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Somebody

macrumors member
Oct 17, 2002
43
0
NYC
This is the scenario I believe is going to play out:

This week Apple will drop the price on the PB's by $200 to stimulate sales before MWSF.

I could see this, if you add a speed bump to 800/933 (and maybe a Radeon 9000) to the update this week. Just dropping prices on current models by $200 isn't a very compelling update; I've been waiting a while for this update. If there's a decent speedbump, I'll buy (even without the price cut). But if there's no speed bump, I'll hold off until January.
 

orion

macrumors newbie
Nov 5, 2002
2
0
My take on this, for what its worth - some of this has been said before, but I'm just summarising...

If they increase the iBook to 800 then they HAVE to do something to the Ti - Apple has consistently maintained a "gap" between the iBook and Ti in terms of Mhz (some would say to the detriment of the iBook - 1.2GHz G3 anybody??). To me this suggest a minor speed bump (ie not to 1Ghz) for the Ti as well as the iBook. The fall in inventory, as others have consistently pointed out, also suggests an update, not just a price drop (although both would be nice).

Minor speed bump now and then something better in SF?? Simple answer is "I don't think so", I think we'll have to wait until after SF. However, if they do choose to announce something in SF, two possibilities spring to mind and of the two, I think the first is the more likely.

1. As suggested earlier, Steve announces addition of Superdrive with an upgrade programme for people who bought in 2002 - something similar to this HAS been done before (although I'm not exactly sure of the timings) when they speed-bumped the Ti and then brought out the Combo and upgrade programme a few months later
2. Bit of a shot in the dark this, but if the person who originated this story really HAS seen a 16 inch Ti, how about a "top of the range" Ti (aka the 14 inch iBook) 16 inch Ti with internal Superdrive announced at SF and available in Feb/March 2003?? If they charge enough for this (and knowing Apple if this is anywhere near to the truth then they most ceretainly WILL charge hugely for this), it shouldn't cut into the "normal" Ti sales too much (hey the debate about 12 and 14 inch iBooks is still going strong ("I prefer the 12 inch/no the 14 inch is better" etc etc)). Better graphics, higher resolution, bigger/faster HD, more RAM etc and Bluetooth as standard.
This option would also see the "matrix" evening out a bit more - 3 desktop models for education, consumer and professional (e-Mac, iMac and G4) and then the iBook becomes an "educational" model with the standard Ti being the consumer and the top of the range Ti being for professionals. This would also neatly get round the "I want a G4 in my iBook" problem if they reduced the price of the standard Ti so that more people could afford it. As I said, I don't think this will happen, but you never know...

Just my 2c as they say - all will be revealed soon...
 

Bregalad

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2002
434
69
Vancouver
I don't think we'll see ANY notebook upgrades at MWSF. I think January will feature the updated iMac (standardizing on the 17" LCD and maybe introducing a 19" model) while the PowerBook will wait until MW Tokyo where they have introduced a number of 'Books in the past. March is a more realistic time frame for a new form factor and move to Radeon 9000 or 9500 video along with an internal SuperDrive.

Thus the speed bump this week, if it happens, will probably have a 5 month shelf life, not the 2 months other people are talking about.

Of course by then Intel will have 3GHz notebook chips and we'll still be under 1GHz, but who's counting clock ticks?

Speaking of that battery sucking other platform, I do wish my iBook would actually demonstrate longer battery life than a Pentium notebook. Tonight it ran for 2 hours, during which time the battery indicator dropped from 99% to 51%, and then promptly went to sleep. Upon further investigation I found the battery was, in fact, drained. So much for having a useful battery level indicator in the menu bar or a decent run time away from an electrical outlet.
 

Falleron

macrumors 68000
Nov 22, 2001
1,609
0
UK
This is what I think will happen.

1) Both laptops will be speed bumped this week.
2) MWSF, new powerbooks will be announced with faster processor, ddram, bluetooth, aiport 2, firewire 2 + superdrive.

BUT, it wont ship until the end of febuary.
 

Megaquad

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2001
817
1
I believe revised iBook is coming out these days and Powerbook is coming for MWSF
why?
Well, Apple knows lots of iBooks are used for education purpose and many of these people still use OS 9 (they said macs wont be able to boot os 9 after jan. 1).
While Powerbook is for professionals and such, they want to force them to use OS X which is ok with me.. I'm just a little bit concerned about some older games and installers that dont work in classic environment.
 

Megaquad

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2001
817
1
Re: NNNOOOOOO!!!!

Originally posted by technocoy
I can't deal with this anymore!!! I want a revised powerbook so bad!!! this up and down, revision, no revision!!!! it's killing MMEEEEEE!!!!1:confused:
I am happy to see those Powerbooks delayed, it will give me some time to gather money, I hope I'll be able to get them while they're hot :D

Update, this would be perfect PB update for me:
15"/933 MHz/radeon, better case..
16"/Dual GHz/radeon 9000..
What do you think?
 

gotohamish

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2001
1,078
9
BKLN
Originally posted by Bregalad
Speaking of that battery sucking other platform, I do wish my iBook would actually demonstrate longer battery life than a Pentium notebook. Tonight it ran for 2 hours, during which time the battery indicator dropped from 99% to 51%, and then promptly went to sleep. Upon further investigation I found the battery was, in fact, drained. So much for having a useful battery level indicator in the menu bar or a decent run time away from an electrical outlet.

Too bloody right, my ibook AND PowerBook get the juice sucked right out in Jaquar - I get two hours TOPS on each now.

iBook 500, and TiBook 500, both on 10.2.1

Aaargh!
 

aasmund

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2002
48
0
Trondheim
PowerBook update

I think they will cut the price, no changes. and they will release a radeon 9000/bluetoooth /superdrive in mwsf
 

UnixMac

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2002
326
0
Phoenix, AZ
Originally posted by Somebody


I could see this, if you add a speed bump to 800/933 (and maybe a Radeon 9000) to the update this week. Just dropping prices on current models by $200 isn't a very compelling update; I've been waiting a while for this update. If there's a decent speedbump, I'll buy (even without the price cut). But if there's no speed bump, I'll hold off until January.

CAN I GET AN AMEN BROTHER!
 

impierced

macrumors 6502
Sep 30, 2002
273
0
From the forums of MacNN as being "confirmed".

$2299, 867 G4, 30GB HD, 256MB Ram, Radeon 7500, Combo Drive.
$2999, 1GHz G4, 40GB HD, 512 MB Ram, Radeon 7500, Combo Drive.

I'd have to say this is extremely likely. Looks like I'll be waiting another 6-8 months, no way am I getting a new PowerBook without an updated graphics card, what crack is Apple smoking?
 

Megaquad

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2001
817
1
Originally posted by impierced
From the forums of MacNN as being "confirmed".

$2299, 867 G4, 30GB HD, 256MB Ram, Radeon 7500, Combo Drive.
$2999, 1GHz G4, 40GB HD, 512 MB Ram, Radeon 7500, Combo Drive.

I'd have to say this is extremely likely. Looks like I'll be waiting another 6-8 months, no way am I getting a new PowerBook without an updated graphics card, what crack is Apple smoking?
There is NO WAY I will buy Titanium with radeon 7500. NO WAY!!!!!!!
 

bignumbers

macrumors regular
May 9, 2002
206
0
My projection

Tomorrow, Apple will announce a quad-processor, 2GHz PowerBook G5. However it is not expected to ship until March of 2006.

I'm sure Apple would LOVE to announce a superdrive-equipped powerbook. I'll bet Steve is still on the phone with Panasonic begging for a few thousand slot-loading A05's. As soon as he gets the right answer they'll be announced. Until then, probably nothing major.

What they might do is pad the current PBG4 with more RAM or a larger HD to separate them from the new iBooks until January.
 

Hawthorne

macrumors regular
Jul 1, 2002
198
0
In front of my Mac


Speaking of that battery sucking other platform, I do wish my iBook would actually demonstrate longer battery life than a Pentium notebook. Tonight it ran for 2 hours, during which time the battery indicator dropped from 99% to 51%, and then promptly went to sleep. Upon further investigation I found the battery was, in fact, drained. So much for having a useful battery level indicator in the menu bar or a decent run time away from an electrical outlet. [/B]


FWIW, I had the same problem with my new (not for long, sob!):) 700 mhz iBook. Turns out the battery was faulty, called Apple, they shipped a new one, and now I get 4+ hours in 10.2. You might give that a try.
 

ryan

macrumors 6502
May 17, 2002
283
0
Denver, CO
Re: Re: ZDNet News is out! No powerbook speed bump~~

Originally posted by akula47

That does not confirm jack. Some little editor over at c/net is just making a guess. The Powerbooks will be updated today/tomorrow. Atleast I hope so :)
I'll bet that article is spot on, anyone care to make it interesting?
 

Pentium Killer

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2002
39
0
Berlin
They might also bring out a powerbook with souped up G3 with SIMD Unit(from IBM) at speeds of 1 GHZ and 1.2 GHZ and Buspeed of 200 MHZ and DDR-RAM.Guys,calm down....;) Tomorrow we will see what happens,and the fact that there might be no Radeon 9000 inside is not that bad,I care about processor speed.
 

mr evil brkfast

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2002
62
0
Toronto, Canada
Update now; other changes in Jan

Perhaps we'll see a speed bump now and like the combo drive last year, a superdrive build to order when it is ready.

I think that apple has to update something before the end of the quarter. Price drops on dated technology will not make this a good quarter financially.
 

Bregalad

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2002
434
69
Vancouver
Originally posted by Hawthorne


FWIW, I had the same problem with my new (not for long, sob!):) 700 mhz iBook. Turns out the battery was faulty, called Apple, they shipped a new one, and now I get 4+ hours in 10.2. You might give that a try.

If only it was that simple...
You see, like many others, I only have that problem running OS X (10.2.1). When running OS 9.2.2 the 'Book lasts 4 hours.

I know Apple's claims of 5 hours are for an idealized state in which the processor speed is reduced (I do that), the backlighting is turned low (I'm at about 30%) and the hard drive almost never spins up (can't seem to stop that from happening in OS X). I'm not expecting 5 hours because I know the AirPort networking requires power to operate, but 2 hours doing nothing more demanding than surfing the web is ridiculous. I'm tempted to make OS 9 my default again. *sigh*
 

DannyZR2

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2001
331
0
Texas
it seems with all dual towers, dual powerbooks should be on the way... if 867 and 933 are the magic numbers.. what about a low end 933 mhz powerbook and high-end dual 867 powerbook?

How awesome would that be? And isn't this needed to keep up with Apple's own towers?

I think so!

-just my 2
 

Upright Joe

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2002
15
0
Not likely

I don't think dual notebooks are ever very likely due to power consumption and heat issues.

Two of last few remaining advantages of the G4's over intel and amd's latest offerings are the fact that they consume much less power and produce much less heat.
 
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