Jobs Super Computer Not So Super?

[Quadraman]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19990907/ai_n10131702

Was the Powermac G4 a super computer? It depends whose definition you use.

 

[johnsonfromwisconsin]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19990907/ai_n10131702
Was the Powermac G4 a super computer? It depends whose definition you use.

It was a game of semantics. The gigaflops hyperbole was, and is usually about theoretical maximums. To put things in perspective, a Pentium III @400mhz could in theory reach 1.6 gigaflops and a similarly clocked G4 was likewise theoretically capable of 3.2.

Using even finer technicalities, Transform and Lighting video accellerators were capable of even more.

 

[porter]

Yikes.

Power Mac G4 - the first personal computer classified as munitions and under export restriction because of its power.

 

[LCGuy]

I remember that...brings back memories from Grade 9. (when the G4 first came out, and the US Govt prevented them from exporting it)

 

[Flash!]

What!?? Why did they do that?

 

[porter]

What!?? Why did they do that?

Control.

The US government is scared of cryptography and hence they wanted the monopoly on machines that could decipher encodings.

Remember also that you couldn't export products with certain cryptography features.

 

[mac2geezer]

What!?? Why did they do that?

Control.

The US government is scared of cryptography and hence they wanted the monopoly on machines that could decipher encodings.

Remember also that you couldn't export products with certain cryptography features.

It's even worse than that. Like most governments, the US Government is afraid of it's own citizens and becoming more paranoid every day.

 

[lordstith]

Yeah. Crazy feds. But at least we've got a chance for some improvement coming up in the next couple months.

On topic, what other systems marketed at regular consumers ever had this distinction? I'd think SGI would've had a major problem with that, but then again they weren't exactly consumer-grade machines...

 

[Temetka]

Exactly.

The G4 put a lot of power for a little money on the table.

Traditionally that kind of CPU performance was only found with "The Big Boys". You know them as SGI, Sun and IBM. They were also bloody expensive.

The G4 cost less than $3k I believe. That is nothing.