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Apple Releases New PowerBooks
- Thread starter sbb155
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Thank you for your positive responses.
Addendum to my last inquiry: "When to buy?"
Collectively, do you believe the next update/upgrade to PBs would be a dual G4 Freescale core or another speed bump increase? And when? According to projections, would that be around November/December 2005 or early 2006 instead of June 2005?
Also, regarding the G5 Powerbooks which you have already heard by now, Apple supposedly has their hands full incorporating the G5 chip into a sound PB format due to the liquid cooling system, not to mention a few other things, if this is true. (However, I've never popped open a tower or the like to check out the architectural possibilities of spacial savings from technical integration of fluidic miniturization into a PB.) It all comes down to acceptable physics and money.
Realistically, in my opinion, a G5 PB is at least another year in the making if I do the math(#) and accounting($) correctly. I hope I'm wrong. But, anything can happen between now until tomorrow. Being optimistic, we'll just keep our fingers crossed. Certainly a 17" dual G5 or G6 Powerbook would be nice!
Yeh... According to formulae, projections, forecasting and conjecture, the next logical PB step would be a continuous speed bump into a dual G4 system with another round of ongoing speed bumps with that till the technology is here to make a viable G5 PB structure. Otherwise, you miss out on marketing money.
-The marketing equation is a rudimentary supply and demand complex with a twist. Their convergence and scalability is unwinding. It's just a matter of when. It's just a matter of time.
History reveals the future. Apple always looks before it leaps. In many cases, it leaps to always look before. "1984." And for that, we're always envious.
So, back to my original question, perhaps it got answered.
(The views and opinions expressed herein are purely my own and do not reflect that of anyone elses. Sorry about the general philosophy.)
Addendum to my last inquiry: "When to buy?"
Collectively, do you believe the next update/upgrade to PBs would be a dual G4 Freescale core or another speed bump increase? And when? According to projections, would that be around November/December 2005 or early 2006 instead of June 2005?
Also, regarding the G5 Powerbooks which you have already heard by now, Apple supposedly has their hands full incorporating the G5 chip into a sound PB format due to the liquid cooling system, not to mention a few other things, if this is true. (However, I've never popped open a tower or the like to check out the architectural possibilities of spacial savings from technical integration of fluidic miniturization into a PB.) It all comes down to acceptable physics and money.
Realistically, in my opinion, a G5 PB is at least another year in the making if I do the math(#) and accounting($) correctly. I hope I'm wrong. But, anything can happen between now until tomorrow. Being optimistic, we'll just keep our fingers crossed. Certainly a 17" dual G5 or G6 Powerbook would be nice!
Yeh... According to formulae, projections, forecasting and conjecture, the next logical PB step would be a continuous speed bump into a dual G4 system with another round of ongoing speed bumps with that till the technology is here to make a viable G5 PB structure. Otherwise, you miss out on marketing money.
-The marketing equation is a rudimentary supply and demand complex with a twist. Their convergence and scalability is unwinding. It's just a matter of when. It's just a matter of time.
History reveals the future. Apple always looks before it leaps. In many cases, it leaps to always look before. "1984." And for that, we're always envious.
So, back to my original question, perhaps it got answered.
(The views and opinions expressed herein are purely my own and do not reflect that of anyone elses. Sorry about the general philosophy.)
SurfAddict said:
Im getting my 12" PB SD in a few days- is there a procedure for 'running down' the battery to help increase life span ?
I know will some cell phones you have to keep them plugged into the power for 12 hours ... never had a laptop before - so have no idea if this called for.
Also, any tips for keeping the battery healthy ?
Rob
Got it!!!!!
Ok well i said i would get mine yesterday. I got off work and when i got home i just put my keys down and the door bell rang with the UPS man behind it with my PB. I'm glad i made it home when i did because i dont know what i would do if i saw him drive away or see a little sticker on my door. Like i said before this is my first mac and was very suprised to see it fully charged when i got it. I still plugged it in while i did the registration. Now i have to remember Feb 7th as my powerbook birthday. Will it remember itself in ical? lol Anyway i love it and have been playing around with it all night last night. just got to say i love it.
edit: thought id show its journey. got to start a photo album lol
Ok well i said i would get mine yesterday. I got off work and when i got home i just put my keys down and the door bell rang with the UPS man behind it with my PB. I'm glad i made it home when i did because i dont know what i would do if i saw him drive away or see a little sticker on my door. Like i said before this is my first mac and was very suprised to see it fully charged when i got it. I still plugged it in while i did the registration. Now i have to remember Feb 7th as my powerbook birthday. Will it remember itself in ical? lol Anyway i love it and have been playing around with it all night last night. just got to say i love it.
edit: thought id show its journey. got to start a photo album lol
Attachments
Very, very, very, very bummed
Looks like my Ti PB needs to hold on just a little while longer.
I ordered my 15", 100G HD, 1 G MB, 128 V at 7 a.m. on Monday, 1/31 (pacific time), had an expected ship date of 2/7. Which kind of bummed me out considering I basically got my order in shortly after the revision went live. Today, I go to check on it, to see if it had managed to crawl out of the warehouse yet, and low and behold, my exppected ship date (note, not arrive at my door date) had changed to Feb 23rd.
Of course I called Apple, knowing ahead of time that they would not have the answer.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Looks like my Ti PB needs to hold on just a little while longer.
I ordered my 15", 100G HD, 1 G MB, 128 V at 7 a.m. on Monday, 1/31 (pacific time), had an expected ship date of 2/7. Which kind of bummed me out considering I basically got my order in shortly after the revision went live. Today, I go to check on it, to see if it had managed to crawl out of the warehouse yet, and low and behold, my exppected ship date (note, not arrive at my door date) had changed to Feb 23rd.
Of course I called Apple, knowing ahead of time that they would not have the answer.
Anyone else experiencing this?
geoffism said:
I ordered a 12" Pb Super stock config on the 1st at 7:00 PM EST it had a expected ship date of 7 Feb, this morning I got an e-mail that it would be on or before 15 Feb. I feel your pain.
Open?
I ordered my Powerbook yesterday at 12:30 p.m. Pst and it still shows open on the order status page. What does this mean?
I ordered my Powerbook yesterday at 12:30 p.m. Pst and it still shows open on the order status page. What does this mean?
mine arrived and i am insanely happy about it. i swear, next to my 15" windows laptop my 12" powerbook looks like some kind of digital midget. but its so much better, so sleek and stylish heh.
interestingly; i rang up apple yesterday morning (monday) and they said it had to go to Ireland first so it should be with me on the 11th, however i checked the Apple order status page and it said it was already in Manchester (nearest city to me) tuesday morning! so haha... very happy. when it said "on delivery truck" i almost wet myself in glee. its like Ireland just vanished for a day
edit: and my PB journey
and i am insanely happy about it. i swear, next to my 15" windows laptop my 12" powerbook looks like some kind of digital midget. but its so much better, so sleek and stylish heh.interestingly; i rang up apple yesterday morning (monday) and they said it had to go to Ireland first so it should be with me on the 11th, however i checked the Apple order status page and it said it was already in Manchester (nearest city to me) tuesday morning! so haha... very happy. when it said "on delivery truck" i almost wet myself in glee. its like Ireland just vanished for a day
edit: and my PB journey
Attachments
Well, I for one am going to wallow back into my support group. I should be hammering the UPS/Fed Ex site right now, chasing down a tracking number, instead I'm thinking how many more times I'll check the Apple site only hoping to be suprised with an early shipment.
I need help. I just want my Mac.
The difibulator (aka - car battery) is on stand-by when my Ti PB starts to waver.
I need help. I just want my Mac.
The difibulator (aka - car battery) is on stand-by when my Ti PB starts to waver.
About Battery Rundown
Honestly I just did it to be safe I'm not sure if you really have to do it or not I have to believe if i jus would have plugged it in right away it would have been fine battery's have got to be a little better than they used to be. But seeing as I'm spending all my money on stuff other than batteries cause I screwed up the first one I decided to be safe. If you want to rundown just turn it on highest performance and send over all you music and pictures from your old crapdows PC (my dull) to your new Powerbook HDD...It worked great for me however I was suprised to still get 2 hrs of life while web surfing as well, especially since my dad bought a brand new 17" Qosmio that he gets 40 mins out of on battery. Guess it doesnt matter how conservative power wise a centrino is when the HD screen and second hard drive sucks up all the juice. Quite glad I have my 100GB on one platter and not 2 like him
Honestly I just did it to be safe I'm not sure if you really have to do it or not I have to believe if i jus would have plugged it in right away it would have been fine battery's have got to be a little better than they used to be. But seeing as I'm spending all my money on stuff other than batteries cause I screwed up the first one I decided to be safe. If you want to rundown just turn it on highest performance and send over all you music and pictures from your old crapdows PC (my dull) to your new Powerbook HDD...It worked great for me however I was suprised to still get 2 hrs of life while web surfing as well, especially since my dad bought a brand new 17" Qosmio that he gets 40 mins out of on battery. Guess it doesnt matter how conservative power wise a centrino is when the HD screen and second hard drive sucks up all the juice. Quite glad I have my 100GB on one platter and not 2 like him
I'm not gonna torture myself!
Ok, I have told myself that I was not going to allow myself to go and check the order status page until at least a week goes by. It says "on or before February 22, so I am just going to accept that.
I mean goodnight! I am loosing sleep checking the status of my order.
But it does say on OR BEFORE, right?
Ok, I have told myself that I was not going to allow myself to go and check the order status page until at least a week goes by. It says "on or before February 22, so I am just going to accept that.
I mean goodnight! I am loosing sleep checking the status of my order.
But it does say on OR BEFORE, right?
Battery Rundown?
What is this about battery rundown? Is there something to that?
Should you run the battery all the way down before charging for the first time?
What is this about battery rundown? Is there something to that?
Should you run the battery all the way down before charging for the first time?
Battery rundown
Ok well I'm gonna try and answer your question correctly since I got this hoopla started but dont quote me as the final say. Basically the reason I did this was because on most rechargable batteries such as those found in cell phones a retailer will tell you to run down your battery before plugging it in. Most recommend that you do this twice. The reason that they say to do this is because if you dont completly recharge the battery an effect known as "ghosting" will occur what this does is this leaves a portion of your battery that wont actually get charged even though the battery will still think that it is full. This can lead to a premature end of on the batteries life cycle and an inability to hold a charge for any considerable amount of time. However the common sense side of tells me that Apple has to know that 90% of people are just going to plug their laptops in immediatly so they are probably smart enough to either use higher quality batteries that dont have this problem or run them down at least once before they actually ship the laptop.
Ok well I'm gonna try and answer your question correctly since I got this hoopla started but dont quote me as the final say. Basically the reason I did this was because on most rechargable batteries such as those found in cell phones a retailer will tell you to run down your battery before plugging it in. Most recommend that you do this twice. The reason that they say to do this is because if you dont completly recharge the battery an effect known as "ghosting" will occur what this does is this leaves a portion of your battery that wont actually get charged even though the battery will still think that it is full. This can lead to a premature end of on the batteries life cycle and an inability to hold a charge for any considerable amount of time. However the common sense side of tells me that Apple has to know that 90% of people are just going to plug their laptops in immediatly so they are probably smart enough to either use higher quality batteries that dont have this problem or run them down at least once before they actually ship the laptop.
It looks like the availability on the PB's have shifted a bit.
Both 12" models are down to 1-3 days.
15" Combo is amazingly shipping same day now.
My 15" Superdrive is still 7-10. Ouch.
17" has been bumped up to 4-6 days.
Looks like the 15 combo is in sufficient supply now.
Both 12" models are down to 1-3 days.
15" Combo is amazingly shipping same day now.
My 15" Superdrive is still 7-10. Ouch.
17" has been bumped up to 4-6 days.
Looks like the 15 combo is in sufficient supply now.
It's here!
Wow, I was surprised today when my mom called me at work, telling me a box from Apple came. It was due on the 11th, and was in Alaska last night (I live in NJ) The thing is absolutely fabulous. I read in one thread that people were having issues with the scrolling on the trackpad, but mine works perfectly, so no worries.
This thing has had quite a journey tho. China, Philippines, Alaska, Indiana, and my house (the most important leg of the journey).
Wow, I was surprised today when my mom called me at work, telling me a box from Apple came. It was due on the 11th, and was in Alaska last night (I live in NJ) The thing is absolutely fabulous. I read in one thread that people were having issues with the scrolling on the trackpad, but mine works perfectly, so no worries.
This thing has had quite a journey tho. China, Philippines, Alaska, Indiana, and my house (the most important leg of the journey).
Battery Conditioning
The PowerBooks use Lithium-ion batteries.
Apple recommends this:
Recharge Lithium-ion batteries when they become depleted. Although they are not subject to the memory effect, it is suggested that you let the battery drain fully before recharging.
This means let the PowerBook run until it goes to sleep (battery reports 0% time left), then plug it in and let it recharge to full. The battery includes a microprocessor that reports back to the laptop its status. By letting the battery run down, it actually drains to a predetermined minimum power level that will protect whatever is still occupying memory. At that point the microprocessor records this power level as its minimum and starts calculating its full power level as it recharges. This is called reconditioning the battery, and should be done periodically whenever the time remaining displayed in the menu bar appears to be incorrect. The microprocessor in the battery is calculating its time remaining based on the laptop's power drain, so the time remaining will go up and down depending on your usage.
After conditioning the battery, it's perfectly OK to recharge your laptop anytime you're through using it. This is what I do. When I'm done for the night, I simply plug it in.
There is a shareware tool for checking on the status of your battery called XBattery that's available at http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12649
One final thing: If you elect to purchase a replacement battery later from a third party (non-Apple), read the fine print. Some of these batteries do NOT perform this convenient "go to sleep when power is low" feature, and will simply drain themselves dry, deleting whatever is in RAM, and effectively performing an ungraceful shutdown of the Mac.
The PowerBooks use Lithium-ion batteries.
Apple recommends this:
Recharge Lithium-ion batteries when they become depleted. Although they are not subject to the memory effect, it is suggested that you let the battery drain fully before recharging.
This means let the PowerBook run until it goes to sleep (battery reports 0% time left), then plug it in and let it recharge to full. The battery includes a microprocessor that reports back to the laptop its status. By letting the battery run down, it actually drains to a predetermined minimum power level that will protect whatever is still occupying memory. At that point the microprocessor records this power level as its minimum and starts calculating its full power level as it recharges. This is called reconditioning the battery, and should be done periodically whenever the time remaining displayed in the menu bar appears to be incorrect. The microprocessor in the battery is calculating its time remaining based on the laptop's power drain, so the time remaining will go up and down depending on your usage.
After conditioning the battery, it's perfectly OK to recharge your laptop anytime you're through using it. This is what I do. When I'm done for the night, I simply plug it in.
There is a shareware tool for checking on the status of your battery called XBattery that's available at http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12649
One final thing: If you elect to purchase a replacement battery later from a third party (non-Apple), read the fine print. Some of these batteries do NOT perform this convenient "go to sleep when power is low" feature, and will simply drain themselves dry, deleting whatever is in RAM, and effectively performing an ungraceful shutdown of the Mac.
New Powerbook trackpad seems slooooow...
Hi gang,
I know this was mentioned somewhere else, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. I went to the Apple Store in Orlando tonight and played around with the new 15" PB and I have to say that the trackpad does, indeed, seem quite slow. I put it on the highest setting and it still took like 3 finger strokes to get the cursor from the top of the screen to the bottom, and anywhere else on the screen for that matter. Same thing on the 12" PB. I think on the highest setting, the cursor should jump from one side of the screen to the other with only an inch or so of movement on the trackpad. Am I way off on this?
I showed it to one of the employees and he said, "Yeah, it does seem slow, but if you use the whole finger, you can do it with one stroke." He then proceeded to show me by starting with the base of the forefinger and sliding it down to the tip, thus bringing the cursor from the top to the bottom in one hideously unattractive gesture. Truly laughable. But seriously, do you know of any way of speeding up the trackpad? Is there a hack or something available?
Thanks so much.
shuffle1
Hi gang,
I know this was mentioned somewhere else, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. I went to the Apple Store in Orlando tonight and played around with the new 15" PB and I have to say that the trackpad does, indeed, seem quite slow. I put it on the highest setting and it still took like 3 finger strokes to get the cursor from the top of the screen to the bottom, and anywhere else on the screen for that matter. Same thing on the 12" PB. I think on the highest setting, the cursor should jump from one side of the screen to the other with only an inch or so of movement on the trackpad. Am I way off on this?
I showed it to one of the employees and he said, "Yeah, it does seem slow, but if you use the whole finger, you can do it with one stroke." He then proceeded to show me by starting with the base of the forefinger and sliding it down to the tip, thus bringing the cursor from the top to the bottom in one hideously unattractive gesture. Truly laughable. But seriously, do you know of any way of speeding up the trackpad? Is there a hack or something available?
Thanks so much.
shuffle1
Trackpad and new pbooks
The new trackpads are indeed slower. Go here, solves all problems:
http://homepage.mac.com/bhines/mousezoom.html
BTW, have PB g3 250, PB g3 400, Ti 400, 867 12" and new 15" w. SD and employees w. 5 g4 ibooks so I know a slow trackpad when I feels it!
The new trackpads are indeed slower. Go here, solves all problems:
http://homepage.mac.com/bhines/mousezoom.html
BTW, have PB g3 250, PB g3 400, Ti 400, 867 12" and new 15" w. SD and employees w. 5 g4 ibooks so I know a slow trackpad when I feels it!
Thanks for info on Battery Rundown
All right that was easy enough. Now for a last question on this matter.
How will it affect my new Powerbook, if at all, if I were to work with it plugged in, via the ac adaptor that it comes with or the extra dc adaptor that you can get from the apple Webstore. (Like for use in an automobile)
All right that was easy enough. Now for a last question on this matter.
How will it affect my new Powerbook, if at all, if I were to work with it plugged in, via the ac adaptor that it comes with or the extra dc adaptor that you can get from the apple Webstore. (Like for use in an automobile)
Anyone new to Mac PB's should read this. Very, very true.Dave Marsh said:The PowerBooks use Lithium-ion batteries.
Apple recommends this:
Recharge Lithium-ion batteries when they become depleted. Although they are not subject to the memory effect, it is suggested that you let the battery drain fully before recharging.
This means let the PowerBook run until it goes to sleep (battery reports 0% time left), then plug it in and let it recharge to full. The battery includes a microprocessor that reports back to the laptop its status. By letting the battery run down, it actually drains to a predetermined minimum power level that will protect whatever is still occupying memory. At that point the microprocessor records this power level as its minimum and starts calculating its full power level as it recharges. This is called reconditioning the battery, and should be done periodically whenever the time remaining displayed in the menu bar appears to be incorrect. The microprocessor in the battery is calculating its time remaining based on the laptop's power drain, so the time remaining will go up and down depending on your usage.
After conditioning the battery, it's perfectly OK to recharge your laptop anytime you're through using it. This is what I do. When I'm done for the night, I simply plug it in.
There is a shareware tool for checking on the status of your battery called XBattery that's available at http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12649
One final thing: If you elect to purchase a replacement battery later from a third party (non-Apple), read the fine print. Some of these batteries do NOT perform this convenient "go to sleep when power is low" feature, and will simply drain themselves dry, deleting whatever is in RAM, and effectively performing an ungraceful shutdown of the Mac.