15inch PowerBook Details and Supplies

[dietsoda]

I for one wouldn't mind 1280x1024 on the 12" at all.

Here here! I'm fed up with people saying that any higher resolution would make things illegible, if this is the case for you then either buy some reading glasses, or an iBook. Or better still, euthanise yourself, Logan's Run style. Okay, maybe that's too severe, but I'm soooooo bored of waiting and waiting for these updates.

The last computer I bought personally was the Dual 500mhz G4. I bought it through my company, and so it took 6 weeks to arrive. The day after it arrived, the G4's were updated. Gutted. Although I was glad to escape the 'Digital Audio' revision.

I've been waiting for the 15" since January, checking macrumors at least once a day! Now that it's dragged on so much, i think I might go with the 12" when they're updated, and trade it in when the 15" G5 finally arrives.

 

[Lancetx]

PowerBook Rumors

These PowerBook rumors are really getting out of hand. It's painfully obvious that no one has a clue as to when these will be coming, nor any clue as to what features they will have. The credibility of all of these "sources" is literally less than zero right now, I've never seen so much inaccurate speculation/wishful thinking going on in my life. Personally, I would be shocked if anything happens prior to Paris in late September. The bottom line is that they will come when Apple is good and ready for them to....and not one day earlier. Having a heart attack over these rumors will not speed up their release one single bit...

 

[brucku]

I think waiting for PBG4 updates is as fruitful as....

Waiting for Back To The Future on dvd (original rumor was oct 1997)

Waiting for Prodigy's Followup Album to Fat of the Land (Original Release date was sometime in 2001)

But I waited for these for a long time........ Sometimes things come out... and sometimes they don't. For the record, BTTF came out this year and prodigy's album is still yet to be released
.


Just comparing how long i've been kept waiting at the end of a fish hook.

 

[bikertwin]

Get a grip on screen resolution, folks.

If any of you were using computers in the early '90s, you'll remember that the rule of thumb for monitors is: get at least a .28 dot pitch, or the screen is low quality and will look fuzzy. Guess what? A 15" 1024x768 (i.e. iMac G4) screen is a lowly .30 dot pitch. It's way too low a resolution.

The 12-inch iBook is something like .26 or .25 resolution. The current 15" PowerBook is somewhere around .28 dot pitch.

The PowerBook is their pro model, and all their pro apps (Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack, LiveType, etc.) cry out desperately for a PowerBook with increased resolution.

Apple, please deliver a much higher resolution for the new PowerBook. I can deal with a G4, but it has to be a higher resolution, or I'll resort to a desktop.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Re: The only reason to hold back

Originally posted by centauratlas
The only reason to hold back for a big venue like Paris would be a significant change (e.g. G5s or something equally as revolutionary). Merely bringing speed bumps for the 12 and 17, and bringing the 15 up to similar specs (e.g. airport ex etc) doesn't seem to fit the pattern for a big announcement.

Therefore, I don't think they'll hold back for something like that. They'll announce when they are ready. Who knows when that will be and of course it could coincide with Paris anyway, but they wouldn't hold them just for that...the 15 is too old as it is to wait. Likewise, I don't believe the rumors about them being held back to avoid messing with the PM G5s, the 15 is way to old have that be a concern *unless* they were G5 PBs. Otherwise that makes little sense.

Motorola must have screwed them again. I'd love to see them put a G5 (even running at the lowest possible speed in one) just to get them out there. Then speed-bump them as soon as they can. Dumping Motorola asap would be highly beneficial.

I agree. Powerbook G5 is definetly not coming. Therefore something else is holding them back. And its not the Expo. Time to market is important e.g. back to school. If they had the product ready they would anounce it

 

[rjstanford]

Originally posted by bikertwin
Get a grip on screen resolution, folks.

If any of you were using computers in the early '90s, you'll remember that the rule of thumb for monitors is: get at least a .28 dot pitch, or the screen is low quality and will look fuzzy. Guess what? A 15" 1024x768 (i.e. iMac G4) screen is a lowly .30 dot pitch. It's way too low a resolution.

Something else to consider -- font smoothing. Either XP or OSX. As we speak, I'm typing this on a pretty new (cheap) Dell with 1400x1050 on a 14" screen. Yeah, I know, but for serious development work the Powerbooks were too slow and the screen resolution bit for using any serious pro tools.

Anyway, as I work, I'm holding up a letter that received next to the screen. Ya know what? The characters in that (laserprinted) letter are about the same size as the ones on the screen. Screen text was historically larger, because it was much lower resolution and therefore harder to read. The monitor text is significantly larger than the instructions on my sales and use tax return, and I have no problem reading those (as I would guess most people don't, governments are pretty good these days about making it as easy as possible for you to send them money).

To use print terms, this monitor natively runs at 125dpi. The font smoothing uses more intelligent control of the LCD, but realistically only doubles that. Call it an effective 250dpi. Still, that's close to the old 300dpi laser printer effectiveness. My laptop monitor is closer to my eyes now than a piece of paper sitting flat on my desk would be. A 15.4" 1600x1200 monitor would be almost identical, at 129dpi native.

What's the problem?

Finally, most other manufacturers have been able to offer two LCD options in the same laptop line -- Dell, for instance, offers this laptop in a 90dpi version (14" @ 1024x768) as well. Of course, then the system text will be larger, and jaggier... and font smoothing wouldn't work as well... but if you want its, its an option when you order them. Its not hard to keep two prebuilt bezels ready to connect, after all.

-Richard

 

[chazmox]

I've been saying all along that there was no real evidence for the 15.4. Not that the 15.4 rumor was wrong - just that there was no evidence for it.

Digitimes and MacWhispers promoted this size and tied it to a Feb/Mar release date. With the claimed release date incorrect, there is no reason to believe the corresponding size rumor - ergo, no proof.

BTW, have you heard? MacWhispers is dead! Jack says that he's getting out of the site because of all the controversy he's caused...

Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!

 

[arn]

Re: Re: Re: ?

Originally posted by actionslacks
Ok, but very minor.

Why is this page 1? It seems in line with the multiple rumors that have appeared on page 2, yet doesn't supply any strong info.

We know 2 things with reasonable certainty.

1) 15.2" screen
2) illuminated keyboard

rumors that stated or state differently are probably incorrect.

arn

 

[markajor]

i was going to give mac a try for my next laptop.
this was about mid-july and i've been addicted to
this site waiting every day for the 15" pb update.
But alas, NO MORE ! I QUIT back to pc land where
things might crash, BUT they do ship and not play
all of these mindgames !

15" PB.......... YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK !....goodbye

 

[pimentoLoaf]

I'm even more in the market for one of these things (and a G5 desktop) after my PC was just hit by Mr Big.

I'll send my Toshiba PC to my brother. He hates Macs.

 

[whatever]

Re: Re: More rumors

Originally posted by Wonder Boy
i know the feeling. i had this girlfriend a few years ago who would't...OH, you meant something else. my fault. sorry.

That was one of the best lines here in a while!

Keep up the humor all.

I hear that it's actually the iBook refresh (moving to G4) which is slowing this whole thing down. Granted I over heard this from one of the voices in my head talking to another voice.

 

[abram]

Hi res does not mean smaller fonts!!!

OK, I just can't stay silent on this any longer:

Higher resolution does NOT mean smaller fonts! Higher resolution only means that you can put more detail into the same physical area, just like with high resolution printers. And nobody says "I don't like high-resolution printers, because the text is too small".

The problem is that traditionally operating systems have handled on-screen fonts in PIXEL sizes, rather than point size. This means that as the size of pixels get smaller (as resolution increases), the size of each character will decrease as well. But this is no longer the case with most modern operating systems (except Windows), especially OS X, which has excellent text- and image-scaling capabilities. Higher resolution does NOT have to change the size of the characters on the screen. It does, however, let each character be drawn in greater detail, with less pixilation and/or blurriness. The result: Easier to read text.

You can all be assured that Apple has an excellent understanding of these issues, and will use intellegent font handling when they release higher resolution displays, to prevent shipping laptops with tiny, unreadable fonts.

 

[chazmox]

Originally posted by markajor
i was going to give mac a try for my next laptop.
this was about mid-july and i've been addicted to
this site waiting every day for the 15" pb update.
But alas, NO MORE ! I QUIT back to pc land where
things might crash, BUT they do ship and not play
all of these mindgames !

15" PB.......... YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK !....goodbye

Huh? How has Apple been playing mind games about the PB15? They've made no announcement. It's all of us that are playing the mind games with each other - Apple is not fueling the expectation at all.

We know 2 things with reasonable certainty.

1) 15.2" screen
2) illuminated keyboard

rumors that stated or state differently are probably incorrect.

arn

Damn, arn, I sometimes wish I knew how you know - it sounds like someone's actually seen one - and I really wish that the release date could be known with the same certainty!!!

 

[srobert]

I'm holding until the 5 inchers.

15" Powerbooks are soooooo early august 2003. *sigh!* You guys really got to freshen' up. I'm savin' my pennies for the all new 5" Powerbook coming out next tuesday.

 

[AidenShaw]

I'd buy a 2048x1536 14" if they offered it!

Originally posted by abram
most modern operating systems (except Windows), especially OS X, which has excellent text- and image-scaling capabilities. Higher resolution does NOT have to change the size of the characters on the screen. It does, however, let each character be drawn in greater detail, with less pixilation and/or blurriness. The result: Easier to read text.

On Windows XP, the path is

Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced

On the default tab ("General"), you can choose "small" or "large", or dial in a custom setting.

It's not very dynamic, but it's perfect for doing a global font size change to compensate for very high resolution screens.

I have the a Dell D600 laptop with the 14" 1400x1050 monitor. I set the text to a better size. With the ClearType font smoothing, the text is really nice.

I really enjoy the extra real estate, and especially like that I have more pixels for digital photos (looking at a 5 Mpixel photo on a 14" 1024x768 is somewhat lacking - it seems much sharper on the 14" 1400x1050).

 

[abram]

Re: I'd buy a 2048x1536 14" if they offered it!

Originally posted by AidenShaw
On Windows XP, the path is
Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced

Thanks for the correction... make that ALL modern operating systems

 

[MasterMac]

Re: I'm holding until the 5 inchers.

Originally posted by srobert
15" Powerbooks are soooooo early august 2003. *sigh!* You guys really got to freshen' up. I'm savin' my pennies for the all new 5" Powerbook coming out next tuesday.

lol! Great pic

Anyway, it's 7:30 Pacific Time and nothing, no new PBs yet....I hope I'm just early

 

[joking]

Powerbook Updates

New powerbooks are not updated yet because the supply for the old ones is not completely depleted yet. Apple has always done this over the years. Until old powerbooks are gone, new ones will not appear.

 

[ozlow]

Maybe Seybold On Sept 8-12?

Is apple going to have a presence at Seybold? I know that in the past they've released product at Seybold. Maybe they're waiting for that???

 

[the future]

Originally posted by markajor
i was going to give mac a try for my next laptop.
this was about mid-july and i've been addicted to
this site waiting every day for the 15" pb update.
But alas, NO MORE ! I QUIT back to pc land where
things might crash, BUT they do ship and not play
all of these mindgames !

15" PB.......... YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK !....goodbye

Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Don't do this, man! You'll be so pissed off when you get a PC laptop and the next day (or the next tuesday) a shiny 15'' AluBook is released. Come on, it can't be much longer now! Keep the faith!

 

[srobert]

Re: Re: I'm holding until the 5 inchers.

Originally posted by MasterMac
lol! Great pic

Thanks for not pointing out the fact that the latch could not work ^_^ I did'nt bother makinkg it work... kinda 4 fingered cartoons thingy... it's not worth the trouble.

 

[agentmouthwash]

What Apple should of done. What Apple should do.

What Apple should of done:
Release upgraded Powerbooks in June or July- even if it's just an updated Al15" and upgraded video cards for the 12" and 17" and possibly more HD space. Even if it were the 1.25Ghz 7455 - It would of been on time for the school spending spree that Apple is missing out on...
then that would hold most people over until next year when the Powerbook G5
comes out.


What Apple should do:
come out with a $199 5gb ipod because not everybody needs to cram thousands of songs onto one. Plus there needs to be a cheaper model for people that can't afford 300 bucks for a music player.

Same thing goes for the iBook. Please compete with Dell and try to get a $799 ibook. Even if it's just good for the web and wordprocessing - that's what most of the world does anyway.

 

[crenz]

Re: I'm going to be disappointed...

Originally posted by Snowy_River
Wishing for technology that doesn't exist? Although I haven't made an exhaustive search, a preliminary search showed no 12" LCDs at any higher resolutions than this, anyway.

Seems you're right, but then I'd expect Apple to create technology. Before they released the 22" and 20" cinema displays, these resolutions were also not so common... in fact, they are still weird today. And e.g. the iMac's display is quite different from the usual 17" display (1280x1024).

128MB built in isn't that bad. Sure, 256MB would be better, but I'd rather be able to plug a 1G chip into the expansion port...

You can (http://www.dsp-memory.de/1gb/). However, last time I checked that set you back by €1000,- or so. Would be nice to have 256 MB to start with.

I suppose the one saving grace it that I'm fairly certain if Apple ever did add a second button to their 'Books, they'd do it in a way that would work...

Maybe they can come up with a button that registers the side it is pressed on and that can be reconfigured to be one- or two-button. Hey, I should get a patent on that . I would appreciate two buttons, since it helps to emulate three buttons e.g. for X-Windows applications.

Generally, new models are introduced at the same price point as previous models...

But they had a price cut recently in Europe. Apple Store Germany has the 12" PB for €1854 (US$ 2012), so we're <sarcasm>only paying US$400 more now</sarcasm>. They might keep the US prices, but change the European pricing back when they introduce the new models.

 

[hose this!]

Originally posted by the future
Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Don't do this, man! You'll be so pissed off when you get a PC laptop and the next day (or the next tuesday) a shiny 15'' AluBook is released. Come on, it can't be much longer now! Keep the faith!

Or the next Tuesday.

Or the next next Tuesday.

No no, the Tuesday after that.

No, it's next Tuesday, I swear!

 

[stevil]

I started looking for a new Mac two weeks ago. I have never owned one, but used to work with them 5 or so years ago. I started researching, found all these great rumor sites and then thought... should I wait or not? Well - after talking it over with my girlfriend (it's really her computer - I get the dual G5 ) we decided to set a date, if there wasn't anything substantial, we'd get what was available.

Two days ago we picked her up a 12" powerbook, a 10gb iPod and a printer - ~$1700 with the educational discount. It's a sweet system, and we couldn't be happier.