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15inch PowerBook and ATI?
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Originally posted by ABassCube
The graphics cards in Macs are still pathetic compared to PCs.
There probably are some graphics cards in pcs that are better than those used in Macs. Do you really mean to assert that those used in Macs are "pathetic" compared to all graphics cards installed in pcs?
Most of the graphics chips installed in Japanese notebooks are junk. When I read the specs they often use Intel chips or some other graphics chip I've never heard of. Rarely do they use ATI or NVidia. Worse, they often don't even have dedicated graphics memory. They share graphics memory with main memory. How pathetic is that?
Re: This site used to make sense...
Who power?
Panther lite, thats bull.
There is a reason we have a Laptop and not a PDA.
Its called functionality.
As for the 9600, that would kick seiouse arse!
Originally posted by chazmox
But now they're sounding more and more like MacWhispers...
First there was the rumor about the OS on the new PB ( some had 10.2.7, some had Panther, some had Panther lite??? ) and next the rumor the PB's would not be announced in Paris.
Now that every reliable site says that Paris will be it, the come out with this CYA ( cover your ass ) story that the PB's are ready to ship...
Geez!
Who power?
Panther lite, thats bull.
There is a reason we have a Laptop and not a PDA.
Its called functionality.
As for the 9600, that would kick seiouse arse!
How does something like a video card make it "outdated?" With laptops I haven't seen many choices w/o resulting in big time $$$ for better video cards. I certainly understand your problem with the apps but unless you do graphics work (am assuming no games since it is for work) most of the video cards work just fine for office, the web and many other apps - even photoshop.
I want good game performance, and the GPU is the most important component to that. Laptops at best are using mid-range components that are already much lower end than I'd buy for a desktop system. There's no way I'd buy a laptop that didn't have one of the absolute best available GPUs in it (ie the Radeon 9600 or Geforce 5650 with 128MB).
You are right, having more memory means that more power is used, but the extra amount that is used is so small, you would not notice it. Having 128mb instead of 64mb would only reduce battery life by about 2 minuites.
Originally posted by Plutoniq
........And by that notion, Apple did release two Powerbooks in a row with the same ATI Rage 128M AGP, actually three if you include the Ibook
p'z
I should have just done the G4 PBs. All the G4 powerbooks have had a better graphics card each revision (if you don't include the 12in and 17in where the graphics cards are the same speed as the iBook's Radeon 7500.)
Lets hope its an ATI card. Check out the benchmarks in this article
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.html?i=1866
The Nvidia chip is completly slaughtered, sometimes by as much as 200%!
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.html?i=1866
The Nvidia chip is completly slaughtered, sometimes by as much as 200%!
Actually they released the Pismo G4 Ti w/ same video
Actually they released the Pismo G4 Ti w/ same video
Both ATi Rage 128M 8MB video and G3 400 G3 500 G4 400 G4 500 - which at the time was very little difference - mainly just a very MINOR screen update (15" is wider not taller)
Originally posted by cb911
so Apple has never released a PowerBook without a video upgrade. i just hope they continue that trend with the new PB's. i'm not too sure whether or not to trust PowerPage.org though...
Actually they released the Pismo G4 Ti w/ same video
Both ATi Rage 128M 8MB video and G3 400 G3 500 G4 400 G4 500 - which at the time was very little difference - mainly just a very MINOR screen update (15" is wider not taller)
okay, but recently you have to admit that Apple has been on a roll keeping the VRAM upto spec with it's PC counterpart. lets hope that Apple decides to keep it rollin!
No Freakin' Kidding!
Yeah, no kidding! We have a brand new DELL desktop at work that SHARES MEMORY!?!?
2.2 Ghz Pentium and it takes like 10 seconds for all of the ICONS to redraw on the DESKTOP when starting up!!!
You get what you pay for!
Yeah, no kidding! We have a brand new DELL desktop at work that SHARES MEMORY!?!?
2.2 Ghz Pentium and it takes like 10 seconds for all of the ICONS to redraw on the DESKTOP when starting up!!!
You get what you pay for!
Yeah, but that's a super low-end system. To be fair, you can build a very high end 3Ghz P4 system with a Radeon 9800 Pro for about $1000.
I'd still like to see how the G5 stacks up against the P4 in games... I remember back when the PowerPC 604 thrashed a Pentium 1 in games, but I'm not holding my breath that a G5 can beat a P4 until I actually see benchmarks. (I had my hopes up about the G4 being a miracle chip-it is really great at a given clock speed, but it's like less than half the clock rate of Intel's chips).
PriceWatch Quotes:
Pentium 4 3 Ghz: $383.00
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB: $294.75
RAM PC 3500 512MB: $80.00
Motherboard MSI 875P NEO-FIS2R: $136.00
Hard Drive Maxtor Serial ATA: $100
Total: $993-
This system does not include a keyboard, mouse, superdrive, case or OS. I didn't use the top of the line parts for everything either. You'll be running around different stores trying to get these prices, pita. You'll probably run another 300 to 400 at least after buying the rest of your equipment, unless, you go cheap. The case will run nearly $100 for a pretty good one.
Some of those stores on pricewatch seem sketch. You'll never know if you'll get a good board or proc or not. Could end up costing you a lot more time than you thought... Time = Money...
Okay, so my quick mental estimate was off by a couple hundred bucks. My point stands, x86 hardware is much, much cheaper, even high quality x86 hardware. Here are components I quickly threw in the cart from Newegg. You could shave off another few hundred dollars easily by going with a slower processor or GPU, or you could go up to a DVD+-RW, add a better sound card, or whatever. But regardless, it probably kicks the Dual 2GHz G5s butt at games, for less than half the price (and probably beats-for example-the 1.6Ghz G5 at everything for significantly less). Believe me, I like Apple, and I *HATE* Microsoft, but Im not going to pretend Apples hardware is a better value on a price/performance basis.
-ANTEC LIFE STYLE SERIES SONATA PIANO BLACK Model# Sonata w/ ANTEC TRUE380 380W Power Supply
-Sony CDRW/DVD Combo Drive Model CRX300E/A OEM
-Seagate 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120026AS OEM
-Intel Pentium 4 (800 FSB) Motherboard Model BOXD865PERL - RETAIL
-Intel Pentium 4 / 3.0CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB RETAIL
-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack SP1a OEM
-SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP BULK
Plus $95 for 512MB of PC3200 RAM from Crucial, and the total comes to:
$1259 (plus maybe $40 for a mouse and keyboard), so basically $1300 for a very nicely equipped x86 system with near top of the line components, from one of the most reputable stores on the net.
At any rate, my original point was that I'm already on the edge about dropping $3000 on a Powerbook anyway. A bad GPU is going to tilt me towards spending (far less) money on my existing systems.
Guess we'll find out pretty soon
I've pretty much made up my mind that if the 'Books are G5s, I'm buying. If the prices are significantly lowered, with a decent hardware upgrade, I'm buying. Otherwise, I'll just have to make up my mind about it Yay! About time they get updated! They should have been out 3 months ago, and the higher-end models should have 128MB video RAM (and their performance is questionable given the lack of L3 cache), but basically this is a solid upgrade. Dang, a couple of months ago I would have bought one right away, but now I'm not 100% sure.
It's all good. Just thought for a top of the line system your guesstimate was a bit off. Plus I'd never do Windows XP home edition... I built a great AMD system that was about 1k when I put it together. It's great, but I still use my G3 400 (800mhz upgrade) for most things.Originally posted by Puppies
Okay, so my quick mental estimate was off by a couple hundred bucks. My point stands, x86 hardware is much, much cheaper, even high quality x86 hardware. Here are components I quickly threw in the cart from Newegg. You could shave off another few hundred dollars easily by going with a slower processor or GPU, or you could go up to a DVD+-RW, add a better sound card, or whatever. But regardless, it probably kicks the Dual 2GHz G5s butt at games, for less than half the price (and probably beats-for example-the 1.6Ghz G5 at everything for significantly less). Believe me, I like Apple, and I *HATE* Microsoft, but Im not going to pretend Apples hardware is a better value on a price/performance basis.
-ANTEC LIFE STYLE SERIES SONATA PIANO BLACK Model# Sonata w/ ANTEC TRUE380 380W Power Supply
-Sony CDRW/DVD Combo Drive Model CRX300E/A OEM
-Seagate 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120026AS OEM
-Intel Pentium 4 (800 FSB) Motherboard Model BOXD865PERL - RETAIL
-Intel Pentium 4 / 3.0CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB RETAIL
-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack SP1a OEM
-SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP BULK
Plus $95 for 512MB of PC3200 RAM from Crucial, and the total comes to:
$1259 (plus maybe $40 for a mouse and keyboard), so basically $1300 for a very nicely equipped x86 system with near top of the line components, from one of the most reputable stores on the net.
At any rate, my original point was that I'm already on the edge about dropping $3000 on a Powerbook anyway. A bad GPU is going to tilt me towards spending (far less) money on my existing systems.
Guess we'll find out pretty soon
I too am looking at the PowerBook....