Powerbook G4 - 3rd Week of Oct?

Less crappy Babelfish translation, anyone?

"September 15 of 2002 day
As for new PowerBook G4 in next month 3rd week announcement

According to information, that as for the new PowerBook G4 of rumor there is no substantial frame modification with the clock of the 1ghz/800Mhz, the Superdrive of expectation regrettable does not become with built-in, is announced with option of outside attaching type it seems."

Speeds: 800 to 1000MHz, as rumored countless time before
Drive: Probably Combo internal, attachable DVD-Burner (probably via Firewire, add maybe $500)

I most likely think it will come with 10.2.1 and iDVD, but I'm pondering whether or not PC2100/PC2700 will make its way into the Ti enclousre.

just got the 667 about two months ago and as always the new models come out 6 months later. I might upgrade in about 6 months. But i'm very happy with how my 667 performs.

I knew the "slim Superdrive" rumors for the PBG4 sounded too good to be true. This sounds a lot more realistic. I would be VERY happy if Apple finally does have the sense to give Powerbook users the option of using an external DVD-RW drive (legally even!) and iDVD. Maybe that's just wishful thinking though...I guess we'll see what happens...

how reliable?

how reliable is that site? anyone know? None the less I was hoping that the update would come in a little over 2 weeks. Instead it seems we have over a month to twiddle our thumbs.

Someone mentioned that they should start making the Powerbooks out of Magnesium (lighter, stronger, etc.). Weren't the NeXT Cubes made out of magnesium? Any good reasons not to switch?

magnesium? you mean magnesium paint? I thought the current PB didn't have any titanium parts on it, it was just the paint? at least that's what the rusting pictures seem to integrate


I think it's actually a good idea for the DVD-RW to be external, assuming that it's much less than what it would cost to just buy one third party. on one hand it's not so super portable, but on the other hand 1) can you even burn an entire DVD with a full battery and 2) why would you want to waist all your battery power burning a DVD when you could do something else and just burn it later?

Someone mentioned that they should start making the Powerbooks out of Magnesium (lighter, stronger, etc.). Weren't the NeXT Cubes made out of magnesium? Any good reasons not to switch?

Click to expand...

Hey that is an idea, 'MagBook'.
Would Magnesium work better on the Airport? I can see them done in a cool black metal industrial design, think the Maglight, gone laptop w/ a hearty little Apple in the middle.
Although I doubt that it would come out in this update, but probably done when Apple flips over to it next incarnation next year.

Re: how reliable?

Originally posted by formasfunction
how reliable is that site? anyone know? None the less I was hoping that the update would come in a little over 2 weeks. Instead it seems we have over a month to twiddle our thumbs.

Someone mentioned that they should start making the Powerbooks out of Magnesium (lighter, stronger, etc.). Weren't the NeXT Cubes made out of magnesium? Any good reasons not to switch?

Click to expand...

The only reason I can think of that Apple isn't switching the TiBooks to MgBooks is that "magnesium" doesn't conjure up the same images as "titanium" in the minds of uninformed consumers.

Originally posted by Choppaface
magnesium? you mean magnesium paint? I thought the current PB didn't have any titanium parts on it, it was just the paint? at least that's what the rusting pictures seem to integrate

Click to expand...

Do you have a link to those rusting pictures? I've never heard of a TiBook rusting... Do you mean the edges, around the palm rest? If so, that part of the TiBook is actually black carbon fiber painted light gray.

I always thought the metal part of the TiBook was extremely thin titanium, with a coat of matte silver paint on top to make it uglier and more prone to scratching.

well the speed bump to 1ghz i could see happening...but the internal superdrive? i think they are right. after reading comments all over from the engineers saying what a pain it was to even get the combo drive into this case and how tough it is to make these suckers i can see no internal superdrive and no bid desire on apples part to alter the case.

thats just what i think

magnesium? you mean magnesium paint? I thought the current PB didn't have any titanium parts on it, it was just the paint? at least that's what the rusting pictures seem to integrate

Click to expand...

All I found is couple of sites saying that it is a carbon/ titanium hybrid, Apple them selves saying just titanium here:
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/
http://www.lowendmac.com/pb2/pbg4.html

Just a thought: Would titanium paint affect (or is it effect - i can never remember) airport signals? Wouldn't it have to be actual titanium used in the construction?

Could this new drive be a bluetooth device?

Bluetooth??!!!!

Originally posted by daRAT
Could this new drive be a bluetooth device?

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No chance! Bluetooth is to USB what Airport is to Ethernet.

Bluetooth is good for short-range wireless transmission of small amounts of data, not high-bandwith (which is what you need for optical drives that burn fast). The external drive will be firewire. Maybe even Firewire 2. That would make the new TiBook a more significant upgrade.

boy, these October PB rumors are coming in full strength, aren't they? don't you think that's a good sign we'll get them in october? i mean, they can't really skip out and wait till january... that'd be so tacky.

Originally posted by Choppaface
magnesium? you mean magnesium paint? I thought the current PB didn't have any titanium parts on it, it was just the paint? at least that's what the rusting pictures seem to integrate

Click to expand...

umm.. i don't think so.. i'm sure the current powerbook has a titanium frame, hence the name Titanium PowerBook G4. The paint is just that.. PAINT.

Its like that one IBM ThinkPad that also has a titanium frame.. except that Apple choose to make a big deal of the titanium by making almost the entire case titanium and painting it a silver metallic color, while IBM just encased it in ugly black plastic.

Re: Powerbook G4 - 3rd Week of Oct?

Originally posted by arn
Kodawarisan posts some more information about upcoming PowerBook G4 upgrades (Excite Translation)

Most significantly -- the Superdrive is not expected to be an internal option.

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unfortunately, that is possibly what apple will have to do if they can't fit the superdrive into it's ultra thin form factor

but finally, an apple laptop will clock to 1 ghz and this will indeed spur sales

i wonder if that means ibook will follow with a much slower G4 processor in it?

Mmmmmmm... computers made of magnesium!

Originally posted by nickmcghie
umm.. i don't think so.. i'm sure the current powerbook has a titanium frame, hence the name Titanium PowerBook G4. The paint is just that.. PAINT.

Its like that one IBM ThinkPad that also has a titanium frame.. except that Apple choose to make a big deal of the titanium by making almost the entire case titanium and painting it a silver metallic color, while IBM just encased it in ugly black plastic.

Click to expand...

Actually the TiBook has a plastic-like carbon fiber frame... that's why the rev As had a tendency to flex when you picked them up. The only titanium parts are the silver parts (lid, bottom shell, palm rest & surrounding keyboard areas). Which leads one to wonder why Apple chose titanium at all when, the way they used it, it offers no structural or durability benefits whatsoever...

Originally posted by alex_ant

Actually the TiBook has a plastic-like carbon fiber frame... that's why the rev As had a tendency to flex when you picked them up. The only titanium parts are the silver parts (lid, bottom shell, palm rest & surrounding keyboard areas). Which leads one to wonder why Apple chose titanium at all when, the way they used it, it offers no structural or durability benefits whatsoever...

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Well, first of all, it's really thin titanium. I thought my titanium glasses were already razor thin... also for marketing purposes, they used CP1 titanium rather than titanium alloy which is stronger.

Titanium vs. Magnesium

Titanium is great stuff. It really is stronger than just about anything else and it looks great when finished. It's also very flexible. (A good thing in some applications, not in others.)

The TiBook has a titanium skin and some other kind of frame (plastic?). The iBook has magnesium frame with a plastic outer body.

People have mentioned that the TiBook has some kind of carbon-fiber frame? I suspect that it's just plastic (polycarbonate) which I guess technically is a carbon compound, but not any sort of "carbon-fiber" as has been implied. Of course, I could be wrong. I really don't know.

Magnesium is also very strong, though not as strong as titanium. Magnesium behaves a lot more like cast alumninum. It casts into a very strong and lightweight form which makes it excellent for things like internal frames and lawnmower decks. It finishes about as well as cast iron does. i.e, it tends to be a bit ugly, which is another reason it's often chosen for internal laptop frames rather than an external product.

Of course, people always like to point out the fact that magnesium burns very brilliantly. This is true, though it requires a good amount of direct flame to get a good burn going. Once it starts, shield your eyes. It's quite a thing to see.

Re: Titanium vs. Magnesium

Originally posted by oldMac
People have mentioned that the TiBook has some kind of carbon-fiber frame? I suspect that it's just plastic (polycarbonate) which I guess technically is a carbon compound, but not any sort of "carbon-fiber" as has been implied. Of course, I could be wrong. I really don't know.

Click to expand...

The iBook has a magnesium frame with a polycarbonate shell, but I thought the TiBook did not have this kind of extra shell around it??? I mean, titanium should be strong enough...

Why the concern about the TiBooks construction???

It's solid enough, and unless you treat it like a tw*t then it can handle day to day life just fine...... I think the problem of perceived weakness is more to do with the slimness rather than anything else.....

Mine's over a year and half old now, and looks almost as good as new....., no scratches or dents...... Beautiful.....

Now with regards to why Apple painted the TiBook silver....... Titanium in it's natural finish marks incredibly easily even with just finger prints...... if you take the TiBooks battery out...... as far as I'm aware the metal inside there is un-painted Titanium.... touch it a few times with your fingers, and then try to ploish out the marks.... Bingo... there you have your problem.... it looks mucky and messy......

My PowerBook desired features:

1. Bluetooth - Apple want's to have sexy computers wireless is sexy.
2. No more paint. It should be unpaintet titanium, why they ever painted it is beyond me!
3. Better graphics, sorry but for a graphics targeted computer 32 mb 7500 is just not up to scratch.
4. Bigger keyboard - why on earch does not the keyboard use the full width of the machine???
5. Lighted keyboard. Usefull when it's dark + looks cool
6. USB 2.0 everyone else is getting it, so why shouldn't we (stop being so stubborn!)
7. 802.11g or b or something it's just too slow today..
8. No more fan (I know this is difficult to implement with today's cooling requirements, but at least it should have a quiet mode where it slows down the optical drive and the CPU so that it is all quiet.
9. 16:9 instead of 16:10 - would make it smaller, yet you could keep same keyboard size + truly widescreen.
10. Trackpoint!

a dvd burner would be usefull but I don't really care.

gigawire is utterly useless. what on earth would I use it for??

Natural titanium

Maybe natural titanium leaves fingerprints, but at least i would not have to call my computer itchy and scratchy..