[RayChuang88]

But here's the question: is Cell using PowerPC technology?

If you can run program code designed for PowerPC on Cell, does that mean future versions of Apple's Macintosh line of computers will use CPU's derived from Cell technology?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related Item:

Sony, Partners Offer Glimpse Of New "Cell" Chip

The "Cell" processor's claim to fame is that it will serve as the processor powering Sony Computer Entertainment's next-generation entertainment console, the PlayStation 3. However, the PowerPC-derived, 64-bit multicore chip is also designed to be scalable, allowing it to be used in products from consumer-electronic devices to workstations and some servers.

IBM, for example, plans to use it to power a Cell-based workstation, first disclosed in May and now up and running in trial form. A one-rack Cell processor-based workstation will reach a performance of 16 teraflops or trillions of floating point calculations per second, IBM said. IBM did not say whether or not the Cell workstation that was "powered on" used an early Cell chip, or a simulation running on some other hardware.

In addition to the PS3, Sony plans to launch home servers for broadband content as well as high-definition televisions powered by Cell in 2006. Toshiba also said it expects HDTVs powered by the Cell chip to launch in 2006.

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So Power PC derived .....leaves your question unanswered.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From Paper linked above post #7:

The Cell Processor This is a 9 core processor, one of these cores is something similar to a PowerPC G5 and acts as a controller. The remaining 8 cores are called APUs and these are very high performance vector processors.

[ThinkDifferent]

does that mean future versions of Apple's Macintosh line of computers will use CPU's derived from Cell technology?

Good question, nobody knows yet. I'd be surprised if Macs used Cell as the primary processor, because from what I've read the Cell's "master" CPU is a stripped down Power derivative that probably wouldn't compete well with current G5s. There is a possibility that Macs could use one or more Cell chips as coprocessors to accelerate certain functions (e.g. image/video processing). The upcoming version of Mac OS X has several APIs that dynamically assign work to either the CPU or graphics card based on which can do it more efficiently, and it should be possible to extend that to Cell coprocessors as well.