G5 PowerBooks Speculation

[lewellyn]

Keep in mind that "feasible" != "profitable"... It may take some time, but we'll eventually see these beasts. Be patient... I am... (Then again, I can't afford one at the moment anyway... *sigh*)

[edit]Oh, and it looks like that Macworld article is just trying to jump on the bandwagon of regurgitating Forbes's reporting/scouring-of-the-rumor-mills/whatever... [/edit]

 

[rtype]

So what do you guys think we will see Powerbook related at MWSF?

I've been putting off buying a 15" 1.25 to Jan 6 only because of the possibility that there may be a revision... be it no change with price drops, larger hard drives, slightly faster processors or whatever. I do sincerely hope that they do a small revision at this time so that it may be the last one until summer and I get a little more mileage out of this one.

My current thought is that they'll try to get limited G5s out around September, which I'll pass on. Hopefully they'll be more available by the time they rev them (Jan-April 2005?). If so, I'll try to sell the model I buy Jan 6 around then and upgrade.

How far off do you guys think I am?

 

[GroundLoop]

I think that there is no chance of revisions to the powerbook for MWSF. Because of this belief, I think that you should either:

1) order on the 12/27 so you get free shipping, Keynote, and FCE discounts (then by the time your system is built and delivered you should still be alloweed to get a refund if there are prices cuts etc.) (there is a 10 day limit right?)

or

2) order after MWSF if the above software means nothing to you

Hickman

 

[rtype]

Originally posted by Brian Hickman
I think that there is no chance of revisions to the powerbook for MWSF. Because of this belief, I think that you should either:

1) order on the 12/27 so you get free shipping, Keynote, and FCE discounts (then by the time your system is built and delivered you should still be alloweed to get a refund if there are prices cuts etc.) (there is a 10 day limit right?)

or

2) order after MWSF if the above software means nothing to you

Hickman

Thanks. I'm actually not interested in that software but I am interested in the free shipping. Here is what's holding me back.

"A 10% open box fee will be assessed on any opened hardware or accessory. If you purchased your order using an Apple Instant Loan or an Apple Business Lease, you may be asked to provide a major credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) for Apple to assess the 10% open box restocking fee."

So if they introduce a completely new model (ie, same Powerbook with a 120g HD, it'd cost me 10% to upgrade.)

"Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment."

I called them and asked specifically about this policy. It only goes into effect if they lower the price on the exact same sku. Even then, if the retail price lowers but the refurb. price does not, it still doesn't count.

So... yeah, I wait until Jan 6 and then if *nothing* changes hope there are refurbs still available and if not do the student price. And all of these options add tax to me in Texas. If you guys have better ideas, I'd love to hear it.

I haven't bought a Mac since my LC so I'm not accustomed to paying so close to retail no matter how good of a value it is--you know how that goes.

 

[lewellyn]

Originally posted by rtype
Thanks. I'm actually not interested in that software but I am interested in the free shipping. Here is what's holding me back.

"A 10% open box fee will be assessed on any opened hardware or accessory. If you purchased your order using an Apple Instant Loan or an Apple Business Lease, you may be asked to provide a major credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) for Apple to assess the 10% open box restocking fee."

So if they introduce a completely new model (ie, same Powerbook with a 120g HD, it'd cost me 10% to upgrade.)

Hmm... but if you ordered it Dec. 27, it may or may not even ship by Jan. 6. In which case, if there are upgrades at MWSF, I would just ship it back without opening it. Like hell I'd put up with an open box charge for something I didn't open.

Even better would be refusing delivery if it was due to arrive on the 8th, for example. Don't know how they'd deal with that one... I'm sure they have some sort of procedure, probably want to re-read the fine print if you go that route...

And that same SKU thing sounds kinda suspicious... I, personally, haven't heard that before. I see a few possibilities: the person was clueless/a dork/etc., the policy changed, I (and everyone I've spoken to on this issue) has gotten lucky. I always lean toward clueless, faceless people on the other side of a phone...

Oh, well. You'll end up with a PowerBook soon one way or another.

Happy holidays!

 

[visualanté]

powerbook video

Is it just me or is apple always 1 step behind in video on their powerbooks .... they really need a better lcd with better color and higher resolution...i saw a 6month old dell next to 15 and 17 powerbook...no comparison in color accuracy dell was clearly best.....why? apple is mainly used by creative proffesionals yet their colors are washed out......and a 128mb vid card with the ability to upgrade would give them the best laptop...i luv everything else but this frustrates me as a digital artist..

 

[heublein]

G5 Powerbook

I agree with your assertion that the properties that make blade chips desireable are not the same properties that make laptop chips desireable. However, I disagree with your assertion that the G5 will not make it into the entire PB line. My (admittedly feeble) understanding of the situation is that the current IBM PowerPC 970 chip that powers the G5 is fabricated on a 130 nanometer, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process with copper interconnects. Both IBM and Intel are about to move to a 90 nanometer process (although I believe that Intel's process lacks SOI), which would provide a substantial reduction in the voltage required to power the G5 chip. Since voltage and heat production are exponentially (or perhaps, logarithmically - can't remember related, then the 90 nm G5 chips should provide an very significant reduction in overall heat production that would not be necessary for a desktop processor with a large heatsink / fan combo. As such, we may see G5 PowerBooks in short order.

However, as I intimated earlier, my understanding of microprocessor fabrication technology is at an armchair level, so I may just be spouting nonsense here ;-)

But if I were a betting man, I would bet that Apple will release 90nm PB G5s within 6 months. But they won't be cheap... (of course they never are, but you get what you pay for, eh?)

Originally posted by greenstork
Reality check, the properties that make a chip good for a Blade server ARE NOT the same properties that make a chip good for a laptop. Servers have the luxury of jet turnbines cooling them, while laptops do not have that luxury. So while the scarcity of space is the same, to some extent (but really not even close as servers have a great deal more room under the hood than a 1" thick laptop), the power requirements of high speed fans cannot compare. Laptops simply cannot have fans running constantly if you want any more than 2 hours of battery life. If this is the only rationale that this guy can come up with for a G5 in a laptop then it's just pure speculation and he's talking out of his ass. I could be wrong but I have serious doubts a G5 will ever make it into a PB or perhaps more accurately, I have doubts that it will make it into all of the PB's.

The Motorola chip is, for the most part, the same in desktops as it is in laptops and rest assured that if a G5 goes into a laptop that it will be largely different that it's desktop brother.

I've got my money on a specially designed mobile chip for Apple PB's, like maybe the rumored 750VX with SIMD.

 

[TMJ1974]

Originally posted by rtype

So if they introduce a completely new model (ie, same Powerbook with a 120g HD, it'd cost me 10% to upgrade.)

To my knowledge, 80GB is the largest available for laptop drives. Since these are currently an option for PowerBooks, I wouldn't hold out based on that fact.

Tim

 

[jade]

Originally posted by lewellyn

And that same SKU thing sounds kinda suspicious... I, personally, haven't heard that before. I see a few possibilities: the person was clueless/a dork/etc., the policy changed, I (and everyone I've spoken to on this issue) has gotten lucky. I always lean toward clueless, faceless people on the other side of a phone...

Well that would mean if a model was different (meaning new processor or what not) it would have a new sku. So lets say apple releases rev b alpb....at a lower price and calls it a different model...m8955ll/b you are out of luck...because that one is not the same as yours.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Re: Re: Not what I was hoping for, but good news if it's correct

Originally posted by iGAV
PowerBook G5 is what I'm waiting for.... I just don't see a reason to spend the $ on a current PowerBook to replace my 1GHz TiBook.

I'm hoping for a WDC announcement and maybe July shipping, as that'll give me a saving up period.

As for the looks, I'd figure on it being pretty much the same as the current range as they've just been overhauled, I must admit, and I know I'm in the minority here, but I'd like to see and appearance of the G5's venting holes on it... love the G5 me....

Disagree. When(ever) the G5 PB comes out it will be a new design. The G5 is the next generation of Apple computer. They will change the design to reflect this.

 

[~Shard~]

Re: Re: Re: Not what I was hoping for, but good news if it's correct

Originally posted by CmdrLaForge
Disagree. When(ever) the G5 PB comes out it will be a new design. The G5 is the next generation of Apple computer. They will change the design to reflect this.

I agree. Although the design change might be subtle, there is a lot of re-engineering that has to take place for the G5 PB, from cooling issues, to motherboard redesign, etc. etc., so since there has to be an internal re-design anyway, the exterior will receive a new look as well.

 

[WK2003]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Not what I was hoping for, but good news if it's correct

Originally posted by ~Shard~
I agree. Although the design change might be subtle, there is a lot of re-engineering that has to take place for the G5 PB, from cooling issues, to motherboard redesign, etc. etc., so since there has to be an internal re-design anyway, the exterior will receive a new look as well.

I thought the current aluminum look is already in line with the powermac G5 look....assuming that the powermac G5 should be here for a while, i can't imagine how they can change the aluminum look of the current Powerbook line....

So bottom-line, when will the Powerbook G5 come out??? I am currently very happy with my 1.25GHz 15" AlPB but am very interested in upgrading to a G5 Rev B version when it does finally come out....

 

[~Shard~]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not what I was hoping for, but good news if it's correct

Originally posted by WK2003
I thought the current aluminum look is already in line with the powermac G5 look....assuming that the powermac G5 should be here for a while, i can't imagine how they can change the aluminum look of the current Powerbook line....

Fair enough - I just thought while they were redesigning the guts, the may do a couple subtle chnages ot the exterior as well.

Originally posted by WK2003

So bottom-line, when will the Powerbook G5 come out??? I am currently very happy with my 1.25GHz 15" AlPB but am very interested in upgrading to a G5 Rev B version when it does finally come out....

Not until summer is my prediction, along with the G5 iMacs. I think the G5 iMacs will be ready to go before the G5 PBs, just due to the cooling issues, but I don't think Apple will release a G5 iMac (consumer model) without having the G5 PB (pro machine) close on its heels.

Honestly though, the current high-end PBs are pretty f@#$ing powerful - although more power is always nice, the current line of PBs gives pretty much every user out there anything they could want in a laptop, as I'm sure you'll agree being an owner of one yourself.

 

[thatwendigo]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not what I was hoping for, but good news if it's correct

Originally posted by ~Shard~
Fair enough - I just thought while they were redesigning the guts, the may do a couple subtle chnages ot the exterior as well.

I want to see them work with Cooligy to balance the heat across the 'book, cut down the clock and the FSB to something manageable, and maybe cut the RAM back a step. I bet that would make the possibility something a little more manageable, since they're going to be cramming in things that just haven't been in one of those slim laptops before. I mean, compare the two systems and see how much more advanced the desktop is going to have to be. I don't see SATA laptop drives at newegg, and it would probably cut costs a little to just use the same PC2700 RAM that they've got in them now. After all, with a lower clock and slower drives, the RAM isn't going to need to be quite as fast. That doesn't mean Apple shouldn't crank it as high as they possibly can, without burning up the lap of whoever uses the machine, but I'd rather have a realistic Centrino-killer than some pie-in-the-sky ideal that comes out two years from now.

My guesses:
15"/17"
1.4/1.6ghz G5 90nm or 980 90nm (later this year)
700/800 FSB
512k L2 cache
256/512MB PC2700
60/80 UltraATA 5400 RPM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
Firewire 400 & 800
Airport Extreme Built-in
DVI & S-Video
Digital Audio (I wish!)

I'm not even going to try to estimate prices, but I sure hope that they keep them at least where they are now. I really want a laptop for my next machine, but something tells me that I'm going to end up with a tower if I want the kind of power I crave after I graduate.

 

[cyberrob]

there are thousands of rumors about some hardware news at mw sf, but what about the future of mac os (x)?!? there's lot of time gone since panther released... and when steve kicks-off the powerbook g5 there's a need for a real 64 bit mac os, isn't it??!

aloha,
cyberrob /-)
(who's new to the forum)

 

[yamabushi]

What is to be included in the next version of OSX and when it will be released is probably going to be a major topic of discussion after some major hardware releases. My best guess now is that 10.4 might be released at MWSF 2005 and will be designed to take better advantage of the G5.

 

[rtype]

No Powerbook rev

I can't bring myself to pay 2300-2600+tax until they do a revision so now I'm still stuck waiting. Blah. I guess I'll be watching for more rumors for the next few weeks.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

I dont blame you, if they can put 2 G5's in a xserve then they can get one in everyproduct they make. anyone who says they cant are mistaken. Boycot the G4! enough is enough. Ill laugh my butt off when sale's tumble on powerbooks and imacs.

 

[MacNut]

Originally posted by rtype
No Powerbook rev

I can't bring myself to pay 2300-2600+tax until they do a revision so now I'm still stuck waiting. Blah. I guess I'll be watching for more rumors for the next few weeks.

Did you truely expect new Powerbooks at MWSF and if you did I hope you didn't expect a G5 Powerbook, no new Powerbooks till atleast March and even then i don't expect a G5. If you want a Powerbook buy one it may be a long time before you get what you truly want.

 

[rtype]

Originally posted by MacNut
Did you truely expect new Powerbooks at MWSF and if you did I hope you didn't expect a G5 Powerbook, no new Powerbooks till atleast March and even then i don't expect a G5. If you want a Powerbook buy one it may be a long time before you get what you truly want.

I guess you weren't following this thread before today.

I am expecting G5 Powerbooks around September along with nearly everyone else. I was hoping today to see either a price drop and/or a part rev (maybe a small speed increase) on G4 Powerbooks.

 

[MacNut]

Originally posted by rtype
I guess you weren't following this thread before today.

I am expecting G5 Powerbooks around September along with nearly everyone else. I was hoping today to see either a price drop and/or a part rev (maybe a small speed increase) on G4 Powerbooks.

But knowing Apples track record on updates, If every six months they update that would put revisions in March. From what I can see they have no reason to update now if sales are still strong for what they currently have.

 

[PBGPowerbook]

They'll be black anodized aluminum casing with glowing red apple in the cover. the side edges will have the perforations of the G5 tower.

 

[rtype]

I would LOVE for them to be black anondized.

I can see from this:
https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//
that Powerbooks have been updated once every 6-8 months but there are a few reasons to think this time may be an exception:
1. abundance of rumors on the internet
2. backlit keyboard not featured in 12" and lower 15" model
3. expectation of G5 in September (it might be better to not do a new G4 rev so close to the G5)

*shrug* I dunno

 

[~Shard~]

I predicted G5 PowerBooks in the summer/early fall, and I still think this will be the case. Looks for G5 iMacs in spring, in a few months' time, and the PBs shortly thereafter. PM speed boosts will happen in the next few weeks - no doubt on a Tuesday.

 

[oomega1]

i've been waiting for the powerbook g5. when they do that ... i'd finally be switching from pc to mac for good. =D then i'd be hungry for all the little accessories that'd convert me into an apple user. heh.