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Widescreen iBook?

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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China's Economic Daily News reports (The Register | Engadget) that Asustek has again secured the iBook manufacturing contract from Apple. Asustek currently manufactures Apple's 12.1 inch iBook and PowerBook models.

Mentioned in the report is upcoming 14 inch and 15.4 inch widescreen iBooks set to debut sometime in 2006. Currently only the Powerbook has a widescreen (16x10) model, leaving the standard 4x3 aspect ratio for the consumer-level portables.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2005/06/20/widescreen-ibook/
E

ebunton

macrumors regular
Apr 25, 2004
138
0
Sydney
Nice if it is true.
All laptops should be in widescreen format in my opinion.
Much more practical I think.

On another note: I want those mactels already!
 
P

PPC970FX

macrumors member
Mar 1, 2004
59
0
Mybe

greenmonsterman said:
is this perhaps one of the first MacTel's to hit the market?
Click to expand...

First I would not be surprised if you are right. And then I think that the 15,4" ibook is realy needed. A cheap 15" laptop would make a lot of people happy. I wonder if the mactel will use the motherboarde from intel or apple. I hope that apple and intel together can make some stuff, that way new tech will come faster to mac owners, like s-ata hd in laptops ++++

About the tablets, that would be very sweet indeed IF they are pratical. They only need some smal good apps to make them a hit. They have to find the smal things, like Tigers widdegs.
 
javiercr

javiercr

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2005
419
0
London
ebunton said:
Nice if it is true.
All laptops should be in widescreen format in my opinion.
Much more practical I think.

On another note: I want those mactels already!
Click to expand...

more practical for what? watching movies? for many people the most practical thing would be a vertical screen, since documents (paper) are in general longer than wider!

I actually think non wideangle screens have the best compromise and that wide screens are only nice when they are very big, so a vertical document still has a decent size.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
A sensible replacement for the 14" iBook.

I'd like to see the small PB and iBook go to a 12" or 13" widescreen: there'e extra "margin" on the sides to use anyway, and the screen height would be smaller (in inches) than now--which means a smaller case front-to-back would be possible. Smaller palm-rest area because the screen would be closer to the shape of the keyboard than it is now.
 
wrldwzrd89

wrldwzrd89

macrumors G5
Jun 6, 2003
12,110
77
Solon, OH
PPC970FX said:
First I would not be surprised if you are right. And then I think that the 15,4" ibook is realy needed. A cheap 15" laptop would make a lot of people happy. I wonder if the mactel will use the motherboarde from intel or apple. I hope that apple and intel together can make some stuff, that way new tech will come faster to mac owners, like s-ata hd in laptops ++++

About the tablets, that would be very sweet indeed IF they are pratical. They only need some smal good apps to make them a hit. They have to find the smal things, like Tigers widdegs.
Click to expand...
I think that if the 15.4" iBook is one of the first MacTels, it will be much like the others - it won't use a motherboard straight from Intel or straight from Apple, but rather an Intel-based motherboard with Apple-specific customizations.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Your points are true, but at the same time wide IS practical in many ways--for more than just movies:

* Room for a document window plus palettes to the side. (And, I recommend, your Dock on the left.)

* Room for a work area on the right and a source list on the left (like iTunes, iPhoto, Finder, Mail, bookmark managers, etc.)

* You can (and always will) scroll docs vertically anyway--so at least make the width as wide as possible so you can view your file nice and big and sharp without any horizontal scrolling.

* First-person games are great in widescreen.

* Column view in Finder is the most useful view, I find--and great with extra width.

* Your menu bar has room for more goodies on the right.

* Even my 15.2" PowerBook screen CAN fit 2 documents side-by-side, and I often do. Not as nicely as a 17" or 30" :)

* Timeline-style editing is now common for consumers: there's iMovie, GarageBand, Final Cut Express, Logic Express, and many 3rd-party apps. And of course many more for pros, including 3D animation programs. So horizontal document scrolling/editing is very important these days, not just vertical word processing and web browsing.
 
Ti_Poussin

Ti_Poussin

macrumors regular
May 6, 2005
210
0
hopefully the resolution on 14' iBook will finally crank up. OS X in 1024x768 is a pain IMO. I found it barely enough on my 15'PB with 1280x854. I miss my big screen of my desktop with 1600x1200. This with a resolution independant OS would be very attractive for this price point. OSX is pixelovore lol
 
Toe

Toe

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2002
1,101
2
Widescreen would shrink the difference between iBook and PowerBook even further. Apart from the better video card and nicer looking Aluminum, will there really be any difference?

Perhaps they'll wait for the Intel chips, and put out fast widescreen iBooks, and turbo-fast, dual-core PowerBooks?
 
shamino

shamino

macrumors 68040
Jan 7, 2004
3,443
271
Purcellville, VA
Toe said:
Widescreen would shrink the difference between iBook and PowerBook even further. Apart from the better video card and nicer looking Aluminum, will there really be any difference?
Click to expand...
There really isn't that much difference between them right now. Aside from the display resolution and software-block against dual-head operation.

There was only a significant difference back when the iBook was G3-based.

When the Intel boxes eventually ship, I suspect we'll see a 32-bit chip in the iBook and a 64-bit chip in the PowerBook. But until then, I don't think there will be very much difference between them.
 
shamino

shamino

macrumors 68040
Jan 7, 2004
3,443
271
Purcellville, VA
This rumor, if true, is very good new. According to this article (linked to from the Register article), we can expect two widescreen models. A 14" one this year and a 15.4" one next year.

This is probably the model I've been waiting for. Right now, the only complaint I have with the iBook series is the 1024x768 display. If they release a model (12" or 14") with a higher resolution (whether widescreen or not), it will interest me greatly. Ideally, I'd like to see the current 12" iBook updated with a 1280x1024 display (or some other similar resolution) and a CoreImage-compatible video chip, for approximately the same price. But similar features in a 14" model for the same price as today's 14" iBook will also be good.
 
BenRoethig

BenRoethig

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2002
2,729
0
Dubuque, Iowa
Toe said:
Widescreen would shrink the difference between iBook and PowerBook even further. Apart from the better video card and nicer looking Aluminum, will there really be any difference?

Perhaps they'll wait for the Intel chips, and put out fast widescreen iBooks, and turbo-fast, dual-core PowerBooks?
Click to expand...

The iBook is also thicker, heavier, and uses lower grade screens and hard drives.
 
W

wide

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2004
746
0
NYC
javiercr said:
more practical for what? watching movies? for many people the most practical thing would be a vertical screen, since documents (paper) are in general longer than wider!

I actually think non wideangle screens have the best compromise and that wide screens are only nice when they are very big, so a vertical document still has a decent size.
Click to expand...

True, but what if you want to view two pages in a document or two documents? Widescreen displays let you do that easily.

That said, I'm still a fan of high-res 14.1 inch 4:3 displays.
 
W

weezer160

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2003
179
1
Wisconsin
Ratios

The Greeks were always astounded at the beauty of certain ratios and realized that 1.6 (which is standard widescreen by the way) is a very pleasent ratio. It's also probably related to how peripherial vision works - our minds work in the panaramic sense, not vertical.
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,424
1,065
Bergen, Norway
I see no mentioning of widescreen version of the 12" iBook, and although a 12" (or 13") widescreen 1280x768 iBook HD would be cool, I kind of like the 4:3 ratio in such a small screen as the 12". My iBook 12" really has a perfect ratio and resolution, 1024x768 (even if I personally maybe would prefer a bit better resolution). I think it would be too small and narrow with a 12" widescreen (although I want to se one before I really make up my mind... ;)).

If they keep the 14" in 4:3 it should have 1280x1024. But maybe the new 14" widescreen iBook will have HD resolution, thus making it a very handy machine for the average home user and OK resolution both for computing and media.
 
acedickson

acedickson

macrumors 6502a
Dec 6, 2004
727
0
ATL
A 15.4 inch iBook would definitely sway my decision to buy from the Powerbook to the iBook. The reason I can't broing myself to buy an iBook is the screen sizes right now.

Make this happen soon Apple!
 
M

marmanold

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2005
9
0
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
Need new iBook

Gosh, I hope they introduce something new soon. I really need a new iBook but I can't bring myself to spend $1000+ on an iBook that practically looks the same as my current iBook.

Wish they'd go ahead and give us the iBook with Intel... I'm majoring in MIS and minoring in CS and it'd be nice to be able to run Visual Studios .Net at home instead of having to always program in the lab. (That is assuming Windows XP would run out of the box on my iBook... actually kind of a dirty throught, o well, it'd be useful none the less.)
 
S

Spazmodius

macrumors member
Apr 17, 2004
67
0
When? WHEN???

That's what I want to know. Widescreen or HD iBook rumors have been floating around forever, so it's hardly surprising to see yet more pseudocorroboration. I want ship dates. A year more (when the first Mactels are due to ship at the earliest) is waaay too long for the next iBook revision, as the current line is already quite overdue for a refresh.

When, dammit!
 
D

dho

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2003
279
0
California
How fast?

If it is a mactel, I doubt it will be very fast. They will have to keep it under the powerbooks performance wise. Not a good first impression IMO. I am looking forward to see how they will do this.
 
dongmin

dongmin

macrumors 68000
Jan 3, 2002
1,709
5
Toe said:
Perhaps they'll wait for the Intel chips, and put out fast widescreen iBooks, and turbo-fast, dual-core PowerBooks?
Click to expand...
You've hit the nail on the head. With Intel chips, the main distinction between consumer and pro will be single core vs. dual cores (along with a few other goodies like graphics, i/o).
 
Toe

Toe

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2002
1,101
2
shamino said:
There really isn't that much difference between them right now. Aside from the display resolution and software-block against dual-head operation.
Click to expand...
I am pretty sure it's not a software block but simply because they use different video cards. Most video cards do not support dual monitors, so the one in the PB is specifically designed to do so. It also takes more VRAM... for two identically-sized monitors, you need twice the VRAM as for one.


BenRoethig said:
The iBook is also thicker, heavier, and uses lower grade screens and hard drives.
Click to expand...
The difference in size and weight is very small. And most people don't notice the screen/drive difference. I would think they would lose a LOT of PB sales to the iBook... well, they probably already are.
 
Porcelina

Porcelina

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2004
17
0
Sweden
Toe said:
I am pretty sure it's not a software block but simply because they use different video cards. Most video cards do not support dual monitors, so the one in the PB is specifically designed to do so. It also takes more VRAM... for two identically-sized monitors, you need twice the VRAM as for one.
Click to expand...
Never heard of Screen Spanning Doctor I presume? Works great, but it woids the warranty. But there should be absolutely no problem using it.
 
wdlove

wdlove

macrumors P6
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
An upgrade to the iBook is needed. Entry level buyers to a laptop should also be able to enjoy a wide screen.
 
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