iBook Updates?

[coachingguy]

It's interesting reading. There really has been little iBook discussion since the 12"pb came out. I've been looking for posts and have asked questions at other sites... As I'm waiting for an iBook update myself. You guys have the most info/opinion. I think they will update the iBook, there will be a price drop across the board, to further differentiate it from the 12" G4 PB. They can't offer an iBook with superdrive, backlite keyboard or FW 800, that needs to stay in the "Pro" models for now. They will increase the HD's, I wouldn't be surprised to see them up the mhz though. I can see them going with Airport Extreme though, as they'll want to sell more of the new technology stations. Bluetooth will be a BTO as a small % of consumers will need it and it will keep the price down. I wouldn't mind a color option... there have been rumors to that. Keep the tough plastic but offer it in a black...? Apple must keep a laptop at the sub $1000 price point. What I would like/am looking for is
14", 900-1Ghz, 40 gig, combo, airport extreme, black $1499-$1599 before education pricing. I'd order the day they were released. Whattya think?

 

[Sun Baked]

For some reason, I expect nothing to happen to the iBooks -- just like the eMac, no real change to the hardware.

However a speed bump would be nice.

 

[el_aarono]

"Year of the Laptop"?

Just a thought....

At Macworld didn't Steve Jobs say 2003 would be "the year of the laptop"? If so, it seems like they would want to start the year out with fresh laptop updates in both the pro and consumer lines. Its already February and "the year of the laptop" is already 1/12 over. If the iBook is to be included in this "laptop year", then Apple had better hurry and do something special with it. Hopefully that means "innovative" (S. Jobs' favorite word) updates/changes soon.

Just a thought.....

 

[JSRockit]

No speed bump to the iBook...just a redesign to add bluetooth and airport extreme. Maybe some cosmetic changes to freshen it up.

As for the 12" pBook having no L3 cache as "big mistake"...name any other 12" notebook on the market with an L3 cache...Ok?...try this...name any other notebook beside the 15" and 17" pBooks that have an L3 cache. The L3 Cache didn't show up in a notebook til the 667mhz-800mhz TiBooks.

I have both the iBook and the 12" pBook...the 12" pBook is in a whole other class.

 

[CrackedButter]

Apple should of released the 12" PB with a 1Ghz processor and with the L3 Cache but without the firewire 800 and the fancy keyboard.

That would of given the ibooks some breathing room with the processor.

But if Apple is dropping prices then i doubt it because they have just dropped the price on the lower laptop. But how useful is a laptop these days with only a CDROM?

If there is an update then Apple should only update that 12" to a DVD ROM drive. No AE and no BT, no even as BTO, it could stay as a simple laptop for people who want something cheap. Apple then has something for both the mobile and the desktop that is cheap.

The 12" Combo iBook should have a speed bump inline with the 14"iBook Combo with a faster bus and with AE with BT as BTO. Basically keep their updates the same, the only difference between them would be the screen size.

However the 14" iBook at the top of the range could have everything. Faster processor as the other 2, plus faster bus, AE + BT and the Applecare and such.

 

[JSRockit]

Yeah...I've always thought the low-end should have a CD-RW drive or a DVD drive...even if they bumped the price up $50.

 

[nighthawk]

Maybe Apple is just waiting for the Motorola MPC7457 chip to be released. It would be an ideal chip to put in the G4 Powerbook line, with lower power requirements and lower heat. That chip is suppose to be a pin compatible chip with the current G4 chips, and Apple might be able to just "drop" them into the Powerbooks without modifying the motherboard.

That would also allow Apple to bump up the processor speed to top at least 1.25ghz. Or maybe, if the rumors are true about a 1.4ghz G4 upgrade for the Cube, then a 1.4ghz would work in the Powerbook 17" as well. Then the 12" Powerbook could be bumped up to 1.0ghz and the iBook bumped up to 1.0ghz also with the Gobi G3 chip.

Motorola Doc on Lower-Wattage G4 7457 CPU w/512KB on-chip L2 Cache
www.xlr8yourmac.com
(from a reader email)

"You are likely already aware of this, but Motorola has a PDF detailing the PowerPC 7457,
http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/PPCSALESFACT.pdf

It doesn't have any real performance gain over the 7455, its listed as having a CPU speed range of 733 - 1300MHz, and identical SPEC and MIPS to the 7455. It does move to the 0.13µ process, has 512k L2 cache, supports a 200MHz frontside bus, and 4MB backside bus.

Its power consumption is lower, 7.5W @ 1GHz, (that's estimated typical, not max. wattage. -Mike) so it will be good for the Powerbook, and will hopefully scale to higher speeds for the Powermac.
Nickk"

 

[Noc]

Re: Re: my iBook theory...

Originally posted by Abstract

12" 800Mhz G3 iBook
Combo Drive
128MB Ram
*Nvidia 32MB GeForce 420 Go* (instead of ATI Radeon 7500 32MB)
30GB HD
$1299

I agree with what you said in that if they update the iBook, it will be w/ other specs, not the processor.

One key thing Apple could do is to change from the ATI Radeon graphics card, because there is a known hack for it that allows monitor spanning on the iBook. Now that Apple has a close cousin to the iBook, it probably wants to stop this monitor spanning hack on the iBook to further differentiate it from the 12" PowerBook. Very good reason for an update, I think.

 

[iwantanewmac]

Originally posted by nighthawk


If you are planning on using Cubase VST instruments that require the G4, yes you will need the 12" Powerbook.

If you are planning on playing back a lot a samples, the hard drive on both machines might be limited because they are 4200 RPM. I would recommend getting a full size external firewire harddrive that runs at 7200 RPM.

If you are planning on doing straight MIDI sequencing to the keyboard or modules, then the iBook is perfect. I have been doing that since the Powerbook 100 (the orginal).

I allready thought that the harddrive might be a little too slow. Arent there any faster 1es for notebooks?

I really want to use it only for playback of audio files. No midi at all.
I hope that the motu 828 ddoes support any external FW drives.

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by iwantanewmac


I allready thought that the harddrive might be a little too slow. Arent there any faster 1es for notebooks?

I really want to use it only for playback of audio files. No midi at all.
I hope that the motu 828 ddoes support any external FW drives.

Some notebooks have 5400 drives, but not many. Your best bet is to get a FW drive if you are concerned. If you are using more than just a few tracks...you will need a faster drive.

 

[yzedf]

Originally posted by JSRockit
No speed bump to the iBook...just a redesign to add bluetooth and airport extreme. Maybe some cosmetic changes to freshen it up.

As for the 12" pBook having no L3 cache as "big mistake"...name any other 12" notebook on the market with an L3 cache...Ok?...try this...name any other notebook beside the 15" and 17" pBooks that have an L3 cache. The L3 Cache didn't show up in a notebook til the 667mhz-800mhz TiBooks.

I have both the iBook and the 12" pBook...the 12" pBook is in a whole other class.

which iBook?

older one with a 67MHz bus?

xbench scores on the 2 are similar...

 

[iwantanewmac]

Originally posted by JSRockit


Some notebooks have 5400 drives, but not many. Your best bet is to get a FW drive if you are concerned. If you are using more than just a few tracks...you will need a faster drive.

Thanks for the advice.
I think I definetely need an external drive.
Maybe I can pick up a refurbished PB somewhere.
(maybe the Ibook 800 is to light for this kind of work)

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by yzedf


which iBook?

older one with a 67MHz bus?

xbench scores on the 2 are similar...

Nope...the 700mhz 16MB VRAM model... by whole other class I am not focusing only on speed. The 12" pBook is just made better. Not to mention not all benchmarks are accurate anyway.

 

[yzedf]

Originally posted by JSRockit


Nope...the 700mhz 16MB VRAM model... by whole other class I am not focusing only on speed. The 12" pBook is just made better. Not to mention not all benchmarks are accurate anyway.

How is it "just made better?"

Have you taken them apart side by side?

Having picked up both, they seem to be of similar quality. With the nod towards the iBook in the durability race.

YMMV

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by yzedf


How is it "just made better?"

Have you taken them apart side by side?

Having picked up both, they seem to be of similar quality. With the nod towards the iBook in the durability race.

YMMV

I own both and use both...the 12" pBook's keyboard is 10 times better...the material, yes...aluminum...is much nicer aesthetically speaking and the laptop as a whole seems to be put together better than the iBook (the case). The iBook no longer has the upper hand on durability. The 12" pBook is strong.

 

[Sun Baked]

Originally posted by JSRockit


I own both and use both...the 12" pBook's keyboard is 10 times better...the material, yes...aluminum...is much nicer aesthetically speaking and the laptop as a whole seems to be put together better than the iBook (the case). The iBook no longer has the upper hand on durability. The 12" pBook is strong.

If you take the iBook and the PowerBook 12 apart and look at the logic boards, you'll see that the new PowerBook 12 looks a lot like an updated iBook with a G4 instead of a G3.

With the old iBook being on the old Pangea chipset it shared with the last generation SDR iMac. And the new PowerBook 12 sharing the Intrepid chipset with the new DDR iMac.

However neither machine shares the chipset with the PowerBook 17, which should be the UN2.x/KeyLargo chipset from the DDR PowerMacs. (guess based on feature set, and the TiBook)

So when people say that the PowerBook 12 is a lot like an G4 iBook, they're right.

But the people who say that the eMac is a CRT iMac are wrong, the eMac is made from the SDR PowerMac chipset -- not an iMac chipset.

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by Sun Baked
If you take the iBook and the PowerBook 12 apart and look at the logic boards, you'll see that the new PowerBook 12 looks a lot like an updated iBook with a G4 instead of a G3.

I understand the iBook and 12" pBook are similar internally (640mb of RAM isn't a coincidence), however I was speaking of external build quality. My 12" pBook seems alot more solid than my iBook.

 

[zach]

i know this is a fantasy, but how bout a iBook with a touchscreen that can rotate so that it is facing out, or be kept facing in to be used as a normal laptop? I think that would be pretty cool, and Apple has said this is the year of the notebook, so maybe....

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by zap23
i know this is a fantasy, but how bout a iBook with a touchscreen that can rotate so that it is facing out, or be kept facing in to be used as a normal laptop? I think that would be pretty cool, and Apple has said this is the year of the notebook, so maybe....

What do you need this for? Cool Gimmickry? or do you have a purpose for this?

 

[Dave Marsh]

Clio 1000

The Clio 1000 Windows CE device has such a flip around touch screen. It uses two articulating arms (one of each side of keyboard) to allow the screen to be rotated 180 degrees so that you can have it lay flat with the screen up, looking much like today's Windows Tablet computers. It has no hard drive, but works well as a terminal device accessing a server running terminal services. Before getting my iBook, I used it to run IE on my server to browse the web, sort of like a remote screen for the server. I accessed the server via WiFi. It is a clever design, but patented. That's why other laptops in the Windows market use the single flip-around hinge on the back of the laptop for rotating the screen.

 

[zach]

Originally posted by JSRockit
What do you need this for? Cool Gimmickry? or do you have a purpose for this?

Well, it would be a tablet that could also be used as a normal laptop. It's easier to use a laptop to type long things, but a tablet is great for taking notes on. Also, it could have like a 10 inch screen so that it would be small and portable. No. That wouldnt work. Ahhhh! I need Apple to make a new Newton!!!!!!!! iNewton, iPDA, whateveryoucallit but i need one!

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by zap23
Well, it would be a tablet that could also be used as a normal laptop. It's easier to use a laptop to type long things, but a tablet is great for taking notes on. Also, it could have like a 10 inch screen so that it would be small and portable. No. That wouldnt work. Ahhhh! I need Apple to make a new Newton!!!!!!!! iNewton, iPDA, whateveryoucallit but i need one!

I'd like a 10" subnotebook...but I don't think we'll see either of our dreams come true.