Definitions for "AltiVec or Velocity Engine"
The Velocity Engine can process data in 128-bit chunks, instead of the smaller 32-bit or 64-bit chunks used in traditional processors it's the 128-bit vector processing technology used in scientific supercomputers--except that Apple has added 162 new instructions to speed up computations. In addition, it can perform four in some cases eight 32-bit floating-point calculations in a single cycle--2-4 times faster than traditional processors.