iBook Specs and Powerbook Superdrive

[MacRumors]

ThinkSecret posts (http://www.thinksecret.com/news/nov6ibooks.html) specs and prices for the upcoming iBooks. Speed bumps to 700 and 800MHz along with $200 price drops are expected, according to ThinkSecret.

While ThinkSecret still maintains no Superdrive, we've received additional confirmation that Powerbooks with Superdrive will be released despite rumors to the contrary.

[PumaCode]

This is getting hilarious! =D

SuperDrive, no SuperDrive
Bluetooth, no Bluetooth
1GHz, no 1GHz


Just wait and see....

[nickmcghie]

$200 price drop sounds pretty good to me.. sound make the ibook a lot more competitive with the pc competition.. not that it already is ;)

[bousozoku]

The magic number is there: $999. If they can do it without removing equipment, that's great. Finding another retail-priced laptop at that price will be difficult. That number should move a lot of people who've wanted a laptop computer for a long time but found the price prohibitive.

Still, you can go to Sam's Club and buy an HP Athlon XP-based laptop for a couple hundred more.

[mymemory]

Well, for those who are specting to buy a new powerbook with super drive in it, my sugestion is to wait at list 4 to 5 months (really I would wait no less than 6) to get one. Just because there is a new technology to install in such small space something so complex as a super drive. Usually the first revision is very close to a beta testing, so you may get a device that is not fully tested yet.

I would wait for a second revision with all the problems corrected. It is very risky to get the first revision.

Those are my 2 cents.

[dethl]

wow...$200 price drop? i might be getting a new iBook sooner than I thought then....I really wish it was a G4 processor tho....

[kfury]

Superdrive in! Superdrive out! Superdrive in! Superdrive out!

Seems to me that if the conflicting reports are coming from 'knowledgable sources' then it's clear that superdriven TiBooks (superTiBooks) will be announced on wednesday, but that that particular BTO option won't ship for a month or two.

So many people are pooh poohing bluetooth, but putting bluetooth into the notebooks standard is the chicken, from whence the eggs will come, making bluetooth as cool in America as it is in Eurpoa.

Kevin Fox
Me, me, me! http://fury.com

[shadowfax]

this is getting way out of hand. i wonder, you people with rumor experience, does this wild flood of conflicting rumors a few days before the supposed fruition of the rumors make the Nov. 5 date more likely or less likely?

[kfury]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
this is getting way out of hand. i wonder, you people with rumor experience, does this wild flood of conflicting rumors a few days before the supposed fruition of the rumors make the Nov. 5 date more likely or less likely?
Completely circumstantial, but it's interesting to note the following:

Those fancy little iCal badges on Apple's home page, the ones that update every day to show the current date? Check this out:

http://www.apple.com/home/images/2002/11/112ical.gif: exists
http://www.apple.com/home/images/2002/11/113ical.gif: exists
http://www.apple.com/home/images/2002/11/114ical.gif: exists
http://www.apple.com/home/images/2002/11/115ical.gif: exists
http://www.apple.com/home/images/2002/11/116ical.gif: does not exist

Looks to me like there's enough new stuff coming on the 5th or 6th to knock iCal off the home page.

Kevin Fox

Me, me, me! http://fury.com

[sjonni]

I sure hope that the iBook update include a better videocard, 32MB.:p :p

[iMax]

I just wanted to say nice call on the iCal dates... I think that points towards an upgrade...

[DreaminDirector]

damn, I would have never thought to look at the iCal images. Hats off to you kfury.

[demonx]

Interesting

Well I got impatinet waiting myself, so went to CompUSA today to buy an Ibook, got there and went to the mac section. Was ready to make the purchase on the 700mhz 12inhc model, and they told me there were out of stock on the Ibooks and Tibooks.

So hopefully thats a good thing;)

[etoiles]

Originally posted by kfury


Looks to me like there's enough new stuff coming on the 5th or 6th to knock iCal off the home page.


I think it just means that the world will end on Nov 5th...mark your calendars.

[rice_web]

I think it just means that the world will end on Nov 5th...mark your calendars.

Sure, take the OBVIOUS answer: that's the problem with MacRumors these days.

[porovaara]

Originally posted by kfury

Those fancy little iCal badges on Apple's home page, the ones that update every day to show the current date? Check this out:


Please note that there are no images for any date after the 5th.

[kfury]

Originally posted by porovaara


Please note that there are no images for any date after the 5th.
Sorry, I thought I implied that in my post. the fifth is the last day for which there are dates. Hence my speculation that other news supercedes iCal on that day, and continues to supercede it after that day.

[robguz]

I wonder if these will be software clockable to 900Mhz. I'm actually impressed with the 700Mhz models already. But who wants to buy a new computer and only have it meet the most minimal Quartz Extreme requirements? The 16MB Radeon needs to go, and anything less than 64MB on the Pro Ti is inexcusable. Let's hope the iBook gets at least 32MB and the Radeon 7500. I wish the new 700 model at least had a DVD drive. I have an external burner, but I won't buy a portable that can't play DVDs.
The other thing they need to do is make upgrading the hard drive much easier. It's pretty simple in a Ti, but apparently like performing brain surgery on an iBook. I can't see buying one until they fix this.

I hope they do have a 13" screen, but only if they go up to 1152x870 which is unlikely.

The price cut is nice, but long overdue. Hopefully this means the Ti will get price cuts too. $2500 for a 933 Ti with no Superdrive would still be extremely expensive. It's no wonder sales are so bad for the 800 Mhz $3200 model. I guess we'll all see soon.

[zarathustra]

Originally posted by kfury

Sorry, I thought I implied that in my post. the fifth is the last day for which there are dates. Hence my speculation that other news supercedes iCal on that day, and continues to supercede it after that day.

Maybe, and maybe they just haven't made new ones yet. The poor web designers were not fed in a while and fell down the job.

Did they always have the iCal images until november 5th, or were they posted in a one week increment?

[cubist]

... with the 12" staying as the low-end.

Those discounted prices are almost incredible. $999! And $1299 for the high end machine!! Astonishing.

Look at the used iBooks on eBay. The demand is intense, and it's driving prices up sky-high.

I sure hope that Apple has sufficient quantities on hand!

[boom-boom]

kfury, I would hate to put your idea out to pastures new but:

http://www.apple.com/euro/ical/images/day/7.gif

they just have the day from 1-31 and the months from 1-12.

[Gaz]

Originally posted by boom-boom
kfury, I would hate to put your idea out to pastures new but:

http://www.apple.com/euro/ical/images/day/7.gif

they just have the day from 1-31 and the months from 1-12.

Actually you're both right!

Apple.com has an image for the month & date, where the Euro site e.g. Apple.com/uk separates the images in to month and day.

It's pretty obvious something is coming due to the amount of hype around.

[job]

Damn...a 200 dollar price drop and 800Mhz?

I have enough in the bank right now to buy the baseline, and with a paycheck coming in, I'll have enough for the top-end.

Hopefully disk space will be adaquate. I'll want to turn any iBook I get into a mobile jukebox, ya see.. :D

And a beefier gfx card would not hurt either.

[daRAT]

Originally posted by DreaminDirector
damn, I would have never thought to look at the iCal images. Hats off to you kfury.

There is no 7th, 8th etc either :] I think probably they are made just so many days in advance.

Heh, I see others have beaten this to death :P Sorry

[technocoy]

no 7th, 8th, etc. does not dismiss anything, it just means that the new (insert product here) will just be replacing ical for awhile it is the older of the announcements, maybe when the new products come, the new Ti takes the big image, and the speed bumped iBook (or new monitor) take the place of the smaller images....:)

technocoy

[Mr T]

i am not buying the fact that Apple cannot workout heat issues for G4 chips over 1 ghz. They have had a long time to get it done, it's not like this problem came out of nowhere and was not anticipated.

Not putting a 1.2 G3 in the ibook is a crime - we really need fasrer chips and better graphics to run os 10 in a reasonable fashion. I don't care how cheap they make them, they wont be worth beans if they don't provide comprable performance to typical PC's running XP

I am tired of waiting for decent specs at a fair price - my 2 cents

[Centris Fan]

Right now the computer industry is shifting more and more the laptop rather than the desktop. If you look at the biweekly market share figures from the New York Times, Apple has a much larger presence in the desktop world than in the laptop world. This is a good sign that they are being more aggresive in gainging laptop market share. If they can swallow a 200 price decrease than they need to take it.

If Think Secret is correct, we will see the highest end iBook at 1599, right now the lowest end Powerbook is 2499. A 900 diff between two price sets of laptop is way too high, they need to lower the gap or produce something to fill into it. I suspect that either there will be a significant price drop on the Powerbooks when they get their rev OR, there will be a new laptop introduced in the middle. Apple could add a higher end iBook, split the Powerbook into 3 configurations or produce something new altogether. I got be wrong, but this seems like something we should keep an eye, especially if Think Secret produces the Powerbook prices.

[boom-boom]

And the XServe Raid can't be far away!!

ftp.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Misc/Inserts/073-0758-a.pdf

[Rocketman]

Originally posted by Mr T
i am not buying the fact that Apple cannot workout heat issues for G4 chips over 1 ghz. They have had a long time to get it done, it's not like this problem came out of nowhere and was not anticipated.


In a sense you are right. The chips ARE fixed in technology (13 micron) and heat dissipation. Because they ARE fixed there is only so much Apple can do to work around it.

If you ever used a Ti at full processor sppeed on a processor intensive task with short pants on, on your lap, you would soon realize heating is a MAJOR ISSUE until Motorola or IBM gets the micron size and thus the heat down.

Both are working on it. Neither have delivered YET.

I would suggest if you DO get a laptop, consider getting 800 Mhz or less merely to be realistic about heat. Unless you live in a very cold place.

If you DO buy a laptop over 800 Mhz, get one of those leather lap guards and raise your CPU off any table you set it on with something ablative.

This IS rocket science :)

Rocketman

[soilchmst]

As someone mentioned on another thread, the price drops are for real. They are evident because the new prices are in the Apple Loan icons for the Powerbook and iBooks.
iBooks starting at 999
PowerBooks starting at 2299

Pretty cool for us. I may get an iBook to hold me over until the IBM 970 Desktops. :)

[iShater]

Originally posted by soilchmst
As someone mentioned on another thread, the price drops are for real. They are evident because the new prices are in the Apple Loan icons for the Powerbook and iBooks.
iBooks starting at 999
PowerBooks starting at 2299

Pretty cool for us. I may get an iBook to hold me over until the IBM 970 Desktops. :)


The force is strong with this one! :D