Apple Releases New PowerBooks

[~Shard~]

It's great to hear that the PowerBooks are meeting everyone's expectations for the most part, and there aren't any glaring complaints. I wonder if this will be the case once the next batch of PowerBooks are released, which will most likely be Intel-based...

 

[mongoos150]

It's great to hear that the PowerBooks are meeting everyone's expectations for the most part, and there aren't any glaring complaints. I wonder if this will be the case once the next batch of PowerBooks are released, which will most likely be Intel-based...

That'll be a loooooongass time

Any other battery reports?

 

[al3000]

I went into apple store in the UK today (bullring) and they told me it could take up to 3 weeks to get a BTO one, with extra RAM as there is a problem with the ram supplier

 

[Spectrum]

Battery life...

That'll be a loooooongass time

Any other battery reports?

Well, for all my enthusing... it may not all be hunky dory.

It seems that my battery is suddenly only holding about 30minutes of charge... (it also only takes less than an hour to tell me it is fully charged)

I've spoken to Apple today, and they told me to put it through a charge and purge cycle, then let it sit uncharged overnight, then recharge to see if it fixes itself.

If not, they'll send me a new one.

Anybody else had a battery prob with the previous gen Powerbook?

--

Just got all my other Aps installed today, and for fun I've just opened them all

Currently using 1.49GB of RAM. So it makes me feel that the 2GB was worth it
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=33521&stc=1&d=1130444091

 

[~Shard~]

Just got all my other Aps installed today, and for fun I've just opened them all

Currently using 1.49GB of RAM. So it makes me feel that the 2GB was worth it

But, to fully appreciate having all your apps open simultaneously you need to have an Apple 30" display!

 

[BWhaler]

I went into apple store in the UK today (bullring) and they told me it could take up to 3 weeks to get a BTO one, with extra RAM as there is a problem with the ram supplier

Nah. 3 days, then shipping. (it's what it just took me)

Don't buy RAM from Apple. Buy from crucial.com and install it yourself. You'll save 50% of the cost, and it's simple to do.

 

[Greenone]

Nah. 3 days, then shipping. (it's what it just took me)

Don't buy RAM from Apple. Buy from crucial.com and install it yourself. You'll save 50% of the cost, and it's simple to do.

I just bought 1 gb ram from datamem.com (DMS) for the new 15" PB for $104.00. They have a lifetime replacable, plus 30 days money-back customer satisfaction, plus guaranteed to fit precisely. I think shipping was $7.00 to get here to Oregon (form NH if I'm remembering correctly), or $9.00 for 2 days or $11.00 overnight, which I did - though because it was so late in the day when I ordered, it won't get here till Monday. Just thought I'd share since they were the cheapest I found that also still guarantees their product and has good customer reviews/are personable. Good luck!

http://www.datamem.com/viewcat.asp_Q_C_E_1178

Got one of these, too, so I can work comfortably on my couch without worrying about the laptop slipping off my lap easily (and to help keep it cool):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...Sku=L122-1008&SRCCODE=BIZRATE&CMP=OTC-BIZRATE

 

[Spectrum]

But then I would need a new apartment

But, to fully appreciate having all your apps open simultaneously you need to have an Apple 30" display!

 

[efoto]

But, to fully appreciate having all your apps open simultaneously you need to have an Apple 30" display!

You have to get greedy, realize your full potential....dual 30's

After watching all the pre-vids for Aperture and seeing all those guys with dual-30's I really want a new quad with a fx4500 inside and dual-30's outside....I'm in love, seriously

 

[~Shard~]

You have to get greedy, realize your full potential....dual 30's

After watching all the pre-vids for Aperture and seeing all those guys with dual-30's I really want a new quad with a fx4500 inside and dual-30's outside....I'm in love, seriously

And how much RAM? Are you going to be modest and only wish for 4 GB, or go excessive and get 8 GB? Or possibly go insane and get 16 GB?!?

 

[fklehman]

Not yet, have not had it long enough for the battery time, but should in a few days. The VRAM does not make a difference in games, I have not tried with video yet.

I can tell you that Virtual PC was a dog on the older 1.67 and it appears to run acceptably now. I believe this is due to the extra video memory and the bumped speed of the VRAM.

Point of clarification please: I'm aware the VRAM has been doubled to 128MB from 64MB, but are you saying that the clock speed of the Mobility 9700 GPU was increased as well when you say "bumped speed of the VRAM"? Or did you mean to refer to the faster DDR2 RAM adn typed VRAM by mistake? I haven't heard anything about bumped VRAM speed given the GPU is still the same, so I'm curious if this is new info or just a misunderstanding.

My Apple Store (Newark, DE) now has the new PBs and iMacs on display, since Tuesday apparently. No PMs yet though. Looking at the display of the new PB, I wasn't impressed by the brightness, although I suspect that the bright flourescent lighting makes all the laptop displays look kind of washed out. I probably wouldn't appreciate the brightness until I got one of them into a more natural lighting environment. Incidentally, it bothers me that the Apple people always have the trackpad speed set to the slowest setting on every machine--it makes them seem slower to potential switchers. I usually bump the trackspeed up quite a bit when I'm in there.

I also noticed in System Profiler that the Superdrive and hard drive now share a single ATA bus instead of occupying separate ATA buses. Any thoughts how that might impact performance?

 

[efoto]

And how much RAM? Are you going to be modest and only wish for 4 GB, or go excessive and get 8 GB? Or possibly go insane and get 16 GB?!?

I would start with the moderately modest 4GB and see how that went. 2.3 weeks later I would add another 4GB, moving me to what I consider to be a border on excessive, not yet there however . Roughly 3-4 months later, because I assume 8GB to be good for some time, I would upgrade to 32 once larger capacity modules are made This page makes the possibilities endless, but I thought I would stop them at a revamped modest quantity of 32GB

"With 42 bits of physical address space, the PowerPC G5 supports a colossal 4 terabytes (4TB) of system memory. Although it’s not currently feasible to purchase 4TB of RAM, the advanced architecture of the PowerPC G5 allows for plenty of growth in the future."

 

[~Shard~]

I would start with the moderately modest 4GB and see how that went. 2.3 weeks later I would add another 4GB, moving me to what I consider to be a border on excessive, not yet there however . Roughly 3-4 months later, because I assume 8GB to be good for some time, I would upgrade to 32 once larger capacity modules are made This page makes the possibilities endless, but I thought I would stop them at a revamped modest quantity of 32GB

"With 42 bits of physical address space, the PowerPC G5 supports a colossal 4 terabytes (4TB) of system memory. Although it’s not currently feasible to purchase 4TB of RAM, the advanced architecture of the PowerPC G5 allows for plenty of growth in the future."

I want to see someone load that thing up with 4 TB of RAM at some point. Hmm, so 8 slots, that would be, what, 512 GB modules? I wonder if CanadaRAM sells these modules yet...

 

[mygoldens]

Point of clarification please: I'm aware the VRAM has been doubled to 128MB from 64MB, but are you saying that the clock speed of the Mobility 9700 GPU was increased as well when you say "bumped speed of the VRAM"? Or did you mean to refer to the faster DDR2 RAM adn typed VRAM by mistake? I haven't heard anything about bumped VRAM speed given the GPU is still the same, so I'm curious if this is new info or just a misunderstanding.

My Apple Store (Newark, DE) now has the new PBs and iMacs on display, since Tuesday apparently. No PMs yet though. Looking at the display of the new PB, I wasn't impressed by the brightness, although I suspect that the bright flourescent lighting makes all the laptop displays look kind of washed out. I probably wouldn't appreciate the brightness until I got one of them into a more natural lighting environment. Incidentally, it bothers me that the Apple people always have the trackpad speed set to the slowest setting on every machine--it makes them seem slower to potential switchers. I usually bump the trackspeed up quite a bit when I'm in there.

I also noticed in System Profiler that the Superdrive and hard drive now share a single ATA bus instead of occupying separate ATA buses. Any thoughts how that might impact performance?

According to the Apple Genius' at the store in Houston, they said the speed of the video RAM (DDR2, my mistake) and the GPU was upped in speed also, it was slight but probably to accomadate the faster RAM. I have noticed the difference, slight but better. The brightness is considerable over the older 1.67, I also had that one. I am quite pleased with the changes that were made, slight but improved.

I guess to really appreciate the slight improvements you have to have a comparison, mine was the the last model. I was skeptical, playing in the Apple store for over an hour, talking with the Genious' and the sales persons and the software experts.

Then there was the developer docs, someone posted in a message. The power subsytem was redisigned a bit to reduce heat, stepping the processor. The processor speed option is gone in the system preferences. I have not noticed a degredation in speed, on battery or AC. It flows very smoothly. Even Virtual PC hums right along. Virtual PC was one of the reasons I moved to the newer model, I live with Windoze, being a network engineer. I have to have it or have a Windoze PC. Having about 7 different models in the last 2 years, not one worked as well as the Mac.

I was not trying to be unclear or mistate the facts. I was just excited the Powerbook turned out as well as it did. Ya, we would all like a G5, but in comparison to a PC, I would take a Mac anyday. If I could have got Linux to work half way on a notebook, I would have dumped M$ in a second. M$ makes me money, but someone else can live with the headaches, I will just use the Mac and keep on working.

 

[generik]

I was not trying to be unclear or mistate the facts. I was just excited the Powerbook turned out as well as it did. Ya, we would all like a G5, but in comparison to a PC, I would take a Mac anyday. If I could have got Linux to work half way on a notebook, I would have dumped M$ in a second. M$ makes me money, but someone else can live with the headaches, I will just use the Mac and keep on working.

Hi,

One of the reasons holding me back from switching now would be that VPC would be too slow to work effectively.. since you use VPC too how would you rate its performance on the new PBs?

 

[AidenShaw]

don't be silly ;-)

"With 42 bits of physical address space, the PowerPC G5 supports a colossal 4 terabytes (4TB) of system memory.

The real limit would be imposed by the Northbridge - it's extremely rare for all of the potential address lines of the 64-bit processor chip to be implemented by the motherboard chipset.

The G5 has 42-bits of physical addressing - the 4 TiB number. The real limit of the chipset is likely to be much smaller, probably 36-bits (64 GiB) at the absolute max - but possibly only 34 or 35 bits....

This isn't bad - it would be a waste of money to create the circuitry to address memory configurations which would be non-sensical over the lifetime of the chipset.

Did you realize that 16 GiB of DDR2 RAM will consume 200 watts to 250 watts of power just for the DIMMs ????

4 TiB of RAM would need on the order of 50 Kilowatts to 65 Kilowatts of power for the RAM.

So, now we know one reason that Apple went to a higher amperage cord connection!

 

[c2104338]

Been having a play around on my new 15" for a couple of days now. i ordered it first thing on Thursday morning Aus time (about 5-6 hours after it was announced in the US) and I had it in my hands on Monday afternoon- only about 4 days waiting in the end, very happy

My first powerbook so can't really compare it to other models. i have noticed that it gets pretty damn hot on the back left corner when i use it with the charger plugged in and i get the occassional problem when i try and get out of sleep mode- i can only get out of it by pressing the power button, not by opening the lid, moving the trackpad or pressing any keys. Go figure?

 

[~Shard~]

Did you realize that 16 GiB of DDR2 RAM will consume 200 watts to 250 watts of power just for the DIMMs ????

4 TiB of RAM would need on the order of 50 Kilowatts to 65 Kilowatts of power for the RAM.

So, now we know one reason that Apple went to a higher amperage cord connection!

Wow, I had no idea! That a significant amount even just for the "actually possible" 16 GB, let alone the silly 4 TB amount! It will be interesting to see how this will work when those higher amount of RAM become more common...

 

[mongoos150]

I went into apple store in the UK today (bullring) and they told me it could take up to 3 weeks to get a BTO one, with extra RAM as there is a problem with the ram supplier

Are you FING serious? You're actually considering Apple ram? You don't DESERVE a PowerBook!

 

[~Shard~]

Are you FING serious? You're actually considering Apple ram? You don't DESERVE a PowerBook!

To put it a little more tactfully Apple charges a huge premium for their RAM. The hard and fast rule is to never buy extra RAM from Apple, always buy it third party - just make sure it's from a reputable dealer that sells Apple-compatible RAM specifically and has a lifetime warranty - those are the only companies you want to deal with.

 

[mongoos150]

To put it a little more tactfully Apple charges a huge premium for their RAM. The hard and fast rule is to never buy extra RAM from Apple, always buy it third party - just make sure it's from a reputable dealer that sells Apple-compatible RAM specifically and has a lifetime warranty - those are the only companies you want to deal with.

*cough*NEWEGG*cough*

 

[~Shard~]

*cough*NEWEGG*cough*

Last time I checked, NewEgg does not offer a Mac compatibility guarantee. Has this changed recently?

 

[mongoos150]

Last time I checked, NewEgg does not offer a Mac compatibility guarantee. Has this changed recently?

I'm not sure if they offer mac gaurantees - but they sell Crucial ram for about half the price Crucial charges - for crucial mac ram (PC2-4200 200pin 1GB sticks) w/same model #. Go with NewEgg, they've never let me down.

 

[~Shard~]

I'm not sure if they offer mac gaurantees - but they sell Crucial ram for about half the price Crucial charges - for crucial mac ram (PC2-4200 200pin 1GB sticks) w/same model #. Go with NewEgg, they've never let me down.

If they've worked for you, that's great. All I am saying is people should be aware that, to my knowledge, NewEGG does not offer Mac guarantees. Whether this makes a difference to them or not is up to them obviously.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I'm not sure if they offer mac gaurantees - but they sell Crucial ram for about half the price Crucial charges - for crucial mac ram (PC2-4200 200pin 1GB sticks) w/same model #. Go with NewEgg, they've never let me down.

CT12864AC53E
New Egg $117.95
Crucial $135.89

These are the generic DDR2-533 MHz 1 Gb SODIMMs. Hardly half the price.
The point being, neither the Crucial nor the NewEgg are guaranteed to be Powerbook compatible. They might turn out to be, or perhaps not. I would NOT recommend that an inexperienced Mac owner tackle identifying and testing RAM on their own. If you want to take on the risk of doing your own testing, then that's up to you. In the mean time, though, please be careful about claiming compatibility and exaggerating price spreads.

CT479196 is the Crucial part for Powerbooks. Paradoxically, they are on sale right now for $124.21, less than the Crucial generic.