New PowerBooks

[SPeedY_B]

First person to buy me one get's a cookie!

Must say, I'm quite impressed with the additions to the new PowerBooks, I was expecting a simple speed bump (as previous 'updates') but they seem to have crammed yet more coolness into the three tier PowerBook range. Things that I'm liking so far:

1. 512mb by default, Finally!
2. BlueTooth 2.0+EDR on all models, very nice, always liked the BT Technology.
3. The new scrolling on the trackpad, very cool, built right into the o/s too, no add-ons needed.
4. Sudden motion detection (was inevitable, the patent has been on record a while)
5. 1.67GHz PowerPC G4's in a notebook that doesn't melt (Note: They're yet to ship.. they actually may melt )

So, who's buying one, and who's buying me one?

 

[Henyman]

no G5 in powerbook yet?

 

[sean.ferguson]

im looking at these and considering it. However i am going to wait off until 10.4 is released at least. Then i will consider either the 15" combi powerbook which is very nice or possibly another 12" ibook :s dunno yet

 

[SPeedY_B]

no G5 in powerbook yet?

You wan't to try putting a 90nm PowerPC chip in that space without it causing a small fire


G4's are still awesome chips, it annoys me when people moan because there's not G5's in everything. It's exactly the same as there not being Quad opterons in every PC in the Windows world... they're nice, but not needed, because an older/lesser chip (e.g. a nice P4 or XP64) will suffice. /minirant

 

[Henyman]

liquid nirogen cooling?

 

[logisticprism]

i heard that in the summer they might release a dual core g4 powerbook,and wait until IBM develops a dual core g5 to release a g5 powerbook,which will probably take another year or so. so i don't suspectwe can expect them for a while. i know it's dissapointing,especially for me who is in great need of a new powerbook. i havea 1st gen powerbook 12" at 867 mhz, and it's exactly 2 years old. i want a new powerbook for my graduation, and i really want a g5.

 

[X-Istence]

no G5 in powerbook yet?

The G5 was built to be a server chip. It requires massive cooling.

So heat is the issue, calm down, and take a freaking seat, and wait for the apple engineers to find out when the POWER6 chip comes out.

SPeedY_B: In the netherlands the patent is held by Philips, for the same product, i would not even be surprised if they developed the technology for it. IBM uses it in their laptops.

 

[Luna]

I'm thinking about getting one. I am selling my Dell XPS right now, and after that comes the Powerbook.

Is Mac really in a position to release a dual core g4? That sounds a bit odd, but if true maybe I should hold off till summer to buy a Powerbook?

 

[xsivforce]

Considering a Powerbook.

 

[SPeedY_B]

Many people are always asking if they should wait. The most simpler answer will always be, if you need one now, buy one, if you want to wait, then wait. At the end of the day, no one except those developing the things knows when Apple will release new machines, so you could buy a Powerbook now and they'll be updated next year, or next week, whatever way you look at it, the Mac you buy now will likely suffice for your needs, however there will always be a newer model out at some point in time.

As you can see here though: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ ; the recommendation is "buy now" as you're always going to be better off buying shortly after a range has been updated.

 

[Luna]

That's true.

Not to mention a higher end proc would mean less battery life.

 

[SPeedY_B]

Kind of true, but not so much in the PowerPC world, they're not as power hungry as x86 chips (no where near as power hungry as Pentium chips anyway )

 

[Geffy]

Kind of true, but not so much in the PowerPC world, they're not as power hungry as x86 chips (no where near as power hungry as Pentium chips anyway )

Quite true, I remember on my Fujitsu laptop usually getting about an hour and a half out of the battery. Its always nice to pop open the iBook after disconnecting it from the power and having it say you have about 4 and a half to 5 hours to play before getting back to the charger. I love new batteries

 

[NetRyder]

Kind of true, but not so much in the PowerPC world, they're not as power hungry as x86 chips (no where near as power hungry as Pentium chips anyway )

Looks like someone's forgetting the Pentium-M's

 

[X-Istence]

Pentium M is the first one Intel has gotten right, it still sucks compared to the POWER CPU's

 

[Henyman]

my pentium 4 lasts aprox 4/5 hours

 

[SPeedY_B]

my pentium 4 lasts aprox 4/5 hours

At half speed, with nothing intensive running, and a very dim screen?

 

[Geffy]

I can get 6 and a half hours with the screen at its dimmest, bluetooth turned off, no cd in cd rom drive and cpu set to low speed on my iBook and thats with the AirPort card still enabled and running.

 

[NetRyder]

I can get more battery life than any of you with everything turned off!!!!1111
Beat that!






*Dodges rotten eggs*

 

[Henyman]

At half speed, with nothing intensive running, and a very dim screen?

i hate a dim screen :devious:

only thing is processor which i have stepped from full power to low power as the battery goes down, it basically under clocks to a ~1.8 at it's lowest setting, still more than powerfull for most apps on here.