Apple Lowers Prices on PowerBooks...12" and 15"

[richard5mith]

970 Powerbooks at WWDC? (any model)

Not. A. Chance.

If I'm wrong, you have my permission to eat my dog.

(And no, I don't have any "inside knowledge")

 

[toughboy]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
You're completely right. Apple really needs to push power ahead, or we're all screwed.

with the new M tech. of intel, maybe the mac-lover consumers will go on using the macs, but the professionals and pre-switchers will turn to wintel-micro$oft side if Apple will not upgrade their processors..

expecting a rise in processors soon or a 970 could be better even!...

 

[pyrotoaster]

Originally posted by richard5mith
970 Powerbooks at WWDC? (any model)

Not. A. Chance.

If I'm wrong, you have my permission to eat my dog.

(And no, I don't have any "inside knowledge")

I'm more of a "beef" person, but I get your drift...
BTW, I hear it tastes like chicken...

 

[Mr. G4]

Re: Re: pb970

Originally posted by andyduncan
I think your're right. I feel the two equally-probable (and previously mentioned) explanations are:

(1) that the 15 inch PB is going to be updated with a new case, stay at 1ghz. In which case the 17 doesn't need to get a price drop because it will remain unchanged, while the 12's price must be dropped to make room for the 15.

(2) the entire PB line will be refreshed, the 15 receiving a new case and all three receiving new processors. Either slightly faster G4s or (less likely, i feel) the 970. The 17's price doesn't need to be dropped because it has been selling well, and the 12 needs to be dropped for the same reason as above.

So why would they discount it in Europe??? Is there more demand in the USA than in Europe for the 17"?

 

[gwangung]

For all the naysayers out there, Apple MUST increase the speed of their computers!

Desktops, for sure. But less so for laptops, where the gap isn't nearly as bad....

 

[Mr. G4]

New Line up

I think this price reduction combined with the rumor from MacPlus we will have new line up of two different family of processor like before.

PowerMac and PowerBook will get 970
iMac, eMac and iBook will get G4

Wouldn't that be sweet g4 line for under $1000 without screen

 

[bertagert]

Just in from cnet:

"We said in January (that 2003) is going to be the year of the notebook, and it is looking like that is the case," said Greg Joswiak, a vice president at the Cupertino, Calif.-based Mac maker. Company CEO Steve Jobs made that proclamation at Macworld Expo, when he introduced the 12-inch and 17-inch PowerBooks.

Joswiak said that Apple has not seen a drop in laptop sales and that the price cuts were planned.

"We want to get to a point where we are selling as many notebooks as desktops, and you need to do some stuff to make that happen," he said. Notebooks make up about 42 percent of all Macs sold, well above the PC industry average of a 25 percent ratio of laptops to desktops sold, Joswiak said.

As for the 17-inch model, Joswiak said the company has more or less caught up with an order backlog, and the laptop is still seeing strong sales.

Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said that it makes sense to cut the prices on the 12-inch and 15-inch models, now that they are no longer brand-new. Also, 15-inch models have become more standard in the industry than they were when Apple introduced the Titanium PowerBook at the beginning of 2001.

"In a market where prices are always coming down, it just makes an awful lot of sense for Apple to do this," he said.

Gartenberg said that although the Mac maker does not have the cheapest models on the market, it offers a good value for what you get.

"It's always been the case that if you were looking for the lowest-priced laptop you could do better than Apple's offerings, but these price cuts bring them even further into line with competitors," he said.

 

[stompy]

Originally posted by richard5mith
970 Powerbooks at WWDC? (any model)

Not. A. Chance.

If I'm wrong, you have my permission to eat my dog.

I'll thow in too: if Apple announces a 970 PB at WWDC, you have my permission to eat my neighbor's dog.

Crossing my fingers

 

[pyrotoaster]

Originally posted by stompy
I'll thow in too: if Apple announces a 970 PB at WWDC, you have my permission to eat my neighbor's dog.

Crossing my fingers

I hope that isn't your normal diet! I hear dogs are very high in cholesterol...

 

[freundt]

Originally posted by nspeds
I think its a pretty big assumption to think the phrase "The year of the laptop" subsumed the inclusion of the 970 within powerbooks. I think its pretty safe to assume that the statement was more or less tailored for the SPECIFIC situation of the introduction of the 17 inch and 12 inch version. I make new years resolutions and probably follow it for 3 months but I don't remember all of them today.

Now, I thought about this logically, and came up with the following premises and their conclusions. I'll start the syllogism...
1) It has been previously established that when products from Apple are aggresively discounted, they are due to be discontinued/update.
2) The only products that have been discounted are the 12 and 15 inches.
Therefore: The 17 inch will NOT be updated.

However, people state the the reason the 17 hasn't been discounted is because its selling big, but I would argue that the 12 inch is selling even better since the target market is a lot bigger than the 17 inch. (I may have to think about that statement, because if the target market of the 17 inch is smaller than the 12 inch, then you could still call the 17 inch "successful" per se since its hit Apple expectations. But I think in a comparison with 12 inch sales, the 12 inch out numbers"

Hence, if you think things through correctly, the rumormills will be telling you that the PowerBooks WILL have the 970. However, if you look at things syllogistically, that means that IF a PowerBook is updated to the 970, it will ONLY be the 12 and 15 inch models, being that the 17 wasn't discounted and hence is not likely to be updated.

Now here is where the problem lies, although the 15 inch is the flagship machine, if BOTH the 12 inch and 15 inch get the 970 and the 17 inch don't, then what, the new 12 inches gain bragging rights over the 17 inch in terms of speed? That doesn't make sense.

Hence the 970 update for WWDC seems very unlikely.

did you ever think it could be because there are very few 17" in the channel and therefore they do not need to clear the 17" models out like they do the 15 and 12"???

 

[AppleMatt]

Originally posted by tjwett
Dammit, I just bought my 12" 2 weeks ago with an Apple Loan. Think they'll front me the $200 difference since it was so close?

Argue that its only 4 days difference from the 10 day limit, and then argue that you are paying with an Apple loan, so giving them more cash anyway. Argue it well, and there's a good chance they'll be nice.

chuckarc said "drops to 533MHz on battery". Learn how to use OS X.

-hh said "maximum 640 RAM". Look up developer notes.

Sorry for the curtness on these two points but it really annoys me when people have information infront of them (these forums), but choose to ignore it.

AppleMatt

OT but could someone slip in what devices could be used with a PC card slot on the 12 please? I can think of none and it's bugging me.

 

[kristianm]

Re: pb970

Originally posted by Mr. G4
So why would they discount it in Europe??? Is there more demand in the USA than in Europe for the 17"?

All i can say is that here in Norway the low end powerbook is a shocking 60% more expensive than it should be. Some of that is due to our high sales tax (24%) but still...

 

[stompy]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
I hope that isn't your normal diet! I hear dogs are very high in cholesterol...

But they're very low in saturated fat! Pet Diner Weekly thinks very highly of dogs, rating them a 9 out of a possible 10.

 

[pyrotoaster]

Originally posted by Mr. G4
So why would they discount it in Europe??? Is there more demand in the USA than in Europe for the 17"?

Yeah, probably. The 17" Powerbook is targeted at graphic designers, particularly ones that travel. While I don't have any data, that just sounds like a more American market.

 

[stompy]

Originally posted by AppleMatt

OT but could someone slip in what devices could be used with a PC card slot on the 12 please? I can think of none and it's bugging me. [/B]

I don't currently have any use for a PCCard, but some heavy digital camera users insist on using a PC Card compact flash reader. (They're say they're cheaper, smaller, faster than usb, firewire readers.)

Another group, who have fried their built in FireWire port (and no longer have AppleCare) like them too.

Still others (YMMV) like to think that the slot extends the life of a portable, because if something new comes along, you're not forced to get a newer machine. Or maybe the thing isn't even on the newest machine (USB 2.0 ?)

 

[Dave K]

Re: Re: Re: pb970

What this really looks like is a massive move to empty existing supplies of Powerbooks and iBooks, based on regional demand. This would support a theory that Apple plans on moving the Powerbook to 970s at WWDC, followed by a major iBook revision (GOBI or otherwise) afterwards.

AND

Originally posted by Mr. G4
So why would they discount it in Europe???

Sorry, there's really a simple reason. Like most other currencies, the EURO, Aus$, and CDN$ have all risen against a weakening US$ and prices have been adjusted accordingly (although some in various regions would say not enough)...

For example, the CDN$ has jumped almost 10 cents relative to the US$ since January, and we saw larger price reductions when the iBooks were relaunched at ~+5 cents earlier this spring. But, they had to adjust the iBooks again now to keep them from being overlapped by the newly reduced PB's that were adjusted to the 10 cent jump and dropped about 600 each...

 

[mstecker]

Bzzt

Originally posted by -hh
Don't forget:

8) Drops to run at 533MHz when on battery power.


-hh

Bzzt! Wrong answer! A user can choose to have the processor speed drop as a power-saving option, but it will happily run at full speed while on battery power.

 

[centauratlas]

PB 170?

I guess I can finally replace my PB170. ;-)

 

[Hattig]

I see several options

1) costs for the laptops have dropped (cheaper displays and components), and Apple are passing them along, because frankly, they have to if they wish to remain competitive in the laptop market. In fact, I was surprised that the price was so static for so long ...

2) Apple are going to launch new Powerbooks soon, and they are clearing out stock

3) A combination of 1 and 2.

The 17" PB is already using the new style casing. The new 15.4" PB will be upgraded to the same style (albeit smaller, of course!).

I think it is 50/50 whether we see 970 based laptops in the next update, or faster G4's (based upon the latest G4's from Motorola that should run faster and cooler, if they have managed to make any of them). However, the 970 does have space efficiency - no L3 cache is required on the motherboard. It is also rumoured to be cheaper than the G4. It is also more powerful, even at the same clockspeed.

So optimistically:

12" PB: 1.0 GHz 970 (ultra-low power bin)
15" PB: 1.2 GHz 970
17" PB: 1.2 GHz 970

Most likely:

12" PB: 1.0 GHz G4 [7447]
15" PB: 1.2 GHz G4 [7457] + L3 cache
17" PB: 1.2 GHz G4 [7457] + L3 cache

Worst case (unlikely):

12": same
15": same, but with newer enclosure and updated chipset, etc, to match 17" specs
17": same

I expect that regardless, the 15.4" and the 17" PB will both use the same motherboard.

 

[centauratlas]

State-of-the-art

>state-of-the-art (so to speak) 64-bit processor in it.<

And you KNOW that Steve Jobs and Apple love to be able to say things like "the 1st portable with 17 inch screen" or with AirPort extreme or "the largest number of Unix systems shipped" or any number of other things.

To me this points to the fact that once Apple is able to switch to the 970 they are going to want to do it quickly everywhere in the PowerMac/PowerBook lines in order to "be the first with a 64-bit processor in a portable."

Whether that means in June of this year is open, but I believe that (particularly if the cost comparisions between IBM and Motorola processors are true) Apple will be pushing to have another first - a 64-bit processor in a portable.

Shoot if they *can* get the 970 at a lower price than the G4 they'll use it ASAP.

 

[The Ancients]

Originally posted by stompy
But they're very low in saturated fat! Pet Diner Weekly thinks very highly of dogs, rating them a 9 out of a possible 10.

Originally posted by pyrotoaster

I hope that isn't your normal diet! I hear dogs are very high in cholesterol..

Yes, I see Kentucky Fried Kitten only rated a 6 with them...

 

[AidenShaw]

Re: State-of-the-art

Originally posted by centauratlas
[B"be the first with a 64-bit processor in a portable."[/B]

Too late, Alpha and SPARC 64-bit portables have been around for many years.

Of course, that fact won't stop Apple from *claiming* to be first, if their past history at marketing honesty is any clue....

 

[pyrotoaster]

Originally posted by AidenShaw
Too late, Alpha and SPARC 64-bit portables have been around for many years.

Of course, that fact won't stop Apple from *claiming* to be first, if their past history at marketing honesty is any clue....

While that's true, how many people actually own an Alpha portable?

 

[AidenShaw]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
While that's true, how many people actually own an Alpha portable?

Exactly the kind of wishy-washy thinking that'll be used to justify an Apple ad that says "first". If even one Alpha laptop was sold, then Apple is not first, period. And that's not the case, there were quite a few, and now the same group is selling 64-bit SPARC laptops.

(Check out http://216.92.115.22/exec.php?p=prod-note-sparc for 64-bit laptops with 4GiB of RAM, 160GB of disk, dual NICs, ....)

Anyway, to even stretch the truth and say "first", Apple will need a 64-bit operating system and some 64-bit applications.

On the other hand, a PPC970 in 32-bit mode will be be a huge improvement from the current G4s. (Unless, of course, the stories that the PPC970 has no power management capabilities are true...)

 

[stompy]

Originally posted by The Ancients
Yes, I see Kentucky Fried Kitten only rated a 6 with them...

LOL