scarletbiro said:
Message me in regards to the resale value question, is it the model from April and if so was it stock or BTO. I can get you a price by tomorrow if you like.
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Apple Releases New PowerBooks
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Message me in regards to the resale value question, is it the model from April and if so was it stock or BTO. I can get you a price by tomorrow if you like.
maya said:Don't you mean people who dream that 167MHz is all that you need defend Apple and FreeScale.
Embarrassing indeed and you are supposed to use the iLife DCC suite with this bus speed.
iLife and the iMac G5 now actually look good together.
i'm thinking about getting an imac g5. barefeats.com doesn't show a huge speed increase of the 1.8 g5 over my 1.5 g4 PB. so how much impact does the fsb really have? and isn't the transfer limited to 300MHz because of the ram anyway?
is the fsb in real life so important?
andi
Wow, I just went through sixteen pages of whining. Seems to me that we have a lot of bitter people on this thread. Good things (read: G5 PowerBooks) come to those who wait.
no, personally never. my PB gets great reception at home and on campus. But how could I compare? I don't own a current iBook and I haven't taken my laptop anywhere where a) it doesn't get reception and b) I also see iBooks with reception. I'm not denying some people have, I'm just saying I haven't. Though I guess there is some truth to this discrepancy, it has gained momentum of its own on these boards during wich time it has acquired semi-mythical status that I suspect far outstrips the reality of the situation. I don't think it's a big a problem as the iBook "toughness" myth-- I'm still waiting for someone to buy a PB and an iB just to drop-test them and report back to us-- but funny nonetheless.Tymmz said:
And also new to the 17" PowerBook is an optical digital I/O connector (source:Low EndMac). Wonder which chipset the PB uses (a new revb. of intrepid?)?
andiwm2003 said:
You need to understand how computers operate in order for anyone to properly address this question. The fsb of a computer is the speed at which any, and all components ultimiately communicate with the processor, including the Ram. Since many I/O accesses are DMA (meaning they are direct memory access), without CPU assist, then effectively, you are looking at memory speed that equals to the fsb speed, hence why so many computers use synchronous memory speeds with the FSB. The FSB is the fastest rate at which instructions can be fed to the CPU. As such, depending on the CPU type and the amount of I/O work you are doing (saturation effect), the issue of FSB's importance varies. I don't know exactly which benchmark you saw at BareFeats (an excellent website for apple products, however condemned by apple), so I can't pinpoint its innards. But if you do processing that isn't always accessing the processor, the 167 Mhz FSB is okay, as soon as you start using the AGP bus, which is operating at effectively 66x4 Mhz speed, you saturate the bus with graphics data, and the system data is choked. As well, if you use the AltiVec unit in the G4 with a well optimized program, the altivec unit is capable of curning out multiple instructions per cycle, multiply that by the instruction width (128bit) and processor speed divided by the number of stages plus memory latency and cache latency (something like 10 - 20 depending on the location of the instructions, and type of ), you are looking at a severe starve of FSB. This is why people are complaining that the G4 is FSB starved, and that the 167Mhz FSB is an indignation of a 3000 dollar computer. The G5 is capable of much more instructions per cycle and as well as hold more instructions (en-route) in the processor, which means all that instructions has to be fed by nothing short of a Huge FSB, which is always the FSB in the case of a memory-controller-less CPU design. This is mostly why the AMD operton and Athlon 64 are so favoured right now in any given benchmark, and all over the consumer, server, and professional market. For a good read you should visit www.arstechnica.com, to debunk some of the marketing myth and get straight to the science of CPU's and such.
mcgarry said:
alright, man i'm just freakin' out. i know i'll need a laptop, and i know i want a mac. but still don't know if i should buy an ibook or a powerbook. its amazing, how this could happen. normally i always know what i want and what i need, but in this case it's just horrible.
but don't worry, i'll find it out. tomorrow i'll visit my local mac-seller, and take another look.
see you soon,
tymmz
Also-this quote from :
"A twist is that Apple's DVD burner, which it dubs the SuperDrive, now touts the ability to work with both DVD+R and DVD-R media. For a long time, Apple supported only DVD-R drives."-So good for burning DVD's with iDVD 5.
"A twist is that Apple's DVD burner, which it dubs the SuperDrive, now touts the ability to work with both DVD+R and DVD-R media. For a long time, Apple supported only DVD-R drives."-So good for burning DVD's with iDVD 5.
yawn
Marginal improvement in a very dated product. The Powerbook was stunning when it came out. Now its years later and were still stuck with the same architecture. There really is no point in this speed bump from a buyers standpoint. The bottleneck is the extremely dated mobo and its crippling bus speed. The other improvements are nice, but incremental improvements. Granted, they did about all they could do, given that they can't figure out how to make a g5 powerbook.
I doubt this will stem the slide in powerbook sales. The best one can hope for is a momentary stabilization. The mini offers similar specs and performance for $500. Not truly comparable, but what does that say about the powerbooks?
Give me a 12"-15" 1.8 G5 or 1.4 dual core, with 9700 gpu and I'll hand over 3k to Apple immediately. 2200 or so for the powerbook, 700 for a nicely spec-ed mini, and 100 for a keyboard and a bunch of ipod socks
Here's hoping my wait will be over in the summer.
Marginal improvement in a very dated product. The Powerbook was stunning when it came out. Now its years later and were still stuck with the same architecture. There really is no point in this speed bump from a buyers standpoint. The bottleneck is the extremely dated mobo and its crippling bus speed. The other improvements are nice, but incremental improvements. Granted, they did about all they could do, given that they can't figure out how to make a g5 powerbook.
I doubt this will stem the slide in powerbook sales. The best one can hope for is a momentary stabilization. The mini offers similar specs and performance for $500. Not truly comparable, but what does that say about the powerbooks?
Give me a 12"-15" 1.8 G5 or 1.4 dual core, with 9700 gpu and I'll hand over 3k to Apple immediately. 2200 or so for the powerbook, 700 for a nicely spec-ed mini, and 100 for a keyboard and a bunch of ipod socks
Here's hoping my wait will be over in the summer.
iBooks cheaper in Japan
There has been a subsequent drop of ¥10000 on the 12" iBook in Japan. (A little under US$100)
I couldn't remember what the 14" prices were so I'm not too sure about them.
i_b_joshua
There has been a subsequent drop of ¥10000 on the 12" iBook in Japan. (A little under US$100)
I couldn't remember what the 14" prices were so I'm not too sure about them.
i_b_joshua
These updates and price drops make the 14" iBook w/SuperDrive seem expensive. Should we expect updated iBooks soon?
I would really love to get a PowerBook 15" 1.67 GHz w/128MB of video RAM, ah yeah!
I would really love to get a PowerBook 15" 1.67 GHz w/128MB of video RAM, ah yeah!
Nice work Apple, but please try harder in the future
Two years ago, I bought a top-of-the-line 1GHz TiBook, and maxed it out with 1GB of RAM. Today, Apple announces a 1.67 GHz powerbook. In two years, the powerbook has seen a 67% increase in speed, or roughly 33% annually. What happened to Moore's Law? I don't mind buying a new computer every two years, but I do expect it to be at least twice as powerful as the last one.
The 1.67 GHz powerbook should have been released a year ago. We should be pushing on past 2 GHz right now.
Two years ago, I bought a top-of-the-line 1GHz TiBook, and maxed it out with 1GB of RAM. Today, Apple announces a 1.67 GHz powerbook. In two years, the powerbook has seen a 67% increase in speed, or roughly 33% annually. What happened to Moore's Law? I don't mind buying a new computer every two years, but I do expect it to be at least twice as powerful as the last one.
The 1.67 GHz powerbook should have been released a year ago. We should be pushing on past 2 GHz right now.
Bright Side
A G5 PB would have been sweet but...
I for one though would have been a little more hesitant to pull the trigger on a new G5 than an updated G4. At a minimum I would be forced to wait and see what the word was on the street as to all the regularly discussed issues (e.g., cooling) before buying. This way I can enjoy a new laptop now and hope it gets me through G5 Rev. B (at least).
But then again this is big upgrade for me.
A G5 PB would have been sweet but...
I for one though would have been a little more hesitant to pull the trigger on a new G5 than an updated G4. At a minimum I would be forced to wait and see what the word was on the street as to all the regularly discussed issues (e.g., cooling) before buying. This way I can enjoy a new laptop now and hope it gets me through G5 Rev. B (at least).
But then again this is big upgrade for me.
b1tr0t said:
Moore's Law has nothing to do with MHZ, it states the number of transistors per integrated circuit will double. http://www.intel.com/research/silicon/mooreslaw.htm Also, it has nothing to do with one product line. MHZ does not determine the "speed" of the of the processor, just the clock speed. The powerbook with the 1.6ghz processor very well might be 2x as fast as the powerbook with the 1ghz processor.
sonyrules said:
who are you to say what people need.. and for the pricethis is disgraceful.. from a computing view point.. the 12" is the only decent deal.. as it is comprable to pc counterparts.. with the increased weight, at that price, many a 15" can be had with a dothan 2.0 which spanks a g4 1.67.. sorry i love macs but it does..
they NEED to get faster pb's out.. and quick. they are losing money every day.
h00ligan said:
They spank em not only in terms of speed, but man, the PB's displays are really showing their age.
spasticmutant said:I never order online anymore. I always use the phone service person. Why? Because I have a conversation like this:
Salesperson>Would you like the AppleCare Warranty?
Me>I have a year to decide, right? Naw, Maybe not right now.
Salesperson>If you buy it right now, I can offer you a discount of <something substantial usually, like $100-$200 off - that's what happened last time>
Me>OK. Sign me up.
Note: If you let them offer you the discount, they may cut you a break. But if YOU ask for the warranty outright, you'll pay full price, unless the salesperson is being a total sweetheart
You have no incentive to buy the warranty immediately so it's to their benefit to offer you a discount, as once you've received your purchase and are happy with it, you'll be less likely to buy the warranty unless you have a problem.
Anne Marie
Thanks for the tip. Might try it out if/when I decide to buy one.
OK I need a serious question answered.
In Imovie, for example, how much faster would a single G5 1.8 be over a G4 1.67?
Are we talking nano-seconds when rendering a transition between clips?
How bout in Final Cut? Is the difference in performance substantial, or negligable?
It's important (to me) that I have this question answered.
Thanks!!!
Rem
In Imovie, for example, how much faster would a single G5 1.8 be over a G4 1.67?
Are we talking nano-seconds when rendering a transition between clips?
How bout in Final Cut? Is the difference in performance substantial, or negligable?
It's important (to me) that I have this question answered.
Thanks!!!
Rem
fordlemon said:
I am getting ready to buy a 15-inch PowerBook. I, for one, am very pleased with these updates, thank you very much. Just because you're not in the market for one doesn't mean you can make such unsubstantiated statements. That makes you the fool.
I wish everyone would stop complaining about this update.
The way I see it is:
1) Its not great/tempting for existing Powerbook users (Rev B or C). Ur powerbook is still great and theres nothing to really tempt u to upgrade.
2) its great for switchers like me. I would have bought last weeks (un-revised) Powerbook just for todays price drop. Thats the biggest hurdle for people like me - the cost. I am also pleased with the HD as well though.
U mustn't forget that there are potential switchers out there who lurk around the Apple website and forums just like these waiting for somthing to justify the switch. And for me this is it!!!
Just wanna add a thank you to u guys in this forum for all your help and advice on this "speed-bumped" Powerbook. Helped me ratify my decision. C my sig.
Cheers
inlimbo...
The way I see it is:
1) Its not great/tempting for existing Powerbook users (Rev B or C). Ur powerbook is still great and theres nothing to really tempt u to upgrade.
2) its great for switchers like me. I would have bought last weeks (un-revised) Powerbook just for todays price drop. Thats the biggest hurdle for people like me - the cost. I am also pleased with the HD as well though.
U mustn't forget that there are potential switchers out there who lurk around the Apple website and forums just like these waiting for somthing to justify the switch. And for me this is it!!!
Just wanna add a thank you to u guys in this forum for all your help and advice on this "speed-bumped" Powerbook. Helped me ratify my decision. C my sig.
Cheers
inlimbo...
b1tr0t said:
That is what I found odd as well, the whole equation does not fit at all. I believe Apple was hoping that IBM would have a mobile G5 however it didn't work that way and now they place the pressure on FreeScale to release any minor update they can in the lest amount of time.
It would seem Apple didn't really care about the G4 only the Velocity Engine, hence its on the G5 systems.
You have to love how Apple toots the G5 as better on they website since they have to market it as such, however they have the aging G4 in the PowerBook and call that fast ROTF, wait till Apple releases a G5 PB then they will snub the G4 like there was no tomorrow. At present they have indeed hit a wall, I don't know what to think of this crap.
And If I do remember from the past Apple stated that DVD-R format was good and better than DVD+R technology when it came for movie, however that statement is not true and yet again Apple contradicts themselves with they crap.
Almost everything Apple states is some Steve RDF making its way to they site. Apple should just keep they lip shut, why open it and degrade a technology and then down the road adopt and call it amazing and better, when in the first place you snubbed it.
It would have been great to see a G4 1.5GHz with an increased bus rather than this processor increase with the same bus and ram. If you have a PB from April this update is not even worth it.