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Apple Portable Updates?
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Referring to G4 machines
My G4 desktop has a 2MB L3 per processor. I wasn't comparing to G5s.
Some_Big_Spoon said:
My G4 desktop has a 2MB L3 per processor. I wasn't comparing to G5s.
michaelrjohnson said:
1/4 of the year is already gone. we're almost at the 1/3 mark. the "exciting" 20th anniversary of mac hasn't been very eventful at all. iLife '04 is great, little colorful iPods are great, but that's not much compared to new / updated CPUs.
Yep, you're right about that. That L3 helps the Dual 1.42 beat out the G5 at times.. I miss that L3..
Apple said, when specifically asked why no L3 in the G5, that the 970 was so fast that it wasn't needed, and that the L3 was in the previous chips to help with crap bus speed and CPU drag.. but you'd think they'd throw it in anyway.. I mean, Apple's top of the line, right? So throw everything in and the kitchen sink, but I'm not running the company, so I don't get a say.
Apple said, when specifically asked why no L3 in the G5, that the 970 was so fast that it wasn't needed, and that the L3 was in the previous chips to help with crap bus speed and CPU drag.. but you'd think they'd throw it in anyway.. I mean, Apple's top of the line, right? So throw everything in and the kitchen sink, but I'm not running the company, so I don't get a say.
spullara said:
You'd hope, right? I'd like to think they use these, and other forums, as candid focus groups.. though, if they actually did, things might be different.
wdlove said:
I have an aluminum PowerBook G4 15" and yes, you're right, as purchased the lid isn't as secure as it should be. I did have some problems with the latch popping too easily as well.patriotn11 said:
I purchased a set of WildEepz from RadTech (http://www.radtech.us/Products/Wildeepz.aspx) and it solved all of these problems. Now my lid latches securely and never pops open on its own, there's no wobble when the lid is shut and I'm carrying the PowerBook, and the lid sure looks straight to me.
From discussions on various forums (including discussions.info.apple.com) I gather that the lid was moved millimetres farther away from the keyboard in order to prevent those marks on the screen you mention; certainly that hasn't been a problem for me, nor for anyone else I know with one of this revision of PowerBook. (On the older revisions of the PowerBook G4, the screen was so close to the keyboard that they often made contact, transferring finger grease from the keyboard onto the screen.) This small change in design seems to have had a much bigger impact than the engineers thought. It is totally fixed by applying the WildEepz, though.
Buy a Mac and enjoy it! The reality is that there's always a new one coming, so just get one whenever you need to get one. The current revision is speedy enough for everything I throw at it aside from heavy 3D games.
I don't want to be too eager to jump on the band wagon too, but I've definitely noticed the dearth of interesting rumors and news on the Mac Web.
In some ways, it's getting kinda sad. Even the daily polls are sucking wind.
Well, either something is terribly wrong at Apple or IBM, or they are building demand and curiousity for the "next generation" of amazing products.
And I don't mean putting the G5 in the PowerBooks or iMac, I mean some huge stuff none of the Mac boards see coming.
So which will it be? Who knows. I'm an optimist, and hell, Apple has been on a roll for the past few years, so I'm thinking it's something big coming our way.
In the mean time, the Mac web is suffering rehashing predictable rumors with an ever revised release schedule.
In some ways, it's getting kinda sad. Even the daily polls are sucking wind.
Well, either something is terribly wrong at Apple or IBM, or they are building demand and curiousity for the "next generation" of amazing products.
And I don't mean putting the G5 in the PowerBooks or iMac, I mean some huge stuff none of the Mac boards see coming.
So which will it be? Who knows. I'm an optimist, and hell, Apple has been on a roll for the past few years, so I'm thinking it's something big coming our way.
In the mean time, the Mac web is suffering rehashing predictable rumors with an ever revised release schedule.
We know they've had in them, and, at times, they've amazed us all.. I hope you're right and this is one of those times..
It's just sad to be collectively sitting here just hoping for something, anything to push them to the limelight and mainstream..
It's just sad to be collectively sitting here just hoping for something, anything to push them to the limelight and mainstream..
BWhaler said:
Blasé feel of no updates
Well, I for one, was looking at the "Savings" part of the Apple store over the last few days, and noticed that there was a listing for a refurbished Dual 2.0 GHz G5. There are similar offerings in the Powerbook line, and it seems that no one is buying them. Looks like most of the folks that look over that part of the Apple store read the rumors on this website.
Or, perhaps, it's that people ARE tired of having G4's in Powerbooks. I thought for sure that portables were "the" thing to have. It's ok to have the iBook on which I am writing the reply to this thread; but, I can really say, it will perhaps be my last. The ONLY way I would probably consider another portable is if the price on the backlit keyboard 15" PB goes under $2,000. There's simply no need for me to have a portable, and I'd probably get more pleasure from a G5/HD Cinema combination. I rarely disconnect my iBook from my desk setup, OK...once a year for my vacation to San Francisco. It does its job well, this 800 MHz G3 iBook, especially with the new Canon Powershot G5 I got myself for Christmas.
It was great to be able to upload my pics to the iBook every night in the hotel, after shooting a hundred or so digipics for my 6-day visit to the Bay Area. But, again, it's only once a year, and I'm really REALLY feeling the need to burn "archival copies" of DVDs, which I haven't been able to because of the G3's inability to even have an external DVD-R burner connected to it. Argh!!!
I want a G5 now!
Well, I for one, was looking at the "Savings" part of the Apple store over the last few days, and noticed that there was a listing for a refurbished Dual 2.0 GHz G5. There are similar offerings in the Powerbook line, and it seems that no one is buying them. Looks like most of the folks that look over that part of the Apple store read the rumors on this website.
Or, perhaps, it's that people ARE tired of having G4's in Powerbooks. I thought for sure that portables were "the" thing to have. It's ok to have the iBook on which I am writing the reply to this thread; but, I can really say, it will perhaps be my last. The ONLY way I would probably consider another portable is if the price on the backlit keyboard 15" PB goes under $2,000. There's simply no need for me to have a portable, and I'd probably get more pleasure from a G5/HD Cinema combination. I rarely disconnect my iBook from my desk setup, OK...once a year for my vacation to San Francisco. It does its job well, this 800 MHz G3 iBook, especially with the new Canon Powershot G5 I got myself for Christmas.
It was great to be able to upload my pics to the iBook every night in the hotel, after shooting a hundred or so digipics for my 6-day visit to the Bay Area. But, again, it's only once a year, and I'm really REALLY feeling the need to burn "archival copies" of DVDs, which I haven't been able to because of the G3's inability to even have an external DVD-R burner connected to it. Argh!!!
I want a G5 now!
BWhaler said:
This is my expectation too.
I believe this year will see a complete revamp of the home machines, not so much a leap forward as a leap sideways.
The Home PC is now a commodity item, and as such, the thrill has gone.
It's over
Computers are over
Now we just have endless refinement and repackaging of twenty year old concepts and increasingly locked in customers.
When did a PC of any description last amaze you? Was it your first time on the web? Your first email? First time you used Photoshop? Pac Man ???
This market is going nowhere. It has matured, like microwave ovens and automobiles. And they know it well at Cupertino
Only a company like Apple can make the next insanely great device that will replace it and bring a new era of integration and functionality and dammit, fun and wonder to the home media/hub/appliance market that is emerging.
I have no idea what this will look like or be. I just believe that its coming.
Also - there is no spoon
Snowy_River said:The trackpads on all current PBs support side scroll regions. It's just not enabled in the driver that Apple uses. However, there is an alternate driver that you can install. It's called SideTrack. The latest version is really quite extraordinary. It not only allows you to have up-down scrolling along either side of your track pad, it also allows for left-right scrolling along the top or bottom, as well as different tap behavior in the corners of the track pad. I have mine set to scroll along the right and bottom edges, and I have the upper left corner tap set to button 2 (i.e. right mouse button) and the upper right corner tap set to button 3 (which is useful in Unix land). I'm currently trying to decide what to do with the lower corners (right now I have them set to Cmd-TAB and Cmd-Shift-TAB, but I don't know that I'll keep that).
So, this is one little driver, in principle, answers all of your wishes...
Cool!!
Thank you very much for the info.
I wish I knew about it sooner.
Yes, it does answer them.
Koodauw said:
Its only April, there is pleanty of time left in the year. With such a long dry spell in powermacs, I wouldnt put it past Apple to release the 3Ghz at WWDC. I think they got more than pleanty time in for it. As far as powerbooks, I do see them getting another revision G4. iPod color screens around the corner, and just a speed bump for the iBook. iMac, We might see a 2.0 G5 maybe.. they dont want it getting in the way of current powermac sales. Just a thought
Question here is why do they,or we bother anymore?
It has been almost two years since supposed IBM return to PPC for a Mac. What did we get since then? One revision of PowerMac??! Apple is still using crappy Motorola chips. Their product line based on these suck-ass chips is so morbidly unattractive and overpriced. I currently see no value for money in Apple computers. Thats why I find hard to get inspired by any G4 based updates. To me, that's just another slap in the face. Steve Jobs has no continuity as a businesman. His hits and misses, with no real strategy and care for loyal user base, will destroy Apple, or at least destroy it as we know it today.
It has been almost two years since supposed IBM return to PPC for a Mac. What did we get since then? One revision of PowerMac??! Apple is still using crappy Motorola chips. Their product line based on these suck-ass chips is so morbidly unattractive and overpriced. I currently see no value for money in Apple computers. Thats why I find hard to get inspired by any G4 based updates. To me, that's just another slap in the face. Steve Jobs has no continuity as a businesman. His hits and misses, with no real strategy and care for loyal user base, will destroy Apple, or at least destroy it as we know it today.
Borg3of5 said:
Is this a restriction of your G3 iBook, or just that iDVD doesn't support external DVD burners? Doesn't the G3 iBook have a FireWire port? Why couldn't you just plug in an external FireWire DVD-R and use something like Toast or another piece of 3rd party software to burn? Or am I missing something really obvious here...
Some_Big_Spoon said:
I think the reason is L3 cache is fairly expensive and probably preventing Apple from adding to an already expensive G5. We only needed L3 cache back then to try to compete with Intel's offerings. Hopefully we won't need to see L3 cache ever again.
patriotn11 said:
I am a PC user wanting to switch to Apple. I want to use both, I am very interested in the 12" and 15" powerbooks, I saw the 15" at compusa and it was awsome the only thing I could'nt stand was the space after theit was closed, it was ugly with a large space on one side. I wonder if they will correct it with 2 latches one on each end. Also should I wait to see if newer models are coming and also is there a way to prevent keyboard marks on screen when closed.
Your advice is needed, ALSO is there any good book writing software for Mac, I want to venture into story writing.
any other advise is appreciated
Michael
san antonio, tx
The hinge thing isn't a big deal, I have 15" PB and it looks great, other PBs seem similar, never judge a computer by the one of the showroom floor.
To prevent keyboard marks you can either keep the keyboard clean, or place a piece of paper on the keyboardthere are about a hundred other products, leather, cloth, etc too.
Finally, I would suggest TextEdit, good writing doesn't come from software, but that may just be my bias.
Gyroscope said:
Oh, I don't know... Probably because they're one of two major OEMs to be making money?
IBM has pretty well always been onboard for PPC. You know those G3s? IBM. The G5? IBM. AltiVec? IBM helped on it. What we've gotten from them, at this point, is a reliable and modern fabbing facility that isn't focused on the embedded market, the world's single largest patent holder in microchip design, the holder of a number of importat technologies that AMD and Intel are licensing (SOI, SSOI, and so on)... Sure, they're not giving us anything at all.
Good for you.
He's only brought us somewhere that previous Apple CEOs couldn't manage in some eight years (a new Mac OS), given Apple consumer credibility (the iPod), negotiated the fastest chips ever used in macs (the G5), provided a degree of security and ease of use that Microsoft can only dream of (OS X), and generally cleaned house (no debt, $6B in the bank).
How, exactly, is Apple in a bad position right now?