Apple Releases New PowerBooks

[uv23]

And another thing, the screen hing on the aluminum powerbooks is ugly and gay. It looks weird. The screen sits to low. If someone says you get used to it I say no way. You can get used to getting raped in prison too but why would you want to? I am waiting for a new screen hing on top of everthing else. Its an ibook with silver paint man.

I've been here a while, but I'd have to say that combination of comments has to be the most ludicrous I've ever read.

You like your TiBook. Great. Trolling this thread any longer would be pointless for you. There are more important things in life to get worked up over.

 

[reorx]

And another thing, the screen hing on the aluminum powerbooks is ugly and gay. It looks weird. The screen sits to low. If someone says you get used to it I say no way. You can get used to getting raped in prison too but why would you want to? I am waiting for a new screen hing on top of everthing else. Its an ibook with silver paint man.

That is your opinion, nothing more.

You are equating forced sexual assault with getting used to a different way of attaching a screen to a laptop?

 

[mcgarry]

I wonder if these updates will be enough to shave off the price of the old powerbooks.

I wouldn't mind a 12" 1.33 if it was priced under or about 1000

Mike

My campus bookstore (edu discount only) brought them down to around $1100 (first to $1110, then $1099 a couple weeks later, oddly enough) the week before Christmas, and still had them at that price last week (haven't been in since the update).

I've mentioned this price on the boards a few times, thinking someone else would write in with a similar report from some other store, but no one ever has. I guess that store really is odd.

In sum, I think you have a good chance of seeing the ComboDrive model hit at/below $1100 soon if not already, but they might be hard to find. Don't know if that's good enough.

 

[aussie_geek]

My 15" PowerBook is officially out of date. Damn.

me too..

aussie_geek

 

[mxpiazza]

867 powerbooks are still going for over $900 on eBay, which i just don't understand...

 

[matticus008]

My campus bookstore (edu discount only) brought them down to around $1100 (first to $1110, then $1099 a couple weeks later, oddly enough) the week before Christmas, and still had them at that price last week (haven't been in since the update).

I've mentioned this price on the boards a few times, thinking someone else would write in with a similar report from some other store, but no one ever has. I guess that store really is odd.

In sum, I think you have a good chance of seeing the ComboDrive model hit at/below $1100 soon if not already, but they might be hard to find. Don't know if that's good enough.

Yes, that is extremely odd. Most campus bookstores don't offer further sales beyond the educational discount, because whatever lower price they offer, that's money out of their pockets. My campus bookstore was giving away a free iPod (20GB) with a 15" SD or 17" PowerBook purchase (in order to clear out inventory for the new models, no doubt). Your sale might have been a similar situation. I highly doubt your bookstore has the new ones for that same low, low (too low) price.

 

[mxpiazza]

i've never seen a campus bookstore offer any discounts beyond what apple offers.. $1100 for that powerbook in december would have been an amazing deal. hell, $1100 for the 1.33 12" model new is still a great deal. you should buy a bunch then eBay them

 

[NoMoreLombard]

I called Monday and the Apple Store expected the new PBs in stock by today and sure enough they showed up. Apparently they didn't tell the guys in the store much and some of them didn't even know they had them when I showed up. Had the Genius at the Bar check out a memory self-test fault on my Lombard G3 and we decided it needed a new logic board, new hinges, new track pad, new keyboard, and a new screen. Other than that... Just to get it working as it's supposed to and not worrying about missing pixels, key letters, or a hole in the track pad would cost more than a new iBook. So off to the sales counter I went to pick up the 15" Superdrive they were holding for my arrival.

This is the third Mac I've bought in seven months so I know the routine and asked for some free memory. They didn't even know the 512 RAM was on one module and when they finally agreed they said another 512 module was $200 and they couldn't throw that in. I asked for an iPod shuffle and they said they didn't have any. The manager offered a 256MB module and I had a long drive home so I took it and left.

Now I'm not sure there's even a 256MB memory module for this machine. If you check on the on-line store site they show only a 512 and if you check out the previous PBs they show both a 156 and 512 (and 1GB), but that 512 isn't the same part number as the 512 for the NEW PBs. So how can the "old" 256MB module they gave me possibly be the right one? Anyone know? It's part #M9596G/A with a list of $100. I haven't opened it up yet and will call Support tomorrow to see what's up with it, unless someone here wants to have at it? The guys at the store really had no clue. Nice guys though!

Great machine. My last one lasted five and a half years of rough, constant, daily use and I can't wait for the G5 any longer. I bought one of my daughters a G5 iMac (17") and that's one heck of a nice box.

BTW, the prices on the old PBs seem to have been dropped about $400 if not more.

 

[Evangelion]

Allow me to chip in with my .02c. Disclaimer: I don't own any Apple-hardware (I will buy a Mini in the near future). I have used several PC-laptops and I have tried out a PB (few times in a store, and I have tested friends 12" PB). My thoughts on this matter are these:

PowerBook is a fine laptop. Yes yes, I know many people say that they are slow. While it might be true that you can get a PC-laptop that has a faster CPU, does it really matter in the end? I had a Compaq Evo N600c as my previous corporate laptop. It came with 1GHz P3-M and it was fast enough. My current company-laptop (Compaq NC6000) has a 1.6GHz (IIRC) Pentium-M in it. So it has twice the L2-cache, 60% more raw Mhz, three times the bus-speed (400Mhz vs. 133Mhz)... And guess what? I see VERY LITTLE difference (if at all) in performance during everyday use!

Now, NC6000 would cost more or less the same as similarly specced PB would cost. But there would be differences:

- NC6000 feels and looks cheap and flimsy (yes it does, N600c was alot better in this aspect). PB is made from aluminium. PB wins, hands down

- NC has a generic tray-loading optical-drive. PB has a slot-loading drive. PB wins, although this is merely a nice touch and nothing important

- PB can be had with a backlit-keyboard. PB wins here

- NC6000 runs Windows, PB runs OS X .

- PB has bigger HD as standard

It seems to me that people simply stare at the CPU and the price and determine that PB must suck. Well, it doesn't. G4 is about as fast as P-M is (clock for clock), so PC-users MIGHT have a slight advantage there, since P-M clocks higher (although not all PC-laptops ship with 1.6+GHz P-M!). But the difference is not that big. The PB has alot of nice touches and all-around coolness-factor that no PC-laptop can approach. While some PC-laptops might have faster CPU, the PB's CPU is _fast enough_.

This is coming from someone that has a laptop with one of those kick-ass P-M's in it: I would MUCH rather have a PB!

 

[mpw]

No. Not even the new powerbook with dual link can. It can only drive a 30in and lower size monitor and show the display on its 15in screen.

I thought that Steve Jobs showed a demo in San Francisco of Keynote 2.0 that had a different view on the laptop and external display. Will this not work on the new PB’s or have I mis-understood how KN2 is going to work?

 

[Lacero]

The springs on the AluPBs have been carefully engineered so they balance the notebook when you open and close them.

 

[NicoMan]

Ok, thanks. I'll sure as hell never have a 30" monitor, so I'll skip that.

Another question, if I were to buy ram somewhere other than Apple, is it fairly easy to add yourself? Does it void the warranty?

I've done it plenty of times with desktops, but not laptops.

If by Dual Monitor you meant having an external screen acting a second monitor, yes it is possible. If you meant having 2 external screens connected to your Powerbook, as far as I am aware it is not possible (maybe with a PCMCIA video card??)

 

[Kenrik]

15' 1.33 on sale at Apple $1499 now that's a sweet deal

 

[rosalindavenue]

867 powerbooks are still going for over $900 on eBay, which i just don't understand...

My local paper had an 867 12" PB (1st gen) listed in the classifieds for $1000 and it sold in 2 days. And it seems to me that almost every ebay mac sale ends at couple hundred bucks more than a fair price. Amazing.

 

[geoffism]

Lucky You

when they will be in stores? I have no Clue but my 15' shipped from shanghi the same day I ordered it! gota love those hardworking crafty chinese.

I ordered mine first thing Monday AM, and it's still "open". I'll see it sometime next week.

 

[sirjimithy1]

My local paper had an 867 12" PB (1st gen) listed in the classifieds for $1000 and it sold in 2 days. And it seems to me that almost every ebay mac sale ends at couple hundred bucks more than a fair price. Amazing.

Yeah, my G4 cube could almost pay for a new 12" PB if I were so inclined to sell it. Amazing how well these things hold their value. Try selling a 5 year old Dell for $1200 and see how many bids you get.

 

[sirjimithy1]

My local paper had an 867 12" PB (1st gen) listed in the classifieds for $1000 and it sold in 2 days. And it seems to me that almost every ebay mac sale ends at couple hundred bucks more than a fair price. Amazing.

Yeah, my G4 cube could almost pay for a new 12" PB if I were so inclined to sell it. Amazing how well these things hold their value. Try selling a 5 year old Dell for $1200 and see how many bids you get.

 

[plinden]

To the person who is saying centrinos suck, my IBM T42p is 2ghz and with ultrabay battery it gets 8 hrs life and that is not optimized. Its also plenty faster than the 1.5ghz powerbook and never gets hot.

Let's see - I go to www.ibm.com -> Products -> Notebooks -> T-series > "Let me build it" -> ... umm, hold on, no 2GHz processor ... well, maybe you meant 1.8GHz.

-> Select that, but with the 1400x1050 screen, not the 1600x1200 - my eyes really can't take more than 100dpi, so 1400x1050 is the best I can do.

-> Select WinXP Pro, Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11b/g, Bluetooth (it's only 1.1 but what the hell...), 3-Year Onsite Repair (like AppleCare, maybe somewhat better, not sure), No Microsoft Office, skip the rest of that page.

-> Continue

Hmm - price is now $2696. Let's keep going.

-> No printer, 1GByte Ram (any less is useless), 80GByte 5400 HD, ThinkPad Multi-Burner Ultrabay Slim Drive (ie. Superdrive)

That's it - total price $3763, no education discount available, no Firewire, no DVI out unless I go back and get the docking station ($179) or an adapter ($45) - I don't think an adapter would make things look any better since it's still analog out so I would have to get the docking station.

My wife works for UCBerkeley and since I'm getting this for her, I select the 15" Apple, 1GByte RAM, AppleCare, with discount it's $2653.

Is the IBM really worth $1110 more than the PowerBook?

I could knock $470 off the IBM and $315 off the PowerBook by getting 512GByte RAM, but that's still a difference of $950.

Also no professional software is included, and it has WinXP, which adds a subjective cost of a couple hundred $$ more, at least.

Let's go to Dell, choose the 600m, 1.8 GHz 64 MB video, XP Pro, 1GByte RAM, 80 GByte HD (no speed given), 3 yr warantee, DVD burner, Intel b/g wireless. No Bluetooth, DVI, firewire, some cheap crippled software added.

That comes to $2265 with the $300 discount. Good deal, is it?

Make up your own minds.

 

[MacTruck]

Let's see - I go to www.ibm.com -> Products -> Notebooks -> T-series > "Let me build it" -> ... umm, hold on, no 2GHz processor ... well, maybe you meant 1.8GHz.

-> Select that, but with the 1400x1050 screen, not the 1600x1200 - my eyes really can't take more than 100dpi, so 1400x1050 is the best I can do.

-> Select WinXP Pro, Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11b/g, Bluetooth (it's only 1.1 but what the hell...), 3-Year Onsite Repair (like AppleCare, maybe somewhat better, not sure), No Microsoft Office, skip the rest of that page.

-> Continue

Hmm - price is now $2696. Let's keep going.

-> No printer, 1GByte Ram (any less is useless), 80GByte 5400 HD, ThinkPad Multi-Burner Ultrabay Slim Drive (ie. Superdrive)

That's it - total price $3763, no education discount available, no Firewire, no DVI out unless I go back and get the docking station ($179) or an adapter ($45) - I don't think an adapter would make things look any better since it's still analog out so I would have to get the docking station.

My wife works for UCBerkeley and since I'm getting this for her, I select the 15" Apple, 1GByte RAM, AppleCare, with discount it's $2653.

Is the IBM really worth $1110 more than the PowerBook?

I could knock $470 off the IBM and $315 off the PowerBook by getting 512GByte RAM, but that's still a difference of $950.

Also no professional software is included, and it has WinXP, which adds a subjective cost of a couple hundred $$ more, at least.

Make up your own minds.

Yeah but its faster.... mind made up. Speed costs $$. But hey you don't have to get a thinkpad get any 2ghz dothan processor. Besides, I was just making a point about speed not cost. I still like my powerbook but the aluminum is a battery sucking hot plate and we all know it. Just stating the facts. Ok no more pc vs mac debate. Last word said.

 

[wdlove]

me too..

aussie_geek

Having an outdated PowerBook is just a part of the process. Jut think of all the enjoyment that it had provided.

 

[mcgarry]

i've never seen a campus bookstore offer any discounts beyond what apple offers.. $1100 for that powerbook in december would have been an amazing deal. hell, $1100 for the 1.33 12" model new is still a great deal. you should buy a bunch then eBay them

Yeah, sorry, as you know we're only allowed one laptop per academic year on the edu discount, and I got mine in October! It's been great, neither a battery-sucker nor a hotplate, who knew ...

 

[puravidamon]

NEED HELP: 2 OPTIONS for NEW PB

Hi, all. Looking for some advise. Here are the details.

Purchased 15 PB SD on 1/14 after no updates at the expo. Then they release the new PB... which is JUST past the 2 week return period. Sneaky. I called my dealer and I have the followign options.

1) They will re-emburse me $400 for the price-difference of my PB and what it si now as they try and clear stock.

2) Return it with a $250 re-stock fee, then, with that money and an additional $50, buy the new version of the PB.

Basically, are all the new features worth $450? On the one hand, 400 cash is nice and I STILL have a nice PB (albeit without the new trackpad, backlit keyboard, BT2, etc), but having the latest model is also good. What should I do? Looking for advice from people who know more about computers and good bargains than I do. Thanks.

- Jarrett

 

[0098386]

now i'm worried...

all im hearing is that the Al PB is a battery killer, but the apple site says it lasts a good 5 hours, obviously that depends on conditions but is the PB really that bad?

battery is important to me, a good few hours is all i need. but im slightly regretting pressing the "process my order" button

 

[redundant]

Powerbook vs. iMac

What type of performance difference would you expect between the 1.8 G5 on the iMac and the 1.67 G4 in the PowerBook? I am really torn between the two for home use. I would love the portability of the PB to work anywhere. I would like the speed and real estate for photo work on the iMac.

Any thoughts?

 

[mcgarry]

all im hearing is that the Al PB is a battery killer, but the apple site says it lasts a good 5 hours, obviously that depends on conditions but is the PB really that bad?

battery is important to me, a good few hours is all i need. but im slightly regretting pressing the "process my order" button

I can only speak to my personal experience. My 12" Rev. C can get legitimately over 5 hours of playing iTunes with Airport and BT off and the screen down pretty low. Normal web-browsing/general productivity, definitely under 4 hours but can be close to it; with the most intense use I've done, it still seems to stay close to 3 hours at least, though maybe sometimes on the south side of that. Sorry, these aren't exactly scientific observations or anything, but then again I suspect neither are those posted by most others saying things about the batteries. Just my personal experience.

And be sure to follow Apple's advice.