13.3-inch iBook?

[LimeiBook86]

*Darth Vader: Noooooo!*

I love my 12" PowerBook, it's small but, not too small. It's very portable and powerful. If it were up to me I'd just upgrade to a 12" PowerBook with an intel chip if/when they come out. But, if Apple drops it I guess I'll go for a 15" PowerBook, because I don't really wanna go down to an iBook - altough anything is faster than my current PowerBook.

I forgot Macworld was coming so soon, darn! Now I can't wait!

 

[iEdd]

This doesn't make the greatest amount of sense to me. The difference between a 12" and a 13.3" widescreen isn't that much. It would make a lot more sense for apple to have 12" and 14" iBooks and 13", 15", 17" powerbooks. Besides, I want a portable with a 12/13" with a half-decent graphics card. 128MB if there is a 13" powerbook coming out. Maybe 64 if it's an iBook.

 

[dernhelm]

I would be all for a 13.3" PowerBook, but I still think a 13.3" iBook would be a serious step down for me. There are still enough differences between the 12" PowerBook and the iBooks that many people, both professionals and non-professionals (hobbyists, students, etc.), prefer the PowerBook.

If Apple discontinued the small PowerBook and only left the option of a small iBook (at least in its current form factor), I fear that some people would more seriously consider a Sony or Dell instead of an Apple computer.

I would agree. A small form factor powerbook would seem to be a MUST in Apple's lineup. It seemed to me that a 13.3" widescreen PB would be small enough, but I was curious as to what you thought, since you own and love the 12" model.

I'm hoping that the Intel transition allows them to up the features in the 12" (or 13.3", or whatever) PB to match those in the 15" and 17" (faster processor, more max memory, backlit keyboard, etc). That would definitely cement their leadership in the small but powerful laptop market.

 

[beatle888]

I still want to see a iBook Mini. No CD drive and only 2 pounds with lots of battery life. Movies and TV shows can be played from the Hard drive for those that still want to watch movies on the plane.

Also I hope the screens look nice like every Windows notebook screen.

your "walking in the future". thats about seven years off before we can rid ourselves of removable media. we would need a constant wireless signal to offline storage...like the net.

 

[beatle888]

I think they're made that way so they will look nice on store shelves. I even thought they looked nice…until I tried to use one.

We're such simple creatures. "Oooooooh shiny!" Thankfully Apple doesn't pander to us fools.

David

your so right about this... "all that glitters is gold, and shes buying the stairway to heaven"

 

[-hh]

Refering to the first quote the new Sony 11.1" laptop is gorgeous. We had one in work to try out, the screen is fabulous but the keyboard a bit smaller than my liking. The battery life is as good or better than my iBook (around 5 hours normal use) and it is as light as a feather including the DVD writer.

Is that a 4lb feather, a 5lb feather or a 6lb feather?

I checked your link to Sony and see no mention in its specifications as to how much it actually weighs.

FWIW, I used to have a nice lightweight VAIO ... darn thing literally fell apart despite very light use. It will probably be quite awhile until I trust another Sony.

-hh

 

[AUBPsych]

Maybe the reason the 12" PB is being done away with is so that the 13.3" Intel iBook won't overshadow the 12" PB when released. I really hope the Intel PBs are released in January...if not by then, hopefully March.

 

[gauriemma]

This doesn't make the greatest amount of sense to me. The difference between a 12" and a 13.3" widescreen isn't that much. It would make a lot more sense for apple to have 12" and 14" iBooks and 13", 15", 17" powerbooks.

From Apple's prespective, it probably makes a lot more sense to have to manufacture only three different screens, as opposed to five.

 

[efoto]

I would agree. A small form factor powerbook would seem to be a MUST in Apple's lineup. It seemed to me that a 13.3" widescreen PB would be small enough, but I was curious as to what you thought, since you own and love the 12" model.

I'm hoping that the Intel transition allows them to up the features in the 12" (or 13.3", or whatever) PB to match those in the 15" and 17" (faster processor, more max memory, backlit keyboard, etc). That would definitely cement their leadership in the small but powerful laptop market.

I personally love my 12"PB, greatest computer-related purchase I have probably ever made. 13.3"/12", whatever Apple decides is fine. My only major gripe right now is that the 12" doesn't support 2GB of RAM....why not Apple!?

I take the lack of update to the 12"PB to be a sign that changes are coming to that model more quickly than to the 15"/17" models, which is good news for the miniature-mobile users.

These echos of 19"/20" portable systems seem overdone, far too large in my opinion. The iMac at 17"/20" gives premium competition to a book coming in that size range. I can't imagine seeing a 19"PB, the 17" is already (too) massive in my mind, 19" would be ridiculous. Oh, and battery life....or rather battery death, would be horrendous with that size screen. I know people said all of this about the 17" when it was rumored, but 19" is ridiculous!

 

[iHavenolife]

I think that Apple needs to keep choices for people looking to buy an iBook in the coming months and have more than one screen size.

 

[LimeiBook86]

I personally love my 12"PB, greatest computer-related purchase I have probably ever made.

Same here, my 12" PowerBook is my favorite Mac to date, I like how small it is, yet it's so powerful. I think Apple would be foolish to kill off a great product. Although they killed the iPod Mini...but, replaced it with the iPod Nano. Hopefully Apple will make a new, killer 12" PowerBook, then I'll be very happy

 

[tjwett]

The 12inch PowerBook is basically a iBook in PowerBooks clothing....They don't need it if they have a light but powerful iBooks coming.

Yes it is nice to have a small PowerBook but come on it is NOT a "power" computer.

My thinking

iBooks---Light Portable Powerful...12inch perhpas this 13.3 wide screen. Enough for day to day work but NOT as main computer for power work.

PowerBooks--- 15 17 and a new 19inch model for POWER users. Video/Media etc. with the latest graphics and technology. True PowerBooks.

This would not include a weak wanna be 12 inch iBook that happened to put on PowerBook clothes by mistake....Good move if Apple does it.

what you're saying makes sense for customers, but at the same time it doesn't make sense for Apple. they are a great company but at the end of the day they are in business to make money just like every other mega corp. of course the 12" PowerBook is the black sheep of the family and Apple has pretty much ignored it for a while now. BUT it continues to be quite popular and sells rather well, at least from what i see. i have one, and know quite a few other people that do as well. and yes, i'll be the first to admit that it is essentially an iBook wearing armor. a few things push it past that like the nice keyboard, smaller form, faster HD etc but all in all it's not much of a power house. and everyone i know that owns one knows that as well. everyone knows it's not that great, especially Apple. but you gotta think of Apple's perspective. "hey we can just wrap an iBook in aluminum, add a few features and sell it for $500 more than the iBook!" why would they not want to keep this going? they spend their R&D on improving the iBook and right alongside it, a 12" PowerBook is being created by proxy. slap on some metal, add $500 to price tag...cha-ching. i can't see them throwing away such an easy score.

 

[efoto]

Same here, my 12" PowerBook is my favorite Mac to date, I like how small it is, yet it's so powerful. I think Apple would be foolish to kill off a great product. Although they killed the iPod Mini...but, replaced it with the iPod Nano. Hopefully Apple will make a new, killer 12" PowerBook, then I'll be very happy

I don't see Apple messing with a 'power' sub-12" anything, there is just no need for that. Looking at the comparison Sony TX1 everyone is pissing over you can see it isn't a power anything either....if Apple goes that small it will be an 'i' product, which is just fine

I could see Apple replacing the 12"PB w/ a 13.3"PB in the near future, and that too would be fine with me. As long as the overall dimensions remain similar to what they currently are (granted giving up height/depth for width, etc) I would have no problem with that move what-so-ever. I think a small wide-screen notebook would be an awesome compliment to the current massive-screen notebooks. Now if Apple is just going to drop the 12" w/o a replacement in that size then I have issues, tons of issues, because I love the portability of my 12"PB and don't want a 15" notebook.

Although some argue the 12" isn't as powerful as the 15"/17" (well duh) PBs I still think it has quite the market and a lot of users prefer having an extremely small yet capable (albeit slightly less) notebook to a larger/standard sized notebook. If I wanted a filter in PS to execute instantly, I'd do it on a Quad. If I want a capable system I can leave in the passenger seat of my car or have on-site during a shoot, I'd take my ultra-portable capable-enough 12"PB

 

[trans3062]

Well I for one hope TS is right on this one. The 13 would be awesome (I'm sitting here typing this on my Sony S460) and would make me replace my broken iBook with another Mac.

Now if they would just update the design of it. The white is getting a little long in the tooth.

 

[LimeiBook86]

...I'd take my ultra-portable capable-enough 12"PB

I love my compact PowerBook and (at the time) it could take most tasks with ease. Of course it's older now and runs slower. I guess I'll have to see if these intel PowerBooks are fast enough for what I need to do, it's either an intel PowerBook or Desktop for me. It'll be much easier to decide once we get some specs!

Also I don't see a 19 inch laptop coming, ever, it's too big, and the LCD would draw too much power, let alone it'll cost WAY too much. If you want a 19 inch screen get an external screen of just buy a darn desktop!

 

[AlmostThere]

Is that a 4lb feather, a 5lb feather or a 6lb feather?

I checked your link to Sony and see no mention in its specifications as to how much it actually weighs.

FWIW, I used to have a nice lightweight VAIO ... darn thing literally fell apart despite very light use. It will probably be quite awhile until I trust another Sony.

-hh

They are 1.25 Kg (a 12"PB is 2.1 Kg)

 

[TaKashMoney]

As someone previously posted, I am perhaps the most curious aboout the change in form factor. Are 13" laptops typically larger than 12" (non widescreen) ones? Its clear you'd be getting a book not as wide but a bit longer- but does that normally constitute an overall larger case? With the 12" iBook currently sitting as the love my computing life, I think the only thing that might make me purchase in january is a thinner, lighter, widescreen book.
To address concerns about the dropping of the 12" PB, and the subsequent uproar by 12"PB owners, I think its fairly obvious that Apple had hit a metaphorical roadblock for upgrading the little guy while retaining necessary requirements for heat dissipation and boosted "power" performance. While the switch to Intel was supposed to alleviate this problem, I think it would make the most sense to combine product lines to a 4 wide IntelBook product line. With Apple gaining momentum and with Intel opening up new technological doors, I see no need for Apple to "cripple" a consumer line instead of making a single affordable yet powerful portable with more robust BTO options. As someone posted previously, while I agree that I'm sure Apple loves selling an "armored" iBook for $500 more, I think its entirely possible that they will make up that additional revenue with this more efficient product line cutting manufacturing/distributing costs instead. And boy we all know how Apple loves that streamlined look...

 

[aswitcher]

They are 1.25 Kg (a 12"PB is 2.1 Kg)

And you know Steve will always be keeping an eye on the weight.

I still hope a wireless tablet thingy to control everything in the home...

 

[mandoman]

I think it's a good call that Apple will probably consolodate their laptop
line a bit and go from 4 different screens (12,14,15,17)
to three different screens (13,15,17) - all widescreen.
I think we'll see:

13 and 15" ibooks
13, 15, and 17" powerbooks.

12" and 14" goes away completely.

I don't know why people are complaining about the 12" possibly going
away in favor of a 13". The size difference will be negligable due to the widescreen form factor, especially if it gets thinner. And you'll get a W-I-D-E-S-C-R-E-E-N-!!!

 

[riversky]

On more thought about the 12 inch

If Apple was NOT going to get rid of that form factor in the PowerBook line why did they not upgrade it at all in the last rounds of changes....Because it is an iBook wearing the PowerBook body.

It makes sense to dump it if the iBooks will fill that processor/config.

Here are my thoughts.....The iBooks and PowerBooks use the G4 (same CPU different configs). The future is not this.

I think in the MacTel world the iBooks and the PowerBooks will use DIFFERENT Intel CPU's to further seperate the lines. Now that we are going to Intel they will have multiple lines and dual and single core within those lines...

iBooks and PowerBooks will have completely different CPU's by the time both are out! I predict that.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Awesome.

This will be my next Apple purchase. Hopefully, by the end of January.

13" widescreen, SuperDrive, 80GB HD, 768MB RAM. Can't wait.

Hopefully, that will all come in at under $1,300-ish with the edu discount.

 

[buddhagoth]

I love my current Rev. D 12" PowerBook. However, since I will be keeping it for another 2 or so years, I'm sure by the time I'm ready to replace it, there will be 3rd generation 13-something-inch iBooks or some kind of new all-black PowerBook close to the current 12" form factor that will grab my attention. And a chunk out of my credit card!

I'll be sad if they drop the current 12" PB, but I can see the reasoning, too, especially with price considerations.

However, I do sincerely hope they make the keyboards on the new Intel iBooks, whatever the screen size, as good as the current PowerBooks. -That- would be a really cool improvement!

Cordially,
B.G.

 

[Super Dave]

I heard that the new iBook would tie in even more with the iPod to boost the "Halo" effect. How about something like this?

The metallic base could either be chromed out or be very similar to the aluminum used in the Powerbook.

I'm not a fan. The iPod's scratchy metal back can get away with it because it's small and people expect music players to be smudged. As for computers…well if I'm paying over a grand for somthing I want to see something other than my fingerprints when I look at it.

David

 

[hyperpasta]

This doesn't make the greatest amount of sense to me. The difference between a 12" and a 13.3" widescreen isn't that much. It would make a lot more sense for apple to have 12" and 14" iBooks and 13", 15", 17" powerbooks. Besides, I want a portable with a 12/13" with a half-decent graphics card. 128MB if there is a 13" powerbook coming out. Maybe 64 if it's an iBook.

How about 13" and 15" iBooks? Then a 13", 15", and 17" Powerbook line could complement it well. Powerbooks would have Dual-core chips, 128Meg Graphics, and iSights to differentiatie them.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Well I have been interested in getting a notebook for a while now, but with PC notebooks selling for £300 in the UK I am not prepared to pay £700 for Apples current cheapest option, especially with only a 12" screen.

Yeah, but by the time you've factored in the cost of an Office product, photo software, CD burn management, anti-virus and firewall purchase and annual subscription, plus your time and effort installing and configuring it, you're looking at the same price more or less anyway. There are many 'hidden' costs to PC ownership, and the current PC World promotion of a Advent laptop for £349 is a case in point. A paltry amount of RAM, no wi-fi or bluetooth, cheap components all through and no bundled software. If you're not picky, the iBook is a self-contained package straight out the box, with AppleWorks and iLife bundled in. Windows is better than it's ever been but it's still pretty ropey compared to OS X, for usability, integration and management overheads.

I concede there are hardware upsides - some of which are reasonably compelling - larger screen, 64mb video RAM, four USB and a PCMCIA slot. I guess it's what you're after at the end of the day. Personally, I think the bundled software, lack of spyware and viruses, OS X's lack of maintenance overhead and the superior hardware integration far outweigh any other considerations by a country mile, in fact, deserve the premium, but that's just my opinion.