G5 Powerbook *still* the mother of all thermal challenges

Not to mention...

The power requirements for any of the G5 chips - don't think a battery life of 2 hours would impress me too much!
I agree with the general view of this thread. I think it will take some time, and considering the PB range got upgraded (pretty significantly) last January (3 months ago), I doubt another upgrade will be availiabe in the next 6 months or so.
Although, you could also argue the slight speed bump is the last-minute ploy to see all the old models before introducing the machine every Mac user will drool over!....

Thats simply not correct.

The mother of all thermal challenges is keeping my Eagle Vision from overheating on the way to work once the temperature hits 70 degrees.

Once that hurdle is cleared, we can begin looking forward to G5 PBs.

Mr. Durden said:

Thats simply not correct.

The mother of all thermal challenges is keeping my Eagle Vision from overheating on the way to work once the temperature hits 70 degrees.

Once that hurdle is cleared, we can begin looking forward to G5 PBs.

Click to expand...

what about runnig your PB G5 on your way to work when the temperature hits 70 degrees?

i think the rep was hinting that we are never going to see a G5 in a powerbook. so long as we see a new generation of powerbooks before 2006, i don't care if we don't get a G5 pbook

Have faith...

wide said:

i think the rep was hinting that we are never going to see a G5 in a powerbook. so long as we see a new generation of powerbooks before 2006, i don't care if we don't get a G5 pbook

Click to expand...

I don't think he was: hence "mother of all .. challenges" - sounds like a quote like: "Everest - the mother of all mountaineering challenges".
You don't call something a challenge, if it's something you're not (already) going to have a go at. I have faith that a G5 (or equivalent) PB will come into being at some point, but right now i'm thinking the chip manufacturers maybe the ones that have to innovate!

They got it into a 2" thick piece of plastic already didn't they? With a screen and speakers ans such! It's not a major leap to imagine that system squashed together with a battery shoved in and a kyboard and trackpad (the only things the iMac really needed). And that system optimised (different components) so that the battery lasts long enough to meet demad, is it?

wide said:

i think the rep was hinting that we are never going to see a G5 in a powerbook. so long as we see a new generation of powerbooks before 2006, i don't care if we don't get a G5 pbook

Click to expand...

Since for most things a G4 and a G5 at the same clock speed will run almost all applications at about the same speed. So a dual core G4 would be the logical next step when Freescale has them ready.

How many people would put more than 2 gigs of RAM in a laptop anyway? More ram would shorten battery life anyway.

James Philp said:

I don't think he was: hence "mother of all .. challenges" - sounds like a quote like: "Everest - the mother of all mountaineering challenges".
You don't call something a challenge, if it's something you're not (already) going to have a go at. I have faith that a G5 (or equivalent) PB will come into being at some point, but right now i'm thinking the chip manufacturers maybe the ones that have to innovate!

Click to expand...

Agree. It's a challenge...it will be done. And I stiill have faith (small, but it's there) that the G5 PB will be out by the end of the year (of course it won't be shipped till 6 months later!). It's a challenge, but not a failure.

Yeah, this statement means absolutely nothing. He would have said the same thing regardless of whether the PB G5 is coming out tomorrow or next year.

Bear said:

Since for most things a G4 and a G5 at the same clock speed will run almost all applications at about the same speed. So a dual core G4 would be the logical next step when Freescale has them ready.

How many people would put more than 2 gigs of RAM in a laptop anyway? More ram would shorten battery life anyway.

Click to expand...

I was wondering when someone would bring this up. The GH4 still has lots of life left in it one way or another. At least till we see what Tiger does to it.

Fredstar said:

Noone needs more than 2gig ram in a laptop, but more ram means hd spins less hence more battery life

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that with the PB's they serve well as desktop replacements when compared to their PC brethren IMO. 2gb RAM in all PB's (as a minimum capablity) would set the PB line apart from the also ran's.

Chip NoVaMac said:

Keep in mind that with the PB's they serve well as desktop replacements when compared to their PC brethren IMO. 2gb RAM in all PB's (as a minimum capablity) would set the PB line apart from the also ran's.

Click to expand...

Very true. My PowerBook travels, but it also lives on a desk for a few hours a day. It does nicely.

James Philp said:

The power requirements for any of the G5 chips - don't think a battery life of 2 hours would impress me too much!

Click to expand...

What are you talking about? G4 powerbooks only get 2.5 hours battery life! I just got a new one... thinking the battery would last longer than my old Ti800. Nope! 2 hrs in heavy use, 2.5 otherwise.

If any of you claim to get 4.5 hours of battery life out of your powerbooks, your lying. The functionality of a powerbook w/4.5hrs of batterylife is this: a 5lbs warming paperwieght.

Converted2Truth said:

What are you talking about? G4 powerbooks only get 2.5 hours battery life! I just got a new one... thinking the battery would last longer than my old Ti800. Nope! 2 hrs in heavy use, 2.5 otherwise.

If any of you claim to get 4.5 hours of battery life out of your powerbooks, your lying. The functionality of a powerbook w/4.5hrs of batterylife is this: a 5lbs warming paperwieght.

Click to expand...

You either have a bad battery or you don't know how to conserve power.

With maximum battery life settings in Energy Saver, the LCD significantly dimmed, AirPort and Bluetooth off, sound off... I have easily gotten 3 1/2-4 hours on my old 15". Haven't experimented much with my new one.

More RAM will also improve battery life, as well as a 5400rpm drive...

Actually...

Converted2Truth said:

What are you talking about? G4 powerbooks only get 2.5 hours battery life! I just got a new one... thinking the battery would last longer than my old Ti800. Nope! 2 hrs in heavy use, 2.5 otherwise.

If any of you claim to get 4.5 hours of battery life out of your powerbooks, your lying. The functionality of a powerbook w/4.5hrs of batterylife is this: a 5lbs warming paperwieght.

Click to expand...

When I first bought my PB (G3 Pismo 500MHz), running things like word processors and things I could get 5H out of it! (about 2-2.5 watching a DVD- which for this machine is maxing out!) - Try turning your screen brightness right down and not using the dvd drive - you'll get quite a bit out!

So what am i talking about? A machine that will run down simply operating the finder for 2 hours. - You seen the power consumption of the iMac G5? 110W Compared to the PB G4 <17W! Nearly an order of magnitude difference! That's what i'm talking about! - A machine that when even idle, will consume 8 times the power and therefore get 8 times less time up with current battery technologies.

BTW a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 consules 149W compared with a Dual 1.8 that consumes 117W - so processor really counts!

(These figures were found by finding the "Environmental attributes listing" for a 17" iMac G5 and 17" PB G4 (go to page 4 of hese documents at the top) that are found here.
Quite a good URL anyway - kinda tucked away!)

P.S. After 4 years or so, i now get 1 1/2 hours from my battery if i'm lucky - and i'm not including using the drive.

I just don't buy it anymore. Hell, I haven't since the 970FX came out. I think they want/have to still with G4s in the PowerBooks for some other reason, and just blame it on heat.

Maybe they're obligated to buy however many of the dual core G4s, and so couldn't put a G5 in it, and then back down to a G4 for marketing reasons. I don't know.

However it is, I call shenanigans.

Mechcozmo said:

Very true. My PowerBook travels, but it also lives on a desk for a few hours a day. It does nicely.

Click to expand...

Back when everyone was speculating on the Mac mini, I threatened to post pictures of my PB 12" as the Mac mini...

MarkCollette said:

I just don't buy it anymore. Hell, I haven't since the 970FX came out. I think they want/have to still with G4s in the PowerBooks for some other reason, and just blame it on heat.

Maybe they're obligated to buy however many of the dual core G4s, and so couldn't put a G5 in it, and then back down to a G4 for marketing reasons. I don't know.

However it is, I call shenanigans.

Click to expand...

Well, one never knows!! There is nothing like a good conspiracy theory. I completely understand where you are coming from though. The G5 has been in desktops for almost 2 years and was in development before that. Hopefully this 970GX will fix this lack of G5 PowerBook thing.

they also thought the G4 was to hot for a laptop when the G4's first came out --- then they made is smaller and sleeker and the new standard in portable computing ...

nothing is impossible ... improbable, often; unlikely, usually; but not impossible

it'll take time ... i was holding my breath, personally ... my sawtooth is stick kicking, sorta -- i want a laptop though, i do a lot of work in the field, and hate working in an office, my main work is photography, and my art is video <- i colaborate with a lot of talented guys that know what they want, but don't have the technical know how ... i like having the laptop there on the spot to do what they want me to do so that their vision is actualized.

pus when i work with sound guys, i can see exactly how everything is going to come together without any guess work

plus if i have a project going, sometimes i feel uncreative, and i need to get out somewhere ... go for a walk, i throw everything in a back pack and ... go then when i get an idea, i can do it right away -- sometimes writing it down it looses it's effect by the time you get to the machine again.

woah ... definitely went off on a tangent there

anyway ... some form of 64 bit processor will be in a laptop ... it might not be called G5 ...but it's the future.

dferrara said:

With maximum battery life settings in Energy Saver, the LCD significantly dimmed, AirPort and Bluetooth off, sound off... I have easily gotten 3 1/2-4 hours on my old 15". Haven't experimented much with my new one.

Click to expand...

Taking away wireless capabilities and making the screen dim reduces functionality. I want a fully functional laptop with 4 hours of battery life.

That said, maybe the goal for the powerbook isn't battery life. That's the iBook's job. The powerbook is more of a mobile workstation.

Chip NoVaMac's comment kinda random? anyway..... I remember when everyone was speculating on the G5 powerbook last august and november. Everyone was predicting Q1 of 2005 as like a sure thing, and now were saying next year? I think apple needs to step their development up a notch and we need to stop just sayin things that we dont know about.... 90% of the rumors I hear are wrong ussually.

cant wait to see the heat I get for this one...

o, and I also call shinanegans!

edit- P.S. Im planing on buying a powerbook shortly, any rumors on any bumps in the next few months or can I buy now? lol, but seriously

The guy at the apple store told me that the 2.5 GHz Powermac G5's would at times consume up to 700watts! And he also said, that in order to put that type of power into a Notebook, it would have to be two inches thick...just like the imac. And, in my opinion a 1.8Ghz iMac G5, really isn't that much faster than a 1.67Ghz G4. So, all in all, don't be expecting a powerbook G5 anytime soon, unless IBM proforms a miracle.

Waste of time

IBM will simply have to design a separate G5 mobile processor to work in a laptop. The G5 won't work for heat, size on enclosure, and battery life reasons. It's just a waste of time trying to make it work.