No PowerBook Updates Before 2005

[MacRumors]

MacCentral reports on the new iBooks that were released today and provides quotes from David Moody, vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing. Moody lets us know that PowerBooks will not see updates before the end of the holidays:

This new line-up of iBooks, along with the current PowerBooks we have will make-up the complete portable line-up we will be offering for the holidays

[djkny]

My guess is Nov 16/23, right before the mad rush of the holiday shopping season. can Apple really afford to miss out on another peak shopping period like they did with the iMac's in sept? They missed out on back-to-school purchases, then ....

At least, bump up the current line high ends:

15" PB/1.8GHZ/8 X SD/256 VRAM/9800 Mobility

[JoePike]

This is not the best news I've heard all day. (sigh)

Well, the trusty Prismo lives to fly another day. Not sure how many days she has left in her, since I've got it pretty much maxed out, but she's gonna have to hang in there.

I have a feeling this means they're waiting to update the PB's until they can get those dual-core freescale chips in there, although I'd admittedly rather see them pack in a G5 somehow.

-Joe

[TyleRomeo]

hmmm..Can someone rekindle the MWSF 2005 Powerbook G5 speculation. I for one think it's going to happen. Ohh one more thing... those suckers won't ship until March.

Tyler

[hasapi]

Could this mean a PB G5 for MWSF?

[jrv3034]

Well, there you have it folks. Please, no more "PowerBook G5 next Tuesday" posts. I'm beggin' ya!

Seriously, Apple must be in a real pickle trying to make the PowerBook faster, be it with a G5, dual-core G4, whatever. They managed the iMac G5 down to 2" thick, but that's twice the size of a PB. Eek!

[wordmunger]

Originally Posted by djkny

My guess is Nov 16/23, right before the mad rush of the holiday shopping season. can Apple really afford to miss out on another peak shopping period like they did with the iMac's in sept? They missed out on back-to-school purchases, then ....

At least, bump up the current line high ends:

15" PB/1.8GHZ/8 X SD/256 VRAM/9800 Mobility

My guess is that you are wrong. Apple isn't going to lie about this.

[chanoc]

Mac World San Francisco Jan. '05! Keynote....new powerbooks released...crowd cheers...next on the line-up iLife '05....60GB photo iPods...crowd cheers again...everyone in attendence receives a free ipod!

[crayzaysean]

hopefully this does mean they'll intro the dual-core freescale chip, but i doubt it. Most likely, freescale is maxed out at 1.5 right now until they can get the 1.8 out the door at the beginning of the year, and apple just has no choice other than staying at 1.5 with the powerbooks. Dual core isn't on the timeline until well into 2005 correct?

[djkny]

Originally Posted by wordmunger

My guess is that you are wrong. Apple isn't going to lie about this.

You mean kinda like how Apple told the truth about never venturing into "Color Ipod/Vpod" territory for the life of them? Well I guess their veracity will be put to the test next Tues....either that, or Jobs just wants to chill with Bono ....

Apple has to CYA. Of course, they wouldn't announce "speedbumps" for Dec if they're still working like mad to make it happen. This way, if it does happen, then "yea! .. we're ahead of schedule. Merry xmas."

[slowtreme]

Originally Posted by JoePike

Well, the trusty Prismo lives to fly another day. Not sure how many days she has left in her, since I've got it pretty much maxed out, but she's gonna have to hang in there.

Your are kidding yourself right? The notebooks out now are (speedwise) 6-10 times faster than what you are using, less if you just go by mhz. You're the user that will wait forever for the next best thing, while everyone else enjoys the current best thing.

At least they are saying flat out "THIS IS EVERYTHING WE HAVE" So buy now, or wait till next time. At least you don't have to second guess a purchase.

[Macmaniac]

SARCASM### This of course means new powerbooks next tuesday##SARCASM

[maya]

Originally Posted by chanoc

Mac World San Francisco Jan. '05! Keynote....new powerbooks released...crowd cheers...next on the line-up iLife '05....60GB photo iPods...crowd cheers again...everyone in attendence receives a free ipod!

I hope this dream comes true or you are going to get an earful :P

Now to make a note of buying tickets for MWSF05.

[maya]

Originally Posted by slowtreme

Your are kidding yourself right? The notebooks out now are (speedwise) 6-10 times faster than what you are using, less if you just go by mhz. You're the user that will wait forever for the next best thing, while everyone else enjoys the current best thing.

At least they are saying flat out "THIS IS EVERYTHING WE HAVE" So buy now, or wait till next time. At least you don't have to second guess a purchase.

Dunno, with 1M cache on those pismo. they still hold they weight.

1Gig Ram on a pismo /sarcastic

[jared_kipe]

Seriously people, stop the 1.8GHz and dual core for holidays. It isn't going to happen, they just told us so. I wish it weren't so, but it is.

[tsk]

Does a price drop count as an upgrade? I'm guessing they can't possibly wait too long without dropping the price to make it more competetive vs the ibook.

[MacSA]

I guess that short statement will have pretty much killed off any sales off the current Powerbooks.

Strange he didn't make any reference to the eMac which is also due for an update.

[Brian Hickman]

Neither of the e600 chips are even sampling until the second half of 2005. There will NOT be a dual-core PowerBook until at least then. The most we could hope for would be a MPC7448 based Powerbook. Maybe we will get a better GPU, bigger HDD, Higher resolutions screens, etc. But, I amnot getting my hopes up for anything spectacular for the PowerBook at MWSF.

edit: After further review, even the MPC7448 will not sample until 2005.

Hickman

[djkny]

whatever happened to that dual-core chip production (Motorola?) mentioned in August?

[Brian Hickman]

Originally Posted by djkny

whatever happened to that dual-core chip production (Motorola?) mentioned in August?

Freescale (Motorola's chip division) announced that they were designing a dual core G4 (MPC8641D). That chip will not be sampling until 2H 2005 along with the single core version of that chip (MPC8641). The Other chip that they announced (MPC7448) is pin for pin compatible with the current G4, but that is not sampling until 1H 2005.

Hickman

[locovaca]

Originally Posted by MacSA

I guess that short statement will have pretty much killed off any sales off the current Powerbooks.

Strange he didn't make any reference to the eMac which is also due for an update.

Actually, it's going to accelerate my purchase. I needed to buy a 17" PB before Thanksgiving and was holding out for an update. With this news I'll order now so that I have a month longer to enjoy it...

It's not that the current ones are bad (despite all the complaining about the lack of a G5, I'm perfectly happy with a G4). However, I didn't want to pay extra for something like 128 VRAM if it came standard on a newer model...

[macridah]

I hope there is a major upgrade at the MWSF.

[nagromme]

My name is Nagromme, I voted negative, and it felt good

It's too bad the PowerBooks won't be updated for a while, but they're still ahead of the iBooks if you look at all the specs.

I predict another G4 PB update--but a nice one--before we see G5s. PowerBooks are in the lull PowerMacs once were, waiting for a practical mobile G5. The delay is a shame, but it's reality--and there's still nothing out there to compete with a PowerBook unless you look at speed alone and are willing to lug a thick, heavy monster (and give up OS X!)

But G5s in Jan. are POSSIBLE for sure. (I'm skeptical about dual-core Freescale G4s. If there's another G4 PB I expect it to be faster single-cores, with other features improved.)

[Lancetx]

Originally Posted by MacSA

I guess that short statement will have pretty much killed off any sales off the current Powerbooks.

Strange he didn't make any reference to the eMac which is also due for an update.

Not making that statement would have killed off any sales of the current Powerbooks you mean. Now that people realize that there won't be an update until January at the earliest, there is no sense in waiting around now. As for the eMacs, we'll probably see a quiet update sometime within the next month, probably to a 1.5 GHz G4 I'd think.

[afields]

Well, this sucks. The laptop line is really weak right now, even with the iBook update. Even if they announce the powerbook g5 in january, that means they will probably "ship" february, then calculate almost certain delays and you probably won't get it till at least march. And then hope there are no bugs for a rev. A product....... I guess my 800mhz iBook will due for now. *sigh*