G4 iBook at MWNY?

Having the iBook move to the G4 processor is a 'minor' update? That would be the biggest sign yet that a G5 isn't far off!

Spymac.... they've called it right at times though, haven't they?

I guess they could do this if they wanted to. I don't see it though. The last time that Apple came out with a laptop and then changed it after only about a month or two, people were not really that happy with the situation. Now, that being said, could they? Yes, and it would be very nice, but I just don't see this happening.

Although, if it does, sign me up for one.

It's.... how do you say?

BULLSH!T.

(what kinda speeds do they expect the "SE iBooks G4s" to start at? PBG4s currently top out at 800 Mhz... cannibalising sales is never a good idea and trying to differentiate between the two would be amazingly difficult. Unless, of course, Apple pleasantly surprises us with a pimped out Ghz TiBook)

Originally posted by arn


Well, I don't think it's a change, so much as an addition...

When I first read the Spymac post about the iBook revision, I dismissed it as very unlikely since the iBooks had just been revised... however.... a Special Edition iBook in a higher price range ($2000ish or so) seems very possible.

arn

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I hope they do, but the timing would be bad. Not to get on the never happy subject, but they just revised the 14.1 inch iBooks. You go buy one, and one month later, a new model? That would miff me just a bit. Actually it would make me feel like I was living in an Intel world But I digress. Anyway, hope they do it, becuase if they do, then we are looking at huge jumps in the pro line.

Maybe... maybe... if it is only a special edition, that is limited edition.

I think they can't keep on changing an existing model and changing and changing... they allready did the 14" screen (which I don't like), and if you ask me, changing the CPU also, would rather ask for a complete redesign...

So I strongly believe iBooks will get a G4 in the near future (to prepare the road for the G5), but I think it will be a complete new design.

Just like the PowerBooks will have to be revised when they go G5, but that's no near future, I guess.

k.

Originally posted by McFreggle
Maybe... maybe... if it is only a special edition, that is limited edition.

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This seems logical to me. Could they take old 500 and 667 TiPB mobos and put them in the iBook? Maybe they have some extras hanging around and need to get rid of them.

But to do this without having something else in store for the other lines just doesn't feel right....

Originally posted by dukestreet


This seems logical to me. Could they take old 500 and 667 TiPB mobos and put them in the iBook? Maybe they have some extras hanging around and need to get rid of them.

But to do this without having something else in store for the other lines just doesn't feel right....

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The only problem is the design of the board itself. Unless they plan on just throwing a G4 on the current board using the same bus, and memory configurations. I don't think that it would work though. I think it would call for an entirely new mobo. Will be neat to see how it plays out.

if they update ibooks they have to update tibooks which would be extremely quick revision,apple didnt do anything like this in its history!

they have to update iMacs that means they have to update powermacs,but if they do,they have to update XServes! and they haven't even started shipping them yet! that means the rev.B XServes will ship one month after they are introduced!

this means that they will bring 4-5 updated products which will not happen,which means the new powermac will be 1 ghz with ddr ram and no faster bus and no 1 ghz imacs (933 mhz perhaps?) which means we're gonna be pissed off

It would seem to me that with G3 AND G4 iBooks, Steve's whole "quadrant thing" would be an even bigger mess than it is now (emac, old/new imac, etc.) Everyone seemed to think that was such a great concept when he first returned - is it just outdated, or is Apple just struggling to give us upgrades and can't get the parts to make a complete and satisfying line up with just four offerings?

It would cut into the sales of the TiBooks to much.

Originally posted by dukestreet
But to do this without having something else in store for the other lines just doesn't feel right....

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agreed...

I would venture to say that if this is true...the G5 or predecessor of the G4 is very close...

they cannot have G4s all across the board...

Originally posted by gazeleips
It would seem to me that with G3 AND G4 iBooks, Steve's whole "quadrant thing" would be an even bigger mess than it is now (emac, old/new imac, etc.) Everyone seemed to think that was such a great concept when he first returned - is it just outdated, or is Apple just struggling to give us upgrades and can't get the parts to make a complete and satisfying line up with just four offerings?

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Actually, I think it is working very well. The G3 iMac has been the education workhorse for Apple, however, it will either drop in price big time, or go the way of the cube. The G4 iMac is a consumer machine. As nice as it is, real professionals need slots. Now, the concept is solid, and may seem cloudy now, but it will become clear again after MWNY. So to answer your question, no they are not having problems getting the parts to make the lineup work.

new iBooks

So, looks like we're on a good rev up for July.

I predict...

...several threasds about the G5

...several threads about 1ghz iMacs and TiBooks

...a buch of stuff about 10.2

...(with aplogieas to Eye) probably more apple PDA crap.

Personaly, I'm thrilled that its almost July, and I can't wait. Maybe its just hanging around these boards, but apple certianly seems to be gearing up for something big. With the new eMac, I don't see much life for the old iMac. CompUSA want 999.99 for them, which is ridiculous next to the eMac, which the Apple Tech I know says will be n the store today. (he got fifteen drop shipped directly to him from apple.)

If we see G4 iBooks, it is probably the long awaited death of the G3 (cries, clutches Pismo to chest). Whcih, it bers repeating hints at something in store.

New Design

Originally posted by McFreggle

So I strongly believe iBooks will get a G4 in the near future (to prepare the road for the G5), but I think it will be a complete new design.
k.

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I agree that there will be a new design if the iBooks go to G4s. Every product that has switched to a g4 processor has had its case changed. The most minor change of course was the switch of the PowerMac, so it might not be a huge change, but there will be one.

Death to the G3!!

I think that G3 will ibooks/ iMacs will be but to sleep at MWNY!!!
There is really no more love for them
Human's want speed and finesse, and that's just something that the G3 cannot offer anymore

Re: Death to the G3!!

Originally posted by xrhajj
I think that G3 will ibooks/ iMacs will be but to sleep at MWNY!!!
There is really no more love for them
Human's want speed and finesse, and that's just something that the G3 cannot offer anymore

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Not to start a fight, but the new G3 iBooks are very snappy. They handle X well, and can run QE. They also are perfect for students and consumers. Not everyone needs to alter 25 meg photoshop files. I think the G3 in the iBook will not die until the uber G4 or G5 is out. It just doesn't make sense to do so.

The 700 G3 is plenty fast for 10.1.5

Hey - I'm a power user and just picked up a 12" 700mhz G3 iBook w/ 640 ram, 40gig hd. I was a bit reluctant to sing $$ into a G3 but had heard good things about these new iBooks running osX. I've had it for a week and must say it handles 10.1.5 beautifully. Everything's fast, comprable to the speed of os9 on this puppy. I'm quite impressed, and at the low price tag compared to the tibook, I think these iBooks are a good deal.

G4 iBooks so soon? Could be, but I for one am dubious. The sahara G3 chip still has plenty of room to speed up.

Re: Re: Death to the G3!!

Originally posted by Backtothemac


Not to start a fight, but the new G3 iBooks are very snappy. They handle X well, and can run QE. They also are perfect for students and consumers. Not everyone needs to alter 25 meg photoshop files. I think the G3 in the iBook will not die until the uber G4 or G5 is out. It just doesn't make sense to do so.

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If they can bring in a G4 ibook for the same price as a G3 then I say let them. I can't help but think that way too many people are banking on QE being the be all end all of sluggishness on the Macs. I don't think people realize that it will depend on the video card on how much better it *might* be.

It'd be great to be proven wrong since I'm hoping for an ibook before the year is out but Apple has a way of disappointing folks after Jobs gets the hype machine going.

Re: Re: Re: Death to the G3!!

Originally posted by Cappy


If they can bring in a G4 ibook for the same price as a G3 then I say let them. I can't help but think that way too many people are banking on QE being the be all end all of sluggishness on the Macs. I don't think people realize that it will depend on the video card on how much better it *might* be.

It'd be great to be proven wrong since I'm hoping for an ibook before the year is out but Apple has a way of disappointing folks after Jobs gets the hype machine going.

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Get you hands on WWDC, and a mac that will run QE, and yes, it is an end all. Everything is very, very friggin fast. That being said, no they can't go G4 and keep the price the same. If the new iMac's had G3's they would be much cheaper. Now, I prefer a G4, but for students, and low end consumers, I say keep the costs down and keep the G3 until the G4 can be had at the same cost.

Keep the battery life

I am all for the G4 in a new iBook, but make sure they don't shorten the battery life at all. I personally don't do photoshop, and have a desktop to do my video and audio compression, so while having AltiVec on the iBook would be nice, portability and battery life are key for me. I personally would rather see a 1Ghz Sahara in it, rather that a 667-700 G4. I think a lot of 'regular' people would gain more benifit as well. Don't flame me about OSX needing AltiVec, I know it is optimized for it, but in my little world, portability and battery life are King. Now show me a 12" 1Ghz iBook with a Li-Poly battery that gives me 6 hours! Man, I have to stop, my drool is shorting out the peecee I use at work...

G4 iBook

I don't think it's going to happen. Perhaps in late fall or early winter we'll see an iBook SE with a G4 priced right below the PowerBooks (say $1999 or $2199) but the iBooks were just bumped to Sahara G3's a month ago so Apple is probably going to try to squeeze the most out of the G3. Furthermore, it sounds like the new G3's run well in X and they are less expensive for consumers so I think Apple will stick with the G3 iBook until atleast MWSF '03.

Bill

Product Matrix

the Product Matrix hasn't been seen for a long time.

Apple is making a lot of hardware that is each tailored to a particular market such as Xserve and eMac. Breaking the iBook into two segments with small/large screens isn't as severe, its just another option as in dekstops and mixing screen sizes.

Adding a third iBook with a G4 would seem silly tho. Unless Apple replaces the 14" G3 iBook with a 14" G4 iBook at about the same price (maybe $1899-ish). Ah-hah!

THAT would make sense. G3/12" for cheap, G4/14" for more "serious" work at a lower price point than the decked out TiBook for the top pros who need that much iron (FCP, DVD).

I'd love a G4/14" iBook for mobile programming and other work. The G4 would help overall in OS X and the occasional distractions (games/DVD).

This obvious of a G4 pushdown to the consumer level for its realized benefits in encoding DVD, OpenGL boost and a snappier OS X. This leaves the pro Desktop/TiBook open for the next major processor either G4/DDR or G5 (whatever it will be).

"G3 still has a good life ahead of it"

I remember recently reading an article here that said that IBM was reporting that the G3 could be bumped all the way up to 1 Ghz, and that therefore it still had some good life in it. If so, why would Apple be replacing adding a G4 instead of a faster G3 to a special edition iBook? Don't they too want to get the most out of the G3 line? Or would the special edition iBook be sort of like a guinea pig for them to see how the response is to a G4 iBook? That article I read really seemed to say that the G3 wasn't on the way out really soon. What's going on here?