Anyone else worried there will be no PowerBook announcements?

[spercharged69]

There have been SO MANY huge announcements slated for the upcoming MacWorld convention that I'm beginning to doubt we'll see any love for the PowerBook line. It seems like in the past on any given keynote there's 1 or 2 huge points, and a bunch of little ones. With the $500 iMac, the new productivity suite, and everything else rumored to be presented, does anyone think there will be anything said on PowerBooks?

That is, of course, unless they've just been completely tight lipped about everything BUT PowerBook updates...

 

[Mertzen]

At this point I am even worried to see yet another keynote with iPods and U2 .. brrrr

 

[edesignuk]

If there isn't, then it's a big mistake. There's nothing very powerful about the PowerBook line right now. It needs and update. Those 2GHz P-M's are already running ahead

 

[cluthz]

If we don't see new improved powerbooks, then Apples stocks will drop.
There are man improvements that can be done.
There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..
If Apple can't make improvements at this point, then they are onto something big very soon, or they're soon out of business.

 

[spercharged69]

My company has been waiting to buy a half dozen top of the line powerbooks for some time now, waiting on an update. If Apple doesn't get their act together in the near future they're going to lose a $20,000 or so sale to IBM.

 

[Koodauw]

I dont think we will see them. There seems to be to many other annoucements, and the PB updates just wont happen. They could come shortly after though.

I dont think a speed bump would really make a difference though. What can they do? put in a slightly faster CPU? A new video car? HD? More features on the 12'' would be nice though.

It really is time for a new CPU in the PB's. Too bad one isnt ready yet.

 

[Mertzen]

There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..

 

[MattG]

They've had so long now...I can't seem them not announcing a PB G5 within the next few months.

 

[edesignuk]

They've had so long now...I can't seem them not announcing a PB G5 within the next few months.

Sadly, I can quite easily see them not announcing anything of much interest

 

[cluthz]

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..

I know the 7448 is limited to a ~200MHz bus, but its faster than the 7447A and it supports twice the L2 cache.
Its not the best solution, but it's sure better than still pushing 1.5GHz 7447A's in the powerbooks.

Apple needs to give us something new, mostly because the powerbooks are long overdue the natural update progress, but also because the Pentium Ms are eating low-powered G4s for breakfast.

 

[James_C]

I really don't think that new Powerbooks will be revealed at MacWorld. I suspect we will see some G4 speed bumps a few weeks after, and the G5 PB in Sep / Oct, well that is only my view, I don't know anymore than the next person.

It is possible we will see the G5 Powerbook at the developers conference if no speed bumps appear shortly after MacWorld. In recent years MacWorld key notes tend to be more consumer based and the Developers Conference tends to focus on the professional line.

 

[Mertzen]

I know the 7448 is limited to a ~200MHz bus, but its faster than the 7447A and it supports twice the L2 cache.

A full 33Mhz faster .. in this day and age that is pathetic .. the L2 is nice though and brings it up to par with Intel's offerings ..

And a Pentium M like solution is something IBM needs to get working on if they haven't done so already ..

 

[SLCentral]

If Apple does not update at the keynote, or less then a month after the keynote, their PowerBook line is in serious trouble. The specs are almost equivelant to the iBook line, and they are rediculously over-priced. I don't see a G5 Powerbook hapenning, but they need to get them up to 1.7GHz, at least, and maybe a new GPU. Also, more RAM for the standard models, COME ON APPLE, it's a Pro line of products!

 

[spercharged69]

A full 33Mhz faster .. in this day and age that is pathetic .. the L2 is nice though and brings it up to par with Intel's offerings

That's exactly the problem... While PowerBooks ARE nice machines, for what you'd spend on a 'low-end' 15 inch PowerBook, you could get the Dell XPS. WHILE the Dell XPS IS a ridiculous machine, both by sheer dimensions and weight alone, the fact of the matter is, there's a $1000 difference between Apple's 'high end' and pretty much any other manufacturer's 'high end'. (Not to mention the XPS comes loaded with MUCH newer hardware than the PowerBooks have.)

 

[maya]

Steve Jobs, newest announcement we are now dropping the eMac and PowerBook line, say hello to:

Headless Mac and PoweriBook.

 

[MacsRgr8]

The word "Power" in PowerBook is geting silly...

IMHO any update is worth it. But if the update is just a slight speed bump, then please drop those damn prices.

 

[nospleen]

SHHHHH! Come on guys/gals, my powerbook can hear you all! All joking aside, I really hope they update them. But, it seems too busy a MWSF already. (crosses fingers)

 

[EJBasile]

If they don't update at the MWSF then maybe at the most 2 weeks after- probably just a speed bump. If not they really should lower the prices.

 

[quagmire]

If we don't see new improved powerbooks, then Apples stocks will drop.
There are man improvements that can be done.
There are faster 7448 CPUs out there, there are better GPUs and faster/larger HDs too..
If Apple can't make improvements at this point, then they are onto something big very soon, or they're soon out of business.

I am sorry to tell you this is that the 9800 is too hot to be in the 1" enclosure and the 7448 is not out there. The 9800M is too hot and possibly too big. The PPC 7448 is scheduled to be sampled in January 2005. Meaning full production of these things will be around Fall '05. There is now the 7447B around at 1.67 Ghz but, apple would of brought the new pbooks out by now.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

The 7448 still runs on the old MPX bus .. and I am not sure if it supports true DDR .. i don't see this as a real solution ..

G5s is the only true upgrade at this point no matter what Steve makes us believe ..

Dude the powerbooks run hot as it is. What do you thinka g5 in there would do? The thing would probably explode in photoshop haha

 

[mklos]

I don't think it will be a MacWorld Keynote announcement, but I think they're about to release a speed bump with a 1.7GHz G4. I think PowerBook G5's are still out of the question at this point as the G5 is still too hot for a laptop design. Sure, you can put a G5 in a 2 inch enclosure with the iMac G5, but with the iMac you don't care about weight, battery life, or heat. You can let the iMac get a little hotter than a laptop.

With a PowerBook, there's no room for a 2 inch heat sink. There's no a battery in the world that would live long enough to power 2+ cooling fans, and the rest of the computer and still get the battery life of the current PowerBooks.

Yes, the current PowerBook lineup is a joke as is all the other Macs that use the G4. The G4 is a dead processor. Its running out of legs, has the slowest FBS in the industry, and doesn't support true DDR RAM. So Apple does need to get ALL of its models to the G5 as fast as possible.

 

[Mertzen]

Dude the powerbooks run hot as it is. What do you thinka g5 in there would do?

We've been saying that since mid 2003 .. you'd think that IBM and Apple had that one nailed down by now ..

 

[mcgarry]

I think something is coming, if only a bump, since last week my college bookstore brought all PB prices down by hundreds of dollars. 12" Combo at $1110 and so on. Maybe just a one-store thing, for all I know, but I don't think they'd be trying to blow out all of their PowerBooks (and no other models except the previous gen. of iBooks) with nothing in the pipe.

 

[Sun Baked]

Would be funny if the new $500 iMac is the new eMac (with no G5) -- designed to get Apple out of the CRT business.

With a cheap $49-$99 3rd Party CRT Apple would be Apple to compete a little better with Dell.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

Worried too...

I too fear that Apple won't be releasing a new PB which would be a very bad thing... but what can WE do about it? Nothing but speculate.

Hey, just to throw one out there, how about a G3 fabbed @ 90nm with an AltiVec unit? I don't know how the FSB or cache compares, but since the G3 is a pretty efficient design, couldn't they REALLY up the clock and still have a pretty cool running/ energy efficient CPU? Would it be able to scale up to a reasonable clock?... I dunno... like 1.8Ghz or something? Course then what would they call it... G3 wouldn't sell cuz it might seem like too much of a step backwards. They could call it something like a G4+, but that might seem deceptive to some, plus that sorta sounds like IBM's Power4+... Aww hell... just stick a Power4+ in there, say that it's Apples newest and hottest (pun intended) product and call it a day Hey at least it would be fast...

-mcg