The New Mac/Geforce 3

[Johnny_Angel]

Steve Jobs announced that the GeForce 3 would available first on the Mac. This guy says different:

Get the Xbox Video Card on Your PC
Contrary to Apple’s claims, the Mac won’t have the GeForce 3 first. Instead, the video card will be released on the PC and Mac simultaneously. But what’s interesting about this new card is that it’s the same video device that will be used in Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox video game system. GeForce 3 cards will ship by the end of March, according to NVidia, and only Microsoft’s DirectX 8 multimedia libraries will be able to take advantage of its new features right away. First on the Mac, indeed.

Anybody have the straight dope in this?

[SmackFu]

NVidia announced it for the Mac on the 22nd, and for the PC on the 27th. The relevant quotes from the press releases are “Geforce3 graphics on the Power MacTM G4 will be available next month…” and “Exciting new PCs equipped with GeForce3 will be available next month” respectively. There are no specific dates mentioned. Even if they do release it first by a few days on the Mac, it looks like it will be followed up closely on the PC.

[Chas.E]

umm… why are you going to Windoze sites for Mac info? Do you go to your GM dealer for info on Toyota?

FYI, you can order a Mac with a GeForce3 TODAY from http://store.apple.com, but it won’t ship for a few weeks. Go look at any desktop model and look at the popup menu under graphics cards, it’s listed as an option.

[galt]

Chas.E says:

umm… why are you going to Windoze sites for Mac info? Do you go to your GM dealer for info on Toyota?

Would you expect Apple to be a more reliable source of information when it comes to hyping the availability of 3rd party hardware for macs? I sure wouldn’t.

My guess (and, yes, it’s just a guess): Apple arranged some sort of exclusivity so they could truthfully make the claim, but the Mac volumes will be low enough that lots of PC buyers will actually have their orders fullfilled just as fast.

FYI, you can order a Mac with a GeForce3 TODAY from http://store.apple.com, but it won’t ship for a few weeks

Yeah, you can also order MacOS X there, but that doesn’t mean anything.

[Jman]

It’s so important that it’s released on the Mac 5 days earlier…I mean, come on, you know that all gamers are on Macs right, and they can really use the power of the GeForce 3. :rolleyes:

I know nVidia wanted to make Apple happy, but it really is kind of a stupid move, for these reasons:

1. The GeForce3 is a gaming card, and costs $600.

2. Not many die hard gamers are willing to spend $600 on a new video card.

3. Hi Opal!

4. All die hard gamers use PCs.

The only people they’ll sell this card to on the Mac are people who think they’re cool, and have lots of money. They are going to have a hard time selling the card at that price to anyone, let alone people who are using Macs, which have considerably less gaming software available. I look for the majority of big gamers to still concentrate on buying cards in the GeForce2 GTS/Ultra series, since they are less than half the price of the GeForce3, and can still kick the ass of any game currently available. (And don’t forget the Radeon and GF2MX…cheap, but still fast alternatives!)

Jman