Joswiak says "NO G5 Powerbook is around the corner.."

Translation: "Keep buying the G4s until we announce the G5s."

Spring 2005 at the latest....

personally i think a G5 powerbook will come by the end of this year, assuming apple can get enough G5 chips
all they have to do is basically take the imac and use notebook components (ie notebook ram, notebook HD, notebook flat panal, etc) to get it down to size
if apple can't get enough G5 chips and has a better G4 chip available, there probably will be one more powerbook G4 revision

jet3004 said:

In case anyone forget what he said back in April, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s VP of hardware marketing, would like to remind everyone that just because they came out with that new 2.2-inch thick iMac G5 yesterday does not mean there is a Powerbook G5 right around the corner. The Powerbook is still way thinner than the new ultraslim iMac, which means that ”[t]he challenges of cooling a G5 in a Powerbook design are significantly greater”.

[Via MacMinute & Engadget]

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Translation: don't get pissed when we update the PBG4s and it's not a G5. Isn't that what happened last time?

wordmunger said:

Translation: don't get pissed when we update the PBG4s and it's not a G5. Isn't that what happened last time?

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i think there will be an update of the g4s start of december ready for xmas...

i dont think we will see the power book g5 untill next summer or maybe next xmas.... i think we will see the 3ghz powermac before the pb goes g5..im not worried my rev c 15inch superdrive with 1.25gigram will do me for a little while..i hope

Translation:

We never said that there would be a G5 PB anytime this year, or soon for that matter. In fact, we have said the exact opposite of that. Really, the only people who have said that there would be a G5 PB soon are people guessing on rumor sites!


It is funny, if you think about it, that people are going to feel let down if Apple doesn't ship a G5 PB soon, even though they have never said they would.

The new iMac is over twice as thick as a PB, is wider, longer, and weighs between 18 and 25 pounds depending on what size screen you want. It has multiple fans, and doesn't have to depend on batteries for power.

The xServe, which is still 1.75 inches thick, is over 2 feet deep, is covered in holes, and again doesn't have to depend on battery power.

I just don't get people who say because the above two machines have been made that they should be able to make a PB... the fundamental designs are all different. I guess if you want a PB that is 2 inches thick, 2 feet deep, weighs 15 or 20 pounds, and only gets 15 minutes of battery life that they could do it!



Cheers,

James

There's no way you'll see it before the next MWSF. Nope, not a chance.

They only just fit a 1.6GHz into a 2" thick casing. It seems that most people think that a G5 PB is coming soon. I'd just like to point out the plain white bit that hangs below the LCD of the iMac (the area with the Apple logo). Do you know why it's there? Its because there wasn't enough room behind the LCD itself to fit all the components. They needed more space but didn't want to make an iMac thicker than 2 inches, so they added the extra white area at the bottom to provide the space needed. If they could have put everything behind the area of the 17" LCD screen, they would have.

To build a laptop, all the components have to fit into a near 1" thick laptop enclosure with a base no bigger than the LCD screen. So it has to fit in an enclosure with a base that's the size of a 12", 15" and 17" LCD, but the base can only be around 1" thick. Add a built-in keyboard, and the space available is less. Imagine if they added an aluminium overhang on a laptop.

PS: Glad to see that AL-FAMOUS and James L "see the light."

Trust me, those of you waiting until MWSF to buy a laptop are waiting for a single core 1.7GHz Freescale G4. They scale to around 2GHz, and that's what you're getting. The dual core Freescale G4s are only coming out in October, I believe. If we're lucky, we'll get the dual core PB's at MWSF instead of single-core, but probably not until WWDC.

I just don't get why people would wait for a G5 PB when a dual core will probably be faster than a single 1.6/1.8GHz G5. I guess that G5 vs G4 marketing worked on most plebes.

A little off topic, but has anyone else noticed that the new iMac is basically a G5 serve slapped on the back of an iMac? So, unless you want a Xservebook, then you won't be getting any kind of G5 laptop anytime soon. But who cares, the rumors of the new G4 chips from moto sound promising.

I also think there will be new G4s before there are G5 PBs. And I agree people will complain, which I think is just sad. The current PBs are already nice. A trivial upgrade to a faster HD and better-resolution screen would make a huge difference. The G5 would, of course, be nice, but the key thing about a laptop is, obviously, portability. And, because of that, battery life. A huge G5 with a 1.5 hour battery life isn't gong to exactly fly off the shelves. But Apple's going to feel the pressure to offer one ASAP; I hope they don't compromise too much, and I hope they wait until it's ready.

Oh they will wait alright. Delays are nothing new to apple. Whether it be shipments or product announcements.

From what FreeScale has been saying I bet we will see a Dual Core G4 in the PB long before a G5 comes out, the G4 still has some legs now that Moto cut its chip divison loose.

I also believe we'll see one more AlBook revision probably in October/November or at MWSF at the latest. The next major update to be announced at WWDC 2005 will either feature a dual core G4 or a single core G5, depending on what Apple thinks is more sensible.

Didn't they just raise the PB to 1.5ghz?

I think we see another G4 Powerbook somewhere in October or November. And if that happens the G5 Powerbook will be announced WWDC 05.

If we do not see an update this year, well then I guess the Powerbook G5 will be announced at MWSF 05.

my 2 cents

I have to agree, the imacs have fans, run on battery power, and have alot more space for ventilation. Even if they crammed a G5 into a 17" PB, the frame would have to be larger than the current version and heavier, because it would HAVE to include cooling components that are greater than the G4, since the G5 produces more heat than the G4. The 17" PB, which is the only one where I think it's even remotely likely to succeed with, would be so heavy, require a larger battery to have an even decent battery life, and be HUGE. I mean jeez can you imagine a 17" PB that's even bigger than the existing one? and heavier? with a worse battery life?

I dunno that's just what seems to make sense? A G5 in a 12" or 15" seems totally rediculous, but a 17" could be possible i guess. I mean the smallest iMac is a 17", but I dunno, anybody think a 17" is possible?

Abstract said:

They needed more space but didn't want to make an iMac thicker than 2 inches, so they added the extra white area at the bottom to provide the space needed. If they could have put everything behind the area of the 17" LCD screen, they would have.

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The white area at the bottom mainly contains the power supply, which certainly wouldn't be included inside a notebook. The power supply also adds to the cooling difficulties, so fewer fans would be needed in a powerbook. I'm not saying it won't be hard to fit everything in a powerbook, but people need to realize that it is a different problem.

the G5 is not a laptop chip. there isn't going to be a G5 laptop at all. my best guess is that a totally new chip has to be designed in order for the equivalent of the processing power of the G5 to be able to fit in a laptop and run on battery power, i.e. a 64esque chip designed for the laptop, not the current string of 970's and 970 FX's or whatever the heck they're called.

jet3004 said:

I want to say you are onto something here. It seems Apple might just go another route...

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that goes without saying. The g4 chips in the PBs are not the G4 chips in the graphites or the quicksilvers. If they were, the PBs would have those huge aluminum heatsinks on them. You cant just decide to cool a chip a new way, take it from your desktop line and place it into the portable line.

Yes IBM uses the same architecture for its G4 chips that went into the desktops and portables, thats what makes it a G4 chip. But like the G5 chips today are different than the initial ones but built on the same architecture. The point is, no powerbook will have a G5 chip in it. IBM can barely figure out how to do the 90nm correctly, how can they also design in parallel a mobile chip.

the G5 chipset in desktops is fundamentally different than the iMac ones, no I am no engineer and can be 100% off, otherwise how could you fit it into 2", the desktops have 8" heatsinks stacked on them. So suffice to say a new cooling design isnt the only thing in the iMac, its a slightly different G5 chip. Im sure IBM makes say 20 versions during the lifespan of a chipset. maybe less, maybe more, but they make new ones all the time that are better in some respects.

The G5 architecture is built for desktop right now, large power draw and heat, who cares at home and IBM knows it. UNtil they can even get the G5's cooler on their own, they wont even attempt a mobile chipset.

srdashiki said:

Yes IBM uses the same architecture for its G4 chips that went into the desktops and portables, thats what makes it a G4 chip. But like the G5 chips today are different than the initial ones but built on the same architecture. The point is, no powerbook will have a G5 chip in it. IBM can barely figure out how to do the 90nm correctly, how can they also design in parallel a mobile chip.

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You do know that IBM doesn't make G4's right?

vraxtus said:

You do know that IBM doesn't make G4's right?

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YES YES

i just got carried away.

Who doesnt know the Motorola G4 debacle.

U want me to go thru all the 6800 processors too?

Motorola is better at making cellphones, and poorly acording to a few friends of mine.

I loved the ol 68030e from back in the day, oh when 512k was enough RAM for the whole world.

Anyone own any LCiii?

Anyone actually talk about how the LC500 series was the precursor to the iMac flavored versions. And the precursor to the LC was the Macintosh (classic now). A built-in monitor? That was new territory.

Or that the only reason they made the eMac wasnt for another cheaper niche market but to get rid of ALL of the CRT monitors they had in warehouses in the world. Switching to LCD means u gotta sell the ol shiite to pay for the new shiite. Smart movem, though obvious frokm any corporate standpoint, on Apples part, i guess.

Anyone remember Weekend Warrior by bungie, the VERY FIRST EVER first person 3D game on a mac (or am I wrong), they made that game to show off their engine and then sold it I believe, Bungie is a buncha whores (M$....)

......side trackt....

Tracking over to the VPC7 thread I just have to say that I had an LCIII that had an Apple //gs emulator card in it. Playing Oregon Trail in blazing 8 colors. For all of us talking shiite about M$, why even use VPC? Cuz you have to? That is not an Apple saying.

srdashiki said:

i just got carried away.

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So I've noticed

Anyone remember Weekend Warrior by bungie, the VERY FIRST EVER first person 3D game on a mac (or am I wrong), they made that game to show off their engine and then sold it I believe, Bungie is a buncha whores (M$....)

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That would be Pathways Into Darkness.