Chances of next iBook with SuperDrive option?

[macphoria]

What are the chances of next iBook with SuperDrive option? Is it simply not possible? G3 is not capable of handling MPEG encoding? Even if it turns out to be 1Ghz G3? Or would it be avoided not to canibalize 12 inch PowerBook with SuperDrive? Any thoughts?

[janey]

zero. think of the 12" pb as a 12" iBook with a superdrive.

[strider42]

Originally posted by macphoria
What are the chances of next iBook with SuperDrive option? Is it simply not possible? G3 is not capable of handling MPEG encoding? Even if it turns out to be 1Ghz G3? Or would it be avoided not to canibalize 12 inch PowerBook with SuperDrive? Any thoughts?

its not possible with a G3 processor. When iDVD first came out, apple said it took 24 hours to encode an hour of video on a G3, the G4 could do it in two (I assume its faster now) When you add the superdrive to the high end iBook it starts approaching the price of the 12 inch PB anyway. Might as well get the G4 for a little bit more.

[janey]

i don't think it's 24 hours...more like 15 or so...Still a lot compared with the G4 processors.

[strider42]

Originally posted by übergeek
i don't think it's 24 hours...more like 15 or so...Still a lot compared with the G4 processors.

well, it was 24 for sure when iDVD first came out. It was at the keynote and Jobs was talking abut the velocity engine and how it makes it possible. I'm sure its shorter now.

I should qualify this a bit though. There are external burners you can get. I don't know how long it takes to encode with their software, but I imagine its a long time on a G3. Apple probably doesn't want to make something take quite THAT long, it kind of makes them look bad to ignorant customers.