, and there are no benchmarks for the DP 1.25GHz machine available yet.

[09/03/2002]
Overclock the new PowerMacs
xlr8yourmac has gotten word from Michiro Isobe (Author of PPC Checker and general Mac hardware guru) on the changes made to the CPU module up from the previous QuickSilver model and has instructions on how to overclock the new machines (for those who like soldering).

[08/03/2002]
P4 @ 2800 MHz
FS has one of many reviews of Intel's latest 2.8GHz Pentium IV chip. Definitely the new speed king of Desktop CPUs, as expected.

[09/03/2002]
AMD future plans
the register has some new views from AMD on their plans regarding Opteron (former Hammer). Aparently they're going to target Intel's 32bit platform, not their 64bit platform, because they hope to be the platform of choice when it comes to switching from 32 to 64bit seemlessly, as their chip can handle both bit depths natively.

[09/03/2002]
Gamers drive high-end PC market
CNN has some insight on how hardcore gamers drive a special niche market of very powerful and highly customized PC systems (Alienware, Falcon Northwest etc). It's always something I wanted Apple to dig in a little further (offering a Gamer-Mac), but they never really got so far as for that to make sense. Games are nevertheless one of the most hardware bound factors in the industry, which I already pointed out to Apple in a letter in 1997.

[09/03/2002]
Quartz Extreme on PCI cards
ArsTechnica's openforums has an interesting thread on how you can enable QuartzExtreme on Mac with PCI graphics cards. It's got its down- and upsides, but it's nevertheless a very interesting tweak. However, be warned, do not read the link with Netscape 4.79 or earlier, as the page freezes the browser for roughly 2 minutes, before the page eventually loads. Very annoying piece-of-crap browser.

[09/03/2002]
Rumors
MOSR has some new rumors regarding upcoming PowerBook updates (with possible Radeon 9000 Mobility graphics) and various other topics of interest.

[09/03/2002]
Jaguar reviews reviewed
the register has some interesting and funny statements picked out of a few Jaguar reviews.

[09/03/2002]
Radeon 9000 Mobility launched
the register reports that ATI has released their newest mobile graphics chip, arguably the fastest in the industry, targeted a notebooks (and PowerBooks). The Radeon 9000 Mobility is feature complete with its desktop simbling, while having very acceptable levels of power consumption. First systems are expected to ship within a few weeks. (One being an updated PowerBook G4, according to the rumor sites)

[09/03/2002]
PowerMac tech sheets
Apple has published a series of PDF files describing what you can and may do yourself with the new PowerMacs (Mirrored Drive doors, Cyclops). Amazingly, you can even remove the PSU, and most installations/removals of parts only require a screwdriver. This case rocks.

[09/03/2002]
OS X on x86 exists, but that's about it
the register reports that newest findings confirm that an x86 version of Mac OS X has been maintained in parallel to the PPC version and is even feature complete with the current version. Of course there is no sign of Apple releasing those top secret builds, nor is there currently any indication that Apple is going to switch to x86 in the near future. I mainly see this having two functions: a: it's an always useful "Plan-B"-option and b: it's going to scare Motorola and IBM (probably strengthening their efforts).

[09/03/2002]
New machines support larger ATA drives
xlr8yourmac notes that the OS X 10.2 technote mentions support for drives larger than 137GB for all machines that support it in their boot-ROM. It's still unclear which machines that includes, but I think it's a safe bet to assume the new PowerMacs are among them. (Until recently, all Macs and PCs with ATA-100 or slower drive busses only supported drive sup to 137GB in size, because they did not support the new 48bit LBA addressing mode. However, ATA-133 did that from the start and so the common belief was, that you'd need ATA-133 to get big drives to work. However, BIOS, or in our case Boot-ROM updates have since solved the problem on many mainboards. The biggest harddrive from WesternDigital currently has 200GB of unformatted capacity.)

[09/03/2002]
Logic Audio Platinum ships
Emagic , which was just recently aquired by Apple, has now released their latest version of Logic for Mac OS X.

[09/03/2002]
Apple talks new PowerMacs
MacCentral has some interesting stuff on the new PowerMacs: word about expansion, noise and the benefits of SMP.

[09/03/2002]
UT 2003 for Mac "likely", Rein
MacGamer (and others) note that Mark Rein from Epic Games recently made a statement, that a port of Unreal Tournament 2003 to Mac OS X was "likely, but nothing is set in stone". I'm looking forward to this:)

[09/03/2002]
Windows XP update ahead
TomsHardware notes that Microsoft is going to release Service Pack 1 for Windows XP on Monday, September 9. The update is supposed to fix security issues and squash bugs (of which there are reportedly many).

[09/03/2002]
Game news
IMG has a lot of interesting stuff on games and games developers. New games ahead too!