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Apple Releases New PowerBooks

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My biggest beef was the displays, and at least this 'update' addresses 2 of 3, but as for speed, I'm the slowest link. Now I have to decide whether to get a 12" or a 15" PB to replace the 667 Ti, which is on it's last legs or hang out for an Intel. Guess I've got to decide how much I need a portable in the next few months or do I get a stop gap iMac desktop?, oh I am so :confused:
 
Macmaniac said:
At least they lowered the prices. A similarly equipped 15in powerbook would go for $2700, thats a big drop today, and the specs are slightly better. So Apple did one good thing by lowering the price.
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They HAD to lower the prices. Apple consumers aren't stupid enough to keep paying the same money for obsolete technology. Even the hard core fanboys :p
 
Spazmodius said:
Got the money, but for this? No effing way. Too much money for too little.

Really bummed there's no 7448...in fact, no change in speed at all (except the hard drive).

Talk about obsolete.

Well, with the latest and greatest of Freescale still on the launchpad, that would seem to indicate we will never see another G4 Powerbook, unless the move to Intel is seriously delayed.

Gonna be a looooong wait...
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I totally agree. I have $1800 to spend and I could stretch and get a 15" powerbook but its just not worth the price for what you get. The 20" iMac is a MUCH better deal... even if it is not portable. I am also thinking about just getting a 17" iMac and keeping the extra money to get a 12" iBook down the road should I really need portability.
 
At least we got DDR2, but all it does now is conserve more power, not more performance.

Glad I got my iBook, not the 12” Powerbook, and I get a better GPU at a better price :D
 
PCMacUser said:
Nope, just single layer.
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That's what I thought. Another upgrade at the lowered price. May not be what many had hoped for, but still is an upgrade at a better price. Worked way to well for me. I feel like I'm back in the times now. 1.67 GHz (versus 500 MHz), Airport (versus none), Bluetooth (versus USB plug), dual-layer Superdrive (versus CD/DVD read-only), 1 GB RAM (versus 512 MB), higher res and brighter screen, 80 GB Hard drive (versus 20), Tiger (versus Panther), and all for less than I bought my TiBook for. :D
 
I think Apple should just mothball the Powerbook name, and rebrand the existing models to be iBooks... then once the Intel models come out, launch them as Powerbooks...
 
Bern said:
I knew Apple weren't going to do too much with Powerbooks. Why would they when Mactels are coming up?

I'll be waiting out for a 2nd or 3rd revision Mactel Powerbook.
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Cuz the Mactel PBs won't be out for many months. You, my friend from a land down under, will be waiting years for your next PB if you're waiting for r2 or r3. Most of us can't wait that long.
 
heh, just realized there's only 3 Powerbooks to choose from instead of 6 choices. While I'm not impressed with lack up speed bump on the G4, I'm glad they lowered the prices.
 
As a fan of smaller than 15-inch notebooks, this was somewhat disappointing, for me today.

I say lets start the Intel Powerbook rumors now!!! :)

Do you guys think MacWorld is possible, for the Intel Powerbooks?
 
Spazmodius said:
I mean the Rev. A MacTels are likely to have significant problems, just like Apple Rev. A anythings, so we'd be better off to wait until Apple works out the kinks before buying a MacTel Powerbook.

Which will be like, a year-and-a-half from now...F*&K!
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I really don't think this is true anymore. I have a rev. A dual G5. No problems. I have a rev. A G4 iBook. No problems. My wife has a rev. A iPod mini. No problems.

What about the 1G iPods? I never heard of a fatal flaw.

I'm just sayin'.
 
tristan said:
Cuz the Mactel PBs won't be out for many months. You, my friend from a land down under, will be waiting years for your next PB if you're waiting for r2 or r3. Most of us can't wait that long.
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Indeed.

The hardware this time for the RevA is intel based though. There's a shed loads of them all over the planet.

Of course, I would wait a month or so to see if there are any issues with the new machines before getting out my credit card (like I did with the nano, and I'm glad I did).
 
I dunno. I think MWSF is a bit too early, given that Steve-o said we'd be making the transition from the bottom up, starting mid-2006. The only time he's ever wrong about such estimates is when things take longer than expected, so Mactel PBs in Jan. would be a HUGE surprise, IMO.

I think the only reasonable expectation would be a slight speed bump with 7448 processors, maybe up to 1.8GHz around that time. I'll wait until then. After that, I dunno. Long dry spell until summer, I guess.
 
jcook793 said:
I really don't think this is true anymore. I have a rev. A dual G5. No problems. I have a rev. A G4 iBook. No problems. My wife has a rev. A iPod mini. No problems.

What about the 1G iPods? I never heard of a fatal flaw.

I'm just sayin'.
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I forgot to say, I'm typing this on a Rev A powerbook 12. It's a little warm but works perfectly well.
 
jcook793 said:
I really don't think this is true anymore. I have a rev. A dual G5. No problems. I have a rev. A G4 iBook. No problems. My wife has a rev. A iPod mini. No problems.

What about the 1G iPods? I never heard of a fatal flaw.

I'm just sayin'.
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Scrollpad??
 
tristan said:
The PowerPC portable processor family has really hit the wall. Ridiculous. It's like somebody took Moore's Law out back, shot it, and buried it in a shallow grave in the Vegas desert. The sooner they can switch to Intel, they better and I hope they're working around the clock.
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Ain't that the truth. This is as good as it gets until the first Intel PowerBooks. Oh well, at least the new iMacs and PowerMacs rock.
;)
 
bryanc said:
Yes, I know these aren't the most spectacular upgrades, and the Yonah/Memrom-books are going to be way faster.

But I need a new laptop *now*. My 667 MHz TiBook was damaged a couple of months ago, and is now barely functional. But I couldn't bear to spend $2500 on a Powerbook that was last updated almost a year ago, so I waited. And I'm glad I did. Speed is not my primary concern... the 1.67 GHz G4 will be fast enough for now (although I am disappointed at the lack of the 7448 in this update, I'm sure glad Apple isn't going to be relying on PPC processors for much longer, as it seems like Freescale and IBM have no end of difficulties making improvements to these chips). What I really wanted was a brighter, higher resolution display, a better GPU, dual-layer DVD burners, and a bigger, faster HD. All of these issues have been addressed, so I can't complain.

I placed my order within an hour of the announcement, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the arrival of my second PowerBook.

Cheers
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Good for you and congrats on the purchase.

Merom is the bomb but that's a long wait. Tough call what to do. Not sure a rev A Intel (Yonah) is a good thing as Merom really kicks it. Perhaps these updates are the thing to do and wait for Merom. That timing would be ok anyway as that's when all the apps should be universal (e.g. Adobe).
 
Display differences

Has anyone noticed that Apple say the 17inch PB has an improved screen that is 46% brighter, but no mention of this on the 15 inch.

Anyone?
 
battery life

I'm trying to decide between a ibook and a powerbook. I don't mind the price, but how do they compare in terms of battery life. Listing saids 5 for the powerbook 12" and 6 for ibook. Anyone with real world experience?
 
Chrispy said:
I just noticed that it costs $200 to upgrade to the 7200RPM Hard Drive!!! That is insane! :eek:
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Buy your own drive and install it yourself ... cheaper. ;)
 
the obvious question on PM - DISREGARD

what is the performance difference between a dual 2ghz and a dual core single 2ghz ?

Anybody knows, guess ?
I already read somewhere someone saying performance is superior with a dula processor vs a single dual core, but that the overall performance on the machine may be similar or better as a result of other improvement (mainly RAm speed).
 
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