Anyone else worried there will be no PowerBook announcements?

[Hodapp]

There have been SO MANY huge announcements slated for the upcoming MacWorld convention that I'm beginning to doubt we'll see any love for the PowerBook line. It seems like in the past on any given keynote there's 1 or 2 huge points, and a bunch of little ones. With the $500 iMac, the new productivity suite, and everything else rumored to be presented, does anyone think there will be anything said on PowerBooks?

That is, of course, unless they've just been completely tight lipped about everything BUT PowerBook updates...

[Mertzen]

At this point I am even worried to see yet another keynote with iPods and U2 .. brrrr

[edesignuk]

If there isn't, then it's a big mistake. There's nothing very powerful about the PowerBook line right now. It needs and update. Those 2GHz P-M's are already running ahead :rolleyes:

[cluthz]

If we don't see new improved powerbooks, then Apples stocks will drop.
There are man improvements that can be done.
There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..
If Apple can't make improvements at this point, then they are onto something big very soon, or they're soon out of business.

[Hodapp]

My company has been waiting to buy a half dozen top of the line powerbooks for some time now, waiting on an update. If Apple doesn't get their act together in the near future they're going to lose a $20,000 or so sale to IBM.

[Koodauw]

I dont think we will see them. There seems to be to many other annoucements, and the PB updates just wont happen. They could come shortly after though.

I dont think a speed bump would really make a difference though. What can they do? put in a slightly faster CPU? A new video car? HD? More features on the 12'' would be nice though.

It really is time for a new CPU in the PB's. Too bad one isnt ready yet.

[Mertzen]

There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..

[MattG]

They've had so long now...I can't seem them not announcing a PB G5 within the next few months.

[edesignuk]

They've had so long now...I can't seem them not announcing a PB G5 within the next few months.
Sadly, I can quite easily see them not announcing anything of much interest :(

[cluthz]

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..

I know the 7448 is limited to a ~200MHz bus, but its faster than the 7447A and it supports twice the L2 cache.
Its not the best solution, but it's sure better than still pushing 1.5GHz 7447A's in the powerbooks.

Apple needs to give us something new, mostly because the powerbooks are long overdue the natural update progress, but also because the Pentium Ms are eating low-powered G4s for breakfast.

[James Craner]

I really don't think that new Powerbooks will be revealed at MacWorld. I suspect we will see some G4 speed bumps a few weeks after, and the G5 PB in Sep / Oct, well that is only my view, I don't know anymore than the next person.

It is possible we will see the G5 Powerbook at the developers conference if no speed bumps appear shortly after MacWorld. In recent years MacWorld key notes tend to be more consumer based and the Developers Conference tends to focus on the professional line.

[Mertzen]

I know the 7448 is limited to a ~200MHz bus, but its faster than the 7447A and it supports twice the L2 cache.

A full 33Mhz faster .. in this day and age that is pathetic .. the L2 is nice though and brings it up to par with Intel's offerings ..

And a Pentium M like solution is something IBM needs to get working on if they haven't done so already ..

[SLCentral]

If Apple does not update at the keynote, or less then a month after the keynote, their PowerBook line is in serious trouble. The specs are almost equivelant to the iBook line, and they are rediculously over-priced. I don't see a G5 Powerbook hapenning, but they need to get them up to 1.7GHz, at least, and maybe a new GPU. Also, more RAM for the standard models, COME ON APPLE, it's a Pro line of products!

[Hodapp]

A full 33Mhz faster .. in this day and age that is pathetic .. the L2 is nice though and brings it up to par with Intel's offerings

That's exactly the problem... While PowerBooks ARE nice machines, for what you'd spend on a 'low-end' 15 inch PowerBook, you could get the Dell XPS. WHILE the Dell XPS IS a ridiculous machine, both by sheer dimensions and weight alone, the fact of the matter is, there's a $1000 difference between Apple's 'high end' and pretty much any other manufacturer's 'high end'. (Not to mention the XPS comes loaded with MUCH newer hardware than the PowerBooks have.)

[maya]

Steve Jobs, newest announcement we are now dropping the eMac and PowerBook line, say hello to:

Headless Mac and PoweriBook. :)

[MacsRgr8]

The word "Power" in PowerBook is geting silly... :(

IMHO any update is worth it. But if the update is just a slight speed bump, then please drop those damn prices.

[nospleen]

SHHHHH! Come on guys/gals, my powerbook can hear you all! :D All joking aside, I really hope they update them. But, it seems too busy a MWSF already. (crosses fingers)

[EJBasile]

If they don't update at the MWSF then maybe at the most 2 weeks after- probably just a speed bump. If not they really should lower the prices.

[quagmire]

If we don't see new improved powerbooks, then Apples stocks will drop.
There are man improvements that can be done.
There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..
If Apple can't make improvements at this point, then they are onto something big very soon, or they're soon out of business.

I am sorry to tell you this is that the 9800 is too hot to be in the 1" enclosure and the 7448 is not out there. The 9800M is too hot and possibly too big. The PPC 7448 is scheduled to be sampled in January 2005. Meaning full production of these things will be around Fall '05. There is now the 7447B around at 1.67 Ghz but, apple would of brought the new pbooks out by now.

[CaptainCaveMann]

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..Dude the powerbooks run hot as it is. What do you thinka g5 in there would do? The thing would probably explode in photoshop haha :cool:

[mklos]

I don't think it will be a MacWorld Keynote announcement, but I think they're about to release a speed bump with a 1.7GHz G4. I think PowerBook G5's are still out of the question at this point as the G5 is still too hot for a laptop design. Sure, you can put a G5 in a 2 inch enclosure with the iMac G5, but with the iMac you don't care about weight, battery life, or heat. You can let the iMac get a little hotter than a laptop.

With a PowerBook, there's no room for a 2 inch heat sink. There's no a battery in the world that would live long enough to power 2+ cooling fans, and the rest of the computer and still get the battery life of the current PowerBooks.

Yes, the current PowerBook lineup is a joke as is all the other Macs that use the G4. The G4 is a dead processor. Its running out of legs, has the slowest FBS in the industry, and doesn't support true DDR RAM. So Apple does need to get ALL of its models to the G5 as fast as possible.

[Mertzen]

Dude the powerbooks run hot as it is. What do you thinka g5 in there would do?

We've been saying that since mid 2003 .. you'd think that IBM and Apple had that one nailed down by now ..

[mcgarry]

I think something is coming, if only a bump, since last week my college bookstore brought all PB prices down by hundreds of dollars. 12" Combo at $1110 and so on. Maybe just a one-store thing, for all I know, but I don't think they'd be trying to blow out all of their PowerBooks (and no other models except the previous gen. of iBooks) with nothing in the pipe.

[Sun Baked]

Would be funny if the new $500 iMac is the new eMac (with no G5) -- designed to get Apple out of the CRT business. :D

With a cheap $49-$99 3rd Party CRT Apple would be Apple to compete a little better with Dell.

[MrCommunistGen]

I too fear that Apple won't be releasing a new PB which would be a very bad thing... but what can WE do about it? Nothing but speculate.

Hey, just to throw one out there, how about a G3 fabbed @ 90nm with an AltiVec unit? I don't know how the FSB or cache compares, but since the G3 is a pretty efficient design, couldn't they REALLY up the clock and still have a pretty cool running/ energy efficient CPU? Would it be able to scale up to a reasonable clock?... I dunno... like 1.8Ghz or something? Course then what would they call it... G3 wouldn't sell cuz it might seem like too much of a step backwards. They could call it something like a G4+, but that might seem deceptive to some, plus that sorta sounds like IBM's Power4+... Aww hell... just stick a Power4+ in there, say that it's Apples newest and hottest (pun intended) product and call it a day :rolleyes: Hey at least it would be fast...

-mcg

[MacSA]

I really don't think that new Powerbooks will be revealed at MacWorld. I suspect we will see some G4 speed bumps a few weeks after, and the G5 PB in Sep / Oct, well that is only my view, I don't know anymore than the next person.

By Sept/Oct even a G5 will look dated compared to the Pentium M's

[Hodapp]

By Sept/Oct even a G5 will look dated compared to the Pentium M's

No crap! I was reading an article not too long ago on the next iteration of the Pentium M... and it will be one amazing chip. This month they're already slated to up the FSB 133 mhz, along with clock speed increases. By the end of the year they'll be hyperthreaded, faster, using less power, and we'll still be sitting here wondering where the PowerBook G5's are. :(

[Sir_Giggles]

Would any of you buy a PowerBook G5 if it were 2" thick?

[Hodapp]

Would any of you buy a PowerBook G5 if it were 2" thick?

I had a Sager 5660 for almost a year.

Weight: 9.6 lbs
Dimensions: 1.7"Hx13"Wx11.4"D

Had no problems.

[dongmin]

If we don't see new improved powerbooks, then Apples stocks will drop.
There are man improvements that can be done.
There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..
If Apple can't make improvements at this point, then they are onto something big very soon, or they're soon out of business.

1. Apple's stock is being driven by consumer-related announcements, as in the iPod, iTMS, and iMac. PowerBooks are pretty low on the market's radar right now.

2. There ARE NOT faster 7448s out there. Freescale will [i]sample[i/] 7449s in the first half of 2005 (http://www.eetuk.com/tech/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=47903043), so it probably won't ship until second half of 2005 at the earliest. So all Apple can do is to try to eek out as much performance out of the 7447A until theres a low-power G5.

3. Apple reserves the MWSF for consumer-related announcement, except to introduce brand new products, like they did with the 12" and 17" PBs. So a minor speed bump probably will not be announced until a couple of weeks after MWSF, as they often do with Power Macs.

To sum up: Don't get your hopes up. It's a dark dark time for PowerBook fans. But for everyone else, the big show will introduce some amazing new goodies.

[AliensAreFuzzy]

IBM really should just develop a completely new chip for portables instead of trying to get their current chips to be more energy effecient and cooler. Isn't that what Intel basically did with the Pentium-M?

[Hodapp]

IBM really should just develop a completely new chip for portables instead of trying to get their current chips to be more energy effecient and cooler. Isn't that what Intel basically did with the Pentium-M?

Sort of, the Pentium M is largely based off the Pentium 3, but the goal always was to make a super energy efficient chip from the get-go, rather than trying to go backwards to portability with the current pentium 4 architecture.

The Pentium M is getting so cool though, I wouldn't be surprised if the Pentium 5 is based more off the PM architecture than the P4 architecture.

[hcuar]

No... I'm not really "worried"... i don't figure we will see a G5 though... That's why i went ahead and bought a PB back in '04.

[puckhead193]

on one hand i don't want a significant update because (dual or g5) then my computer will be out-dated. i hate have old technogloy ;)

[Metatron]

I entered the mac fanatic sector in 2001 with the purchase of the newly released iBook with the whopping 500mhz G3. When I got it, it was wonderful, and OS 9 was great, and OS X was awsome looking but ran really slow. After a year or so, I regreted not getting the Powerbook out at the time. Now I really regret it.

Knowing the the G4 had to be nearing the end of life for Power-rated mac products, I promised myself that I would not by a G4 processor with a G5 soon to be released. Now, 4 years later, I still do not have a G5 in a Powerbook. And what really suck, the G5 has been out for a 1 and 1/2 years (correct me if I am wrong please).

The G4 (forgive me folks) sucks. Okay I take it back. It is a great low power processor and works in the ibook line great. But a powerbook. AHHHHHHHH!

I really could use a Powerbook for what I do. I hate having to use PC's. And don't give the that shizit about if you need, it buy it. I applied that policy to the ibook I have. I was lured into Apple because of design, then feel in love with the OS, and would never go back. Of course, I did not know 4 years ago that there was x86 and PPC chips and that PPC chips from motorola has hit the fan. If I had, I would have waited for a G5 and just been even more pissed off that I had to wait 3 years for one to appear.

I know this post is getting long, but it just felt like the right thread to say it all. I think apple has forgot about us people who actually use products like these to make a living and have places iPods above us. I don't want a Powermac with pci-x. I want one with pci-express. I don't want an nvidia 6800 only option. But an ATI X800 option as well (and which I would prefer). I would like the option for a 10,000 rpm hard drive. Two button mouse......don't get me wrong, I love my iPod mini, but I would rather other options that to buy iPod socks.

Back to powerbooks. I don't think we will see new powerbooks anytime soon, to my almost suicidal dismay (kiding). I think it is possible, but people would probably be pissed if apple released a 1.6 G5. I would love it to escape the 66mhz FSB on my iBook. I have no doubt that a 1.6 G5 could stomp anything what the pentium M processor has out. Hell, that is just a higher clocked P3 to begin with at 90nm.

Please Apple, put real Power back into you powerbooks. No more iPod photos, or vPods, iPod socks, (thumbs up for a flash iPod though), 100 mhz speed bumps on entirly way to overclocked G4's as is. I don't think we are asking to much. I don't need a less than 1'' thick laptop if it needs to be thicker for a G5. I love apples form, but for Christ's sake, how about some function. A heavier laptop will look just as good, that what Ives makes the big bucks for.

Sorry guys, enough rant. I might even be willing to give up the grail of G5 for that freescale dual core processor. Two 1500 mhz cores with 667 FSB. 2 PCI-express interfaces, ethernet, etc, etc. It is promising and would easily put the spank almost 3 times over on current G4's.

[spaceballl]

Wow i saw the topic of this thread... I was just going to post one myself. Steve is going to want the new PBs to have some thunder so at a show like this, I don't see how they could get that much... Plus, we've been hearing about everythting from a new iMac to a new iPod... but no PB... I could see MWSF passing and a week later, apple quietly announcing some speed bumps... Here's to hoping that doesn't happen!
-Kevin

[aswitcher]

I am expecting a new rev G4 with lowered prices...

[Chip NoVaMac]

Given the talk about how much there is to talk about at MWSF, I am thinking that if we are to see PB updates, it might be tomorrow. IMO it will be bumps in processor, video, and lower pricing. Setting the stage later in the year for the G5 PB.

[FelixDerKater]

It seems like the perfect time for the dual-G4 or a stripped down G5 in the PowerBooks if Apple wishes to continue to compete.

[wrldwzrd89]

It seems like the perfect time for the dual-G4 or a stripped down G5 in the PowerBooks if Apple wishes to continue to compete.
It would be, if we knew that one or both of those was ready...but we don't know much about either one's readiness to be put into a PowerBook. I don't think there's any sort of stripped-down G5 other than the ones in the iMac G5 and entry-level PowerMac G5.

[dongmin]

I entered the mac fanatic sector in 2001 with the purchase of the newly released iBook with the whopping 500mhz G3. When I got it, it was wonderful, and OS 9 was great, and OS X was awsome looking but ran really slow. After a year or so, I regreted not getting the Powerbook out at the time. Now I really regret it.

Knowing the the G4 had to be nearing the end of life for Power-rated mac products, I promised myself that I would not by a G4 processor with a G5 soon to be released. Now, 4 years later, I still do not have a G5 in a Powerbook. And what really suck, the G5 has been out for a 1 and 1/2 years (correct me if I am wrong please).

The G4 (forgive me folks) sucks. Okay I take it back. It is a great low power processor and works in the ibook line great. But a powerbook. AHHHHHHHH!
Save yourself the aggravation and get yourself a new iBook. You can pick up a 1.2 ghz G4 machine for under a grand ($900 with a recent Amazon deal). In a year or two, when the G5 PowerBooks are finally out and have gone through a revision or two, you can pass off the ibook to your sibling/spouse/parent and get yourself a powerbook.

personally I tink people overestimate the value of PowerBooks. iBooks are way better buys. Instead of updating your PB every 4 years, you can update your iBook every 2 years for less money. In two years, the low-end iBook more than surpasses the high-end PowerBook in CPU power and features. The only thing it'll lag is in the screen.

[Hodapp]

What has always turned me off iBooks is the construction of them has always seem sub-par when compared to PowerBooks. Granted, the iBook is constructed better than most PC laptops, but when compared to the PowerBook... That was one of the things I really loved about my 12 incher.

[Chip NoVaMac]

What has always turned me off iBooks is the construction of them has always seem sub-par when compared to PowerBooks. Granted, the iBook is constructed better than most PC laptops, but when compared to the PowerBook... That was one of the things I really loved about my 12 incher.

Yeah, but I think the new iMac mini will be on par with the iBooks and their construction.