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5 computer updates coming soon?

quagmire said:
I would wait intill Paris on your purchase. If pbooks get refreshed the 12" pbook will rather get killed(which will give a discount on any inventory 12" pbooks) or be updated to 1.5 Ghz G4 while the 15" and 17" pbook gets a G5 chip running at from 1.6 Ghz- 2.2 Ghz. I have no idea what the speeds will be. But, I would assume apple will want to keep the pbook faster then the imac.
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Yes, true. I thought, though, that I'd be waiting much longer for PB updates. If they come next week, I'll be overjoyed. (By the way, what's the deal with "Cram and Jam" anyway? Are the model numbers of the notebooks specified? I always assumed I'd have to wait until after 9/25 for a new 'book.)

Squire
 
quagmire said:
I would wait intill Paris on your purchase. If pbooks get refreshed the 12" pbook will rather get killed(which will give a discount on any inventory 12" pbooks) or be updated to 1.5 Ghz G4 while the 15" and 17" pbook gets a G5 chip running at from 1.6 Ghz- 2.2 Ghz. I have no idea what the speeds will be. But, I would assume apple will want to keep the pbook faster then the imac.
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I don't think it's important to Apple that the Powerbook is faster than the iMac. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it has happened before that the iMacs have been slightly faster than the most current Powerbooks.

Plus, the two products are targeted at different users.
 
Squire said:
Yes, true. I thought, though, that I'd be waiting much longer for PB updates. If they come next week, I'll be overjoyed. (By the way, what's the deal with "Cram and Jam" anyway? Are the model numbers of the notebooks specified? I always assumed I'd have to wait until after 9/25 for a new 'book.)

Squire
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In the past apple used the cram and jam promotion to clear out inventory of there notebooks and then screw the people who just bought notebooks by refreshing their notebooks( most of the time it was the pbooks. ibooks didn't get refreshed). Any apple notebook will qualify for the deal. All ibook and pbook models qualify.
 
quagmire said:
That will sell worse then the original cube. ;) Plus thats home built. If it was real I would not buy it. The original cube was better designed.
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"Introducing the G5 mini."

Well, I would buy it without hesitation if it had all the capabilities and and were comparably priced as its "bigger brother."

To me the biggest drawback to the current G5 design is the size - the thing is huge!

Contrary to what many people write, I think there is now a market for G5 Cube, (especially if the new iMac is not headless) as I think the size of the towers turns some buyers off, especially businesses who have to buy more than one machine.

As I wrote before, the fact that only 2-3 months ago Apple's Director of Power Mac Product Marketing told told us not to expect a G5 laptop before the end of the year is a good indication that they won't be coming at the Expo.

Yet I have been known to be wrong once or twice in my life. ;)

I quote MacCentral:

New G5s announced; no 3GHz or G5 laptops 'any time soon'
By Jim Dalrymple and Peter Cohen
June 09, 2004 8:32 am ET

Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday announced three new dual-processor Power Mac G5 configurations, with the fastest model topping out at 2.5GHz. The new high-end systems miss the 3GHz mark that Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company would achieve at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference, but Tom Boger, Apple's Director of Power Mac Product Marketing said it came down to a technology challenge that was bigger than they expected. Boger also said today that users shouldn't expect to see a PowerBook G5 before the end of the year because of the challenges of putting the G5 in a small enclosure.
PowerBook G5 & iMac

Anyone that has seen the heatsink from a Power Mac G5 knows that it would not fit in a portable computer. This is the challenge that faces Apple as it tries to move its pro product line to the new fast processor technology.

"I think it's important to realize that the technical challenges are not trivial putting that G5 in a PowerBook or anything else and not to expect a G5 anytime soon in a PowerBook -- certainly not before the end of the year," said Boger.
 
alexf said:
"Introducing the G5 mini."

Well, I would buy it without hesitation if it had all the capabilities and and were comparably priced as its "bigger brother."

To me the biggest drawback to the current G5 design is the size - the thing is huge!

Contrary to what many people write, I think there is now a market for G5 Cube, (especially if the new iMac is not headless) as I think the size of the towers turns some buyers off, especially businesses who have to buy more than one machine.

As I wrote before, the fact that only 2-3 months ago Apple's Director of Power Mac Product Marketing told told us not to expect a G5 laptop before the end of the year is a good indication that they won't be coming at the Expo.

Yet I have been known to be wrong once or twice in my life. ;)

I quote MacCentral:

New G5s announced; no 3GHz or G5 laptops 'any time soon'
By Jim Dalrymple and Peter Cohen
June 09, 2004 8:32 am ET

Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday announced three new dual-processor Power Mac G5 configurations, with the fastest model topping out at 2.5GHz. The new high-end systems miss the 3GHz mark that Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company would achieve at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference, but Tom Boger, Apple's Director of Power Mac Product Marketing said it came down to a technology challenge that was bigger than they expected. Boger also said today that users shouldn't expect to see a PowerBook G5 before the end of the year because of the challenges of putting the G5 in a small enclosure.
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When was the last time apple told the truth? They didn't with the 3 Ghz G5. They heard rumors about the pbook G5's and wanted them to be shot down. So they announced that. They also said that they were having trouble fitting the G5 in a consumer machine. Here we are with the imac G5.

True, the cube will sell now. Just I want the design to be better then the original cube. Certainly the home built cube isn't better then the cube.
 
quagmire said:
When was the last time apple told the truth? They didn't with the 3 Ghz G5. They heard rumors about the pbook G5's and wanted them to be shot down. So they announced that. They also said that they were having trouble fitting the G5 in a consumer machine. Here we are with the imac G5.

True, the cube will sell now. Just I want the design to be better then the original cube. Certainly the home built cube isn't better then the cube.
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I don't think that Steve Jobs didn't tell the truth with the 3 GHz "promise." When he made the infamous promise he honestly believed that it would happen. It was an honest mistake, although foolish.

I don't believe that that Boger would intentially lie (but maybe I'm just naïve); if G5 Powerbooks are announced at the expo, it will probably be something that Apple had not expected either just a few months ago.
 
quagmire said:
True, the cube will sell now. Just I want the design to be better then the original cube. Certainly the home built cube isn't better then the cube.
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In my opinion, the original Cube was one of the best designed machines that Apple ever built. Yet I do agree that the Japanese prototype is not attractive - the "industrial strength" design of the tower looks laughable when scaled down...
 
alexf said:
I don't think that Steve Jobs didn't tell the truth with the 3 GHz "promise." When he made the infamous promise he honestly believed that it would happen. It was an honest mistake, although foolish.

I don't believe that that Boger would intentially lie (but maybe I'm just naïve); if G5 Powerbooks are announced at the expo, it will probably be something that Apple had not expected either just a few months ago.
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Boger did lie about the consumer problem with the G5. Yes, the imac G5 was delayed. But, most likely it was due to processor shortages and heat on the side. But, here we are with the imac G5 coming less then a week away.
 
alexf said:
In my opinion, the original Cube was one of the best designed machines that Apple ever built. Yet I do agree that the Japanese prototype is not attractive - the "industrial strength" design of the tower looks laughable when scaled down...
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That imac G3 gutted for parts and put into a mini G5 case. That looked really cool.
 
quagmire said:
Boger did lie about the consumer problem with the G5. Yes, the imac G5 was delayed. But, most likely it was due to processor shortages and heat on the side. But, here we are with the imac G5 coming less then a week away.
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Did he lie about that? When?
 
alexf said:
Did he lie about that? When?
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It was in that article that he stated apple was having trouble with getting the G5 in a consumer machine.
 
quagmire said:
Boger did lie about the consumer problem with the G5. Yes, the imac G5 was delayed. But, most likely it was due to processor shortages and heat on the side. But, here we are with the imac G5 coming less then a week away.
Click to expand...
There were/are reliability problems with the PPC970FX, but they only are a problem (most likely) if somebody want to overclock their 2.5GHz PPC970FX (or boost it above 1.3V).

There were/are some problems with the UL Voltage operation (below 1.0V).

But we are getting the PowerMac 2.5 and the XServe is a reality -- so there problem can be worked around for the iMac G5 and possibly the PowerBook.

As the CPU process is tweaked and/or revised thing should look much better.
 
alexf said:
They were! (Otherwise I think we would have seen it by now.)
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Truth is we will never know the whole story behind the imac G5 delay. Most likely there was problems with the yields with the PPC970fx. Heat was probably another factor but, not as much as the yields.
 
quagmire said:
Truth is we will never know the whole story behind the imac G5 delay. Most likely there was problems with the yields with the PPC970fx. Heat was probably another factor but, not as much as the yields.
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Yes, the yield problems are well-known (and are still a problem).

But perhaps the bigger issue in regards to the Powerbook is that the 970fx is very, very hot and still consumes a lot of power (although less than the 970). In fact, I am surprised that they will be able to fit it in an iMac - I think the new iMacs will be pretty large.

I just think that if the Apple marketing guy explicitly stated a few months ago that we should not expect a G5 Powerbook before the end of the year, then I highly doubt that we will see anything until 2005, perhaps even mid-year or later.

After all, Apple is good at getting products out LATER than anticipated, not the other way around.
 
alexf said:
Yes, the yield problems are well-known (and are still a problem).

But perhaps the bigger issue in regards to the Powerbook is that the 970fx is very, very hot and still consumes a lot of power (although less than the 970). In fact, I am surprised that they will be able to fit it in an iMac - I think the new iMacs will be pretty large.

I just think that if the Apple marketing guy explicitly stated a few months ago that we should not expect a G5 Powerbook before the end of the year, then I highly doubt that we will see anything until 2005, perhaps even mid-year or later.

After all, Apple is good at getting products out LATER than anticipated, not the other way around.
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Don't forget Powertune. Most likely Powertune is in the imac G5. Will also be in the pbook G5. I read that in a deep sleep Powertune can use 1 watt of power.
 
quagmire said:
Don't forget Powertune. Most likely Powertune is in the imac G5. Will also be in the pbook G5. I read that in a deep sleep Powertune can use 1 watt of power.
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Yes, in a deep sleep - but in high performance mode I think that it consumes a lot.

I think part of the issue may be battery life. Perhaps they already have the capability to put the G5 in a Powerbook but they are afraid that nobody would buy a Powerbook with a 1-2 hour battery life.
 
alexf said:
Yes, in a deep sleep - but in high performance mode I think that it consumes a lot.

I think part of the issue may be battery life. Perhaps they already have the capability to put the G5 in a Powerbook but they are afraid that nobody would buy a Powerbook with a 1-2 hour battery life.
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Wasn't there an article back in Febuary-June about fuel cell batteries? That would surely give enough battery life for a G5. Maybe even more life then today's pbooks.
 
quagmire said:
Wasn't there an article back in Febuary-June about fuel cell batteries? That would surely give enough battery life for a G5. Maybe even more life then today's pbooks.
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No, I think it's much too early for that. Here's a quote from a Wired article on fuel cell batteries:

(EDIT: I just realized that this article is from Jan. 2002, so I may stand corrected)

Nevertheless, portable fuel cells are in their infancy. Investment costs to generate 1 kilowatt are still very high, around $10,000 to $100,000 dollars per produced kilowatt.

But Stefener said portable fuel cells may swiftly become cost competitive. "Just in a couple of years, micro fuel cells could be competitive with Lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used in notebook computers."

(Full article: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49717,00.html?tw=wn_story_related)
 
alexf said:
No, I think it's much too early for that. Here's a quote from a Wired article on fuel cell batteries:

(EDIT: I just realized that this article is from Jan. 2002, so I may stand corrected)

Nevertheless, portable fuel cells are in their infancy. Investment costs to generate 1 kilowatt are still very high, around $10,000 to $100,000 dollars per produced kilowatt.

But Stefener said portable fuel cells may swiftly become cost competitive. "Just in a couple of years, micro fuel cells could be competitive with Lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used in notebook computers."

(Full article: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49717,00.html?tw=wn_story_related)
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That is the article. So I was wrong by a little(fine by alot). Question is how long will it last? What speeds will be the G5 pbook. I will be hovering over ts this weekend to see any news. :p I am still not going to believe them if nothing about the G5 pbook. Apple will want to keep this announcment a surprise.(if it happens)
 
quagmire said:
That is the article. So I was wrong by a little(fine by alot). Question is how long will it last? What speeds will be the G5 pbook. I will be hovering over ts this weekend to see any news. :p I am still not going to believe them if nothing about the G5 pbook. Apple will want to keep this announcment a surprise.(if it happens)
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I'm with you: hoping to see G5 Powerbooks announced at the Expo (even though I couldn't afford one anyway), but I'd be willing to bet money that it's not going to happen.

The fact that they've managed to put the chip into an iMac sized enclosure is a big step, but I still don't think the chip is ready to go portable yet. One step at a time.

But in any caselet's sit back and enjoy the show... I guess anything could happen. :)
 
Has anybody thought that the new imac may have a much faster G4 chip in it? I understand that the dual core processors aren't ready yet, but maybe the G4 chip has finally been clocked to decent speeds(>2ghz) *Crosses Fingers*

quagmire said:
Don't forget Powertune. Most likely Powertune is in the imac G5. Will also be in the pbook G5. I read that in a deep sleep Powertune can use 1 watt of power.
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Pardon me for being naive, but what the hell is the PowerTune chip? Who makes it, and what speeds are we looking at for this CPU?

The G4 is a more than adequate CPU for iBooks and iMacs (please don't flame me) and I believe with a bit of tweaking, we may see a P4 spec G4 chip eventually.
 
paxtonandrew said:
Has anybody thought that the new imac may have a much faster G4 chip in it?
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Apple has already stated that the new iMac will sport a G5 processor. (I think it was in one of the recent conference calls during a financial report.)

Squire
 
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