Rev c 12" powerbook or Rev A g5 powerbook?

[Soc7777777]

now here is my problem... i AM going to buy a powerbook in the next year and a half... i can wait that long, but not longer... right now i am choosing between the version now and the first g5 version (which SHOULD be out in a year from now)... what i am worried aboujt more than performance is heat... i know the g5s will be hot and i dont want to have to worry about using it while on my lap... so...

1. how hot do your powerbook 12"s run at?

2. how hot do you suspect the new g5s will run.. (think about rev A g4)

3. do you know of any software i could use for my windows notebook to check internal temp so that i have a basis for comparison becausee i have no idea what 50 degrees Celcius feels like on my lap.. but i do know how this dell feels (which i think its a good temp).

thanks for the help

[Soc7777777]

oh yeah and what is considered 'normal' running temp for powerbooks... and what is the highest it can get without hurting it?

[dopefiend]

2. how hot do you suspect the new g5s will run.. (think about rev A g4)

There will not be a powerbook g5. ;)

[Soc7777777]

There will not be a powerbook g5. ;)

yeah your right... i was at the apple store the other day and steve came in... i overheard him telling one of the managers at wwdc that the next powerbook revisions along with the powermac revisions are both coming at wwdc.... he said that the powermac was coming as at 2.4 2.6 and 2.8 ghz (all duel) and the said that the powerbook G5 is coming out at wwdc!!!!!!!!! he said that its coming out in a carbin form factor and come with 8x duel layoring superdrives and the 12" will sport a 2 ghz g5 and 15" will be either 2.2 or 2.6 and the 17" will be a duel 3 ghz g5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO APPLE STORE ST. LOUIS!!!!!!!!!

[Soc7777777]

can somone answer my serious question? and NOT talk about the release date of the g5 powerbook

[keysersoze]

can somone answer my serious question? and NOT talk about the release date of the g5 powerbook

My 12" 1.33 only runs REAL hot when I play MOH. It can COOK. But the fan runs and seems to do a good job of dispersing the heat. Aside from that game and UT2003, it does not get very hot at all. Just my 2 cents.

[AHDuke99]

well i am sure in a year and a half there will be G5 Powerbooks

[thehuncamunca]

there will be powerbook G5's much later this year like september since apple just updated the powerbooks in april

[goodwill]

there will be powerbook G5's much later this year like september since apple just updated the powerbooks in april

I am not putting anyone down or attacking anyone's intelligence, but G5 Powerbooks are not going to be released in September. They are not going to be released in December either. When Steve Jobs said "some time" he was referring to "some time" passing before they would have the ability to have liquid cooling to cool off the g5 in the Powerbook. It amazes me when people expect and say that the G5 PB will be out in "2 weeks", "in September", "at Christmas", "tomorrow". A year and a half or longer doesn't transpire in 4 months time. Patience is your virtue.

[cdp788]

i have a rev a. 12" PB and i have a few comments:

1) don't know how hot pc chips run but heat issues have been more of an issue with the more recent chips and the only reason the PBs feel so much hotter is b/c of the AL casing. I honestly wouldn't worry about heat as an issue... apple knows how hot these things run and i feel like they will learn from this generation of PBs

2) i would take other factors into consideration such as engineering or build quality. apple does some revolutionary stuff and takes a lot of risks in their designs... the early rev A 12" PBs had a problem with screw falling out of the display bezel! The early 15" PBs had a problem with white spots on the screen (a result of, i believe, the aluminum used in the casing, but i digress).

if you can, i would wait until the rev As come out and see what the initial user reviews are... then you could buy a state of the art PBg5 or a tried and true PBg4

[titaniumducky]

Do you really need the power of a G5? If so, get a new PowerMac after WWDC. If not, buy a PB G4 now.

As far as when the PB G5 will come out? Who knows. But it is likely that it will be an entirely different chip than the 970 merely titled "G5." It may even be a Motorola Freescale chip.

[Soc7777777]

Do you really need the power of a G5? If so, get a new PowerMac after WWDC. If not, buy a PB G4 now.

As far as when the PB G5 will come out? Who knows. But it is likely that it will be an entirely different chip than the 970 merely titled "G5." It may even be a Motorola Freescale chip.
that would be ideal
for once i think that apple should try to... uh oh... copy *cough* intel with their pentium m processor... i would pay ALOT of money for an apple powerbook running tiger with a processor as fast and as powersaving as the pentium m... it would be liek the best of 2 worlds.

[mattroberts]

I'm personally a fan of rev B and C's on all Apple Product lines.

There always seems to be issues with Rev A's especially in the first few batches.
-The 12 in Rev A screw issues come to mind
-the 15in Rev A (AL) splotch on the screen and not closing issues.
-the Awful early Ti paint chipping & I don't know how many broken hinges pop up on ebay for the Ti's

Generally Apple Rev A Products (and i mean generally) tend to be exciting yet have Hardware issues that only get addressed in the next revision or require the owner to return it to apple for a few weeks. Stick with a Rev B & C inmho.

cheers

[johnnyjibbs]

The PowerBook is designed to operate at any amount of processing for any amount of time. It feels very hot because it has a metal casing - BUT this does a good job of dissapating the heat from inside. Therefore the case is hot, allowing it to be cooler inside (note I'm not saying the chip is cooler than the casing, i'm just saying it would be a lot hotter if the case wasn't metal).

It'll be fine. And my rev B 12" PB doesn't get that hot anyway. No need to worry.

[Abstract]

i have a rev a. 12" PB and i have a few comments:

1) don't know how hot pc chips run but heat issues have been more of an issue with the more recent chips and the only reason the PBs feel so much hotter is b/c of the AL casing. I honestly wouldn't worry about heat as an issue... apple knows how hot these things run and i feel like they will learn from this generation of PBs

....
if you can, i would wait until the rev As come out and see what the initial user reviews are... then you could buy a state of the art PBg5 or a tried and true PBg4

So in other words, don't get a rev A Powerbook G5. ;)

Seriously, don't. Putting a G4 in a new laptop casing wasn't all new. Putting a G5 into a PB casing would definitely be.

And just buy a 12" PB now, use it for 1.5 years, or 2+ years if waiting for the rev B, and make use of it now. No point wasting time for something better. There's always something better.

[tamara6]

I thought you had a light weight little dell with an external optical drive that you were in love with. What happened?

[mattroberts]

I thought you had a light weight little dell with an external optical drive that you were in love with. What happened?

he smartened up :)

[micvog]

now here is my problem... i AM going to buy a powerbook in the next year and a half... i can wait that long, but not longer... right now i am choosing between the version now and the first g5 version (which SHOULD be out in a year from now)... what i am worried aboujt more than performance is heat... i know the g5s will be hot and i dont want to have to worry about using it while on my lap... so...

1. how hot do your powerbook 12"s run at?

2. how hot do you suspect the new g5s will run.. (think about rev A g4)

3. do you know of any software i could use for my windows notebook to check internal temp so that i have a basis for comparison becausee i have no idea what 50 degrees Celcius feels like on my lap.. but i do know how this dell feels (which i think its a good temp).

thanks for the help

My PB does not feel excessively warm/hot except when I access the hard drive alot (e.g. moving my music library over from my PC, installing software, etc.). Definately get more RAM - it dramatically reduces the hard drive access.

Regarding PC temps, Intel has a utility on their website. However, most OEMS disable the temp sensor. It doesn't hurt to try it out though.

[Soc7777777]

I thought you had a light weight little dell with an external optical drive that you were in love with. What happened?
contrary to popular belief on this website... it is possible to enjoy using both macs and pcs... i know how to take care of windows so it DOESNT crash on me... thats right doesnt crash and i dont get virus's... pcs are a tricky concept... if used correctly they are great machines... but only 1 percent of the populatoin knows hot to use one correctly... (plus i have adobe premiere pro 7.0 and studio mx with flash pro and i need a computer to use those on)... i plan on using two computer at the same time... im just waiting for wireless firewire to work out so i can access a hard drive from anywhere in my house and i dont have to have it plugged into a computer on the network.... thats going to be fun...

some healthy competitoin between macs and pcs are great... hell if it were not for the creation of the pentium m apple wouldnt have very much pressure to get a g5 in a laptop.... they might have had another 2 years of g4 powerbooks, but now they are getting their a$$es moving...

also, were it not for windows xp, apple might have been satisfied with jaguar till longhorn came out... but... xp came out and apple decidced that they HAD to have a better OS... so they have worked hard on it...

btw... dont make fun of me because i use a dell... make fun of me because my dell is lonely and needs a powerbook to play with...

[saabmp3]

What if there is a revision d of the current powerbooks before a G5 unit comes out. Especially the 12 inch unit, it seems like the 12 is always lagging behind the other 2 models. Seems all like a moot point considering "heat" discussions are about a product with no public plans yet.


BEN

[jxyama]

also, were it not for windows xp, apple might have been satisfied with jaguar till longhorn came out... but... xp came out and apple decidced that they HAD to have a better OS... so they have worked hard on it...

um, i don't think so. xp is nothing more than colored up version of 2k. apple was developing OS X on their own time. see how panther came out within a year and a half of jaguar, and probably a similar senario for tiger? xp probably didn't even make apple flinch. it just wasn't that big of a deal to apple.

if anything, M$ realized 2006+ is too late for longhorn, given the increasing prominence of linux and to a smaller degree, OS X. if anything, it's M$ having to move up their OS developmental cycle because of OS X, not the other way around. apple makes hardware, unlike M$, which wouldn't be in business if Office and windows weren't the cash cow they are now.

[gopher]

What if there is a revision d of the current powerbooks before a G5 unit comes out. Especially the 12 inch unit, it seems like the 12 is always lagging behind the other 2 models. Seems all like a moot point considering "heat" discussions are about a product with no public plans yet.


BEN

12" Powerbooks were released in sync with the 17" models the last 3 times. Only the 15" has had a slightly different release schedule since the first 15" Aluminum came out last September. Given Powerbooks and iBooks both were updated in April, the next expected update probably won't be until September at earliest, and maybe not till January. I've seen 9 month waits on Powerbook updates before.

[michaelrjohnson]

*A LOT*, and I mean *A LOT* of things will happen in a year and a half's time. If you can afford it, buy the new computer NOW, and then resell it when it still holds most of its value when what you REALLY want is released. There is no point struggling along on old technology just for the sake of getting whats new. Heck, I just bought an iBook G4 in March, and I'm considering selling it and upgrading. Not because I dont' love it, but because it still has most of it's value, and I can upgrade to a much better machine without hardly spending a thing.

Dont' wait, buy it, then sell it, then buy what you want.

Now, if you can't afford it and you're just dreaming: I'd say get whatever you want. :)

[jxyama]

*A LOT*, and I mean *A LOT* of things will happen in a year and a half's time. If you can afford it, buy the new computer NOW, and then resell it when it still holds most of its value when what you REALLY want is released. There is no point struggling along on old technology just for the sake of getting whats new. Heck, I just bought an iBook G4 in March, and I'm considering selling it and upgrading. Not because I dont' love it, but because it still has most of it's value, and I can upgrade to a much better machine without hardly spending a thing.

Dont' wait, buy it, then sell it, then buy what you want.

Now, if you can't afford it and you're just dreaming: I'd say get whatever you want. :)

i know it's personal choice, but i strongly disagree with the sentiment of frequent reselling and upgrading. it's a lot of time and effort involved and above all, it will never end.

i don't understand the sentiment about "struggling along on old technology" when you have an iBook. the least you could have done is get a powerbook - iBook was an old technology when you bought it because there were machines around that are better the moment of your purchase..?

i personally like to get what i like (with no re-selling in mind) when i like it and use it until something significantly greater/better comes out and getting it as a replacement in a few years time. incremental upgrading is a big drain on the time and money for what amounts to fairly minute upgrade in technology.

i have a rev. A 12" PB - i'm gonna use it until G5 is in a 12" PB and it's in rev. B. that will be a few years.

[whenpaulsparks]

yeah your right... i was at the apple store the other day and steve came in... i overheard him telling one of the managers at wwdc that the next powerbook revisions along with the powermac revisions are both coming at wwdc.... he said that the powermac was coming as at 2.4 2.6 and 2.8 ghz (all duel) and the said that the powerbook G5 is coming out at wwdc!!!!!!!!! he said that its coming out in a carbin form factor and come with 8x duel layoring superdrives and the 12" will sport a 2 ghz g5 and 15" will be either 2.2 or 2.6 and the 17" will be a duel 3 ghz g5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO APPLE STORE ST. LOUIS!!!!!!!!!

you... are.... wow. just... wow. please don't ever say something like that again, if you want to maintain any level of respect for yourself. or atleast say that you're kidding. there will not be a powerbook g5 in 2004. the powerbooks now are phenomenal. so take your pick. an awesome notebook, or waiting indefinitely for something thats not that much more awesome.

[7on]

Yeah, I say go ahead with a powerbook now. Those who complain about speed obviously haven't owned one (floor models always seem slow to me BTW). My TI in my sig continues to astound me everyday. I'm currently running LC4 in VPC and I have it hidden and my fan isn't on nor do I notice any speed deprivation. And when I check Activity monitor to make sure everything is working, sure enough VPC is taking up 80% of the CPU, but it doesn't interfere with my normal tasks.

And a RevC 12" will be faster than my RevD TI.

[Soc7777777]

um, i don't think so. xp is nothing more than colored up version of 2k. apple was developing OS X on their own time. see how panther came out within a year and a half of jaguar, and probably a similar senario for tiger? xp probably didn't even make apple flinch. it just wasn't that big of a deal to apple.

if anything, M$ realized 2006+ is too late for longhorn, given the increasing prominence of linux and to a smaller degree, OS X. if anything, it's M$ having to move up their OS developmental cycle because of OS X, not the other way around. apple makes hardware, unlike M$, which wouldn't be in business if Office and windows weren't the cash cow they are now.

first of all xp is not a 'colored up' versoin of 2k... second xp has affected os x and os x has affected xp... it works both ways

[jxyama]

first of all xp is not a 'colored up' versoin of 2k... second xp has affected os x and os x has affected xp... it works both ways

go read up on windows tech. xp *is* more or less colored up version of 2k. it has the same kernel.

it's a cliche to suggest windows and mac os affects each other. while it's true, mac os generally is ahead of windows. FUS is about the only thing windows have beaten mac os to. even then, xp FUS is messed up at times.

[dopefiend]

it's a cliche to suggest windows and mac os affects each other. while it's true, mac os generally is ahead of windows. FUS is about the only thing windows have beaten mac os to. even then, xp FUS is messed up at times.

Direct firewire network connection was possible on XP before OS X :p

mwuahahaha....

ok, I'm done :o

[wide]

Microsoft is in business PARTLY because of Office and Windows sellings so much and delivering so much profit, but also because of their smart aquisitions (call it monopolization if you wish) and because of how good they are at conducting business in general. Really--think about it:

Office has not had a major change since Microsoft Office 97, and Windows XP is essentially a tailored version of Windows 95. Windows has not received a radical change in about a decade. 98 was the same as 95, Me was just terribe, 2000 offered a lot of new security updates but did not look much different and did not have many new features from 98, and XP, as we have already stated, is pretty much the same thing as 2000.

Even better: all their software is based on DOS, which is ancient, and, more importantly, which was stolen (err...bought for a minimal fee) from IBM(?) in the '80s.

So there you have it. Microsoft has not changed their software in a decade. Sure, they have offered a lot of new programs but I doubt those will be updated until 2010.

Don't you think it is quite a big accomplishment for Microsoft to become and maintain their status as the world's largest company?

Just another note for all the Microsoft haters reading this: Macs sucked until OS X came out--both in hardware and software. OS 9 was crap. OS 8 was crap. It was all crap until OS X.

In 1995(4?), Windows 95 was an incredible piece of software, and none of you can or should deny that. It was way ahead of it's time, and the Mac operating system of the time was garbage. So let's face it: Microsoft hasn't always been bad, and Longhorn will probably change things around as Windows 95 did. Just because the average Longhorn computer will have a 3 GHz processor does not mean it will be bad. So don't give Microsoft such a pain in the ass. Maybe they too will turn around and start making great products, just how Apple did quite recently.

[gopher]

You forget Windows 95 = Macintosh 86. That was the big joke about Windows 95 when it was released. About the only Mac OS which were crap were 7.5.2 through 7.5.5. That's when they tried to integrate TCP/IP networking with the operating system instead of having you buy MacTCP, and the first iterations of TCP/IP were very crash prone. Based on your experience below, I think you came in during that time and thought what you were seeing was representative of the Mac. It wasn't. It was an aberration.

Microsoft is in business PARTLY because of Office and Windows sellings so much and delivering so much profit, but also because of their smart aquisitions (call it monopolization if you wish) and because of how good they are at conducting business in general. Really--think about it:

Office has not had a major change since Microsoft Office 97, and Windows XP is essentially a tailored version of Windows 95. Windows has not received a radical change in about a decade. 98 was the same as 95, Me was just terribe, 2000 offered a lot of new security updates but did not look much different and did not have many new features from 98, and XP, as we have already stated, is pretty much the same thing as 2000.

Even better: all their software is based on DOS, which is ancient, and, more importantly, which was stolen (err...bought for a minimal fee) from IBM(?) in the '80s.

So there you have it. Microsoft has not changed their software in a decade. Sure, they have offered a lot of new programs but I doubt those will be updated until 2010.

Don't you think it is quite a big accomplishment for Microsoft to become and maintain their status as the world's largest company?

Just another note for all the Microsoft haters reading this: Macs sucked until OS X came out--both in hardware and software. OS 9 was crap. OS 8 was crap. It was all crap until OS X.

In 1995(4?), Windows 95 was an incredible piece of software, and none of you can or should deny that. It was way ahead of it's time, and the Mac operating system of the time was garbage. So let's face it: Microsoft hasn't always been bad, and Longhorn will probably change things around as Windows 95 did. Just because the average Longhorn computer will have a 3 GHz processor does not mean it will be bad. So don't give Microsoft such a pain in the ass. Maybe they too will turn around and start making great products, just how Apple did quite recently.

[Rod Rod]

In 1995(4?), Windows 95 was an incredible piece of software, and none of you can or should deny that. It was way ahead of it's time, and the Mac operating system of the time was garbage.

it was almost 1996 before windows 95 was released. (okay, it came out in mid-95, but its release was months behind schedule).

windows 95 made windows 3.1 feel like a pleasant experience. a "start" button, yayy.

[HasanDaddy]

if you can afford to wait, then I say "WAIT"

why?

not just the G5...

but within a year, we could have OLED screens, or even, foldable screens

plus, the liquid cooling could allow for Dual processors

the current 12" LCD's are good, but they could be heavily improved

if you can afford to, I say wait

but if you can't, then certainly, the current 12" is awesome

[dopefiend]

it was almost 1996 before windows 95 was released. (okay, it came out in mid-95, but its release was months behind schedule).

windows 95 made windows 3.1 feel like a pleasant experience. a "start" button, yayy.

OK, your crazy.

Windows 95 was just great compared to 3.1.

Much easier to use!

[oingoboingo]

it was almost 1996 before windows 95 was released. (okay, it came out in mid-95, but its release was months behind schedule).

windows 95 made windows 3.1 feel like a pleasant experience. a "start" button, yayy.

Windows 95 was viewed as a massive improvement over Windows 3.1 at the time of release across the board, and is still viewed as such in a historical context even now. How do you consider Windows 3.1 to be superior to Windows 95? I think I could coax Windows 3.0 or 3.1 (can't remember which one) to run on my old 12MHz 80286 with 1MB of RAM, and Windows 95 couldn't. Apart from that type of situtation....? I don't know....you tell me. I'm at a loss.

[dopefiend]

I'm at a loss.

exactly how I felt after I read that, hehe.

I remember going from 3.1 to 95.... :p

[oingoboingo]

Office has not had a major change since Microsoft Office 97, and Windows XP is essentially a tailored version of Windows 95. Windows has not received a radical change in about a decade. 98 was the same as 95, Me was just terribe, 2000 offered a lot of new security updates but did not look much different and did not have many new features from 98, and XP, as we have already stated, is pretty much the same thing as 2000.

First up, this was an excellently written troll, and you should spend your time on a board like Slashdot where the trolling community is much more supportive and well developed. I have a couple of accounts on Slashdot which I used purely for entertainment/trolling purposes. Unfortunately, macrumors.com doesn't have the same kind of trolling subculture, so your efforts are kind of wasted here...a shame really, but the first rule for a troll is that you have to target your audience properly.

Just to give you a little encouragement, I'll comment that Windows XP and Windows 95 are about as similar as crap and clay. Windows XP has a completely different operating system kernel, based on the Windows NT core.

[Rod Rod]

I just had a personal preference for 3.1 nine years ago. I didn't see any improvements in FreeCell, Minesweeper or Solitaire in win95. 3.1 was more comfy too, like an old chair.

the good news is I'm using OS X these days and it's paying the bills.