Apple Releases New PowerBooks

[rdrr]

Well, AMD claims a 50% improvement over single-core.

IBM claims a 50% imrovement over single-core.

Intel also claims a 50% improvement over single-core.

'dual-core processors are expected to provide up to 50% better performance than today's single-core'

Did you see the /. item today about the dual core benchmark? It seems that Intel's first attempt at it is just as bad as the itanium vs. opteron. Less performance and draws more wattage. I hope they straiten this out before the mactels come out...

 

[mongoos150]

this really isnt even an update its more of a sorry we have nothing better to offer you

I honestly wish everyone would stop B!TCHING. The new Intel PBs will be here in a year more or less, in the mean time Apple has pumped out a small upgrade that will hold us until the Intel switch. Come on people I'm sure you can do *most* of what you want on the current 'books - if not GO BUY A PC. I know for a *fact* that no matter WHAT Apple had introduced today, there would be whiny retards lamenting on the fact that the upgrade "wasn't good enough". Take into account what Apple is doing at the present time. Would you rather get a sweet PB upgrade and wait two full years for the Intel switch? Keep that in mind before b!itching about how horrible these updates were - because in all honesty they are pretty decent.

 

[savar]

I thought we'd at least get iSight built-in. Makes it easier for me to wait for the Mactel laptop, though.

I can't believe the 12" didn't get touched! Really lousy, esp. since I really like that one.

 

[Frobozz]

I honestly wish everyone would stop B!TCHING. The new Intel PBs will be here in a year more or less, in the mean time Apple has pumped out a small upgrade that will hold us until the Intel switch. Come on people I'm sure you can do *most* of what you want on the current 'books - if not GO BUY A PC. I know for a *fact* that no matter WHAT Apple had introduced today, there would be whiny retards lamenting on the fact that the upgrade "wasn't good enough". Take into account what Apple is doing at the present time. Would you rather get a sweet PB upgrade and wait two full years for the Intel switch? Keep that in mind before b!itching about how horrible these updates were - because in all honesty they are pretty decent.

Good point! If you're a professional photographer, picking up a 15" or 17" PB with Aperture would be the top priority in your life right now.

 

[MattyMac]

You bought Apple RAM? *smacks 0423379's face repeatedly*

Why not by apple ram.. I have a powerbook about a month old (12in.) and Im about to buy apple memory another 512 mb to make a gig. What other ram should I buy and from where. Please telll, also will it be just as goooood.
thanks in advance

 

[0423379]

Did you see the /. item today about the dual core benchmark? It seems that Intel's first attempt at it is just as bad as the itanium vs. opteron. Less performance and draws more wattage. I hope they straiten this out before the mactels come out...

that's damn rite!!
the DualCore processors aren't there YET!! perhaps IBM's are better...
I always thought that 10.4.3 would enable some stuff for the dualcore. that's prolly why the dualdualcore isn't shipping yet...?

go read some benchmarks, Pentium D is slower than regular P4
the ExtremeEdition PD is fast at higher clockspeeds. I guess that's what we'll see in the MacTels.

 

[Jomoma]

Mac ram is always ridiculously overpriced. I go to dealram.com to find the best deal for the system. I just bought a 1gb stick for the system I have now (new 14' iBook). You'll save a ton, and the RAM is high quality, sometimes exactly the same as Apple's.

Why not by apple ram.. I have a powerbook about a month old (12in.) and Im about to buy apple memory another 512 mb to make a gig. What other ram should I buy and from where. Please telll, also will it be just as goooood.
thanks in advance

 

[kkrip]

I'm gonna order a 15" right now. Does anybody know if both of the RAM slots are accesible by the user? I'm looking forward to buying memory from newegg and I don't know if I should buy one or two 1gig dimms
Please help

 

[plinden]

PB's still AGP.

Even the bargin basement Dell uses PCI-Extreme on board. (configurable to 128MB)

Get with it, Steve.

Which bargain basement Dell? Only the XPS has a better GPU. PCI-express just doesn't make any difference here, or do you think it does? Prices are the minimum configuration, from the small business site.
Inspiron 1200 ($499) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 2200 ($599) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 6000 ($659) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 600m ($749) - ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
Inspiron 700m ($1199)- Intel Extreme Graphics up to 64 MB shared memory
Inspiron 9300 ($1249) - 64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X300 PCI Express
Inspiron XPS ($2549) - 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra PCI Express
Latitude D510 ($649) - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with up to 128MB shared graphics memory
Latitude D610 ($1098) - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 128MB shared) or ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 with 64MB DDR video memory
Latitude D810 ($1248) - ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 Graphics up to 128MB DDR Graphics and ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 Graphics up to 64MB DDR
Latitude D410 ($1348) -Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 128MB shared)
Latitude X1 ($1548) - Integrated Intel 915GMS with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 featuring up to 128 MB shared graphics memory

 

[lalcan]

That's it! i'll be getting my 12in iBook asap, Apple should have made something about the 12in Pb, it's a shame. I mean, it used to be the best selling laptop! why let it die? and don't come to me with the freescale stuff, they could have made improvements in almost all aspects of it... Display, keyboard, hard drive size, for god's sake, even the memory! well, it's all right, the iBook is the best bang for the buck and that's what i need...

 

[Chacala_Nayarit]

Well, I have four questions.

Yeah?

And?

So?

What?

 

[broncoball]

probly going to go out and get a 12 inch somtime this week. at least there was a price cut i was going to get it anyway. first time mac buyer im pretty excited.

 

[Frobozz]

Which bargain basement Dell? Only the XPS has a better GPU. PCI-express just doesn't make any difference here, or do you think it does? Prices are the minimum configuration, from the small business site.
Inspiron 1200 ($499) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 2200 ($599) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 6000 ($659) - Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900
Inspiron 600m ($749) - ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
Inspiron 700m ($1199)- Intel Extreme Graphics up to 64 MB shared memory
Inspiron 9300 ($1249) - 64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X300 PCI Express
Inspiron XPS ($2549) - 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra PCI Express
Latitude D510 ($649) - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with up to 128MB shared graphics memory
Latitude D610 ($1098) - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 128MB shared) or ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 with 64MB DDR video memory
Latitude D810 ($1248) - ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 Graphics up to 128MB DDR Graphics and ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 Graphics up to 64MB DDR
Latitude D410 ($1348) -Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 128MB shared)
Latitude X1 ($1548) - Integrated Intel 915GMS with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 featuring up to 128 MB shared graphics memory

Agreed! The XPS is a 15 pound George Foreman grill!

 

[iQuit]

So correct me if I'm wrong.

Bigger brighter displays....but still not HD. So the 17" is even bigger than before?

Also a new battery,bigger 120 GB HD,and that is it?

(edit) Isn't the 120GB HD misleading? It is 5400 RPM where the 100 GB is 7200 RPM, meaning for 20 gigs less you get better performance.

 

[DC06]

Just excited that I can finally buy my first mac So what if they're really just lackluster updates...at least its SOMETHING, and now i can get better resolution, 1GB ram, 128mb with my vid card, a better battery, and a 7200rpm hard drive for 2k with my edu discount, sweet.

 

[Surreal]

I honestly wish everyone would stop B!TCHING....<snip>

you know, i would buy a 15" ...if it werent 2200 dollars (100 gb HD and applecare) for the old tech. someone already posted a link for spec in ableton live. YES, THE PB WILL "MANAGE" MUCH OF WHAT I WANT TO DO but at 2000 dollars i want it to handle the majority of those tasks WELL. i use logic, reason and i am going to buy live when i get a new computer...but it looks like that may have to wait (although the low end powermac looks pretty good. and...hahaha...the configuration i want of that comes to 100 less. the trade of power for portablity in this scenario is NOT acceptable to me)

it's an issue of price really. at 2000+ dollars i am making an investment for at LEAST 3 years (i am a college student...2000 is 5 months of my rent. large investment ...maybe not for everyone)

and here i was not wanting to wait for intel... the PPC is WONDERFUL for audio... damn.

 

[Lord Bodak]

All I wanted was 512MB on the motherboard and a dual layer Superdrive in the 12". Apple gave me neither. That's sad. But it _is_ a price drop, as the SuperDrive is now standard.

 

[igetbanned]

Did you see the /. item today about the dual core benchmark? It seems that Intel's first attempt at it is just as bad as the itanium vs. opteron. Less performance and draws more wattage. I hope they straiten this out before the mactels come out...

I was just responding to the dudes statement that a 50% improvement is 'moronic' to say.

When three totally different sources estimate the same thing for a dual-core CPU vs. a single.

 

[amac4me]

One word ... Disappointing

Apple really dropped the ball with these updates. I was in the market to purchase but after today's news, I'll hold off until the Intel based systems are released.

An iBook is looking like a better buy.

I'm disappointed.

 

[iQuit]

Seems as the 17" will be my new laptop, I need a new laptop and can't wait till next year... Seems like I waited since March for a better screen....which still isn't HD.

Apple really dropped the ball with these updates. I was in the market to purchase but after today's news, I'll hold off until the Intel based systems are released.

An iBook is looking like a better buy.

I'm disappointed.

 

[digitalbiker]

So correct me if I'm wrong.

Bigger brighter displays....but still not HD. So the 17" is even bigger than before?

Also a new battery,bigger 120 GB HD,and that is it?

(edit) Isn't the 120GB HD misleading? It is 5400 RPM where the 100 GB is 7200 RPM, meaning for 20 gigs less you get better performance.

It is HD. HD is defined as 720p or better. With this update, you can run 720p but with thin black bars around the picture due to slightly different aspect ratio.

You also get DDR2 ram, and dual layer superdrive. Old PB used DDR and single layer superdrive. Plus the 17" dropped $200.00 in price.

 

[sushi]

Why couldn't they lower the price of the combo drive models, and leave superdrive as an option. Not everyone needs superdrive. This would help keep costss down. I see you only get a measly $45 dollers back if you downgrade to combo drive.

Because it is cheaper to have only one offering. Economies of scale.

...I bet most upgrade to SD which is why they made this move.

Sushi

 

[iQuit]

Oh I didn't even notice the dual layer superdrive....but it still runs at the same speed, which is a main concern for most buyers. Not to mention that as if I remember the older PB did have DDR2 but had no performance increase...and I still don't think the processor can use the DDR2 for better performance.

It is HD. HD is defined as 720p or better. With this update, you can run 720p but with thin black bars around the picture due to slightly different aspect ratio.

You also get DDR2 ram, and dual layer superdrive. Old PB used DDR and single layer superdrive. Plus the 17" dropped $200.00 in price.

 

[Mr Maui]

you guys are hillarious, you all wanted better screens..DL..etc.. and it came. Yeah its not a big update, but you did get some things you wanted. Anyway, they changed my previous order to this update which will be my first non used mac (see sig). Thanks for the insight on the roumered updates everyone!

P.s. if anyone knows of a good laptop neoprene sleeve that is very snug and plain (no pockets, straps, or logos/crazy colors) PM me in the direction where to go.

AND a lower price ... why shouldn't they be pissed?!?!?

 

[igetbanned]

Latitude X1 ($1548) - Integrated Intel 915GMS with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 featuring up to 128 MB shared graphics memory

You just answered your own question buddy.

Attention to detail.

'Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 featuring up to 128 MB shared graphics memory'

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 is PCI-express based, not AGP. (you can add in a PCI-e card/dongle for dvi dual-display)

And yes, PCI-express provides better potential performance over AGP.

'The PCI Express x16 graphics interface delivers increased bandwidth and scalability over previous generation AGP8X-based solutions. With up to 4 GB/s of peak bandwidth per direction, and up to 8 GB/s concurrent bandwidth'

I don't make the news, I just report it.