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Apple Portable Updates?

powerbook idea

pc laptops dont compare inthe size to power ratio however the big dell gaming system rocks in performance but is nasty & clunky....64mb vid is apples largest vid in the powerbook, why? and apples hd are always slow
 
12" screen.... virtually same width and depth - that's *not* a sub-notebook

the future said:
Those are SUB-notebooks, of course they are thinner and lighter. Apple doesn't make sub-notebooks.
Click to expand...

Hmm, the X300 has a 12" 1024x768 screen, just like the 12" AlBook.

It's only 0.1" narrower than the 12" PB (10.8" vs. 10.9"). It's even 0.6" deeper than the 12" PB (9.2" vs. 8.6").

Sorry, but that's not a sub-notebook - it's a full fledged notebook for people who prefer light and thin instead of a builtin DVD....

The "but it's a sub-notebook" is just as hollow as the "but that's a workstation, not a desktop" arguments at the G5 intro! You can't artificially define categories - these are full laptops that compete directly with the 12".

Aluminum dents...
 
Koodauw said:
What happened to the "exciting year?"
Click to expand...

Jeez...!

Chill out guys it's only April! Still a lot of time! I have to say, I'd be VERY Impressed if Apple was able to get the G5 chip into a PowerBook case by this time. Has anyone ever looked at the way they cool this thing in the G5 and Xserve? How on earth are they supposed to build it into the PB's case the way it is now? my guess is, the'll have to wait for a special revision of the chip to make it portable... Even the 90nm one seems to get too hot still...

--- --- --- --- ---
My free Desktop Pictures!
http://homepage.mac.com/nuber
 
denm316 said:
:)
Was not aware Dell made something that thin, however the problem with all PC laptops this thin is they dont have internal CD/DVD drives, I would still rather be on a plane with a laptop and have all my drive internal, it may get a little tight on that tray table with your laptop and its external DVD drive :)
Click to expand...

It gets worse, don't plan on doing anything graphics intensive as this Dell has "Intel Integrated Graphics".
 
dells are good but style is the only issue....i compared a PB 17 next to a dell and screanwise dell's highend laptop killedd the mac
 
visualanté said:
does it have all the io fetures like a PB
Click to expand...


not at all... and its overpriced... and it runs windows...

ill still take a powerbook any day of the week...

dell = ford/chevy <-- they can make it as thin and crippled as they want
but it will never be a status symbol...
 
g30ffr3y said:
not at all... and its overpriced... and it runs windows...

ill still take a powerbook any day of the week...

dell = ford/chevy <-- they can make it as thin and crippled as they want
but it will never be a status symbol...
Click to expand...
io is the key considering upgradeing the structure is unavailable or limited, PB has all io
 
I've searched...

oingoboingo 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...
Click to expand...

I don't remember exactly where I read it/saw it, but I have never run across any specs on any external, Firewire DVD-R drives, that advise the product can run on a G3 processor-based Mac. All the specs I've seen have as a minimum a G4 processor, running at 400 MHz. Which is strange to me, because if my G3 iBook runs at 800 MHz, then this should effectively double the needed processor speed.

If you've seen specs to discredit this, please let me know WHERE I can get my hands on one...I'd really like to add DVD-R burning to my setup.
 
Well...

AidenShaw said:
Dell Latitude X300 - 0.8" thick, 2.9 lbs
Apple PowerBook 12" - 1.18" thick, 4.6 lbs

x300_top_45degree_314.jpg
x300_left_closed_314x314.jpg

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...aspx/latit_x300?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz#tabtop


That thick, heavy PowerBook is a status symbol? ;)
Click to expand...

I don't know you Aiden, so I hope you don't think I'm "raining on your parade," BUT:

What was left out is that even though this Dell is only 0.8" thick, and a pound and some ounces less weight than a Powerbook 12", it is the equivalent of an oversized Palm. There is only a 30 GB Hard-Drive, comes standard with 128 MB RAM, and has a 1.2 GHz processor.

The 12" Powerbook blows this Dell out of the water. IMHO, it's not a good match. Besides the Dell starts out at $1,900. Pricey, just to say you don't have to carry an extra pound-and-some paperweight.

AND...it runs the so-called wonder to the world of computers that is Windows XP. Wonderful. Can I puke now?
 
kotovasii said:
Just before everybody explodes - the year has just started, no?!?
Did you really expect Apple to dump all their hardware and announce new stuff within weeks? Just calm down all of you and use your Great Macs for another 6-9 months especially that the majority of people do not actually need anything apart from a web browser and occasionally a word processor. I just cannot believe that all of those complaining are heavy users of Mathematica, BLAST etc.
Chill, enjoy what you have and if you have spare money - donate it to kids in Afghanistan - they will appreciate it much more!
:-(
Click to expand...

The year has just started? We're in the second quarter already. And Mac users definitely want machines that stay on pace with the rest of the industry. Macs are priced higher, they should be the top performers to match their superior OS.
 
Borg3of5 said:
I don't remember exactly where I read it/saw it, but I have never run across any specs on any external, Firewire DVD-R drives, that advise the product can run on a G3 processor-based Mac. All the specs I've seen have as a minimum a G4 processor, running at 400 MHz. Which is strange to me, because if my G3 iBook runs at 800 MHz, then this should effectively double the needed processor speed.

If you've seen specs to discredit this, please let me know WHERE I can get my hands on one...I'd really like to add DVD-R burning to my setup.
Click to expand...

I saw this DVD burner at Costco recently, and per their website, it will work with "any" G3 Mac (don't hold me to it, but IIRC it was $229).

http://www.tdk.com/dvdburners/indidvd4xmulti_extspecs.html
 
Borg3of5 said:
I don't know you Aiden, so I hope you don't think I'm "raining on your parade," BUT:

What was left out is that even though this Dell is only 0.8" thick, and a pound and some ounces less weight than a Powerbook 12", it is the equivalent of an oversized Palm. There is only a 30 GB Hard-Drive, comes standard with 128 MB RAM, and has a 1.2 GHz processor.

The 12" Powerbook blows this Dell out of the water. IMHO, it's not a good match. Besides the Dell starts out at $1,900. Pricey, just to say you don't have to carry an extra pound-and-some paperweight.

AND...it runs the so-called wonder to the world of computers that is Windows XP. Wonderful. Can I puke now?
Click to expand...


The dell also has no optical drive built in. At least most of the fujitsu p-series notebooks have them.
 
What a rip off

AidenShaw said:
Dell Latitude X300 - 0.8" thick, 2.9 lbs
Apple PowerBook 12" - 1.18" thick, 4.6 lbs

x300_top_45degree_314.jpg
x300_left_closed_314x314.jpg

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...aspx/latit_x300?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz#tabtop


That thick, heavy PowerBook is a status symbol? ;)
Click to expand...

I went to Dell's website and "customized" this computer with bluetooth, added 128 MB more ram, upgraded the hard drive to 40GB, and added the EXTERNAL CDRW/DVD. I'll have to look into it more, but for soem reason it looks like they want to charge ofr a battery and AC charger (that can't be correct, can it?) Anyway, I left the battery and charger off, and got a grand total of :
$2109.

A new powerbook 12" w/ bluetooth, CDRW/DVD, and Airport Xtreme is:
$1698

A diffference of $400. Now take a more comparable notebook (the iBook, which is palstic and has a slower processor (1.2 Ghz P M? I know a G4 is retro, but so is this) configured similarly (G4 800 256MB 40GB BT CDRW/DVD APX) :
$1273
A difference of over $800. Quite frankley, unless you need it for AutoCAD of some other Windows only app, I'd go with the ibook.
 
still by todays stndereds my PB pizmo is thin and its 4 years old....apple should consider that design bcuz its a little thicker buut more flexibable...with some minor cosmetic changes it be sweet....you would hsve more room for cooling g5 and expansion bays....does a .5 " really hurt you if u can have a g5 and room....its still sleek maybe not paper thin but its a compromise
 
the dell

The Dell has no optical drive, lousy graphics, and costs more. OTOH, it's probably faster and comes with a 3 year warranty, and runs millions of software titles.

The PB12 has a slot loading combo drive, better graphics, and costs less. It's also better looking, but is limited to available Mac software. OSX is nicer than XP, though, so that's a plus.

Both machines need more memory.

I am an IT manager for a 65-person (sorry - PC only) company and buy lots of Dells (don't worry - I have a mac at home, and am currently craving a PB15!). In general, I don't find Dell laptops to be very competitive with others (Toshiba, Sony, et. al.) in the PC world, but we do like their desktops.
 
AidenShaw said:
Sorry, but that's not a sub-notebook - it's a full fledged notebook for people who prefer light and thin instead of a builtin DVD.... The "but it's a sub-notebook" is just as hollow as the "but that's a workstation, not a desktop" arguments at the G5 intro! You can't artificially define categories - these are full laptops that compete directly with the 12"..
Click to expand...

Of course we can argue about what exactly makes a sub-notebook "sub", but for me (and most of the portable market, or so it seems) a notebook without optical drive is not a "full fledged" one.
 
Speaking to the original thread...you know this means no new Powerbook g5's for a long...long time. And we can all also expect that Rev.A is going to have major problems, so realistically, at the rate Apple's been going, you can expect a reliable and quick g5 PB in 1.75-2 years. sucks, doesn't it? I think I'll just have to suck it up and buy a PB g4.
 
Concerning these "sub" notebooks, all I have to say is I want one. I don't use the optical drive on my powerbook that often. I could easily use an external drive. I like the thinner size, and the lack of performance is not a big bother to me. I used one of the iBook G3s for awhile and didn't mind it at all. OK, upgrade the memory to 256 MB at least, but other than that it's fine. Portability is the name of the game though, not performance. Don't forget, the iBook isn't sold on performance either. Fortunately, the price on these sub-notebooks is a deal killer, so they're not exactly competing with the iBook.

I have seen one of these in person and I AM impressed. They look pretty much like what the hypothetical eBook might look like. So I say, come on Apple. Hit me with an eBook!
 
Contrary to what most people say, my advice for buying Apple is the same as buying for PCs. Set your budget, then buy once you can afford it. If you wait for the next big thing you'll wait forever.

Do you want to create publishable documents? If so, I highly recommend using TeX, pronounced as "tech." There is a learning curve to it, but once you learn it you can concentrate on what matters; the content. TeX automatically handles the formatting so you don't have to worry about it. It also produces documents that are suitable for publication.

Besides that, if you buy a Powerbook it will come with a program called OmniOutliner. As you can probably guess from the name, you can use that for outlining. I'm not sure what other notes you might want to keep, but TextEdit or even Stickies can probably cover that.

patriotn11 said:
:confused:
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 :)
Click to expand...
 
the future said:
Those are SUB-notebooks, of course they are thinner and lighter. Apple doesn't make sub-notebooks. Plus those Dell and Toshiba books still don't look anywhere near as classy as Powerbooks, especially "in person" (vs. in pictures).
Click to expand...


Those are NOT subnotebooks. Look up the term before you start spouting out such junk.


The 12" PowerBook which IS a notebook has a 12.1" screen. The Toshiba and Dell both have 12.1" screens as well.


Apple:_____10.9 x 8.6 x 1.18 Weight: 4.6lbs
Toshiba:___11.3” x 9.0” x 0.6/0.7" Weight: 2.4lbs
Dell:______10.8" x 9.2" x 0.8/0.9" Weight: 2.9lbs

The biggest difference, as I stated before, is the fact that the DVD drive is external otherwise these systems are thin laptops. If I had such a system you have the option of leaving the drive behind and going with a system that is supremely portable with as much screen real-estate as a 12" PowerBook.
The initial point of this discussion wasn't to see who is smallest but to refute the notion that PC laptops are oversized which is FAR from the truth.
 
People, just be patient. Apple is in no way a bad position and they will come out with good, new products.
 
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