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iBook Updates

I doubt you'll see a speed bump on iBooks, or RAM increase. Apple already bumped RAM and speed this last time. I suspect at most we'll see an increase in VRAM across the board - that makes sense, since it doesn't really require re-engineering the iBook and its a loss leader in terms of price. 64MB of VRAM would make a lot of sense on the iBooks, and would be a really easy change - no need to redesign anything for it really. Going to a GF5200 wouldn't make much sense either - that's really more of a lateral move than an upgrade. A CPU Mhz speed bump would put the iBook on par with the PowerBooks, which is not gonna happen.

I would expect PowerBooks to get something more meainingful though. I'm hoping they go dual core G4, at least on the high end model. That said, there's really not a lot they can do to powerbooks with existing tech to make them better except maybe put in an even higher end GPU. Since they just changed GPUs, I doubt that'll happen this time around.
 
shady28 said:
I doubt you'll see a speed bump on iBooks, or RAM increase. Apple already bumped RAM and speed this last time. I suspect at most we'll see an increase in VRAM across the board - that makes sense, since it doesn't really require re-engineering the iBook and its a loss leader in terms of price. 64MB of VRAM would make a lot of sense on the iBooks, and would be a really easy change - no need to redesign anything for it really. Going to a GF5200 wouldn't make much sense either - that's really more of a lateral move than an upgrade. A CPU Mhz speed bump would put the iBook on par with the PowerBooks, which is not gonna happen.

I would expect PowerBooks to get something more meainingful though. I'm hoping they go dual core G4, at least on the high end model. That said, there's really not a lot they can do to powerbooks with existing tech to make them better except maybe put in an even higher end GPU. Since they just changed GPUs, I doubt that'll happen this time around.
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I have a hard time seeing the vram update coming soon for the ibook. Because most of the ibooks competition is still using integrated graphic cards. Which still puts the ibook ahead.
 
CaptainCaveMann said:
I have a hard time seeing the vram update coming soon for the ibook. Because most of the ibooks competition is still using integrated graphic cards. Which still puts the ibook ahead.
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I agree 100% on the iBook being ahead. I have an HP WinXP laptop here with an Athlon XP 2000+, integrated graphics with 64MB max shared ram, and my iBook is quite a bit faster in games like Warcraft 3 - and can play games my HP can't.

That said, I can't think of too much they can do with the iBook without intruding on the PowerBook space. They could do a Mhz hike again, but the G4 is about tapped out in that area as it is. Given the target market of the iBook is college students, hobbyists, the curious - people who will play games - a hike in the VRAM would make a lot of sense. At least, it would make more sense than changing the graphics chip. I don't really see a lot of iBook changes coming for another year. It's been so vastly improved over the last 1 - 1 1/2 years, I think it'll stay in it's current form for a bit.

I bet the next round of upgrades concentrates on the PowerMac G5 and Mac Mini.

-Shady
 
I think they'll just increase the RAM to 512 and leave everything else the same - the next update will come alongside the next Powerbook revision.
 
Is there any possibility of Apple putting Firewire 800 in the iBooks at the next update, given that not much is expected in the way of a speed bump.
 
MacSA said:
I think they'll just increase the RAM to 512 and leave everything else the same - the next update will come alongside the next Powerbook revision.
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Yeah, 512MB is a good possibility but I still wouldn't be surprised if they stay woth 256 for all but perhaps the super 14"...

Heres hoping that 64 meg VRAM goes as at least an option if not standard on the 14"

HDD to 80 gig would be nice also as an option...
 
I had a dream last night that the new iBook update was coming VERY soon lol :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
shady28 said:
I agree 100% on the iBook being ahead. I have an HP WinXP laptop here with an Athlon XP 2000+, integrated graphics with 64MB max shared ram, and my iBook is quite a bit faster in games like Warcraft 3 - and can play games my HP can't.

That said, I can't think of too much they can do with the iBook without intruding on the PowerBook space. They could do a Mhz hike again, but the G4 is about tapped out in that area as it is. Given the target market of the iBook is college students, hobbyists, the curious - people who will play games - a hike in the VRAM would make a lot of sense. At least, it would make more sense than changing the graphics chip. I don't really see a lot of iBook changes coming for another year. It's been so vastly improved over the last 1 - 1 1/2 years, I think it'll stay in it's current form for a bit.

I bet the next round of upgrades concentrates on the PowerMac G5 and Mac Mini.

-Shady
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But I feel the current style of the iBook has not changed much since May 2001-and thus is getting old.
 
timmyb said:
Is there any possibility of Apple putting Firewire 800 in the iBooks at the next update, given that not much is expected in the way of a speed bump.
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No, it's mostly found on the professional Apple systems-like Powerbooks and PowerMac's.
 
aswitcher said:
Yeah, 512MB is a good possibility but I still wouldn't be surprised if they stay woth 256 for all but perhaps the super 14"...

Heres hoping that 64 meg VRAM goes as at least an option if not standard on the 14"

HDD to 80 gig would be nice also as an option...
Click to expand...
80 gig hdd is already an option. ;)
 
aafuss1 said:
But I feel the current style of the iBook has not changed much since May 2001-and thus is getting old.
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It's still a great design though.

I think they'll wait until they have something to do really large upgrades with before before a complete redesign though. On an offhand guess, I'd say that will be dual core G4s or a portable G5, as long as they can still differentiate powerbook/ibook. I'd be really suprised if we got a complete makeover of the ibook / powerbook lines before 2006. I expect 2006 will be a big year for both lines though.

Another thing they could do with both lines in the interim is increase HDD capacity as someone mentioned. Putting 40GB standard in ibooks and 80GB standard in powerbooks would would help quite a bit.

-Shady
 
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