New PowerBooks this Week?

[MacRumors]

PowerPage claims that Apple will be releasing new G4 PowerBooks this week.

According to the site, the new machines will retain the Aluminum form factor, and have improved graphic cards and hard drives.

PowerPage has not historically been particularly accurate.

[nargot]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

PowerPage claims that Apple will be releasing new G4 PowerBooks this week.

According to the site, the new machines will retain the Aluminum form factor, and have improved graphic cards and hard drives.

PowerPage has not historically been particularly accurate.

Lets just see if this is just a hype about the 'tuesday release dates' or not'

[robbieduncan]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

According to the site, the new machines will retain the Aluminum form factor, and have improved graphic cards and hard drives.

Based on the speculation of no new PowerMacs upgrades to the portable line make sense. For the upper level PowerBooks which are already on Radeon Mobility 9600s the only realy upgrade is to a Mobility 9700. This is not really a lot faster. In terms of hard drives PowerBooks already ship with up to 80Gb drives which is near the top of mobile capacity, even in the PC world. Perhaps we will see 5400rpm as the default and an option for 7200rpm drives (although the only one of these that I've seen is a 60Gb Hitachi so you would loose a lot of space)

[Stella]

blah blah blah.

G5 PB out the week after.

blah blah blah blah

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

PowerPage claims that Apple will be releasing new G4 PowerBooks this week.

According to the site, the new machines will retain the Aluminum form factor, and have improved graphic cards and hard drives.

PowerPage has not historically been particularly accurate.

They are saying 2 more G4 revs before G5. If this were true, then clearly no G5s until next year...possibly mid next year...

If this rumor is true I ask myself whether I would be tempted to switch to one. Processor speed bump, video card bump, better hard drive... all nice if true. I guess I will wait and see if they get released this week before I ponder this too deeply!

[firestarter]

Originally Posted by robbieduncan

Based on the speculation of no new PowerMacs upgrades to the portable line make sense. For the upper level PowerBooks which are already on Radeon Mobility 9600s the only realy upgrade is to a Mobility 9700. This is not really a lot faster. In terms of hard drives PowerBooks already ship with up to 80Gb drives which is near the top of mobile capacity, even in the PC world. Perhaps we will see 5400rpm as the default and an option for 7200rpm drives (although the only one of these that I've seen is a 60Gb Hitachi so you would loose a lot of space)

How much hotter are the 7200s?

Seems like the 12inch is already near its heat dissipation limit - I don't think a hotter drive would work there (and most of the heat comes from the drive not the processor).

Could we see Motorola's new G4s with their lower power dissipation?

[Paolo Pinkel]

oh ya! bla bla bla... or next week... or sooner.... or never...

[robbieduncan]

Originally Posted by firestarter

How much hotter are the 7200s?

Seems like the 12inch is already near its heat dissipation limit - I don't think a hotter drive would work there (and most of the heat comes from the drive not the processor).

Could we see Motorola's new G4s with their lower power dissipation?

7200rpm laptop drives are not meant to be a lot hotter than 5400rpm ones. The big problem here is that the 12" is not available with a 5400rpm drive at the moment. My comments were generally aimed at the 15" and 17" models. I do not expect the 12" to get a Mobility 9700 or a 7200rpm drive.

Often linked to and oldish Toms Hardware Article

[Raveny]

you know what...
powerpage was right as they claimed that new powerbooks will shown at the paris macexpo. And they now that powerbooks will feature a ati card with 64 mb... let's see what happens. But G4 chips for the next next revision? i doubt that they reach 1.8 Ghz at all...

[h_harker]

Powerbook revisions this week would restore peoples faith in you apple, do it for the non-believers, and we know there are more and more of those around these days. Heres some handy hints from a not so technically minded-excitable computer fan.

A larger processor with a larger hard drive, oo oo and a slightly bigger screen please, yeah i suppose a higher resolution would be a bonus, a better graphics card? i wouldnt say no... a tad more ram would be welcomed, as would a free bluetooth mouse for those of us with big hands, and do you know what id really love- id love it to be cheaper as well...and lighter.

any of the above would go down nicely, and you would have my business (to the tune of £2000+), for the first time apple- would that go down well with YOU?!

(PS i only really want the new revision because no-one else has it in the office- i dont mind whats inside it, im sure it will be enough for little old me)

(PPS anyone in the UK know a good (and cheap) insurer for brand spanking new powerbooks)

[Trowaman]

I find it silly that some of you are upset on the upgrade just because it is not a G5. I mean, towermacs ended at 1.42, so I would find it extremely likely that all the the other Apple products will follow suit and end at that mark as well. Baby steps people. Besides, do u honestly beleive the new build of the G5 could fit in a Powerbook? I don't. So let's just wait and have Apple do what we want, get it right.

[stefman]

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Apple for keeping everyone guessing on a weekly basis.

For a while now, there hasn't been any solid and accurate rumors. Steve really managed to plug those leaks I tell ya.

I, for one, look forward to every Tuesday of the week

[klaus]

Originally Posted by stefman

I, for one, look forward to every Tuesday of the week

Haha, yes, idd, my week is at its higlight on tuesday morning, and from then on it goes downwards and then upwards again from monday night.

I like this guessing game alot

[JtheLemur]

Off-topic... anyone remember when PowerPage was a decent site? Boy, that was back in the day. So sad - barely a single comment on any of the stories, etc. PowerPage, I used to love thee!

[Stella]

They are as bad as MacWhispers.com. Don't rest in peace.

Originally Posted by JtheLemur

Off-topic... anyone remember when PowerPage was a decent site? Boy, that was back in the day. So sad - barely a single comment on any of the stories, etc. PowerPage, I used to love thee!

[JtheLemur]

Originally Posted by Stella

They are as bad as MacWhispers.com. Don't rest in peace.

... and what's more... ghastly? ... is that whole JackWhispers.com/AdZoox situation that I'm not sure was ever resolved in regards to Jack himself's whole role in all of it. Some people. http://www.jackwhispers.com/

[atari1356]

If this is true, I'll likely take the plunge and buy the 15". I'd much rather invest in a G5 PowerBook... but if they're doing a revision with the G4 then the G5's aren't going to be out for a while yet, and I can't wait much longer.

I wonder what the processor speeds will top out as? 1.42Ghz? 1.5?

[Savage Henry]

Originally Posted by stefman

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Apple for keeping everyone guessing on a weekly basis.

For a while now, there hasn't been any solid and accurate rumors. Steve really managed to plug those leaks I tell ya.

I, for one, look forward to every Tuesday of the week

ahaha!

I'd laugh even so long as Jobs held the last laugh with a hardware release that would blow my pants away.

[stingerman]

Motorola did release the 1.5 GHz 7447A not too long ago, so I wonder if Apple will be able to take it to 1.6 or 1.7 GHz?

[eSnow]

I have a hard time believing this rumor. For once, two G4 revisions would push back the Powerbook G5 at least till January. I have a hard time remembering a time when desktop Macs were twice as fast by clock cycle and four times as powerful. This would be the case if the went with 1.42Ghz now and 1.5Ghz in fall with the towers reaching 3Ghz in fall.

Then HD capacity. I have not yet found any manufacturer offering more than 80GB per disk, which is where the Powerbook is right now.

Then the chips. The revised 7447 Moto announced a month ago are not yet available, they are set to debut in Mai to August.

I still hope for PowerBook G5's in summer, I ache to replace the rather oldish Ti/400, but the 7447 is not powerful enough :/

[emotion]

we're more than likely gonna get a minor bump in specs (as pc vendors do every few weeks, but i digress). the uk refurb shop's wierd opening times and glut of current models is the clue i'm basing this on.

[Bilvox]

if only for two reasons I hope either this tuesday or next we see a powerbook update.
1. I can finally ditch my g3 wallstreet
2. you and my good friends can stop hearing me talk about me holding out for a new speed bump, upgrade etc... "I got a feeling that this next week..." and of course the ever popular... "when I finally get my new PB15..."

I must say it would make sense in the next 7-10 days seeing the new upgraded machines available, especially with the new financial quarter just about here.

cheers
-bv

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

PowerPage claims that Apple will be releasing new G4 PowerBooks this week.

According to the site, the new machines will retain the Aluminum form factor, and have improved graphic cards and hard drives.

PowerPage has not historically been particularly accurate.

Odd as it may sound, I'd be happy with another round of G4 Powerbooks. It's about time for mine to get replaced.

I hope this rumor is true. Also, if you think about it, The Powerbook doesn't have a memory deal like the desktop machines do, so maybe it is next in line for incremental upgrades.

Also, maybe it would have a faster superdrive as well as the other possible incremental changes.

[atari1356]

Originally Posted by eSnow

Then the chips. The revised 7447 Moto announced a month ago are not yet available, they are set to debut in Mai to August.

Do you have proof of when the revised Motorola chips were shipping? I looked up a couple of older stories, and they don't say specific dates:

From this article on The Register: According to Motorola, the 1.42GHz 7447A is shipping in sample quantities to "selected customers" for $245 a go, in batches of 10,000 CPUs. Volume production was not confirmed, but is likely to be reached during Q2 or Q3, we'd say.

Sounds very speculative... so, if this rumor is true, hopefully the 7447a's are in.

Here's another related article, although it doesn't give any info on when that processor will be in use.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by atari1356

Do you have proof of when the revised Motorola chips were shipping? I looked up a couple of older stories, and they don't say specific dates:

From this article on The Register: According to Motorola, the 1.42GHz 7447A is shipping in sample quantities to "selected customers" for $245 a go, in batches of 10,000 CPUs. Volume production was not confirmed, but is likely to be reached during Q2 or Q3, we'd say.

Sounds very speculative... so, if this rumor is true, hopefully the 7447a's are in.

Here's another related article, although it doesn't give any info on when that processor will be in use.

Actually based on that, Apple could have enough processors for a while. I mean how many batchs of 10,000 would they need to meet production demands?

Although I suspect that if this is the processor that Apple uses next and new Powerbooks come out this week, people who want their system shipped rather soon should order right away.