What about new powerbooks?

[MacManiac1224]

My question is: powerbooks have not really changed much since thier introduction last year. My question is: Whhen is the next Powerbook update going to happen? and What is the new powerbook going to feature. All i say is: it better be bigger then a 177mhz speed jump, I would like to see 900mhz powerbooks. maybe:
733mhz and 900mhz. That would be a lot better then 550 and 667. we shall see though. Also I would like to see more resolution on the screen, and better video card. What do you guys think?

[mcrain]

I'd probably have to change my pants if a new powerbook came out, considering that's what I am waiting for, but there may be a problem.

As you said, the new powerbook isn't very old. I would guess that they will continue to evolve the current design with memory, hard drive and speed advances. A new model or major redesign is probably a ways off.

That being said, if there is a nice speed jump, memory and hard drive advances (maybe firewire 2) Apple will have a new customer. Me.

[OSeXy!]

I think the top 3 PBook rumours have been discussed on other threads:

1. Apollo G4s - low power versions (w/out level 3 cache) running at c.800MHz.

2. New video cards supporting 1500+ horizontal res.

3. New case coatings to make them more durable/interesting looking...

Can't remember any other 'major' rumours recently, off hand...

Oh, yeah:

4. New lithium polymer battery technology.

[Skandranon]

Sweet Jesus. If we could only have one come out this month.... :(

After playing with my roommate's new 800 MHz iMac, I can't help but demand more horsepower to a portable machine that clocks at around $3000.

But as soon as that upgrade comes, count me in, Apple. PLEASE DELIVER!!!

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by MacManiac1224
My question is: powerbooks have not really changed much since thier introduction last year. My question is: Whhen is the next Powerbook update going to happen? and What is the new powerbook going to feature. All i say is: it better be bigger then a 177mhz speed jump, I would like to see 900mhz powerbooks. maybe:
733mhz and 900mhz. That would be a lot better then 550 and 667. we shall see though. Also I would like to see more resolution on the screen, and better video card. What do you guys think?

i like the footprint and thinness of the g4 powerbook and if we go g5 powerbook probably late next year, i am still for the same shape and design and titanium as an outer case is still the ultimate for strength and looks

[mcrain]

Footprint? Nah, I want an all new powerbook. I want a keyboard that separates so I can type farther from the screen. Heck, might as well make the screen bigger too, like maybe 19 inches. Shoot, let's throw in two 1 ghz processors and a mouse, and we're really in business.

Wait, that's a G4 Tower!

As for the powerbook, my current lust item, I hope apple does something soon, cause darnit, I want one. A new high speed, low power chip would be very very nice!

Can I have fries and a shake with that powerbook too?

[mischief]

Probably at MW Tokyo.

Apple is opening the TiBook to it's employees in a dump action that ALWAYS preceeds a rev.;)

[AmbitiousLemon]

two things i think the new Pbook needs:

1: speed bump w/apollo

2: better battery life

idea be happy if that is all we see, but i dont expect more than just a small speed bump.

o one more thing... no production problems.

[King Cobra]

I agree with the fact that in the Powerbook deserves a much enhanced battery life, a low power Apollo G4 chip, and higher resolution.

However, I doubt that Apple will touch 900MHz in their top line Powerbook. As far as I can see Apple G4 speed increments have gone in average of somewhere around 150 or 167MHz. I think that (from resources including MacOSRumors) Apple will release a faster powerbook, with a low end of 733MHz and a high end of 867MHz.

MacOSRumors has reported a while ago that a new revision will support an enhanced resolution, somewhere around 1536 by 1024 pixels. I don't think that the actual size of the screen will increase, though.

mcrain, although the thought of a dual processor Powerbook G4 and a huge screen may be mouth watering, but it is a bad idea, for four reasons:
(1) Currently the prices of LCD screens are already sky-high with Apple, and I do not see why Apple would spend around $1000 for a 19" monitor.
(2) Having a 19" screen defeats the purpose of having a portable computer because, (a) the computer would be to large, and (b) the hardware for supporting the screen would become larger and would make the Titanium G4 much heavier.
(3) The processing power of the Dual 1000MHz Apollos will eat up battery life like a bear through garbage.
(4) The entire cost of this model, even by the end of this year, will cost around, or more than, $5000. You might as well get a PowerMAC G4 for home and work.

The idea of Firewire 2 and USB 2 sounds like a great idea, but I personally see each arriving in the first PowerMac G5, or updated G4s.

Finally, I think that Apple will stick with the 133MHz bus and 15.2 inch screen, while trying to insert much larger Hard Drives, say 40 to 60GB.

[MacAztec]

I predict...32Mb NVidia Card. 60Gb Hd? Models will be 733 and 867, or 667 and 733. Maybe DVD-RW?

[buffsldr]

DO you guys really need that much power in a laptop?

[bonehead]

buffsldr
DO you guys really need that much power in a laptop?


Actually some do. I would like a Tibook to run music apps such as Reason, Cubase and Digital Performer which are processor hungry. Why not get
a tower, you ask? I don't need expansion slots and
I could take it to gigs, studios, rehearsals, vacations, etc. and still be able to make music.

[krossfyter]

my guess...

probably see a revision to the currnet tibook...mghz bump...extra something or another....

as for a g5...

i see the g5 powermac happening first.

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by bonehead
buffsldr
DO you guys really need that much power in a laptop?


Actually some do. I would like a Tibook to run music apps such as Reason, Cubase and Digital Performer which are processor hungry. Why not get
a tower, you ask? I don't need expansion slots and
I could take it to gigs, studios, rehearsals, vacations, etc. and still be able to make music.

That's a fair point. I guess I am judging others based on my needs. All i want is a portable with a snappy finder that can surf the net, e-mail, and maybe do 5-10 min movies on imovie (<10 gigs).

[Gelfin]

They'll seriously need low-power chips to make the PB any faster. Otherwise they're going to be getting sued by the people who got scalded when they touched the case while playing Quake.

Other than that, I kinda selfishly hope they don't bump them just yet. I only just got my combo drive installed today. :)

[freedom]

Besides the speedbumps and larger drives,
and a better graphics-card.
What can Apple do more without changing
the winning concept that the TiBook is?
(the case and weight)
New colours? I don´t think so…
It is a notebook for professionals, right?

[krossfyter]

powermac g5 s first.

[AmbitiousLemon]

Originally posted by freedom
Besides the speedbumps and larger drives,
and a better graphics-card.
What can Apple do more without changing
the winning concept that the TiBook is?
(the case and weight)
New colours? I don´t think so…
It is a notebook for professionals, right?

you are right of course. the pbook is a wonderful machine.

i doubt new colors will happen but, i dont think people mean anything along the lines of the old imacs. i think people want to retain the metallic look, but with highlights. a black highlight. a chrome highlight. that make sense? (its late i cant tell anymore)

i think a better battery though would be a big feature on most people's lists. especially since these new pbooks cant carry two batteries those of us who moved up from the g3 powerbooks feel like we got down-graded in the battery life department. and then to make it worse osx eats up far more battery life than os9 ever did. and then there are those chiclets some call the ipod showing off its long battery life. i dont know enough about hardware to know for sure but i would guess switching to a lithium polymer battery would be a BIG revision.

my complaints regarding the pbooks (as perfect as they are i can always find some problem) are:

•short battery life

•slow graphics card (the radeon in the newer models helped out here)

•too damn HOT (ever see a pbook with the center of the keyboard melted in?)

•slow hard drives (apple fixed this with the 32 and 48 gig drives woohoo!)

so apple has been systematically fixing all the minnor complaints i had. they cooled down the revb models a bit, so the only thing they havent addressed is battery life. and i expect an apollo to jump into a pbook whenever we see the next revision (not making predictions regarding when that is, but like everyone else im hoping very soon).

if the pbook cools down some and ups the battery life it might actually be good for use in the field, so far most people either buy an ibook (cuz it runs cool and is rugged) and suffer with not having enough power, or they buy a pbook (try to keep it in the shade) and suffer with it getting too hot and shutting down at times.

oh and one more lil thing (a complete pipedream mind you) id like to see a laptop (ANY apple laptop) with a outdoor monitor toggle, so that it uses reflected sunlight to boost monitor brightness for use outdoors (sony did this). that would be perfection.

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon


oh and one more lil thing (a complete pipedream mind you) id like to see a laptop (ANY apple laptop) with a outdoor monitor toggle, so that it uses reflected sunlight to boost monitor brightness for use outdoors (sony did this). that would be perfection.


hey thats a hellofanidea!



:D

[Macmaniac]

I bet the reason why Steve has gone to Tokoyo so he can unviel the new TiBook!

[krossfyter]

fat chance!

[Proton]

I'm a designer wanting to come back to the mac platform. I've cheacked out most of the laptop's though some may be faster I'm just in love with titanium. What should I do we it seem to me that for 2500 $ titanium 550 is a good machine and would probably be as powerful as a 900 pIII but the PIII og P4 are shipping in 1.3-1.7mhz.... dam this is a hard choice.

My work will be mainly Photoshop work, hopfully more video stuff... and browsing.

Should I wait a month to see if MacWorld tokyo will ship a improved tibook ?

more resolution would make a lot of sence, a new graphic's card would make sence to. Like Geoforce 4 to go 32 and 64mb.

[krossfyter]

if you can afford to wait.... why not do it?...it wont cost you anything.
on the other hand if you cant... then buy now. and buy the tibook.
try not to get caught up on the pc for design.truth is..the mac is made especially for graphics and artistic projects. the processor in the mac has a co processor (altivec...i believe) that is designed to deal with number crunching and extra loads from graphic programs.....compared to an intel processor that does not have a co processor or is not made to deal with this issues in general. im a graphic artist and i use the 667 tibook. i have had no problems. i run photoshop, illustrator, internet exlporer , dreamweaver and itunes all on classic mode and it hasnt slowed down or crashed...yet. im more than pleased with my machine. however i could see how they could revise it...with the better harddrive thats out there, better battery, heatsink issues, mhz bump...etc. etc.

[Proton]

I'm that kind of guy who can't wait, I just hate to wait when my mind is set to something. I'm getting a 550 on loan from our local apple dealer for a day or two. Hope that will sort this pc / mac issue out. The reason for my reluctance is what I've just seen.

Here's a speed comparison in photoshop and this is against a pc 800 something.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/PowerBookG4_fall2001/powerbook_g4_667_quake3.html

This is just to close, I'm working on a pc comp. 1000mhz. with a 64meg. card. How would the titanium match up to that... :-(

And this is the 667 if I'm getting a 550 duhh.. I'm getting frustrated allready.

I need something to make me belive that buying a titanium is the thing.

[Gelfin]

The "new colors" talk got me thinking: I wonder how a TiBook would look if you stripped all the silver/gray topcoat off and left it with just the raw titanium surface. Talk about a "bronze" PowerBook. :) I can't decide if it would look good or not, though.

Oh, and I'm not going to strip my own TiBook to find out. ;)

[buffsldr]

What about Ti-anodizing the books various colors? That might be nice. The drawback is that anodization fades.

[jefhatfield]

titanium can be annodized into black or red, but with varying results

steve jobs wanted the titanium to be black but the yield of annodization to black was not cost effective

either red or black would look really cool

[mcrain]

I'm a lawyer, so I wouldn't have a clue how to do this, but someone should photoshop some pics of their Tibook and make it look like bronze, black, or other colors so we can see what we are talking about. Just a thought.

[SPG]

Black? too PC (and I don't mean politically correct)
Red? Blue? I dunno, the flavored imac days are behind us now.
Titanium's nice, and maybe a thin gold stripe would be the ticket for the "bling! bling!" crowd, or other color stripes to denote which model it is.

Oh, and to Buffsldr, don't need the power of a powerbook, just a zippy laptop to send emails and make short imovies? iBook is exactly the machine you described.

[MacAztec]

Black would be awesome. Think of that shiney, lusty, black titanium metal on a powerbook :D :D

Nice white apple logo...white lettered keyboard, 14in screen, G4, and were set!

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by SPG
Black? too PC (and I don't mean politically correct)
Red? Blue? I dunno, the flavored imac days are behind us now.
Titanium's nice, and maybe a thin gold stripe would be the ticket for the "bling! bling!" crowd, or other color stripes to denote which model it is.

Oh, and to Buffsldr, don't need the power of a powerbook, just a zippy laptop to send emails and make short imovies? iBook is exactly the machine you described.

hey, spg, long time no see!

black does seem a little pc like to me also, it was steve jobs' concept that he called for and word is that it took him a little while to accept the titanium color...i am glad that i wasn't the person to try to tell steve black titanim would be "too expensive";)

[SPG]

From the desk of Steve Jobs,

Memo
All Apple employees re: Dress Code.

HR dept will be emailing you a request for your mock turtleneck and jean sizes, these are due by end of work Friday. Beginning Monday all Apple team members will become more efficient and color coordinated to the new line of black anodized tiBooks.

your pal,
-Steve.

PS: Don't tell anyone or you will be killed. Especially those macrumors guys.

[SPG]

Hey Jef, back to your original name? I was out of commision for a while with a broken finger, and then wouldn't you know it I actually had work to do. Now I can go back to going broke donating $.02 at a time....woohoo!

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by SPG
From the desk of Steve Jobs,

Memo
All Apple employees re: Dress Code.

HR dept will be emailing you a request for your mock turtleneck and jean sizes, these are due by end of work Friday. Beginning Monday all Apple team members will become more efficient and color coordinated to the new line of black anodized tiBooks.

your pal,
-Steve.

PS: Don't tell anyone or you will be killed. Especially those macrumors guys.

sounds like him:D

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by SPG
Hey Jef, back to your original name? I was out of commision for a while with a broken finger, and then wouldn't you know it I actually had work to do. Now I can go back to going broke donating $.02 at a time....woohoo!

i went back to jef when mischief and eyelikeart went into the high postings...especially eye...i can't compete...i am just on year three of being a network technician/engineer en route to being a network administrator in a couple of years, and then if i am lucky, i could transfer my pc skills and be a mac tech one day...even for less money...it is just that the only way to become a paid mac tech is find someone who knows the trade and will show you...and right now the only mac tech i know who knows enough who lives around me is totally burned out with high tech and the whole topic makes that person cringe...i still hope he will show interest one day and take me under his wing

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by SPG
From the desk of Steve Jobs,

Memo
All Apple employees re: Dress Code.

HR dept will be emailing you a request for your mock turtleneck and jean sizes, these are due by end of work Friday. Beginning Monday all Apple team members will become more efficient and color coordinated to the new line of black anodized tiBooks.

your pal,
-Steve.

PS: Don't tell anyone or you will be killed. Especially those macrumors guys.

this is a joke right?

[kidtronix]

man now we are one week or so before a macworld and the tibook fuzz is out of control.

my personal wish list:

-733-867mhz velocity (brumm brumm) engines
-ddr ram, with as standard support for 1gb ddr ram
-new geforce4 mobile gpu
-some 'support device' for apples own screens
-two firewire outputs

that's it, as far as i know the gforce4 mobile edition should be done by now and it's hightime to introduce ddr to the mac. as for two firewire outputs, aye the old powerbooks had 'em!

and the whole crap about "no new cpu's", the bloke most likely ment no G5 chips, or even, 800-900 G4 chips already excists right?

if that comes at tokyo i'm a buy buy buy
:cool:

[mcrain]

I want firewire 2 in addition.

[SPG]

Firewire2 and 2 firewire ports... Firewire2 hasn't been introduced into too many things yet, in fact I haven't seen it in anything personally. 2 firewire ports? You don't really need them as much as you think. Firewire works very well chained together especially since every firewire device except the iPod and DV camera have two or three ports.
I'd happily trade a firewire port for another USB port since very few of those devices have more than one plug.

[OSeXy!]

Originally posted by mcrain
I'm a lawyer, so I wouldn't have a clue how to do this, but someone should photoshop some pics of their Tibook and make it look like bronze, black, or other colors so we can see what we are talking about. Just a thought.

In a few spare (bored) moments at work I made a very simple animated GIF of a TiBook turning metalic black and then metalic red. But the "Browse..." button has gone from the "Post Reply" window and the "Forum Rules" box tells me "You may not post attachments", so I can't attach it... Oh well, back to work.

[kidtronix]

Originally posted by SPG
Firewire2 and 2 firewire ports... Firewire2 hasn't been introduced into too many things yet, in fact I haven't seen it in anything personally. 2 firewire ports? You don't really need them as much as you think. Firewire works very well chained together especially since every firewire device except the iPod and DV camera have two or three ports.
I'd happily trade a firewire port for another USB port since very few of those devices have more than one plug.

i beg to differ, case: one external fw hd and one dv camera.

[Gelfin]

I don't believe there is any statement you could make in these forums, no matter how humorous, impossible or downright absurd, such that you wouldn't have at least one person take you seriously.

[krossfyter]

Originally posted by Gelfin
I don't believe there is any statement you could make in these forums, no matter how humorous, impossible or downright absurd, such that you wouldn't have at least one person take you seriously.

your not serious are you?

[King Cobra]

Mac_User, to correct you, the Titanium G4 has a 15.2 inch wide screen.

Since so many of you happen to talk about color codes for the new Titanium, a solid, non-metallic black would be too much of a PC color. A metallic, reflective black, dark red, or dark blue would go nicely, and it would go well with the high tech line of computers, while the cheaper boys (the iMac G4 and the iBook G3) keep their white attire. Eventually, if this is so, we may see new Powermacs sporting a reflective, or darker, or both, outer cover.

Firewire first came out on the Powermac G3, 13 months before any portable computer had Firewire. (If you need a reference, try using Mactracker, created by Ian Page. It is free.) I don't see Firewire 2 on any portable computer until 2003. I hate to disappoint, but that is how I feel.
________________________

Bad PC Advertiser: All you need to upload pictures from your camera is a PC and some expensive software.

KC: Well I have a Mac, and the software I use is free. Does that make me better than you?

[rt_brained]

Like many of you, I've been holding out for an update to the PowerBook too. That is, until I walked into one of my local computer stores today and saw the low-end iBook on sale for $799. Unbelievable. Granted, a 500 MHz iBook ain't gonna fly like a 667 (or higher) PowerBook, but the ability to break out of the office for a while and take my work home or to the local coffee house...how could I pass that up?

So I caved. For less than the price of one TiBook I got two shiny new iBooks and tossed a bunch of extra ram for good measure.

At least now I won't feel so sketchy about leaving some hot new $3000 machine that some jack*ss might someday walk away with.

[dualburn001]

Originally posted by rt_brained
Like many of you, I've been holding out for an update to the PowerBook too. That is, until I walked into one of my local computer stores today and saw the low-end iBook on sale for $799. Unbelievable. Granted, a 500 MHz iBook ain't gonna fly like a 667 (or higher) PowerBook, but the ability to break out of the office for a while and take my work home or to the local coffee house...how could I pass that up?

So I caved. For less than the price of one TiBook I got two shiny new iBooks and tossed a bunch of extra ram for good measure.

At least now I won't feel so sketchy about leaving some hot new $3000 machine that some jack*ss might someday walk away with.

why did you get 2?

[rt_brained]

Originally posted by dualburn001


why did you get 2?


A: One for me, the other for my girlfriend, who works (designs) with me.

And as long as I have the soapbox for the moment, I have a message for Steve Jobs...

Hey, you should have seen the mad rush today (mostly first-time Mac buyers) for those $799 12-inch iBooks. Seriously, I know the rumor mill has you guys converting all iBooks to 14s, but maybe consider keeping at least one 12-inch on the product line for that (convert) demographic. From what I saw today, they were on those iBooks like flies on doo-doo. Not stinky brown doo-doo. Beautiful smelling white lucite doo-doo.

I don't want to go on a rant here Steve, but the 12s are a lot more portable and 'cool' than 14s. If we want a bigger screen, we'll shoot for the TiBook. And were you aware that the friggen screen on the 14 is too heavy and won't sit still when disturbed by the slightest turbulence, or uneven road? Kind of a bummer if you have to use it while travelling.

As a pro user, I love Apple, but...sometimes I get that weird feeling, like it's '95-'96 again. We need to stay on track.

Okay, I'm done.

[jefhatfield]

wow, you scored big time

my wife loves to do her portable graphics from our ibook and from her g4 at work...she has an old 450 or 400 g4 and the new ibooks we tried out were almost as fast to her and the new ibooks, 500 and 600, have larger hard drives than the first generation g4 towers...and the ibooks are a whole lot lighter ;-)

it was once thought that one could not run their own business with an ibook doing graphics, but i see more and more pros using ibooks without the need for a powerbook, but there are some who absolutely need the powerbook but i have not met any except for video/audio side techs...this one guy at the local mac club edits the local news and some radio shows with his powerbook g3 which i think runs 250 mhz, or maybe 292? mhz and i see the results on the news...it's so cool

i don't know this line of work, but does the new ibook do video out?...if it does, then i could see my friend doing the local news editing with an ibook...he uses adobe software and final cut pro

[krossfyter]

the new ibook has VGA video out and composite video out ...im not too sure about the first one.

[rt_brained]

The thrust of my work is print and web, and I held out for a long time waiting for the next TiBook upgrade. But when push comes to shove, portable flat screens just don't deliver the same precise color (or real estate) I get on my 22" Sony CRT in the office.

As an art director/designer, a laptop is just a crutch whenever I feel the need to break out of the office for a while, or take my work home. Moving around from place to place subjects you to a multitude of uncontrolled lighting conditions and varying colors. In the end, I want to see my work on the CRT under controlled light.

I'd hate to lose ANY laptop to theft, but given the potential of losing an $800 laptop versus losing a $3000 one, I think I can learn to be quite happy hanging with the iBook.

[Mr. Anderson]

I don't think worrying about theft should be a deciding factor in purchasing a new machine. I ordered a new 667 Ti last November direct from Apple , custom built in Taiwan. I patiently waited and tracked the order daily, getting all excited when it arrived on the docks at the FedEx facility in DC one Thursday morning thinking I would get it that afternoon. It was never heard from again. Seems someone lifted it right off the ramp. This was the most agonizing experience to go through. I couldn't get a replacement until Apple and FedEx both agreed that it had indeed been stolen. I eventually got another new one about a month later. If my current machine gets stolen, I'll be pissed, but insurance will cover it (mostly) and backing it up takes care of the data.

But to get back to the other issue, to use an iBook for what I do (3D animation, video production) would be painfully slow. What it all boils down to is what do you need your machine for, and does the speed justify the cost. Absolutely, in my case. I'm sometimes amazed that this speed issue pops up now and again. I could have a quad 1THz G7 laptop and maybe, just maybe, be happy with the real time radiosity. I believe that someday I will have a fast enough machine to do the animations in realtime and not wait DAYS for the compter to finish. But until then I'll probably end up buying more than one 'faster, better machine' and I eagerly await every one of Jobs Keynotes, hoping that that day puts it closer to reality.

As for the color issue mentioned in some earlier posts in this thread. If it looks 'cooler', fine. I expect nothing less from Apple. But all I'm really interested in is speed, RAM, and disk size. Those are my motivation factors.