MacWhispers semble avoir une autre hypothèse :
Apple To Introduce IBM 970 in A PowerBook?
Several odd bits of information have crossed our desk recently that point to an unexpected possibility: Apple will be introducing the IBM PPC 970 processors, not in PowerMacs, as expected, but in the new 15.4-inch Aluminum PowerBook.
Information we received in January from two key Apple suppliers convinced us that the 15.4-inch PowerBook had gone into production at that time, but had then been held up due to similar manufacturing problems as beset the first run of 17-inch units. Since that time, we have been told that only "a very few" pre-production units of the 15-incher were actually produced, prior to the production being stopped entirely. We have heard that as few as "a few hundred" of these units were actually produced.
Next, in February, a new source told us that his company had been awarded the production contract for the new mid-size PowerBook, and that actual production would begin in "late March." This same source has more recently told us that the new 'Book had been "substantially re-engineered between January and March," and "will be based on the IBM 970 processor."
Truthfully, we have no proven history by which to evaluate this one source, other than to pass along that he is a senior product development engineer with a major Taiwanese OEM assembler... one that has built many Apple portable products in the past. We believe strongly enough in the possibility that this report is accurate to decide to publish the information for our readers' consideration.
