Powerbook 1.67Ghz G4 for Christmas

you can always get a yourself an MBP and courier your dinosaur to me....

Atreides said:

I Doubt I am the only one who bought a G4 Powerbook for christmas.
I Doubt I am the only one with a bitter aftertaste in their mouth.

Typical Apple.

Sadly enough, im happy with the machine, but it does take some shine off my new toy.

What really sh*ts me off though is that they rub it in my face about how much faster the new Intel machine is compared to my Dinosaur...

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Well you're not the only one, tech guru Kevin Rose did the same thing, somebody even made a site showcasing his "novice mistake".

You should enjoy that machine. It is a fabulous one IMO. Why not enjoy your new machine. With Macworld in January there is always a risk that there will be new product. If you bought it for yourself, which I have done before during the holidays, I can really relate to your feelings, but if someone else bought it for you, I say just enjoy the heck out of it. This transition to Intel is a big thing for Apple, they would be unwise to not tout the virutes of their new machines. But I have been in this boat with you before, I know how you feel.

Faster this, faster that. It is all B.S. Is the 40 seconds a day that the MacBook Pro going to save you that big a deal? The PowerBook is tried, true, and solid. Don't fall into the marketing scheme of major companies. Yea, it is 3x faster. But under Rosetta it is slower.

Be happy with what you have. You still have IMO the most bad ass laptop on the planet.

Atreides said:

... Sadly enough, im happy with the machine, but it does take some shine off my new toy.

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That is an understandable reaction to the introduction of something new soon after a purchase, but I would not refer to what you have as a dinosaur. It is a highly regarded computer and will do what you ask of it. When you bought it, you likely had given a decent amount of thought to the selection ... view it in the context of why you wanted it in the first place. Most, if not all, of that reasoning is as valid today as it was Christmas week. Enjoy it and do not let MBP envy swallow you whole.

You shouldnt take those apple benchmarks too literal. Just like they only mentioned the benchmarks that suited the G4 (Photoshop!), they now only mention those that suit the Core Duo (Cinebench!)
The SPEC benchmarks are very doubtfull as a reference as well as intel processors are benchmarked with highly optimised compilers. I've heard from people more informed that the compiler advantage probably is between 20 and 40 %.

Concerning the benchmarks: with Floating Point intense applications like rendering the difference is around 300%. On the other hand, the Yonah performs roughly equal, perhaps slightly faster as the G4 on photoshop applications. Dual core also doesnt mean 200% faster on many occasions, so in reality, i expect benchmarks to show a performance difference in most applications varying from 150% - 300%. Rosetta applications may be even slower in some particular case. Still a decent performance difference, but not what Apple is claiming.

To be honoust, i don't understand why Apple needs to exaggerate when there already is a clear performance difference. It can only make people more suspicious of future claims, even if they are true.

Atreides said:

Yeah, ok.

I agree with you all. It does exactly what I bought it for and im very happy with it still.

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This thread begs the question...

Have you hugged your Powerbook G4 today?

it was really cold... so I have hugged my powerbook.

$

i got an ibook for christmas and couldnt care less about the macbook. I love my ibook it reminds me of a big fat ipod =D

Atreides said:

I Doubt I am the only one who bought a G4 Powerbook for christmas.
I Doubt I am the only one with a bitter aftertaste in their mouth.

Typical Apple.

Sadly enough, im happy with the machine, but it does take some shine off my new toy.

What really sh*ts me off though is that they rub it in my face about how much faster the new Intel machine is compared to my Dinosaur...

Click to expand...

So you didnt know that MacWorld happens in January?

First rule of Apple: Never buy anything before Macworld.
The PB is still a great machine. Sell it if you are really that
upset about it.

skubish said:

First rule of Apple: Never buy anything before Macworld.
The PB is still a great machine. Sell it if you are really that
upset about it.

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Sell it? Does it have lines??

*ducks flying keyboards*

skubish said:

First rule of Apple: Never buy anything before Macworld.
The PB is still a great machine. Sell it if you are really that
upset about it.

Click to expand...

Second rule of Apple: Never buy anything before Macworld.

Apple should have a link to macrumors out of common courtesy to newbies.

I'll be honest. If I was considering a 'Book today, I would actually be somewhat hesitant to buy a MacBook Pro. For one thing, there is going to be a long period of time (at least 6 months or so) where most everything has to be run in Rosetta, making it slow. Also, it's a rev. A product, and there are likely bugs to be worked out. The PowerBook on the other hand is a well-established design, and can run all the Mac software currently out there without emulation. It will easily last you 2 or 3 more years. I'm using a 12" 1.33 GHz PowerBook G4, and don't plan to replace it with an Intel machine until at least rev. B, probably rev. C.

There is always something newer and better right around the corner. My Power Mac dual 1.8 G5 was discontinued about a month after I bought it, and the the Final Cut Pro apps were updated right after that. I don't care because I used the "obsolete" machine and "old" software to do a huge DVD authoring project, and have used it and am still using it to make money. It does everything I expected it to do when I bought it, and for that reason, there is nothing to be unhappy about.

mduser63 said:

The PowerBook on the other hand is a well-established design, and can run all the Mac software currently out there without emulation.

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I have to disagree. Not with most of what you say only with the quoted bit. I have bought a MacBook Pro because I want Aperture and Final Cut Pro and I want a laptop... the PB 15" cannot do these apps justice whereas the MBP will do when the Universals are released.

If I wait until the Universals are released in March to order the MBP, then I will have a long wait (just a guess).

So my question is how long before they upgrade the MBP? Summer? Fall? When when when? I'm this {--} close to buying one.

MacsomJRR said:

So my question is how long before they upgrade the MBP? Summer? Fall? When when when? I'm this {--} close to buying one.

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I can't imagine it would be too quick unless something happens in Feb and the initial MBPs are duds. Not only do they have the other size Powerbooks to transition, they still have to transition iBooks, Mac minis, and PowerMacs. I imagine they'll ride the success of the iMac and MBP through the updates of the others and then look at a new form factor for the MBP. Get the technology in first, then give them a new look to match the new name. I'd guess Fall at the earliest.

I bought a new powerbook the day they came out in October knowing very well there would be intel versions right around the corner. I don't regret my decision one bit.

Cheer up! The new one doesn't ship till Feburary, and with the huge backlog let's just say it won't be until March before most get their new blazing MacBook Pros, by then you would have enjoyed your 1.67Ghz G4 for almost 3 months!

Yes the powerbook G4 is well established enough to have a scanline problem.

The funny thing is that in the PC world things get old ALOT faster than we are used to. Your PowerBook isn't any worse, slower or less great today than it was a week ago. Why isn't every PC user with a laptop they got for christmas with a single-core processor screaming and crying that "Acer brought a dualcore version of this just two weeks after I bought this!"? Because that's the way it goes and that's the way it's gonna be for us Mac users from now on. In the x86 world people are used to it.

X86 develops so much faster than G5/G4's did.