Jobs hails 'uber Mac': 'Better than any Windows PC'

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, yesterday rolled out a new crop of Power Macs that he says can outperform any Windows-based PC on the market.

Speaking at the company's annual developer conference in San Francisco, Jobs announced that the Power Macs will be built around IBM's new PowerPC 970 chip and come in three flavours - a 1.6GHz model, a 1.8GHz model and a dual processor 2GHz model. The machines, which will become available in August, are priced at $1,999, $2,399 and $2,999, respectively for their US launch.

Dubbed the G5, the new chip is the successor to the G4 that's now used in the Power Mac lineup. Aside from the new chip, the new Power Macs will feature other architectural changes, including the addition of 1GHz front-side buses, USB 2.0 ports and serial ATA drives.

The new clock speeds and other changes mean that Apple will be offering "the world's fastest personal computer," Jobs said. Jobs showed both benchmarks and Photoshop tests that illustrate the new dual 2GHz PowerMac outperforming a dual 3GHz Xeon machine.

The specifications of the new machines matched specifications that were 'accidentally' posted on Apple's online store last week. Although many believe the accidental posting was a measured PR stunt to build interest in the launch, Jobs maintained it was an error.

"I am here today to tell you it was a mistake," he said of the posting.

The entry-level model comes with a 1.6GHz processor, 256MB of memory, an 80GB hard drive and an Nvidia GeForce FX5200 graphics card. It will sell for $1,999. The midrange system sells for $2,399 and comes with a 1.8GHz G5 processor, 512MB of memory, a 160GB hard drive and the GeForce FX5200 graphics card. The high-end model sells for $2,999 and has two 2GHz G5 chips, 512MB of memory, a 160GB hard drive and an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card. All three machines sport a new aluminum case and come with a SuperDrive that can read and burn both DVDs and CDs.

Jobs said the systems will soon get faster. "Within 12 months, we will be at 3GHz," Jobs said. "Believe me, this architecture has legs."

Ina Fried writes for News.com