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wakedog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2003
15
0
MA
This is not based on any actual information, just speculation and me thinking about some things tossed around by some sites and people on the message boards.

At first I thought all signs pointed to the new powerbooks coming out in September based on the promotions currently being run, but then I got to thinking. Mainly, Siggraph is next week, a huge digital creative conference, and the new Powerbooks are likely to be only upgrades to newer G4s.

To me, this might indicate a shift in release dates sooner from Sept, or August, in that, there may not be a need for a major roll out on an upgrade. Siggraph may be enough of an event to highlight the new PBs without any keynote. The other thing this would allow Apple to do is to capture the back-to-school market, and they could roll into Mac World Paris in full force with the new G5 and the new powerbook line.

Well, I wouldn't be suprised at least if we start to see the updates to the powerbooks sooner, even if they are only orderable, not shippable. I'm beginning to think that the August timeframe may be the ship date and the "release" date may be sooner. Let's hope so at least. I can deal with not having a powerbook until August but not knowing what may be coming down the pipeline is really frustrating when your trying to put together a decent portable digital video editing station.

-Keeping my fingers crossed-
 

gopher

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2002
1,475
0
Maryland, USA
Re: 15" Powerbook Tomorrow... or next week at least

Originally posted by wakedog
This is not based on any actual information, just speculation and me thinking about some things tossed around by some sites and people on the message boards.

At first I thought all signs pointed to the new powerbooks coming out in September based on the promotions currently being run, but then I got to thinking. Mainly, Siggraph is next week, a huge digital creative conference, and the new Powerbooks are likely to be only upgrades to newer G4s.

To me, this might indicate a shift in release dates sooner from Sept, or August, in that, there may not be a need for a major roll out on an upgrade. Siggraph may be enough of an event to highlight the new PBs without any keynote. The other thing this would allow Apple to do is to capture the back-to-school market, and they could roll into Mac World Paris in full force with the new G5 and the new powerbook line.

Well, I wouldn't be suprised at least if we start to see the updates to the powerbooks sooner, even if they are only orderable, not shippable. I'm beginning to think that the August timeframe may be the ship date and the "release" date may be sooner. Let's hope so at least. I can deal with not having a powerbook until August but not knowing what may be coming down the pipeline is really frustrating when your trying to put together a decent portable digital video editing station.

-Keeping my fingers crossed-

I wouldn't hold my breath. Apple has a 10 day policy on reduced prices if a newer model comes out that drops the prices of the older model http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#Apple Prices

Read that carefully as that does offer a little bit of price protection. I'd be really surprised if a newer Powerbook came out sooner than September, and potentially October. The 7457s are third quarter according to prior rumors, and that doesn't end till September. Apple doesn't usually ship items until the end of the quarters, or so it has seemed. They want to test these to make sure they are functional before delivering them to the public.
 

AHDuke99

macrumors 68020
Nov 14, 2002
2,288
86
Charleston, SC
I really hope its Siggraph or tomorrow if they roll out the Bluetooth mice. I doubt that they'll wait til Paris. It'll be for Panther, iMac updates,a dn others. Mid-August maybe if not Siggraph.
 

jbomber

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2003
549
0
Brooklyn - NYC
didn't siggraph almost shut down a while back? it's not much of a venue for announcing anything new. I highly doubt that apple will make that their launch pad.

sorry. i'm just jaded. i know apple's not going to release anything until i put down money to buy a 17" or a (shudder) Dell.
way too many "today's the day, i can feel it!" posts in the past 7 MONTHS.... :(
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
Originally posted by jbomber
didn't siggraph almost shut down a while back? it's not much of a venue for announcing anything new. I highly doubt that apple will make that their launch pad.

sorry. i'm just jaded. i know apple's not going to release anything until i put down money to buy a 17" or a (shudder) Dell.
way too many "today's the day, i can feel it!" posts in the past 7 MONTHS.... :(

amen.
 

beefcake

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2003
257
0
Baltimore
I ordered a TiBook on Tuesday, so if the new PB's come out tomorrow, then I'll just have to wait a bit longer. However, if pink elephants don't fly, I'll be glad to get my TiBook at the beginning of next week.
 

daveL

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2003
2,425
0
Montana
Originally posted by beefcake
I ordered a TiBook on Tuesday, so if the new PB's come out tomorrow, then I'll just have to wait a bit longer. However, if pink elephants don't fly, I'll be glad to get my TiBook at the beginning of next week.
I bought a TiBook the day the latest rev came out (2 Nov '02), fully configed, and I love it; you won't be disappointed. Plus, Panther is showing good speed improvements, so your TiBook will feel even better when you upgrade!
 

Rezet

macrumors 6502a
Yeah, You will get 15" PB update soon... lol
 

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vollspacken

macrumors 65816
Oct 17, 2002
1,130
0
Boogie-Down Berlintown
Originally posted by daveL
I bought a TiBook the day the latest rev came out (2 Nov '02), fully configed, and I love it; you won't be disappointed. Plus, Panther is showing good speed improvements, so your TiBook will feel even better when you upgrade!

that's what I did, too and I'm so happy with my purchase... :)

oh, and I still think that the titanium 'book looks better than the alu one... well if you speculate on a gfx update and airport extreme I guess you'll have to wait, otherwise get a tiBook, it's a nice machine.

vSpacken
 

MCPeck

macrumors member
Jul 17, 2003
44
0
Just a scary thought...

We can all agree that Apple has adopted a marketing policy of 'see it now, have it later', right?

I see 2 if's derived from this...

1 if. If apple releases news of a new powerbook line (updates to all or some) either this friday, or next month, or in september, how long would we have to wait to get them in our greedy hands? 2-4 months like previous releases? That puts the physical release near the holidays or even next year! :eek:

2 if. If Apple doesn't say a word, and does a physical release in September which I think will be the case... it throws off the previous Apple marketing scheme and adds to thousands of future threads trying to descern how much acid Jobs is doing and when their G7 PowerMac is comming!

It's a cruel, cruel world of 'ifs'...

Yes, Jobs did acid...... :D
 

jbomber

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2003
549
0
Brooklyn - NYC
Originally posted by MCPeck
Just a scary thought...

We can all agree that Apple has adopted a marketing policy of 'see it now, have it later', right?

Dunno about that. They definitely needed to do that with the G5 because it was brand new and the perfect opportunity came for them to spill the beans. An update to the powerbooks isnt quite at the same level so it's entirely possibly they'll just be introduced and ready to roll at the same time.
 

wakedog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2003
15
0
MA
This is getting to be too much. I'm trying to build a decent video editing platform, and at the same time have a portable computer, but I've been waiting on this 15" update for something like 5 months and it's just taking too long.

Cost wise, it's looking like it's going to be cheaper to get faster/new equipment if I build my own P4 system running Avid Xpress DV. I don't want to drop a grand on a piece of software, and I'd much rather have a laptop, but I'm quickly building up a stack of footage that needs to be editted and running out of time to do it in. Plus buying into a platform now that's only going to be updated in the next few months doesn't seem to make sense, especially when it comes with older technology like USB1.1, Firewire 400 and DVD-R 2x, when there is 2.0, 800 and 4x already available on the PC market.

I really hope Apple gets on the ball with this release, because if it goes past the first week of August or so, I may just cave in, build a new PC, and wait until the G5 powerbooks next year to get a laptop.

I know good things come to those that wait, but Apple, I've tried so hard to 'switch' and you're not making it any easier. I don't think a spec release of the new models is anything too difficult to come up with soon even if you can't ship the models for another month or so, and that's all I'm asking to invest in your company!
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Jan 23, 2002
6,485
1,571
East Coast
Originally posted by wakedog
Plus buying into a platform now that's only going to be updated in the next few months doesn't seem to make sense, especially when it comes with older technology like USB1.1, Firewire 400 and DVD-R 2x, when there is 2.0, 800 and 4x already available on the PC market.
Actually, the Powerbooks have 1x DVD-R's. Are there any laptops out there that have 2x or 4x DVD-burners?
 

DrGonzo

macrumors member
Jan 7, 2003
83
0
Originally posted by wakedog
This is getting to be too much. I'm trying to build a decent video editing platform, and at the same time have a portable computer, but I've been waiting on this 15" update for something like 5 months and it's just taking too long.

Cost wise, it's looking like it's going to be cheaper to get faster/new equipment if I build my own P4 system running Avid Xpress DV. I don't want to drop a grand on a piece of software, and I'd much rather have a laptop, but I'm quickly building up a stack of footage that needs to be editted and running out of time to do it in.

I really hope Apple gets on the ball with this release, because if it goes past the first week of August or so, I may just cave in, build a new PC, and wait until the G5 powerbooks next year to get a laptop.

You COULD build a real cheap AMD system or if you really wanted P4 (2.4c is a good contender,i have p4, and it works great and they overclock like an olympic sprinter on drugs) you could build one relatively cheap and edit your video on that and then either keep the machine or sell it to a family/friend/ebay. You could easily build a machine that suits your needs for well under a grand, unless of course you need a nice 21" screen or something. I built a nice athlon system awhile ago for a friend and it was only like $600 at the time and it was quite fast, though i'm sure you know all this.

Plus really, will usb2 and fw800 help you that much? I could see fw800 becoming big w/ ext. hd enclosures, though usb2 i'm a little miffed about, most pc users are brainwashed into thinking usb2 is better than even fw400. Anyways i think a TI Book 1g will do what you want, but there is the looming aspect of having an Alubook released within the next two months. At this point we're all in limbo.
 

wakedog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2003
15
0
MA
"...but this is an Apple version so it's automatically good." shutup please


HAHA - So true. I really try to look at a computer as a tool, and so many people who do mac, are brainwashed into this 'mac always good, pc always bad' mentality. nice to see someone who has similar thoughts to my own.

Yeah, I'm quickly giving up on the Powerbooks. Building a new P4 with a lot of added on goodies (P4 2.4C, DVD burner, Dual Raided SATA drives, etc), AND Avid Xpress DV will cost me around 1700 while a new PB will cost me about 2500. The person who posted right before you may have put the nail in the coffin with the 1xDVD-R info on the powerbooks, something I could not put up with.

I was really going with macs because Final Cut Express seems to be more of the level of editing I need than the AVID Xpress $1000 DV package whose sound editing sounds horrendous, and I'd rather spend that grand making my computer portable. One plus of going AVID now is that if I do get a future powerbook, Xpress DV comes with both WinXP and OSX versions in the same box, so it would be cross compatible, a nice touch.

Well, more to think about I guess. Thanks guys.
 

DrGonzo

macrumors member
Jan 7, 2003
83
0
Yah exactly to the mac part.

ANyways, I don't see why you need to spend even $1700 on a desktop. With firewire HD speed is less important (especially with the 7200rpm 8mb cache drives out) and more ram would be better (imo). Plus you'll be able to get a pioneer a06 or 05 if you wanted for WELL under $300. As you know there are lots of different options. I would just spend less now especially if you want a laptop down the road.
 

illumin8

macrumors 6502
Apr 20, 2003
427
0
East Coast, US
Originally posted by wakedog
I was really going with macs because Final Cut Express seems to be more of the level of editing I need than the AVID Xpress $1000 DV package whose sound editing sounds horrendous, and I'd rather spend that grand making my computer portable. One plus of going AVID now is that if I do get a future powerbook, Xpress DV comes with both WinXP and OSX versions in the same box, so it would be cross compatible, a nice touch.
Has anyone on this board used both FCP 4 and Avid Xpress DV that can comment on the benefits of each software package? I'm in the same boat of wanting to buy a video editing package soon. I have a top of the line Dell and a PowerMac G5 on order, so I can pick either platform. Up until now I was leaning towards FCP 4, but getting both the Windows and Mac versions in one box sounds like a winning solution, even though Avid is more expensive.

I guess I can't really hope for unbiased opinions (this is macrumors after all), but would anyone care to comment?

Thanks!
 

actionslacks

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2003
129
0
LA
Originally posted by illumin8
Has anyone on this board used both FCP 4 and Avid Xpress DV that can comment on the benefits of each software package? I'm in the same boat of wanting to buy a video editing package soon. I have a top of the line Dell and a PowerMac G5 on order, so I can pick either platform. Up until now I was leaning towards FCP 4, but getting both the Windows and Mac versions in one box sounds like a winning solution, even though Avid is more expensive.

I guess I can't really hope for unbiased opinions (this is macrumors after all), but would anyone care to comment?

Thanks!

I am using both and they are both great. it depends on what you need and what you might want to do with it in the future. I will try to give you an unbiased report.

AVID DV
- Best editing interface hands down. Best DV editing software available.
- Has trouble connecting to some cameras (Canon XL1) for digitizing.
- DV ONLY. If you ever want to work with anything other than DV, Avid offers you solutions starting at around... $25,000.

FCP 4
- Media Management system can be a little confusing and not as well organized as an AVID.
- Best attribute: It is totally scalable and you can use it with any type of media.
- Has no problem connecting to anything from DV cameras to Digibeta decks.
- If you decide you want to move from DV to a professional system you can scale up for about...$ 2000 http://www.aja.com

My advice: FCP 4 with a g5 is pretty hard to beat for the price. Plus you can run Avid DV Express on it to!

But... get the right tool for the right job. If you just want to edit DV for a hobby - maybe a wintel box with DV Express is a better value.
 
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