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Is a 13" Widescreen Powerbook Likley?

D

DCSMAC

macrumors member
Original poster
A few quick thoughts about the powerbook line....

1. The powerbooks are holding back the ibooks, mac minis, and maybe even the emacs in terms of getting performance upgrades.

2. The 12" powerbook is not deserving of the "Powerbook" name, especially considering its striking similarity to the ibook 12" which is currently 500 cheaper and performs basiclly as good

3. A while back, there was a rumor about a 13" widescreen ibook, which never came true. Does anybody think that at the paris expo they might drop the 12 " powerbook, and replace it with a 13" widescreen powerbook that has more of the features found on the 15" and 17" powerbooks. Maybe they will do this with the release of the Mactels. thats what i think.

4. Are the performance upgrade frusterations with the powerbooks the real reason for the intel switch?

Some things to think about...
 
To me, a 13" widescreen would be perfect. As I find 12" possibly a little too small, however I like the small, lightweight portability. A 13" would be a great comprimise between screen size and portability. And of course differentiate it from the ibook range.
 
I don't think a widescreen smaller PB is in order. It would require shrinking the vertical screen size to keep it small enough. If the current one (at 768) pixels were widened to keep the 16:10 aspect ratio that the other PBs have, it gives a horizontal screen resolution of about 1220 pixels, which is only slightly smaller than the 15" PB.

What I'm saying is the only way to get a widescreen smaller PB is to make the screen smaller. When screens get that small, having a widescreen is more more annoying than helpful.
 
The most important thing to consider is that the 12' Pbs have a very devoted market base and some others like me who just have them to serve as stopgaps before they move on to more anticipated ones....I dont think apple would want to give all that up for what?? a 13' inch screen!? It would be real interestiing if they get down to doing that.....
 
Am I the only who doesn't want a 13'' widescreen notebook? I mean Ive seen a few of them, and they seem even more crammed into a small space than the 12'' PB. I hope Apple doesnt move to WS for the 12''
 
Koodauw said:
Am I the only who doesn't want a 13'' widescreen notebook? I mean Ive seen a few of them, and they seem even more crammed into a small space than the 12'' PB. I hope Apple doesnt move to WS for the 12''
Click to expand...
Yeah that was my point a few posts ago, although the way I said it probably didn't make sense to anybody else but me 😀
 
I would like to see more features on the 12" than there currently are. The idea of a laptop being SMALL appeals to me. If they are to scrap the 12" then I'm all for a new revised 13" widescreener! I would hate to see the lil one go! Infact of the powerbook range the small one is the one i'd buy simply for portability issues. I would rather have something small descrete in place of a bulging "beat my owner up and steal me" 17" hogging my holdall.
 
13" would work at a smaller height than the 12" with a higher res screen. This would also fit into the rumors of higher res 15" and 17".
 
epepper9 said:
To me, a 13" widescreen would be perfect. As I find 12" possibly a little too small, however I like the small, lightweight portability. A 13" would be a great comprimise between screen size and portability. And of course differentiate it from the ibook range.
Click to expand...
Beautifully put.
 
I become a little nervous, when I hear the rumors that the 12-inch model may be dropped.

I love my 12-inch Powerbook. It gives me the portability I need (although, truthfully, it never leaves my house, at least I know it could), but it also gives me the option to use my beautiful 20-inch cinema display, at my desk. I love that balance.

I wouldn't be *mad* if the 12-inch was scrapped, for a 13-inch widescreen. It might be cool, but I think the higher resolution on such a small screen is a bit silly.

Finally, I think its possible, but I hope I'm wrong that they might update the 15 & 17 inch Powerbooks in September, but leave the 12-inch alone. I hope I'm wrong, for even if they didn't increase the speed of the 12-inch, they could put a much better video card, make the 512MB of memory entirely internal (to free up the slot), etc.

I do think, when the Intels arrive, the 12-inch may well be gone, in exchange, for a small widescreen.
 
When I have my 15'' next to the 14'' the latter is taller! Of course the 15'' is wider (needless to say).

Still, I agree with those saying that the 13'' will be very small and additionally have a high resolution, thus making the whole WS experience futile.

There will always be a marked for a sub-Powerbook. Most likely they will keep the 12'' and up the resolution for the 15'' and 17''.
 
Mac said:
When I have my 15'' next to the 14'' the latter is taller! Of course the 15'' is wider (needless to say).

Still, I agree with those saying that the 13'' will be very small and additionally have a high resolution, thus making the whole WS experience futile.

There will always be a marked for a sub-Powerbook. Most likely they will keep the 12'' and up the resolution for the 15'' and 17''.
Click to expand...
That will be fine by me!
 
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