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Apple Releases New PowerBooks

oskar said:
I guess we all expected to see something bigger than this. This update just makes me think that there won't be dual cores or G5 until 2006. Apple took this long to release these updates because they were not only simple speedbumps as we thought. They really put in a couple of features that take more than simply putting in a slightly faster processor. Making the 17-inch able to run a 30 inch display is a major improvement in graphics if you ask me, and giving a BTO option for the 15 inch is nice as well. And the prices drops are more than welcome.
What can we expect from Apple now that they did this? Are you really still going to wait for a G5? I for one want and need a PowerBook now and am going to order one this week. The updates are good enough for me, especially because I rarely order BTO options. 512 MB of RAM and and 80 gig 5400 rpm drive are great to come standard for us video users.
*sigh* Finally an update. :)

Let the dual core and G5 debates continue...
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Well said! I agree wholeheartedly. I'll be placing my order tonight. Gonna have to decide whether to or not to get the 100 GB drive upgrade, or replace the stock drive with a 7200RPM.

And hey, even if they do release a G5 in June, I'll be perfectly happy sticking with the G4 and waiting for the second revision of the G5, far far in the future.
 
Photorun said:
Does anyone here actually READ about new technologies or are is everyone here into NOT THINKING!!!

G5 Powerbooks... NOT HAPPENING!!!

G4 DUAL CORE 64 BIT PROBABLY NEXT!!!

I'm sick of you people, seriously, you don't get it, G5 isn't the be-all end-all, get a clue or stop posting!!! Read up or shut up! Good god!

UGH!!!
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What is with you? Why do you keep on reading our comments if they bother you so much? Stop torturing yourself then and don't read the forums.
You whine much more about others' comments than what we have speculated about G5's.
Are you an engineer? Do you work at Apple? Do you work at IBM? You know as little as anybody else and believe me there will ALWAYS be many more that know more than YOU do.
 
neoelectronaut said:
To all of you who thought you were getting a G5.

Does mean we'll stop hearing "NU POWEBOK G5S ON TU3SDAY1!111 OMG LOL"?

...because that's getting really damn annoying.
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It was damn annoying several months ago. Now I'm reaching a point where mass-murder is considered a likely option.
 
I'm thinking when is Tiger coming out for sale? Does anyone know? Wouldn't the powerbooks come with Tiger after that? One might as well wait a month if it's coming ou in Narch, then buy the PB for the lowest price you'll ever get...

Must... resist... temptation...
 
Well what an emotional issue! Tempers flying all over the place. It's just a computer! :D

Personally, as someone who had made up his mind to splash out and buy a Sony Vaio S2XP, I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board with what to purchase. Increasing the RAM and hard drive capacity to industry standard levels is an excellent move (although PC laptops are getting ready for their next jump), and the inclusion of 8x Superdrive is great (there's only a couple of PC laptops that have 16x right now, so 8x is good). It would've been good to see Apple include a more powerful graphics card (rather than keep the same), but then there's not much demand (relatively speaking) for games on the Apple platform.

Any speed bump is a positive thing, especially when combined with a price drop!

I'm pretty happy about the situation. Even the 15" Superdrive is cheaper than the Sony S2XP now, although the S2 has that oh-so-sexy 13" widescreen...
 
Originally Posted by neoelectronaut
To all of you who thought you were getting a G5.
Does mean we'll stop hearing "NU POWEBOK G5S ON TU3SDAY1!111 OMG LOL"?
...because that's getting really damn annoying.

CTerry said:
It was damn annoying several months ago. Now I'm reaching a point where mass-murder is considered a likely option.
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FWIW, I can't remember the last time I saw one of those "G5 on Tuesday" speculations. A year ago? I'm sure there are a few around still... what I DO see is a whole LOT of posts saying how annoying they are! ;) Ironic.

I propose we move on to complaining about THOSE posts instead :D I have just invented third-generation forum whining! :eek:
 
Caiwyn said:
And hey, even if they do release a G5 in June, I'll be perfectly happy sticking with the G4 and waiting for the second revision of the G5, far far in the future.
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Right there with ya. You got to get on the train at some point. I'm satisfied with the updates. More speed, larger HD, and a couple other crumbs, for less money. Hmmm..... I'll take one.

I'll still be hovering when the new PB's come out. But I think I will beat the hell out of this one (the one that I ordered this AM) before I start looking again. (we all know that is a lie).

Thanks for the love steve. Releasing it today as opposed to tomorrow means I'll get it a day earlier. :D
 
they should have put a geforce 5600 in at least. grrrr. GPU ****ers.

<admin note> going around the profanity filter will get you banned. I promise.</admin note>
 
Powerbook order

I am having the same problem a couple others on here have- ordered a PB before update, it hasn't arrived yet, but has shipped. Mine is CTO, so they are saying they won't take it back. Has anyone been able to get them to take it back anyway? And is adding some RAM that much of a customization?

This update is significant (IMHO), and this is my first Apple product. I hate to have it outdated before I see it.

I have talked them into a $300 credit instead of the $200 they orignially offered, but am felling that they need to credit me for more than just a price drop with the upgrades.

Want this bad taste out of my mouth from this first Apple experience.

Regards,
Jason
 
stupid question

Is there any firmware or any other type of update that would allow you to use the scrolling on the trackpad on the previous powerbook? Right now I'm using Sidetrack, but I'd prefer this method of doing it.
 
DeBacker said:
I am having the same problem a couple others on here have- ordered a PB before update, it hasn't arrived yet, but has shipped. Mine is CTO, so they are saying they won't take it back. Has anyone been able to get them to take it back anyway? And is adding some RAM that much of a customization?

This update is significant (IMHO), and this is my first Apple product. I hate to have it outdated before I see it.

I have talked them into a $300 credit instead of the $200 they orignially offered, but am felling that they need to credit me for more than just a price drop with the upgrades.

Want this bad taste out of my mouth from this first Apple experience.

Regards,
Jason
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This is going to sound a little rude, but when all is said and done, you are still getting what you ordered. If what you ordered wasn't good enough for your needs, then you shouldn't have ordered it. I know it sucks to feel like you are getting less than you could right now, but that wasn't the case when you placed the order, right? A $300 credit is pretty generous in your case. I would take it, and take solace in the fact that this update isn't really earth-shattering. When all is said and done, you're still getting a great machine, and you're still getting what you originally wanted.
 
CTerry said:
neoelectronaut said:
To all of you who thought you were getting a G5.
Does mean we'll stop hearing "NU POWEBOK G5S ON TU3SDAY1!111 OMG LOL"?
...because that's getting really damn annoying.
Click to expand...

It was damn annoying several months ago. Now I'm reaching a point where mass-murder is considered a likely option.
Click to expand...

Just like a psycho to not be able to muster enough self-control to keep from going postal about a bunch of rumors posted to a RUMORS site.
 
rog said:
A 5% real world speed gain after 10 months and they still want $2700 for the 17" model with insufficient RAM and mid range HD? Maybe they should just cancel their portable lines until they can get them at decent speeds. Why is the 12" still at 1024x768? Who wants to use any PC with that limitation? They really need to massively cut the prices of the portable lineup.
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Thank you. Someone speaks some sense. The G4 is a great chip and has done us sterling service over the years. It's sufficiently fast for a lot of people, me included, having modded a Powermac G4 Gig E over the years to keep pace. HOWEVER - if Apple is asking me to drop that much dough on a new Powerbook it'd better spank some ass, and these just don't. They are a joke at the price, really. Come on people, the iMac G5 is a case in point, there's just no justification for the price premium anymore with the Powerbooks, and as someone suggested earlier Apple are marketing themselves some time before the G5s are released. For me personally, I'm not taking the bait. For work, there's no alternative and I'm going to have to buy at least one of the new PBs soon. Good job it ain't my hard-earned paying for it, but it still annoys me all the same.
 
msharp said:
i was hopping for a duel core g4........

1.5 to 1.67... so tiny improvement..???? what the hell....
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Will you people stop with that?! WHAT dual-core G4????!!!!


*************THERE AREN'T ANY!!!!!****************

If Motorola were to respect their own roadmap (which they have NEVER done), they would begin to manufacture dual core G4's for desktop (read also laptop) applications in the last quarter of 2005, which means they would be ready for a possible announcement at Macworld San Francisco 2006. Again knowing Motorola if they EVER do release such a chip, it will arrive late, more likely summer 2006 (or later).

A "tiny" update?! Well, can you please tell me with what invisible CPU Apple was supposed to update the Powerbook? They publicly stated it was impossible for them right now to put a G5 inside their tiny laptop enclosure because of the heat it produce! All that Motorola had to offer in 2004 was a 1.5GHz G4 chip, nothing faster, and that chip was already in the Powerbook!

Welcome to Mac computing. It's been like that for the past 5 years.
 
plastique45 said:
A "tiny" update?! Well, can you please tell me with what invisible CPU Apple was supposed to update the Powerbook?
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The MPC7448, which was expected to be available in early 2005. With lower power draw, a doubled L2 cache, and a 200 Mhz bus, it could have offered a significant performance increase, even at a minimally higher clock speed. I guess it wasn't a reality yet, though.
 
geoffism said:
And I believe the real temptation for any PB user that is "in the market" will be when the G5's come out. How many of you are willing to jump on the first rev? I won't get into the problems that have been discussed. We all know them. That would make me a little trigger shy. This bump was perfect timing for me.
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I completely agree. If you are in the market, this is the perfect catalyst. The price drop enough is significant for someone in need of a new laptop. I also agree that I would stay away from the first rev G5, all the issues make me very nervous. For the most part my post was an attempt to justify my PB being outdated ;) . From the perspective of someone looking into a new computer, I think this is a great one!
 
nagromme said:
FWIW, I can't remember the last time I saw one of those "G5 on Tuesday" speculations. A year ago? I'm sure there are a few around still... what I DO see is a whole LOT of posts saying how annoying they are! ;) Ironic.

I propose we move on to complaining about THOSE posts instead :D I have just invented third-generation forum whining! :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I beat you to it. Click Me!
 
pubwvj said:
The fact is when you factor in all the little costs the Mac comes out cheaper..
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And so it begins. This is the same BS people were giving to make up for the piss poor performance on the G4 PowerMac pre-G5. I guess what goes around comes around. It was a stupid argument then it's a stupid argument now.
Get one thing straight. A computer is made up of two components. Hardware and software. A deficiency in either and you have a subpar experience.

The PC world has cutting edge laptop hardware that blows away the PowerBook but lacks on the software side. The Mac has solid software but lacks drastically on the hardware side of things. Until Apple fixes this deficiency you can make all the dang excuses you want. It’s not going to change fact that the PowerBook still sucks.

And your car comparison is flawed. It would be like comparing a 20 year old BMW vs. one that just came off the showroom floor. You can put a wing, racing stripes, new headlights, and bling bling hubcaps on the thing its not going to make it better then the latest and greatest. Nor will what Apple has done to the PowerBook make it compare more favorably to the PC world's laptop line. The entire damn architecture of the PowerBook line of laptops needs a serious revamp. From the shell of the thing, on down to its core chipset, to its CPU. Basically Apple needs to do to the PowerBook line what they did to the PowerMac. A massive complete overhaul.

Apple better have something GOOD planned for WWDC or they are screwed even further for sales. This 'bump is going to help a little but watching the reactions of people on the board there do seem to be more then a few that are saying screw this. Whether or not this is a majority only time and next earning reports will tell.
 
mattster16 said:
No it is not, they use a completely different connector.
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Just because a device uses a different connector doesn't mean they're incompatible. That was the original statement--that firewire 800 ports were incompatible with firewire 400 devices.

By this flawed logic, the video out on a Powerbook must be incompatible with VGA monitors, DVI monitors, S-video monitors, and composite video monitors. Yet we know it can drive all of those.

Chris
 
drlunanerd said:
Thank you. Someone speaks some sense. The G4 is a great chip and has done us sterling service over the years. It's sufficiently fast for a lot of people, me included, having modded a Powermac G4 Gig E over the years to keep pace. HOWEVER - if Apple is asking me to drop that much dough on a new Powerbook it'd better spank some ass, and these just don't. They are a joke at the price, really. Come on people, the iMac G5 is a case in point, there's just no justification for the price premium anymore with the Powerbooks, and as someone suggested earlier Apple are marketing themselves some time before the G5s are released. For me personally, I'm not taking the bait. For work, there's no alternative and I'm going to have to buy at least one of the new PBs soon. Good job it ain't my hard-earned paying for it, but it still annoys me all the same.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- the G4 is a fine chip; I'm typing this on a PowerMac with two of them and love it.

Would like to have a portable version in the form of a PowerBook. But at these prices? Not impressed; not interested.

Fortunately I can afford to wait until the next update ...
 
Photorun said:
Does anyone here actually READ about new technologies or are is everyone here into NOT THINKING!!!

G5 Powerbooks... NOT HAPPENING!!!

G4 DUAL CORE 64 BIT PROBABLY NEXT!!!

I'm sick of you people, seriously, you don't get it, G5 isn't the be-all end-all, get a clue or stop posting!!! Read up or shut up! Good god!

UGH!!!
Click to expand...

It's gotta be a Monday.
 
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