Apple Releases New PowerBooks

[drewyboy]

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

Go for the iBook, they are so still close to the 12" PB, plus they are less than half the price too! I myself am going with a 12" iBook just cuz Apple really pissed me off with this non-existant upgrade. It doesn't justify the extra $1000 diff btwn iBooks and PB

 

[emotion]

No CPU bumps and no system board updates to PCI-E... If I was a betting guy I would say x86 PowerBooks first quarter 2006.

Me too. The fact that these updates (and no update for the popular 12") are pretty minimal suggests all engineering efforts are being put into the intel push.

I mean 1.5-1.67GHz is gonna look very weak in 6 months time compared to what intel will have out in the PC world.

I guess we'll see. Half the fun with apple watching is the anticipation I find.

 

[halfapie]

Any update is welcome, but this update is disappointing.

I agree that the 12" powerbook should've seen at LEAST a price drop. Hopefully they'll work up a separate update for the 12". But with the reports that apple is pulling its engineers off mac projects to do intel-based macs might mean nothing substantial until intel-powerbooks. Although it does mean that intel-powerbooks will come out sooner & THAT upgrade WILL be worth waiting for.

which is fine since I don't have enough money right now anyway. haha

 

[kenstee]

Talk about obsolete....

Obsolete? You ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until the Yonah people have their PBs for a few months and then Merom comes out! That will be the true definition of obsolete.

And Apple can do all they want with transfering resources to Mactel PBs BUT without Intel chips they've got nothing. Intel is currently having serious issues with Yohah in terms of excess heat and energy consumption. Folks, this may be a longer wait than you think. And Apple isn't exactly Intel's biggest customer. Who do you think is going to get satisfied first...Apple or Dell?

 

[emotion]

Guys, it IS the 7448 chip - I called the Apple store here in Pentagon City and they had one on display and I had the guy check the System Profiler and it said it had 1MB of cache!

Interesting, possibly the source of some of that longer battery life. I wonder if the 12 got a 7448....I suspect not.

 

[DavoMrMac]

Guys, it IS the 7448 chip - I called the Apple store here in Pentagon City and they had one on display and I had the guy check the System Profiler and it said it had 1MB of cache!

One on display, that is far too quick

Are you sure.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Yes, but in this case many of us are considering Yonah (rev a) vs Merom (rev b). That's speculation I know, but there's much more to that comparison than simply the first engineering effort.

Oh BULL****. with only a handful of exceptions Intel's CPU quality is outstanding on its first, second, or third generation chips. One of Apple's biggest problems in the past has simply been heat management which in turn has caused problems with various components to break down. (Everyone remember the iBook recall from a couple years ago?)
The G4 is one hot chip. The Pentium M with its outstanding power management capabilities will allow Apple to make smaller systems without worrying about major thermal issues. And yes I know dual cores are going to have the potential to put out some major heat but that is when you are maxing both cores. I fully expect "average" power consumption and heat to be no worse then today's top of the line Pentium M's.

 

[jacg]

About the battery life...

Have they simply increased the capacity of the battery or have they decreased the draw on the battery? I hear the DDR2 RAM may help - is that it?

I wonder because I have a spare battery for my 1.25 GHz 15" and if I upgraded, I wouldn't want to stay at 90 minutes running time on that one.

I'd like all the new toys, the screen and the faster, larger HD, but I'm not convinced I would notice much of a speed increase after three years use of my current PB.

On the other hand, how much is it going to cost to get all my software running natively on an Intel PB? FCP, InDesign, Photoshop Elements, Office...

Any other 1.25 GHz 15"ers with the same quandary?

 

[drake]

Looks like my new Appple will be a Thinkpad.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Guys, it IS the 7448 chip - I called the Apple store here in Pentagon City and they had one on display and I had the guy check the System Profiler and it said it had 1MB of cache!

And yet they didn't even bump it to 1.7Ghz. Still 1.67 or whatever it currently is at. I don't think so. If Apple is going to drop a new CPU in they are going to also speedbump it. Battery life sells...CPU speeds sell more.

 

[Spazmodius]

Guys, it IS the 7448 chip - I called the Apple store here in Pentagon City and they had one on display and I had the guy check the System Profiler and it said it had 1MB of cache!

I think you're high on crack. Why'd they leave the FSB at 167MHz?

 

[RHMMMM]

One on display, that is far too quick

Are you sure.

Well, if not, then the guy totally lied to me and knew what to say - I asked "how much cache does it report" - not "512k or 1MB?" I didn't see it for myself so I can't 100% guarantee you, but it sounded pretty convincing and the Apple Store, of all retailers, usually isn't into deception.

By all means, go check it out for yourself. The Tysons Corner, VA store had the 15" in stock but not on display, Pentagon City has the new 15 on display. I wanted a 17" but neither had them in stock, so I didn't buy.

Why did they leave the bus at 167? I don't know, why did they put in DDR2 memory but still have it run at 333mHz?

 

[mickster]

Pb Waist Of Money

This update is pretty much just to push it's sales for Christmas. But it is a waist of money when you consider that a whole new PB will released soon after the holiday season. DON'T BUY INTO APPLE'S CHRISTMAS PUSH. A much better update is coming soon.

 

[iEdd]

Well this is nice for the 15" and 17" wanters.
Just two main things I wanted on the 12":
512MB RAM built in (256 is a JOKE)
Firewire 800
But nup.. All they did was bury it with the 15" and 17" upgrades. Then they made superdrive standard and priced it between the combo and superdrive old 12" models..
And thanks to the outdated video card in ibook, that pushes many to go to PB..
Specs don't go far, but price sure does... Shame apple, shame..

 

[SiliconAddict]

Intel is currently having serious issues with Yohah in terms of excess heat and energy consumption. Folks, this may be a longer wait than you think. And Apple isn't exactly Intel's biggest customer. Who do you think is going to get satisfied first...Apple or Dell?

Reference please. Intel had laptops running Yohah on display back in April and from all accounts they ran without any problems. I think someone is pulling "facts" out of thin air.

 

[Cue]

I fail to see why Apple couldn't upgrade the 12' just to make a difference with the iBook. IMHO it should be possible (similar to iBook updates) to get

1. a better gfx card,
2. a higher resolution (1280x1024)
3. 512Mb mem on board
4. illuminated keyboard

I guess though we will forget about it in a couple of days...

 

[ijimk]

i really like that 17 inch model wow nice !!!!

 

[broncoball]

what is the difference between double-layer DVD+R discs and normal DVDs?

 

[Nereus]

Just ordered a 15" PB! I'm so happy, even though my bank account took a punch. First time switcher - OSX here i come!

 

[emotion]

I fail to see why Apple couldn't upgrade the 12' just to make a difference with the iBook. IMHO it should be possible (similar to iBook updates) to get

1. a better gfx card,
2. a higher resolution (1280x1024)
3. 512Mb mem on board
4. illuminated keyboard

I guess thought we will forget about it in a couple of days...

1 and 3 would require little engineering effort I would have thought.

 

[powerbook911]

what is the difference between double-layer DVD+R discs and normal DVDs?

The double layers have the ability to hold 8.5 GB instead of 4.7 GB. Commercial DVDs you buy at the store are double layer, holding up to 8.5.

If you want to copy a commercial DVD, without compromising quality, you need a dual layer burner and dual layer disk, to do it. You can also just back up more files and stuff, if you have the dual layer setup.

 

[digitalbiker]

Hi Everyone! I'm excited enough about this cause I've never owned a laptop before and have been waiting for this about 2 months. Please forgive the ignorance, but I need some very basic computer advice here:
I'm a full time grad student and will be using this for doing papers and researching online, as well as storing aaaaall my digital photos on it. I might do other more interesting, challenging, creative things later on down the line.

What should I add to have it be very fast and be able to hold all these pics plus whatever future software I might need (typical)? I'm most concerned about storing a lot of digital pics, and having speed. I'm willing to upgrade. What would be the best mix?

Thanks!

I don't think you could go wrong with a 15" PB with 1GB of memory and 7200 rpm drive. It is a lot faster than most of the Intel enthuasists whine about here on this forum.

It is well built, great new display, HD protection, all the I/O ports you need, light weight and good battey life.

Software you might want: iLife'05 of course for iPhoto, iMovie, iDvd, and GarageBand(comes with new PB), MS Office student edition for excel, word, and PowerPoint. PhotoShop, Illustrator, Corel Painter IX. and a few games for stress relief.

 

[Tomaz]

Just ordered a 15" PB! I'm so happy, even though my bank account took a punch. First time switcher - OSX here i come!

Welcome, you made a good move !!

 

[Cue]

1 and 3 would require little engineering effort I would have thought.

no more than the iBook one I pressume (see gfx, SMS, etc)

 

[devman]

Oh BULL****. with only a handful of exceptions Intel's CPU quality is outstanding on its first, second, or third generation chips. One of Apple's biggest problems in the past has simply been heat management which in turn has caused problems with various components to break down. (Everyone remember the iBook recall from a couple years ago?)
The G4 is one hot chip. The Pentium M with its outstanding power management capabilities will allow Apple to make smaller systems without worrying about major thermal issues. And yes I know dual cores are going to have the potential to put out some major heat but that is when you are maxing both cores. I fully expect "average" power consumption and heat to be no worse then today's top of the line Pentium M's.

I think you misunderstand me. I said that many people are thinking Yonah vs Merom and using rev and rev b terminology for that. IOW - first time engineering efforts are not the factor. The point had absolutely nothng to do with heat management and etc.