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Ensign Paris
Feb 11, 2002, 09:07 AM
This was just reported on MacMinute:

Apple executive: No new hardware for "some months"
February 11 - 08:50 ET: Having refreshed its entire product line in the last two months, Apple is not planning to update any of its hardware for some time, according to MacCentral, ruling out the possibility of updated hardware being introduced at Seybold New York next week or Macworld Expo Tokyo later in March. "We're not planning to introduce any new CPUs at Macworld Tokyo, as a matter of fact, we're set for some months now," Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior director of Hardware Product Marketing said.

Lets just all hope that it was a way of diverting our attention from the new G5s?



jefhatfield
Feb 11, 2002, 09:22 AM
if the g5 comes out sometime this year, that will be good since it seems like apple quieted down a lot of criticism by coming out with the dual 1 ghz powermac

on the consumer end, the imac will keep the home users very happy

one thing apple needs to do is get a g4 processor into the ibook and that will probably happen before we see a g5 because would apple allow three processors to be in its lineup?

Falleron
Feb 11, 2002, 09:31 AM
I believe that the ibook will be with the G3 for some time! At least until they reach 1Ghz which is possible now if Apple wanted to use IBM's new chips.

Ensign Paris
Feb 11, 2002, 09:35 AM
is that jefhatfield i see back? what happened to networkman!

I think that there is a possibility of a G4 iBook before the end of the year with pBooks reaching 1ghz before the end of the year.

Guy

keithcobbett
Feb 11, 2002, 09:41 AM
I think that we'll see 1GHz TiBooks before we see G4 iBooks. Apple won't put them both on the same chip until the G5 comes out for portables. They don't even have it available for the Desktop yet. Maybe next year a G4 iBook will come out. I think we will see a good amount of hardware at NY though. Updated TiBooks and G5 Desktops. Maybe even a speed bump with the iMac and iBooks.

ftaok
Feb 11, 2002, 11:24 AM
Originally posted by keithcobbett
I think that we'll see 1GHz TiBooks before we see G4 iBooks. Apple won't put them both on the same chip until the G5 comes out for portables.

That's what some people were saying about the iMac and PowerMac lines. And they're both using G4s right now.

Personally, I think that Apple's gonna do away with the G3 all-together and rather quickly. The first G4 iBook will start at 650 (or so for the hi-end) and the TiBook will be running at 800 (low-end) by then.

Hey, just my guess.

eyelikeart
Feb 11, 2002, 11:35 AM
I don't think the G3 is going away anytime soon. From other articles we've read it seems there are plans for the processor still.

I'd like to see a 1 Ghz PowerBook come about...but it took so long for the towers to reach that speed I doubt we'll see it anytime soon...

spikey
Feb 11, 2002, 11:54 AM
There is no need for a G4 in the iBook. It is a consumer portable, with the 750FX it would be fast enough for the consumer. It will be fast enough for OSX.

The iBook is already very popular, so they might aswell put in a 750FX, and drop the price of it a little, possibly putting a G4 in the 14" to bridge the gap between ibook and powerbook. that would be the ideal consumer portable.

spikey
Feb 11, 2002, 11:56 AM
The reason apple put a G4 in the imac was because they expected the consumer to do more with their imac, hence needing a G4.

But with the iBook people are content, they dont need the power of altivec yet, but they do need the power increase of which the 750FX has.

ftaok
Feb 11, 2002, 01:25 PM
Originally posted by spikey
The reason apple put a G4 in the imac was because they expected the consumer to do more with their imac, hence needing a G4.

But with the iBook people are content, they dont need the power of altivec yet, but they do need the power increase of which the 750FX has.

Who says that they don't need a G4 in the iBook. Right now, the iBook is the only Mac that's not capable of running Apple 4-part Digital Hub Suite. iDVD will not work on an iBook (or DVD Studio Pro) because it lacks the G4. If Apple is serious about it's iSuite for everyone, the iBook needs a G4 (and fast).

Right now, I'm content with my G3 iBook 500, but in a year or so (when we can get a portable sized Superdrive), I'm gonna want to be able to edit DVDs and burn them as well.

Ensign Paris
Feb 11, 2002, 03:28 PM
There is non reason for the iBook to support iDVD because it doesn't support an internal superdrive, although it could support DVDStudio pro but if you bought that would you not have bought the Titanuim?

I personally like the idea on a G4 processor in the 14", G3 in 12" and G4 Apollo Portable in the Ti.

ftaok
Feb 11, 2002, 05:45 PM
Originally posted by Ensign Paris
There is non reason for the iBook to support iDVD because it doesn't support an internal superdrive, although it could support DVDStudio pro but if you bought that would you not have bought the Titanuim?

I personally like the idea on a G4 processor in the 14", G3 in 12" and G4 Apollo Portable in the Ti.

Yeah, right now, there's no reason for iDVD on an iBook, but in a few months, we may see SuperDrives small enough to be put into a portable. Wouldn't it be nice to have a G4 iBook to go with it.

Anyways, I got the iBook because it was the perfect form factor for me. It's a true, all-in-one portable. I suppose that if I really wanted to do DVD movies, I would have gotten a TiBook, but it's a little too big and a little too fragile.

Ensign Paris
Feb 11, 2002, 06:04 PM
My Tibook goes to school and work with me every day (par weekends) and its surviveing but my previous iBook (Clamb) was more ruggid.

I would love a 12" or small iBook for school it would be much better that the PB, I constantly worry about damageing it!

Ensign,

Rower_CPU
Feb 11, 2002, 06:18 PM
We would have to see a Superdrive in the TiBook before you can even consider having one in the iBook line.


I'm on the fence as to this whole topic. I'm waiting 'til Apple updates to DDR before I'll consider buying a new machine. If it's a G5, great, if not, it's still great because then the Mac will have the memory bandwidth to really put Wintel boxes in their place.

KingArthur
Feb 11, 2002, 06:55 PM
I personally expect that the G3 will remain in the iBook line while we will see the G4 Apollo in the new TiBooks since the Apollo line uses considerably less power than the one in there now. The G3 is a solid processor for the iBook. It uses relatively little power and runs quite cool. The G3 actually runs faster Mhz to Mhz than the G4 in normal, nonSIMD tasks. This is ideal for the college student who just wants to be able to listen to music, game, and do homework. The only reason that the G3 chips in the iBooks are so slow is that Apple won't let their low-end computer have higher Mhz than their high-end computer. I bet that they could put at least 1Ghz processors in those iBooks, but as we have seen with PCs: Mhz matters and fewer people would buy the G4 machines if the G3s boasted faster frequencies.

As for the G5--let us just wait and see. I would bet that this will be like the transition from G3 chips to G4s. There were the G3 towers which were very powerful and then there were the G3 All-in-One desktops. It took awhile to get those towers to G4 and we saw a single processor in all desktops for a while there. I bet this will be the case with the new G5 transition.

ftaok
Feb 12, 2002, 06:20 AM
Originally posted by Rower_CPU
We would have to see a Superdrive in the TiBook before you can even consider having one in the iBook line.


The iBook had the Combo drive way before they put one in the TiBook. I can see them putting in a SuperDrive in the iBook first as well. At least, that's what I'm hoping for.

ftaok
Feb 12, 2002, 06:28 AM
Originally posted by KingArthur
I personally expect that the G3 will remain in the iBook line while we will see the G4 Apollo in the new TiBooks since the Apollo line uses considerably less power than the one in there now. The G3 is a solid processor for the iBook. It uses relatively little power and runs quite cool. The G3 actually runs faster Mhz to Mhz than the G4 in normal, nonSIMD tasks. This is ideal for the college student who just wants to be able to listen to music, game, and do homework.

But with Apple going towards OS X completely, they need to either (a) put the G4 in all Macs or (b) optimize OS X for G3s as well. My guess is G4s for everyone.

The only reason that the G3 chips in the iBooks are so slow is that Apple won't let their low-end computer have higher Mhz than their high-end computer. I bet that they could put at least 1Ghz processors in those iBooks, but as we have seen with PCs: Mhz matters and fewer people would buy the G4 machines if the G3s boasted faster frequencies.

Are IBM's 1GHz G3s being used in anything yet? I don't even know if they exist.

As for the G5--let us just wait and see. I would bet that this will be like the transition from G3 chips to G4s. There were the G3 towers which were very powerful and then there were the G3 All-in-One desktops. It took awhile to get those towers to G4 and we saw a single processor in all desktops for a while there. I bet this will be the case with the new G5 transition.

I personally think that we'll see all Macs at G4s before we see the G5. Here's one thought that I've come up with. Perhaps Apple won't be using the G5 from Motorola at all. Maybe the G5 that they'll use will be an IBM chip. So we'll have the consumer chips by MOT and the pro chips by IBM. Just a thought.

spikey
Feb 12, 2002, 11:24 AM
"But with Apple going towards OS X completely, they need to either (a) put the G4 in all Macs or (b) optimize OS X for G3s as well. My guess is G4s for everyone. "

No no no. If the 750FX is put in an ibook then it will perform well enough for OSX, altivec or no altivec. Hence no need for a G4 for OSX in a consumer laptop.



"Are IBM's 1GHz G3s being used in anything yet? I don't even know if they exist. "
They do exist, ity is called a 750FX, look it up on IBMs website. But no they are not being used by anything yet.


The reason why the ibook doesnt need a G4 is because, out of all my friends with an ibook (there are alot of them), none of them use any altivec enabled appz, and none of them want to. If you want a portable to use iDVD then you should use what most people use which is a Tibook. That is what the Tibook is for, hence the nice big screen which can have nice big resolutions for nice appz like iDVD. The ibook with a smaller screen would detract from iDVD.
Also If the G3 750FX was put in the ibook it would be able to run consumer based appz faster than the G4 would be able to, hence making it a better consumer protable.



"I personally think that we'll see all Macs at G4s before we see the G5. Here's one thought that I've come up with. Perhaps Apple won't be using the G5 from Motorola at all. Maybe the G5 that they'll use will be an IBM chip. So we'll have the consumer chips by MOT and the pro chips by IBM. Just a thought."

As much as i would like to see that it aint gonna happen, Apple has accepted motos design of the G5. But that doesnt mean to say that IBM fabbing the chips aint gonna happen, it is very possible seeing as moto is
a) ****
b) looking like its going under/ cant be bothered with its powerpc

ftaok
Feb 12, 2002, 12:05 PM
Originally posted by spikey
No no no. If the 750FX is put in an ibook then it will perform well enough for OSX, altivec or no altivec. Hence no need for a G4 for OSX in a consumer laptop.

Sure it may be able to run OS X now, but how about a few updates in after Apple starts optimizing everything for Altivec?

They do exist, ity is called a 750FX, look it up on IBMs website. But no they are not being used by anything yet.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if anyone used the 750fx. Thanks for the info.


The reason why the ibook doesnt need a G4 is because, out of all my friends with an ibook (there are alot of them), none of them use any altivec enabled appz, and none of them want to. If you want a portable to use iDVD then you should use what most people use which is a Tibook. That is what the Tibook is for, hence the nice big screen which can have nice big resolutions for nice appz like iDVD. The ibook with a smaller screen would detract from iDVD.
Also If the G3 750FX was put in the ibook it would be able to run consumer based appz faster than the G4 would be able to, hence making it a better consumer protable.

I would have gotten a TiBook, except that it's too big. I love the 12" iBook's size, but I wish that it had a little more oomph. Personally, the only Altivec optimized app that I use is OS X. And in the future, more and more apps will become Altivec optimized as the majority of the Mac line will be Altivec enabled.

As much as i would like to see that it aint gonna happen, Apple has accepted motos design of the G5. But that doesnt mean to say that IBM fabbing the chips aint gonna happen, it is very possible seeing as moto is
a) ****
b) looking like its going under/ cant be bothered with its powerpc

Where did you see that Apple has accepted MOT's G5 design? Motorola's latest PPC roadmap doesn't show a desktop G5. And I don't believe the article on "The Register". Until I see a Motorola Press Release on the matter, I'm assuming that there's no Motorola G5 on the horizon.

spikey
Feb 13, 2002, 09:55 AM
"Sure it may be able to run OS X now, but how about a few updates in after Apple starts optimizing everything for Altivec? "

A few updates in the future, it should still run OSX well. Especially seeing as this 750FX is meant to have a very fast fsb. OSX will not get any slower for the G3 in the future, if anything it should get faster with OSX 10.2.
I also doubt apple will optimize anything else for altivec, it is meant to be pretty hard to create an altivec enabled app.


"I would have gotten a TiBook, except that it's too big. I love the 12" iBook's size, but I wish that it had a little more oomph. Personally, the only Altivec optimized app that I use is OS X. And in the future, more and more apps will become Altivec optimized as the majority of the Mac line will be Altivec enabled. "

I think though that this is not the point. The point is, does the consumer use altivec enabled appz i think the answer is no. Also most of the fundamental appz made by apple are altivec optimized, so anymore altivec enabled appz in the future wont do much for the consumer who wont use them.
Also whether or not the app is altivec enabled, the 750FX would be able to run it reasonably well, it has a hellishly impressive bus, it is a fast cpu, and it is a G3 which is by no means a dead design of a cpu.



"Where did you see that Apple has accepted MOT's G5 design? Motorola's latest PPC roadmap doesn't show a desktop G5. And I don't believe the article on "The Register". Until I see a Motorola Press Release on the matter, I'm assuming that there's no Motorola G5 on the horizon."

Motorola owns the licensing **** for altivec.
IBM doesnt won the licensing rights nor does apple.
So if apple did go with IBM a few months back then they would have been going with a cpu with no altivec, which would be a bit strange seeing as apple loves altivec and also the G4 would have it and the G5 wouldnt.
there have been rumors about IBM being anle to simulate altivec, but i doubt very much that this would be efficient.

So apple has to go with Motos design if they want altivec for now. Until ofcourse moto goes under, in which case the doors are wide open for IBM to make it.



I think though the biggest point in this is being missed, The 750FX will run more consumer appz faster than the G4 will. And seeing as alot of appz wont be altivec optimized (due to the difficulty of it, and the laziness of software developers) then there will be more non altivec enabled consumer appz than altivec enabled consumer appz. Also the 750FX should be cheaper, and also it would have a much brighter future seeing as IBM would be developing it.

spikey
Feb 13, 2002, 10:04 AM
Although the ibook will one day need altivec, i doubt it needs it now.
Probably because most consumer appz arent altivec enabled, and they wont be for a fairly long time. That G3 would rip the pants off alot of cpus in non altivec appz, whereas the G4 wouldnt.

i think i would rather see IBM develop the consumer chip, it means that in non altivec appz, apple has at last got a cpu which kicks PC cpu arse. And they atleast have IBM on their side.

ftaok
Feb 13, 2002, 10:17 AM
Spikey,

You say that consumers don't run Altivec apps. Hey, I'm a consumer and I want to run iDVD. Where does that leave me?

Yeah, sure, get an iMac. But I want a portable for the times that I do travel (or go to my GF's house).

Yeah, sure, get a TiBook. But I don't want that big a laptop.

This is what I want. I want something the size of an iBook (12" screen) with the capability to run iDVD. A G4 iBook seems to be the answer for me, and I suspect many other people as well.

jefhatfield
Feb 13, 2002, 11:08 AM
come on, where is that 1 ghz 750 fx mobile g3 chip i have heard rumors about?

it would be perfcet for the ibook and i don't think it would cannibalize the g4 powerbook sales...even if the powerbook is planned to only go somewhere over 800 mhz

people would be buying the two different portables for two different reasons

DakotaGuy
Feb 13, 2002, 12:02 PM
I love my iBook! As far as a new one coming out anytime soon...probably not...I think this summer however we will see a speed bumped G3. The problem that I see with a G4 at this point is price and the fact that the Powerbook has a G4. If the Tibook has a G4 and the iBook has a G4 and they have the same MHz...what is the difference and why would you pay $600-$1,000 more for a TiBook???

I think that Apple will probably leave the G3 in the iBook until they can move the TiBook to a G5 in the future. I could see the iBook getting bumped to 800 and 900MHz this summer or 900Mhz and 1GHz. Again the only problem with that is...even though there is a thing called "Mhz myth" how would it look if the iBook is running at 1GHz and the TiBook is running at 667MHz? Just some of my thoughts. Many will point to the fact that the iMac is now a G4 as well as the towers being G4's...I think notebooks are a different deal however. They serve more of the same market share then a tower and a consumer desk model does. Expandability is limited in any notebook and now that Apple is moving the iBook's screen size up...if both the iBook and the TiBook are G4's but the iBook is priced the way it is now...what have you done to your TiBook sales? The other thing is what if the G4 added cost to the iBook and it ends up costing about the same as the TiBook...then what have you done to iBook sales...and sales to schools etc?

I say look for a G3 packed with more power for this summer.

ftaok
Feb 13, 2002, 12:11 PM
No one ever said that they'd have the G4iBook and G4TiBook running at the same speed. You could put a 650mhz in the high-end i and an 800mhz in the low-end Ti. That should put enough of a gap between the two lines. Plus, the extra features in the TiBook would account for the higher price.

And who's to say that the 1 Ghz 750fx G3 chip from IBM isn't cost prohibitive for Apple to use? Could the price that IBM wanted for those chips have been the reason that Apple has moved towards the G4?

I'm not sure, but I've heard that the current Apollos in the Towers are priced very reasonably by Motorola.

DakotaGuy
Feb 13, 2002, 12:24 PM
Just my opinon...but I think in real life...alti-vec or no alti-vec...for surfing the net, email, iTunes, MS Office, etc... (apps that consumers use most) a 750fx G3 running at 1Ghz would knock the socks off of a G4 running at 650Mhz.

Okay now go off on me...hehe

ftaok
Feb 13, 2002, 01:37 PM
Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
Just my opinon...but I think in real life...alti-vec or no alti-vec...for surfing the net, email, iTunes, MS Office, etc... (apps that consumers use most) a 750fx G3 running at 1Ghz would knock the socks off of a G4 running at 650Mhz.

Okay now go off on me...hehe

I agree that a 1 ghz G3 would smoke a 650 mhz G4 in the regular consumer apps, but it wouldn't even run the one consumer app that I want to use, iDVD.

Everyone's been making so many good points against Apple using the G4 in the iBook (in the near future), that they'll probably just throw one in there to spite you all. :D

spikey
Feb 13, 2002, 01:42 PM
Originally posted by ftaok
No one ever said that they'd have the G4iBook and G4TiBook running at the same speed. You could put a 650mhz in the high-end i and an 800mhz in the low-end Ti. That should put enough of a gap between the two lines. Plus, the extra features in the TiBook would account for the higher price.

And who's to say that the 1 Ghz 750fx G3 chip from IBM isn't cost prohibitive for Apple to use? Could the price that IBM wanted for those chips have been the reason that Apple has moved towards the G4?

I'm not sure, but I've heard that the current Apollos in the Towers are priced very reasonably by Motorola.


It is very unlikely that the 750FX was overpriced, IBM wants to strengthen its alliance with apple.
Also IBMs fabbing facilities are alot more advanced than motos, so making the chip would be proportionatly much cheaper.



Sure iDVD will be faster on a G4 ibook ftaok, but seeing as most of the appz arent altivec enabled, and are unlikely to become altivec enabled in a long time then it only makes sense to run the majority of the appz a consumer uses with a chip that suits them.

The G3 would kick the **** into the G4 at non altivec appz. And seeing as most consumer based appz are non altivec then it makes sense to put a G3 in.

DakotaGuy
Feb 13, 2002, 02:02 PM
ftaok, I understand that you want to run iDVD, but at this point is it even possible to fit a Superdrive CD-RW/DVD-RW into an iBook case? Until they can fit that into them going to a G4 would be pointless if they can get the G3 750fx spinning at 1GHz for less $$$ then a G4 500, 600, 650 MHz etc. for consumer apps. I think right now they could be using the 750fx in place of the 750cx like I have in my iBook and keep the cost at the same level. The problem Apple would have then is people wondering why the iBook which is a lot less money is running at 1GHz and the TiBook is at 667MHz.

I don't think we will see a 750fx until the TiBook can get the Apollo and get speeds to match. I think the next logical step after that will be to move the TiBook to the G5 and put the Apollo in the iBook. I would not hold my breath however. My guess is late summer early fall for an Apollo TiBook and a 750fx G3 iBook. If they both run at 1GHz the marketing will work fine then cause they can sell the TiBook on the features it holds over the iBook. I would say we are probably looking at around 18-24 months before we get a G5 TiBook and a G4 Apollo iBook.

The priority has to be holding the line on price in the iBook series and I think everyone would agree with me on that.

ftaok
Feb 13, 2002, 02:06 PM
Originally posted by spikey
It is very unlikely that the 750FX was overpriced, IBM wants to strengthen its alliance with apple.
Also IBMs fabbing facilities are alot more advanced than motos, so making the chip would be proportionatly much cheaper.
I don't know how much the 750fx costs, as none of IBM's press releases mentions prices. But I do know that the Apollo G4s were priced much less that Intel's P4s and AMD's Athlons.

Sure iDVD will be faster on a G4 ibook ftaok, but seeing as most of the appz arent altivec enabled, and are unlikely to become altivec enabled in a long time then it only makes sense to run the majority of the appz a consumer uses with a chip that suits them.
iDVD would be much much much faster on a G4 iBook than on a G3 one. Mainly because it won't run on a G3.
The G3 would kick the **** into the G4 at non altivec appz. And seeing as most consumer based appz are non altivec then it makes sense to put a G3 in.
But there's a G4 in Apple's consumer desktop. If they really wanted to use the 750fx, wouldn't the iMac be the perfect candidate for it? My guess is that Apple doesn't want to use it at all. Why? Who knows. Maybe they didn't want the iMac to reach 1 Ghz before the PowerMac.

Quark
Feb 13, 2002, 04:32 PM
The original article can be found at:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0202/11.applehardware.php

The original quote from Mr. Joswiak is:

"We're not planning to introduce any new CPUs at Macworld Tokyo, as a matter of fact, we're set for some months now," said Joswiak. "Having just updated all four product quadrants, it's really nonsensical to think we're about to update the quadrants again at Macworld Tokyo."

He does NOT say "no new hardware". He says no "new CPUs" for a few months.

They could introduce any number of new Hardware!

I'm sorry, but I get a little upset when people blindly take misquotes and run with them.

This POLL is bogus and is not based on anything substantial.

No offense intended to the original poster of this poll.

Xapplimatic
Feb 13, 2002, 04:58 PM
I think when they say no "new" hardware, they mean nothing truly new in the sense of "new product".. that says nothing like "no upgrades".. They will continue anotherwords with the same product lines and no "PDA" surprises or digital appliance introductions.. and they will be speed bumping and drive size upgrading along the way until their next truly "new" product (G5 Tokyo?)
I think Apple deploys sophistry frequently to keep the rumors down and the surprise factor up at the shows.

ftaok
Feb 13, 2002, 07:51 PM
Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
ftaok, I understand that you want to run iDVD, but at this point is it even possible to fit a Superdrive CD-RW/DVD-RW into an iBook case?
Right now, there's no SuperDrive small and cheap enough to be used in an iBook. But they're coming, I can feel it. Besides, maybe Apple's working on supporting external DVD-RWs for use with iDVD. (I admit that this still wouldn't satisfy me)
Until they can fit that into them going to a G4 would be pointless if they can get the G3 750fx spinning at 1GHz for less $$$ then a G4 500, 600, 650 MHz etc. for consumer apps. I think right now they could be using the 750fx in place of the 750cx like I have in my iBook and keep the cost at the same level./
Well, I'm not sure that they could use a 750fx right now and keep the cost the same. Maybe they could get by with eating some margin, but I doubt that they would. And I'm not so sure that using a 750fx would be cheaper than using a 600mhz G4. These G4s are plentiful and I'm sure that the prices have dropped dramatically, especially since Apple's using the Apollos already.
The problem Apple would have then is people wondering why the iBook which is a lot less money is running at 1GHz and the TiBook is at 667MHz.
And this is another reason why it may make more sense to put G4s into the iBook.
The priority has to be holding the line on price in the iBook series and I think everyone would agree with me on that.
YES, I agree.

DakotaGuy
Feb 14, 2002, 12:26 AM
ftaok, thanks I enjoy good discussions like this one. You make good points. Here is one last one. Didn't they offer a CRT iMac SE before they introduced the new G4 iMac that ran a 750cx at 700Mhz? I know since they have discontinued the SE and just market a 500 and 600MHz model. Why didn't they bump the high end iBook to 700Mhz at the last expo when they introduced the 14.1" display. As far as I am concerned the 14.1" should have also included a 700MHz G3 to give it a slight kick over less expensive models.

Of course this too could be economics. If they have just 2 series that run G3's left in the line and only offer 500 and 600 MHz models they can probably buy in bulk and save money on these computers. At $799 for the cheapest new mac you can buy (iMac 500 Indigo) there can't be a lot of profit margin anyway. I still think that Apple should be selling old iMacs at $399 for a 500MHz and $499 for a 600MHz even if they took a slight loss. This is how you get Apples back into the classroom and back into kids lives. Even with all the hype over the new iMac and the new Powermac's etc. The CRT iMac is a great school computer and every mac we can put in front of a kid means future sales. (think about it...how many kids buy a Ford or a Toyota, etc. because their father or mother always drove that brand?) If the price factor is the reason Apple is staying with a G3 750cx in the iBook then so be it. I know some of what I have wrote here does not apply to the orginal post, but just some random thoughts I have had about Apple upgrading hardware at least on the consumer side. For the pros...I say why hold back...even if a G5 costs $5,000 grand to start with for the best of the best...they are going to buy it!

Xapplimatic
Feb 14, 2002, 01:39 AM
Look, nobody would even suggest at this point that Mac OS 9 is the future, so it lends well to say, that to truly be comfortable with OS X, all Macs should sport a G4 simply because Aqua is so intense. I have all G3s but have used G4s. There is a limit to software optimization where hardware improvements are necessary to smooth out demanding tasks like Aqua's UI. I'm sure Sahara is a great chip, but truthfully, OS X is optimized for AltiVec acceleration.. and that's only available on a G4. Sahara would have been nice for last year's products. Clearly if the iMac gets a G4, the iBook is soon to follow as they are both marketted towards the same consumer market level. Power Mac towers and PowerBooks are marketted towards the upper consumer and professional markets.. they should both have Apollo G4s within the next few months and G5s before the year is out.

G4 in a 14" iBook only? Not everyone thinks the 14" is the greatest thing since sliced bread.. It's weightier and larger (not a good thing) without any benefit to having a larger sized screen (actual resolution in terms of pixels per inch is lower! It's the same number of pixels that a 12" has (1024x768) spaced out more. The 14" was an idea that shouldn't have been introduced until the DPI was at least equivalent to the 12" or higher to make a larger size and weight penalties worth it so that there is actually more onscreen real-estate... Also note that many people especially those who take laptops on airplanes prefer smaller form factors. All iBooks should get the G4. Don't even think of phasing out the smaller screen or putting it in the back of the bus in terms of features--many people buy it just because it is so space saving! A 500 Mhz or + G4 in the iBooks when the Powerbooks move up to 733+ Apollos would be a good move and would sell more iBooks without really biting into the PowerBook line. A higher res 14" screen would ensure a valid market for the 14". A higher res 15" screen is necessary for the PowerBook as well. It's vertical pixel count is the same as both iBook models.. not exactly great at 768.