Year of High Definition: Powerbook HD?

nutmac said:

At MWSF, Steve Jobs called 2005 a year of High Definition (HD). Could that be a subtle hint towards PowerBook with HD display (1920x1200)? Mac OS X "Tiger" is expected to sport resolution independent UI (we don't know yet how complete the support will be, however) so it seems entirely plausible. Then again, may be not.

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The resolution independent UI support is partial, and apps that use custom controls may well need tweeks to support it. It is not going to be exposed to the user in Tiger (Apple have confirmed this). It is selectable via Quartz Debug (part of the developer tools).

I would love a higher resolution 15" PB though.

I may be wrong, but Apple seems pretty stuck on the 100dpi "sweet spot" for LCD screens.

I htink the only way we'd see a Powerbook HD is if it's go the 20" LCD in it, which I don't think will happen -- esp if they're still having power issues with the G5. No one wants a Powerbook w/ a 90-minute battery life.

ChrisBrightwell said:

No one wants a Powerbook w/ a 90-minute battery life.

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If no one wanted a 90-minute battery life notebook, then who buys the 2-inch thick Dell and HP/Compaqs. I think Apple could sacrafice battery life for performance. Most high-performance PC notebooks get about an hour with processor running at full speed.

Hi. I'm clueless.

Whenever I look at the resolution of HDTVs, they seem pretty pitiful by computer display standards, so why is it that virtually every modern monitor is not capable of HD?

ChrisBrightwell said:

I may be wrong, but Apple seems pretty stuck on the 100dpi "sweet spot" for LCD screens.

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Where can I read up on the screens they seem like higher rez.

carlos700 said:

If no one wanted a 90-minute battery life notebook, then who buys the 2-inch thick Dell and HP/Compaqs. I think Apple could sacrafice battery life for performance. Most high-performance PC notebooks get about an hour with processor running at full speed.

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Two things:

1. I said Powerbook. Not notebook. Not laptop. One of the big selling points, for me, on the Powerbook, is the battery life. I get 4-5 hrs regularly.

2. The biggest screen drain on a notebook/laptop is lighting up the screen. WiFi and Bluetooth pull in a close second, I'd imagine, alongside the hard drive and optical drive. I'm not sure what the drain is on the 23" LCD, but I'd say it's pretty heavy.

Besides -- enough people bitch about how massive the 17" Powerbook is. I really don't think there's a market for a laptop w/ a 23" display.

nutmac said:

At MWSF, Steve Jobs called 2005 a year of High Definition (HD). Could that be a subtle hint towards PowerBook with HD display (1920x1200)? Mac OS X "Tiger" is expected to sport resolution independent UI (we don't know yet how complete the support will be, however) so it seems entirely plausible. Then again, may be not.

Click to expand...

I was just thinking the same thing https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=1222419#post1222419

ChrisBrightwell said:

Two things:

1. I said Powerbook. Not notebook. Not laptop. One of the big selling points, for me, on the Powerbook, is the battery life. I get 4-5 hrs regularly.

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Which powerbook do you have?
What do you do with your powerbook get this kind of battery life?
With my Powerbook Aluminum 15" I never got over 3 and half hours.
That's including watching movies (DvD or DivX).

SuperChuck said:

Whenever I look at the resolution of HDTVs, they seem pretty pitiful by computer display standards, so why is it that virtually every modern monitor is not capable of HD?

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HDTV is pretty pitiful by computer display standards. You can display four HD videos at full-resolution on an Apple 30" display. As to your second question, I am not what you mean. If your monitor can display at least 720 horizontal lines, then it can display HDTV. Many HD sources feature computer displays among their output ports.

MisterMe said:

HDTV is pretty pitiful by computer display standards. You can display four HD videos at full-resolution on an Apple 30" display. As to your second question, I am not what you mean. If your monitor can display at least 720 horizontal lines, then it can display HDTV. Many HD sources feature computer displays among their output ports.

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Well, then isn't my powerbook already HD?

SuperChuck said:

Whenever I look at the resolution of HDTVs, they seem pretty pitiful by computer display standards, so why is it that virtually every modern monitor is not capable of HD?

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Most, if not all, HDTVs only display 720 pixels vertically. HDTVs coming out this year using the HD3+ chip from Texas Instruments for their DLP line of HDTVs will be able to resolve the full 1080 specification.

An Apple 20" is capable of displaying 720P HDTV video at full resolution.
An Apple 23" is capable of displaying 1080i or 1080P HDTV at full resolution.

Mr. G4 said:

Which powerbook do you have?
What do you do with your powerbook get this kind of battery life?
With my Powerbook Aluminum 15" I never got over 3 and half hours.
That's including watching movies (DvD or DivX).

Click to expand...

See sig for specs.

I do a *lot* of note-taking and Java/C++ dev w/ school. Until recently, I'd turn off AE and BT, mute the speakers, take the optical disc out of the drive, and knock LCD brightness down to 4/16 or 8/16. We have WiFi scattered across campus, so I'll be using that in class where I can.

Under "normal" use (iTunes, WiFi, iChat, maybe a DVD), I get 2.5-3 hrs. If I'm spinning a DVD the whole time, I get 2 hrs.