PowerBook & eMac EOL'd?

[Diatribe]

Macbidouille posts that FNAC (largest multimedia shop in France) has declared the Powerbooks "End of Life". FNAC is also present in other European countries such as Spain.
There will be no new shipments of the old revisions once the stock is sold.

It won't be long obviously...

[gwuMACaddict]

NEW G5 POWERBOOKS ON TUESDAY!!!11




(hehehe- soon though... these guys were right before about things...)

[aricher]

I forsee revisions with the release of Tiger. March/April?

[binder520]

What about the idea of a Dual G4 Powerbook? Someone at HomeTheaterMac.com thinks that is the next big announcement for the Powerbook.

[BlackDan]

Originally Posted by binder520

What about the idea of a Dual G4 Powerbook? Someone at HomeTheaterMac.com thinks that is the next big announcement for the Powerbook.

That's my guess too. single chip, dual-core G4.

[James Craner]

Originally Posted by binder520

What about the idea of a Dual G4 Powerbook? Someone at HomeTheaterMac.com thinks that is the next big announcement for the Powerbook.

I highly doubt it, it would cut the battery life in half and add a lot of heat. Perhaps the 17" has enough room maybe. The dual core processor from Freescale is a more likely option than two processors, but I still only think we are going to get a G4 speed bump, with improved graphics card and a price reduction.

[KingArthur]

Originally Posted by James Craner

I highly doubt it, it would cut the battery life in half and add a lot of heat. Perhaps the 17" has enough room maybe. The dual core processor from Freescale is a more likely option than two processors, but I still only think we are going to get a G4 speed bump, with improved graphics card and a price reduction.

A dual processor design would not effectively cut battery life in half. The processor is only one of several energy consuming components. Screen/HD/graphics/optical drive are all large power drawers when intensively used (aside from screen which will draw power depending on how bright you make it). You may see an hour cut off of battery time (unless they were to get a larger battery), but that's probably it. Depending on how they set up power management for a design like that, I'm guessing they would enable massive processor voltage scale-backs when idle. I'm not saying a design would be remotely appealing for apple to impliment, but that's just my food for thought.

[James Craner]

Originally Posted by KingArthur

A dual processor design would not effectively cut battery life in half. The processor is only one of several energy consuming components. Screen/HD/graphics/optical drive are all large power drawers when intensively used (aside from screen which will draw power depending on how bright you make it). You may see an hour cut off of battery time (unless they were to get a larger battery), but that's probably it. Depending on how they set up power management for a design like that, I'm guessing they would enable massive processor voltage scale-backs when idle. I'm not saying a design would be remotely appealing for apple to impliment, but that's just my food for thought.

Agreed, I was being a bit flippant about the reduction in battery life, but I think we can agree that a second processor would result in an unacceptable reduction in battery life, unless Apple could do something dramatic to the battery capacity. The battery life on the current Powerbooks is exactly stunning at the moment. Plus you would have a lot more heat to deal with and they already generate a reasonable amount of heat now.

[darkwing]

I don't know if anyone's thought of it before, but it sounds to me like Apple is going to introduce the lame slightly faster powerbooks in a whole new chassis with a whole new look. Sales will go up because it's "cool" and the chassis can be used a bit down the road for the next generation hardware stuff.

Any thoughts?

Steven

[rendezvouscp]

Originally Posted by darkwing

I don't know if anyone's thought of it before, but it sounds to me like Apple is going to introduce the lame slightly faster powerbooks in a whole new chassis with a whole new look. Sales will go up because it's "cool" and the chassis can be used a bit down the road for the next generation hardware stuff.

Any thoughts?

Steven

This would cause confusion in the product line. Right now, you can easily look at a PowerBook and tell from what generation it was from. If they, say, used carbon fiber for the new PowerBook G4 they introduce soon and then use it again for the PowerBook G5, there would be some confusion amongst consumers. It wouldn't be a good idea, imo. And anyway, why would Apple want to show a new chassis just to use it later in the PowerBook G5?
-Chase

[MikeBike]

Originally Posted by darkwing

I don't know if anyone's thought of it before, but it sounds to me like Apple is going to introduce the lame slightly faster powerbooks in a whole new chassis with a whole new look. Sales will go up because it's "cool" and the chassis can be used a bit down the road for the next generation hardware stuff.

Historically, I don't think Apple has EOL'ed old powerbooks just for a speed bump.

So, it's either a DualCore G4 or a G5.
- Maybe IBM is ready with a cool running 970fx
or, FreeScale is ready with the Dual-Core G4.
In the past, Apple has released new Moto chips, and then Moto issues the press release. So, it's possible the G4 DualCore is now ready.

- Or, Apple is upgrading all powerbooks with a better graphics cpu.
- or, across the board much better FSB.

But, they've determined that the current crop of Powerbooks will not be desirable when the new ones are released.

- And, from previous president, the new models don't come out next week but could take up to a Month to show up.

Well, that's my 2 cents, I don't have to tell you to feel free to disagree.

[TheMasin9]

Originally Posted by MikeBike

Historically, I don't think Apple has EOL'ed old powerbooks just for a speed bump.

So, it's either a DualCore G4 or a G5.
- Maybe IBM is ready with a cool running 970fx
or, FreeScale is ready with the Dual-Core G4.
In the past, Apple has released new Moto chips, and then Moto issues the press release. So, it's possible the G4 DualCore is now ready.

- Or, Apple is upgrading all powerbooks with a better graphics cpu.
- or, across the board much better FSB.

But, they've determined that the current crop of Powerbooks will not be desirable when the new ones are released.

- And, from previous president, the new models don't come out next week but could take up to a Month to show up.

Well, that's my 2 cents, I don't have to tell you to feel free to disagree.

Apple prolly has some stock stacked up in the warehouses so that will carry them till whenever they release the new ones, i hope we dont see the same thing happen as did with the imacs last year.

[outerspaceapple]

wow, new powerbooks. THIS IS GREAT NEWS!

[Sikntwstd8]

I work at a CompUSA and we've been sold out of Powerbooks for about two weeks, and our Apple rep said no more were being shipped anytime soon.

[G5 Cluster]

\

Can someone please tell me, or give me an example, of when Apple said to the masses, "There will be no 'x' product released' and then Apple went and released it in several weeks or months?

They just stretched the truth pretty thin about the 60GB iPods. In the last days of August(or early September) someone from Apple went on record saying that 60GB iPods were not coming anytime soon. This was in reaction to the rumors of Apple taking delivery on 60GB drives. The iPod Photo 60GB shipped like 6 weeks later.

Also... Everyone here seems to be assuming an immediate PB rev. I think I recall previous Apple products being EOL'ed and the rev model not being introduced for months (MDD G4 comes to mind but I could be mistaken). What I am tring to say is that by the time Apple purges the existing inventory of G4 powerbooks it could be months from now. That would have precluded Jobs from talking about it at Macworld.

I'm guessing that we will see a PB G5 in April/May to coincide with the Tiger release.

[JRM]

TIMING AFTER MWSF = G4
NO KNOWLEDGE OF G5 PB specs = G4
END OF LINED = Something Bigger

Because when Apple usually update their product range to the suspected 1.5 and 1.7 G4, they just do it. They don't piss around EOLing something. Maybe the French have got it wrong like usual, maybe Apple is just EOLing the Superdrive eMac (meaning no longer exists) and updating. Because the last PB EOLing was when they got rid of the TiBooks and this would suggest a new factor form. Maybe as one guy already said, maybe Apple are changing the case to supplement an apparent lack of power, but it seems that the French are wrong and we will see 1.5's and 1.67's.

Because after all Stevie would have released the new PB at MWSF, it's a week later, now seriously, is it gonna happen NO maybe at WWDC

My tone may be negative but i too wait anxiously for the arrival of the PB G5.

[JRM]

What rev are we up to in the current PB range?

Because if we are up to (E) Apple could release the G5 G4. That's the only G5 we'll be gettin any time soon

[mim]

Originally Posted by JRM

Maybe the French have got it wrong like usual....

You've been taking Slashdot too seriously, where they love to bash the French. MacBidouille had a lot of informative and correct predictions for the original G5's.

Now they have said the Powerbooks are EOL'd, and I'll believe them on that. However EOL may mean a number of things - the old G3 iMacs were EOL'd to be replaced by new G3 iMacs (2000 Summer - 2001 models, for example).

The EOL will mean a significant update - but this might be better screen resolution, digital audio, dual-layer DVD burning, case update....you get the idea.

Just from memory, when we hear rumors of EOL'd products, it could be 4-6 weeks before we see updates (eg, the 2001 iMacs were released about 5 weeks after confirmation of EOL).

[billyboy]

We have to remember that even now in its supposedly olde worlde spec state, the Powerbook is one of Apple's biggest sellers. They would be daft to think they cant sell every single current Powerbook out there at a decent margin even when it is superceded by a new fangled version. The Titanium price didnt drop by very much if at all when the Aluminium versions came out.

I dont agree that Apple need to coincide the launch of a new PB with a major show. If Apple were to release some wizzy new Powerbook what would be more headline grabbing than the announcement of an extraordinary press conference (next Tuesday or whatever.) about an important hardware announcement. No cameras would be rolling, but imagine Enter stage right Steve Jobs with his latest PB under his arm, "Oh by the way, just this one thing...." The press coverage either side of that presentation would be massive enough to get the new PB show on the road.

[SiliconAddict]

Originally Posted by billyboy

We have to remember that even now in its supposedly olde worlde spec state, the Powerbook is one of Apple's biggest sellers.

LOL. Try again
Quarterly Earnings

Apple's PowerBook laptop sales were the biggest disappointment, falling 23 percent to $307 million. That category is most in need of an upgrade. Considering those notebook PCs currently use IBM's G4 microprocessors, a G5 chip, similar to those used in Apple's current desktop computers, would be a logical move.

Now I don't have spec numbers but this is 2nd quarter of '04's numbers:

* iBook: 201,000
* PowerBook: 157,000
* Power Macintosh: 174,000
* iMac/eMac: 217,000

and even then the PowerBook was getting thrashed by...well everything else. Looks go along way but somewhere along the way people are going to call BS on a underperforming peice of hardware. Now don’t get me wrong. I think the PowerBook is capable of doing everyday tasks. But its hardly a proconsumer category anymore esp when you consider that the Mac Mini is probably going to be in the same league as the 17” PowerBook when it comes to specs.

[BN Evans]

Come on guys! Let's be realistic and not live in a fantasy world!

1. There will be NO PowerBook G5's for some time yet! At WWDC this summer at the earliest. I suspect, possibly, not even then.

2. So, expect updated PB G4s to be announced soon (probably next week). Speedbumps of 1.5Ghz to 1.7Ghz. Probably higher VRAM. Possibly 512MB RAM as standard across the board with the exception of the PB 12". And modest price cuts. Nothing too sexy I'm afraid. But PB's are overpriced at the moment so the price drop will be welcome.

3. As for the eMac, I reckon we will see a long-overdue update next week. The eMac will NOT house a G5 processor! It will remain with a G4. Expect a modest speedbump of 1.33Ghz to 1.5Ghz. vRAM will remain at 32MB and with same card. Probably a better CRT screen, however (higher refresh rate etc.). Price to either remain the same or a modest drop.

When? I reckon next Tuesday or early in February.

[evilernie]

Originally Posted by BN Evans

2. So, expect updated PB G4s to be announced soon (probably next week). Speedbumps of 1.5Ghz to 1.7Ghz. Probably higher VRAM. Possibly 512MB RAM as standard across the board with the exception of the PB 12". And modest price cuts. Nothing too sexy I'm afraid. But PB's are overpriced at the moment so the price drop will be welcome.

VERY welcome. Although, I'd be surprised if they drop the prices much, if at all, because then there would be no reason to get the iBook (unless they drop the prices on those as well )

[wamadej]

just read this about the new mini...

"but is also the first Macintosh to ship with support for a new breed of SuperDrive that now also supports DVD±R/RW media"

new SuperDrive in the powerbook maybe?

[chaos86]

Originally Posted by wamadej

just read this about the new mini...

"but is also the first Macintosh to ship with support for a new breed of SuperDrive that now also supports DVD±R/RW media"

new SuperDrive in the powerbook maybe?

new breed of superdrive in emac and powerbook = new sku = old sku EOLd