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Originally posted by Liamcow
I'm not too sure about the iBooks getting FireWire 800 ports
I agree. There is very little chance the iBook will get FW800 at the next update, whether it is february or later. It wouldn't make any sense to have FW800 in iBooks and not have it in the Alu12".

Let me rephrase that... Zero chance.

NicoMan
 
Originally posted by snahabed
I have no insider info, but be realistic. The iBook will see faster G3 chips, maybe some better graphics and battery power, and maybe a minor update to the case to make it more durable. Other than that, the only thing to change is a drop in price, which is already fairly low.

Frankly I think built in Bluetooth and Airport should be standard across the line, consumer and pro, portable and desktop, but they may hold out on the iBooks. Firewire 800 on an iBook? Don't make me laugh? :) What the heck peripherals do 99.999% of current or future iBook owners have that either have Firewire 800 or would greatly benefit from it? DV editing on an iBook is .... not my idea of a good time!

I say keep the G3 iBook around, and make them as cheap as possible. Anyone who wants a REAL laptop will get one of the new Powerbooks. The iBooks are for kids, students, very non-demanding consumers, and maybe as a basic secondary or tertiary machine. And they fill this niche VERY well.

That said, itd be interesting to see them add that color-changing case stuff to an iBook. Might be too expensive for it, but imagine a glowing pink iBook for little Susie, or a nice blacklight one for Faruzia, or a rainbow one for Graham Norton?

I couldn't have said it better!!!
Right on all points. I dunno why people are suddenly expecting all those upgrades to the iBook line. I mean what is the Alu12" for then?
Like you said, the iBook's objective is to be nice, robust, cheap and cheap (did I say that twice?). You want power, get the Alu12".

NicoMan
 
Originally posted by rjrufo
my impression is that the iBook will either be discontinued, or changed in form
Maybe a really small change in design, but I doubt that they will discontinue it; it is such a good source of revenue for Apple: I mean let's look at the components used by Apple in the iBook line. Nothing is cutting edge (which means probably really cheap in volumes and therefore reasonable margin for such a cheap product). OK the engineering is nice but I guess Apple have sold enough of these to make that assembly line highly profitable. And people are buying them like there is no tomorrow.
I don't think there is much out there in terms of looks/price/performance that can match the iBook.

My 2 cents.

NicoMan
 
Backlit keyboard

Aside from looking damn cool, the new 17" PowerBook has a backlit keyboard for a reason - IT HAS BLACK KEYS!

The iBook used white keys which are far easier to see in the dark.

However, as the current iBook keys are rubber, who make them glow in the dark keys? That appeals more to the iBooks audience, and would also look damn cool.

Well? :confused:
 
Originally posted by snahabed
[B
Frankly I think built in Bluetooth and Airport should be standard across the line, consumer and pro, portable and desktop, but they may hold out on the iBooks.

I say keep the G3 iBook around, and make them as cheap as possible. Anyone who wants a REAL laptop will get one of the new Powerbooks. The iBooks are for kids, students, very non-demanding consumers, and maybe as a basic secondary or tertiary machine. And they fill this niche VERY well.
[/B]

I agree that Bluetooth and Airport should be standard across the line. The iBook is a perfect secondary machine, I use it on my couch to surf the web and stuff like that. Then I use my pc desktop for REAL stuff.
 
Re: Backlit keyboard

Originally posted by gotohamish
Aside from looking damn cool, the new 17" PowerBook has a backlit keyboard for a reason - IT HAS BLACK KEYS!

Aluminum colored, but close. The 15" TiBook still has black keys.

I really think we are just going to see minor speed bumbs. Superdrive is out becuse of the G3 proc. Maybe a faster mobo or DDR, but don't expect anything major. The iBook is too perfect the way it looks now and is a huge cash cow for Apple becuase like someone mentioned, there is nothing ground breaking on the iBooks and thus are probably cheap to produce in mass.
 
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