iMac, eMac and iBook Updates

[inkswamp]

Uhhhh why? You can get a 256 stick from crucial for like 35 dollars haha.

My post was halfway joking. My wife and I are waiting until the next revision/update of the iBook and the release of Tiger before buying one and I would love to not have to throw in more money (even just $35) on top of the purchase price to have a reasonable amount of RAM on it. If they bump the speed on the iBooks, release Tiger and increase the RAM, I would get all three of my wishes in a new iBook. They will surely have done the first two by mid-April, so I was making a big deal out of the RAM thing almost as a joke (kinda.)

I certainly wouldn't let it stop me from buying a new iBook however.

 

[Kagetenshi]

The AppleInsider report says 1.5GHz for the iBook, not 1.55GHz. That makes more sense (1.5GHz) as 1.55GHz is a very odd speed.

1.07GHz is an odder speed, but that's what my iBook is running at.

~J

 

[G.Kirby]

Check this out at AppleInsider.

HD displays would be cool but have you seen the prices on HD camcorders? Unless someone developes a cheaper HD cam, Joe Public will not be able to edit HD footage. I can't see this being a viable market for at least a year, in which time the Pro people should have made the switch to HD. Prices will then drop and the market will ripe for the picking.

 

[vouder17]

...but what about the flipping iMac GPU, eh? I've been holding off for 6 months since the initial release, anxiously clicking refresh on the MR and AI RSS feeds and waiting on word of a RevB that doesn't "feature" a graphics card that was low-end two years ago.

I'm not a gamer. I'm not a video or digital editing professional. I'm just a schmoe who doesn't want to buy a computer that's crippled from the outset. Yeah, the GPU may be fine today. It may be fine next year. But in two years' time it'll be even more ridiculous and won't be able to handle the newest graphics advances in, say, 10.5. If I'm paying $2000, I want guaranteed eye-candy for the next 5 years.

Well said... But all we can do is hope. I really question why apple does this?????

 

[vouder17]

The only way I'll really care is if they get a better graphics card in the iBook and DEFINATELY the iMac. I really like the new iMac but being forced to have a 5200...

What i dont understand is why oh why doesnt apple just make a BTO option... I reckon that if i had had the choice i would have pushed up my video card if i could have done, when i bought my iMac.

 

[freddiecable]

will this mean 20" HD or maybe an increase in screen-size also. imagine a 23" iMac

Its probably referring to HD stands for High Definition so I'd assume that they will release a high resolution display on their iMacs. Sounds like a good idea since 2005 is "the year of high definition".

 

[Bern]

I don't understand Apple's logic these days. They update the PowerBooks to seperate them from the iBook and now they will update the iBook to bring them closer to the PowerBook

I mean it's obviously about time they updated the iBook, perhaps it's just a speed bump not an updated graphics card? I ask myself why I bought the Rev D PowerBook when I could have bought an iBook with similar specs a few months after and saved $1000.

Sure technology moves on and we can't expect to be constantly in sync with it, but come on the iBook should be apart from the PowerBook otherwise one of them is kind of obsolete.

 

[G.Kirby]

I don't understand Apple's logic these days. They update the PowerBooks to seperate them from the iBook and now they will update the iBook to bring them closer to the PowerBook

I mean it's obviously about time they updated the iBook, perhaps it's just a speed bump not an updated graphics card? I ask myself why I bought the Rev D PowerBook when I could have bought an iBook with similar specs a few months after and saved $1000.

Sure technology moves on and we can't expect to be constantly in sync with it, but come on the iBook should be apart from the PowerBook otherwise one of them is kind of obsolete.

True. Even though the iMac looks to be getting a speed bump, the Power Macs can be expanded and they can have DP. This is not the same with the laptop lines.

However, it is not just the CPU that makes a computer. There is a lot of other gubbins that makes the Powerbook stand out from the iBook.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Hmmm...

Get Tiger alone for my 17" pb or upgrade my antique 500mhz iBook to a newer model with Tiger preinstalled.

Decisions, decisions.

...

...

...

 

[lelereb]

please don't let cell phones surpass ibook screen resolution

 

[wrldwzrd89]

With everything going HD, isn't it time for all Powerbooks and iBooks to have widescreens? Square is so square. My bro just got a Dell 700m with the new 12" widescreen; amazing the difference a rectangle makes. What really amazes me is why Apple wasn't first to market with this?

Typical (non-widescreen) computer displays are in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is where you get 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 resolutions. The pixels are obviously going to be the same size vertically as they are horizontally - therefore, going from normal to widescreen isn't going from square to rectangular. It's more like going from a squarelike rectangle to an elongated rectangle.

As far as market timing goes, if you keep in mind that Apple updates their computers on 6 month or longer cycles, and that the x86 computer makers (think computers running Microsoft Windows) typically update on 3 month cycles, you might see why Apple hasn't introduced this yet.

 

[gekko513]

With everything going HD, isn't it time for all Powerbooks and iBooks to have widescreens? Square is so square. My bro just got a Dell 700m with the new 12" widescreen; amazing the difference a rectangle makes. What really amazes me is why Apple wasn't first to market with this?

Actually the area of a 12" 16:10 widescreen is 6.4% smaller than a 12" 4:3 screen, but I think the new Dell's have 12.1" screens which makes up for the loss of going to widescreen.

 

[eXan]

As far as market timing goes, if you keep in mind that Apple updates their computers on 6 month or longer cycles, and that the x86 computer makers (think computers running Microsoft Windows) typically update on 3 month cycles, you might see why Apple hasn't introduced this yet.

Thats why Apple is trying to make things earlier than PC makers, and THATS why 2005 is "year of HD" though prices on HD cams are high

 

[eXan]

Actually the area of a 12" 16:10 widescreen is 6.4% smaller than a 12" 4:3 screen, but I think the new Dell's have 12.1" screens which makes up for the loss of going to widescreen.

Don't iBooks have 12.1 and 14.1 inch monitors?

 

[gekko513]

Don't iBooks have 12.1 and 14.1 inch monitors?

Maybe ... let's see ... yes, you're right

That means the widescreen Dell has a 6.4% smaller screen area compared to the iBook, but it can show widescreen movies 6% larger than the iBook.

This is of course also the case for 15" and 17" regular vs widescreen displays.

 

[savar]

High-Definition screen

dang no detailed emac info at all

What resolution is HD exactly? Isn't the 17" powerbook already something like 1700x1200 pixels?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Maybe ... let's see ... yes, you're right

That means the widescreen Dell has a 6.4% smaller screen area compared to the iBook, but it can show widescreen movies 6% larger than the iBook.

This is of course also the case for 15" and 17" regular vs widescreen displays.

Let's hypothesize a little here. Say Apple makes all their PowerBooks widescreen and bumps up the display size for all of them (12.1" -> 12.7", 15" -> 15.4", 17" -> 17.2"). Doesn't an extra .2 inches horizontally leave enough spare room for a bigger keyboard than the one that comes with the 17" PowerBook? If Apple did that, it would give their high-end PowerBook even more appeal than it has already...and increase Apple's profits from increased sales, right?

 

[Mord]

come on 64MB radeon 9600 for the ibook, if it's a 64MB 9200 i'll go insane.

512MB ram standard is a must across the line.

 

[psxndc]

couple things...

A couple things:

Why is wide screen great? Seriously. For movies? I personally only watch movies on my iBook on trips, which are few and far between.

When buying a new monitor recently, I looked at 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 LCDS. The 16:9 LCDs all had resolutions that games don't run natively and since most of the time I spend writing is on documents (vertical) vs. spreadsheets (horizontal), I really couldn't come up with a reason why widescreens are better other than for movies. Any thoughts other than cool factor?

Secondly, by old iBook 700, (you know the one bastard-child of the line with the 16MB VRAM), is, well... old. But it still works great. Sorry for not being up on this, but is the GPU going to be able to handle Tiger? I know it won't have all the core image candy, but wil it _work_?

I really wish Steve would consider developing a tablet. As a law student, it would really benefit me being able to type notes, mark up cases I downloaded, and organize both (searchable) at the end of the semester. I really really don't want to buy an XP machine, but it looks like its my only option for now. I know the tablet market is tiny, which is why it actually doesn't make sense for Apple to develop it, but man, it would be a sweet thing to have both OS X and tablet functionality.

-p-

 

[Platform]

A couple things:

Why is wide screen great? Seriously. For movies? I personally only watch movies on my iBook on trips, which are few and far between.

When buying a new monitor recently, I looked at 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 LCDS. The 16:9 LCDs all had resolutions that games don't run natively and since most of the time I spend writing is on documents (vertical) vs. spreadsheets (horizontal), I really couldn't come up with a reason why widescreens are better other than for movies. Any thoughts other than cool factor?

Secondly, by old iBook 700, (you know the one bastard-child of the line with the 16MB VRAM), is, well... old. But it still works great. Sorry for not being up on this, but is the GPU going to be able to handle Tiger? I know it won't have all the core image candy, but wil it _work_?

I really wish Steve would consider developing a tablet. As a law student, it would really benefit me being able to type notes, mark up cases I downloaded, and organize both (searchable) at the end of the semester. I really really don't want to buy an XP machine, but it looks like its my only option for now. I know the tablet market is tiny, which is why it actually doesn't make sense for Apple to develop it, but man, it would be a sweet thing to have both OS X and tablet functionality.

-p-

Two web pages/doc's nect to each other on a smaller and cheaper screen since it "wider" than a 4:3

 

[G.Kirby]

come on 64MB radeon 9600 for the ibook, if it's a 64MB 9200 i'll go insane.

512MB ram standard is a must across the line.

A RAM upgrade is a must across all the Mac lines........and should have been done Jan 2004.

 

[lasuther]

I need to get a new laptop because my wife and I are fighting over the iBook more and more. I would love a 64MB graphics card in the iBook. When that happens, I'll get another. I just don't see them doing this and bringing it so close to the Powerbooks. If there isn't an upgrade to the graphics card, I'll just get a strip down 15" PowerBook.

I really don't care very much about the RAM. The most Apple would do is 256MB+256MB, and I would upgrade the 256MB to 512MB anyway.

Here's hoping the rumors are true.

lasuther

 

[ziwi]

All of these rumors suggest a refresh for almost the entire Apple product line - way too much - sad part is that most of the line is carrying canes - it would be nice, but seeing is believing.

 

[Mord]

A couple things:

Why is wide screen great? Seriously. For movies? I personally only watch movies on my iBook on trips, which are few and far between.

When buying a new monitor recently, I looked at 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 LCDS. The 16:9 LCDs all had resolutions that games don't run natively and since most of the time I spend writing is on documents (vertical) vs. spreadsheets (horizontal), I really couldn't come up with a reason why widescreens are better other than for movies. Any thoughts other than cool factor?

Secondly, by old iBook 700, (you know the one bastard-child of the line with the 16MB VRAM), is, well... old. But it still works great. Sorry for not being up on this, but is the GPU going to be able to handle Tiger? I know it won't have all the core image candy, but wil it _work_?

I really wish Steve would consider developing a tablet. As a law student, it would really benefit me being able to type notes, mark up cases I downloaded, and organize both (searchable) at the end of the semester. I really really don't want to buy an XP machine, but it looks like its my only option for now. I know the tablet market is tiny, which is why it actually doesn't make sense for Apple to develop it, but man, it would be a sweet thing to have both OS X and tablet functionality.

-p-

tiger will work on a 8MB rage, also i love useing my widescreen lcd to play games, it allows me to play them with a colomb with ichat in so i can keep an eye on my IM.

 

[G.Kirby]

A couple things:

Why is wide screen great? Seriously. For movies? I personally only watch movies on my iBook on trips, which are few and far between.

When buying a new monitor recently, I looked at 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 LCDS. The 16:9 LCDs all had resolutions that games don't run natively and since most of the time I spend writing is on documents (vertical) vs. spreadsheets (horizontal), I really couldn't come up with a reason why widescreens are better other than for movies. Any thoughts other than cool factor?

Secondly, by old iBook 700, (you know the one bastard-child of the line with the 16MB VRAM), is, well... old. But it still works great. Sorry for not being up on this, but is the GPU going to be able to handle Tiger? I know it won't have all the core image candy, but wil it _work_?

I really wish Steve would consider developing a tablet. As a law student, it would really benefit me being able to type notes, mark up cases I downloaded, and organize both (searchable) at the end of the semester. I really really don't want to buy an XP machine, but it looks like its my only option for now. I know the tablet market is tiny, which is why it actually doesn't make sense for Apple to develop it, but man, it would be a sweet thing to have both OS X and tablet functionality.

-p-

The wide screen setup was predominantly to benefit the Pro users that were using software that had lots of palettes. Apps like Director, FC Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator and so on. The extra space makes for a better, more efficient working environment. Looking back, how the hell did I work on those 9” Mac classic displays.

As Apple has the ‘Make things as easy as possible’ policy and is promoting vernacular design, a wide screen does make your life easier. And they look cool to boot.