04/24/01

GeForce and Radeon controversy, part II.

Yesterday, we published an e-mail sent by Tracy from innermac. The author of the CNET review today gives us his opinion about his review and the criticism of innermac:

"Forgetting the silly nitpicking on the part of the innermac writer, the fact of the matter is that CNET gave the Mac GeForce2 MX card the same test as they give other Mac graphic cards, and the results reported were accurate reflections of those tests.

The review is not meant as a slap in the face on other Web sites. We used the card and we reviewed it. Others may disagree with the test results, and they are free to do so. But the comments made by the innermac writer are clearly meant to be inflammatory (aside from having inaccurate information and interpretations), and I won't get into a flamewar over this issue.

Mac users can choose to have their new G4s with a Radeon or GeForce2 MX, thanks to the way Apple has set up their ordering system. That's a plus, and nobody is forced to take the card they don't like. "

Peace, Gene Steinberg

Author, "The Mac OS X Little Black Book", http://www.macnightowl.com/

Co-author,"Attack of the Rockoids", http://www.rockoids.com

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Quicktime 5.01

You now can download Quicktime 5.01. QuickTime 5 now has a new interface , a new QuickTime TV channels display; it offers full support for MPEG-1, Flash 4. Quicktime 5.01 also includes a new version of Quicktime VR and the possibility to use media skins, as illustrated above.

Courtesy of Apple Computer

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04/23/01

GeForce and Radeon controversy: which card should you choose?

There is currently a controversy about the Radeon from ATI and the GeForce2MX from NVIDIA. Several tests have been conducted, comparing the two cards. For some people, the Radeon is the winner. For others, the GeForce is. According to us, both cards are very fast. However, the drivers of the Radeon seem to be more mature than those of the GeForce. The Radeon is also a better card when you want to watch a DVD on your computer. It is slower in 16 bits mode but also seems faster than the GeForce in 32 bits mode.

We have gathered some information about those tests. After reading them, you will be able to make your own opinion.

CNET has posted a test with comparisons of the Radeon and the Geforce2MX. They claim that the GeForce is better than the Radeon.

However innermac, which published a review of both cards last week does not agree with the CNET review. Here is what Tracy, from innermac, says :

"I just found your link to our site, innermac.com. I wanted to write to you personally and thank you for the news link. We very much appreciate it. Many people have recently been posting links to a brand new "review" posted by CNET on the OEM GeForce2MX card. I use the term "review" as loosely as possible when I talk about that piece. Feeling that their little article gives all reviewers a bad name and very much discredits everything Mac sites are trying for, I wrote up a sort of review of their "review" - I'm featuring it in our humor section right now, because we equate their piece as a total joke. :) "

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Cube figures : readers comments.

Some of our readers have explanations concerning the Cube figures. Here is what they say :

"The latest figures come out to $2750 revenue per Cube, which doesn't make sense. The previous quarter works out to $482/Cube, which also doesn't make sense. But if you combine the 2, the total comes out to $1146/Cube, which does seem closer to reality.

Maybe accounting rules are such that if the machines ship near the end of the quarter the units are included in that quarter, but the revenue isn't recorded until Apple actually gets the cash.

Larry"

"Look at the revenue and units across both quarters. $47,000 for $41,000 cubes, sounds right on the money. I think this revenue is not offset from R&D or layoffs, that is all in operating expenses.

Theory: Not all of the cubes that were shipped last quarter sold, the leftover cubes in the channel that sold this quarter were marked as revenue.

Amul"

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Looking for article writers.

We are looking for benevolent article writers. The subject of the article must be Cube-related, or at least Mac related. If you want to have your article published on the Cube-Zone, please send it here!

G4 Cube My Way : the gallery has been updated with new desks.

Click here and take a look at those desks...

Today on the Forums

04/20/01

Fewer Cubes sold, but a doubled revenue?

According to the PR document released yesterday by Apple, and as stated by one of our readers on the forum, the number of Macs sold during the last two quarters is the following :

According to those figures, Apple sold 59% less Cubes this quarter. However the revenue was up 136%. What does it mean? Could it be explained by the fact that Apple already charged all R&D expenses for the Cube last quarter? The so-called disbanding of the Cube design team may be related with that.....All Cube sold could now generate some profits....

The next quarter should be interesting, since the price of the Cube was reduced during Q2. It apparently did not have time to have repercussions on the sales.

Cube email List

The Cube email list created by Eric Prentice of The MacintoshGuy is now listed as a reference link on the Cube-Zone. You can subscribe to that list and receive usefull tips from other Cube users everyday.

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04/19/01

New G4 Cubes powered by a PPC 7410?

The processor of the last revision of the Cube seems to be a PPC 7410. Apple does not use the 7400 version of the G4 anymore. Some of our readers have confirmed that their Cubes (especially the 500 Mhz version) have that new processor and that it runs cooler than the 7400. This low-power G4 seems to solve the heat-related problems that some Cubes had at the very beginning.

Radeon vs GeForce

Innermac has tested the Radeon and the GeForce.... and the winner is...... No it is not the one you think..... Read that interesting test here.

Great Deals

MicroWarehouse offers the refurbished PowerMac Cube G4/450 64/20.0/DVD/56k/100BT, model no. M7642LL/A, for $1,099. There is a 90-day Apple warranty. We found that deal on dealmac.

Apple profitable again!

Apple has posted his results. The company is profitable again. Here is the Apple PR :

"Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2001 second quarter ended March 31, 2001. For the quarter, the Company posted a net profit of $43 million, or $.12 per diluted share. These results compare to a net profit of $233 million, or $.64 per diluted share, achieved in the year ago quarter.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.43 billion, down 26 percent from the year ago quarter, and gross margins were 26.9 percent, compared to 28.2 percent in the year ago quarter. International sales accounted for 48 percent of the quarter's revenues. The quarter's results included a $3 million net favorable impact from non-recurring items including an after-tax gain of $89 million resulting from the sale of approximately 23 million shares of ARM Holdings plc. and an after tax charge of $86 million related to the write down of certain equity investments. Without these non-recurring items, the Company's net profit for the quarter would have been $40 million, or $.11 per diluted share.

Apple shipped 751 thousand Macintosh units during the quarter. "Apple returned to profitability in this tough economic climate by launching several innovative new products," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "During the quarter we shipped the Titanium PowerBook G4, widely regarded as a major breakthrough in notebook computers; Mac OS X, the world's most advanced operating system; iTunes, the easiest way to create a music library on your computer and 'burn' custom music CDs; and iDVD and SuperDrive, our revolutionary software and drive that together enable users to create and 'burn' their own custom DVDs. It was a great new product quarter, and there's still more to come."

"We feel very good about delivering solid profitability while reaching our goal of 4 weeks of channel inventory ahead of schedule," said Fred Anderson, Apple's CFO. "Our balance sheet remains very strong, with over $4.1 billion in cash. We now expect to generate $3.2 to $3.4 billion in revenues in the second half of the fiscal year, and we are targeting sequential improvements in both revenues and profits in the June and September quarters."

04/18/01

Hardware

You can now use your Cube in the dark. MCE produces and sells the USB FlexLight. this light which connects to a USB port includes both a clear and a red light diffuser. According to MCE, the USB FlexLight consumes less than 200mA of power.

G4 Cube My Way.

The gallery has once again been updated with new desks. The second part of the desk gallery can be found here.

TILs : G4 Cube Manuals.

The TIL 50074 provides G4 Cube manuals in several languages, including English, French and German. You can find it here.

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