CPU info.
I'm curious to know what the chip identifies itself as. I'd guess it uses an early engineering sample of the Core Duo...
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Is this a Powerbook/Macbook Pro prototype?
- Thread starter jpo287
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CPU info.
I'm curious to know what the chip identifies itself as. I'd guess it uses an early engineering sample of the Core Duo...
He was suggesting that the images could have been tampered by the OP. (i.e, he photoshopped in the iSight camera and PowerBook logo.)
I personally have never really seen a powerbook up close. On the powerbooks, is the "powerbook" logo written with the reflective letters same as on the MBP? Anyone know?
the name change
I could be wrong about this, but during the transition I seem to remember reading that "Powerbook" was legally tied to Motorola because of the "Power PC" despite the fact that early PBs did not have PPC chips. I think the plans were laid in advance on that one. So when Apple decided to make the switch they legally had to give up the name "Powerbook" and since they were giving up that, they also gave up "iBook" because one didn't make sense without the other, even though they would continue using iMac.
My guess is that there was months of legal wrangling to keep the name and so this prototype was made before the final decision was made.
I also think the whole "we decided to take "Power" out and put "Mac" in was just spin, good spin, but spin nonetheless.
Great find though. I would definitely lock that one up for a rainy day.
I could be wrong about this, but during the transition I seem to remember reading that "Powerbook" was legally tied to Motorola because of the "Power PC" despite the fact that early PBs did not have PPC chips. I think the plans were laid in advance on that one. So when Apple decided to make the switch they legally had to give up the name "Powerbook" and since they were giving up that, they also gave up "iBook" because one didn't make sense without the other, even though they would continue using iMac.
My guess is that there was months of legal wrangling to keep the name and so this prototype was made before the final decision was made.
I also think the whole "we decided to take "Power" out and put "Mac" in was just spin, good spin, but spin nonetheless.
Great find though. I would definitely lock that one up for a rainy day.
@mikejtl, It cant have been tied specifically to Motorola, as IBM provided some of the chips, especially within the PowerBook G3 line. PowerBook certainly isnt tied to the PowerPC set of chips, and doesnt seem to be Motorola specific. Maybe Apple decided that as an Intel chip, the name had grown synonymous with the PowerPC line and then chose to drop it on Steves whim.
superdrive
Do all super drives say for evaluation use only, and also is the backlight on the keyboard brighter that the powerbooks normally are?
Great find
Do all super drives say for evaluation use only, and also is the backlight on the keyboard brighter that the powerbooks normally are?
Great find
No, none of them say that. I'm not sure if there is any difference in the brightness but here's a picture of the PB in my daughters closet
As you can see, there is a little light spilling out along the edges. All I can really say is it plenty bright.
That actually makes sense. Especially given the fact that the font and finish on the prototype PB and MBP names are identical. They could have known they would be changing the name but didn't know what the new name would be at first. So they just started working on the finish/look they wanted by working on the original Powerbook name. Once they had the look they wanted, they just substituted the letters to spell out the new name once they had it - Macbook Pro.
final comparison pictures
Here are some last pictures I was finally able to take. They pretty much illustrate the differences between the two models.
There is only one other thing I can think of that is different: the lcd screen model/name does not show up under the preferences panel when adjusting the Color of the display. It say "Color LCD" instead of Apple or Macbook display.
And finally, the laptop runs well but the trackpad is a little flakey. It can be a little difficult to move the cursor with it sometimes. Horizontally it works fine but it sometimes doesn't want to move vertically. I noticed the trackpad hardware is different so it could be a hardware issue that was later ironed out??
The MBP is an early 1.83 GHz.
The PB logic board has a large white port. The MBP just has the solder pins where the port should be.
.............
Here's the different memory/battery compartments. The first pic is the MBP:
............
Here you can see the bottom case is missing all the port icons:
............
............
And here is a picture of the memory slot with a sticker showing the specs:
Here are some last pictures I was finally able to take. They pretty much illustrate the differences between the two models.
There is only one other thing I can think of that is different: the lcd screen model/name does not show up under the preferences panel when adjusting the Color of the display. It say "Color LCD" instead of Apple or Macbook display.
And finally, the laptop runs well but the trackpad is a little flakey. It can be a little difficult to move the cursor with it sometimes. Horizontally it works fine but it sometimes doesn't want to move vertically. I noticed the trackpad hardware is different so it could be a hardware issue that was later ironed out??
The MBP is an early 1.83 GHz.
The PB logic board has a large white port. The MBP just has the solder pins where the port should be.
.............
Here's the different memory/battery compartments. The first pic is the MBP:
............
Here you can see the bottom case is missing all the port icons:
............
............
And here is a picture of the memory slot with a sticker showing the specs:
Doubtful. I have a 1st gen MBP with the single-layer, I can't imagine a prototype would have anything better.
It has the Matshita DVD-R UJ-857 drive:
Firmware Revision: HA26
DVD-Write -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
So it does have a dual layer drive which makes sense since the 17" MBP came out with the DL drive.
I noticed that straight away. Looks very unnatural. The letters look like they've been manually added.
The font looks thinner compared to the photo originally uploaded, although it could be due to a flash being used in the latter:
Although another earlier photo also showed the haphazard lettering:
The axes of each letter are all skew-whiff.
The bumpy bezel in the latter photo was odd. It doesn't show up on the first original photo(s) (shown above).
Yeah, this guy too pictures of his MacBook Pro, photoshopped them to say "PowerBook" and photoshopped out the port symbols. Probably made up the whole "baby" thing, afterall - how is babby formed, anyway?
None of this makes sense.
None of this makes sense.
Great find; hold on to it, and don't contact Apple!
If it is fake... Well, I dunno. Prototypes are just that - not always finished to exact specs and often shoddily built.
If it is fake... Well, I dunno. Prototypes are just that - not always finished to exact specs and often shoddily built.
wow 300 is such a steal if i were the person who sold it and i saw this i would die lol but i dont think that anyone who dident know an intel in a powerbook was unique would be on mac forums. even 300 for a powerbook is not bad
No, none of them say that. I'm not sure if there is any difference in the brightness but here's a picture of the PB in my daughters closet
As you can see, there is a little light spilling out along the edges. All I can really say is it plenty bright.
Thanks, that seems about the right brightness for a macbook pro keyboard and congrats on the baby!
I"m kind of wondering about the 'powerbook' lettering as well. Though the e is so badly stuck on that I'm assuming a machine did the job - if a human stuck the letters on surely they'd see that the e's blatantly crooked, and re-apply it. I'll believe the prototype theory.
Here you can see the bottom case is missing all the port icons:
You are comparing the PowerBook to the MacBook Pro in that photo right..? To compare the ports being there etc - same PowerBook that was used in all the other photos..?
Well, the PowerBook never had a MagSafe connector..
I can assure you the logo is real. As you can see in the picture below, the letters are actually recessed into the bezel. So while the e may be a little of, it is off in a recessed bezel and while I might could believe someone faking the letters, I can't believe someone went through the trouble of building/recessing the bezel for the letters. BTW...the Macbook Pro logo is recessed the same way.
I can assure you the logo is real. As you can see in the picture below, the letters are actually recessed into the bezel. So while the e may be a little of, it is off in a recessed bezel and while I might could believe someone faking the letters, I can't believe someone went through the trouble of building/recessing the bezel for the letters. BTW...the Macbook Pro logo is recessed the same way.
I think someone replaced the bezel and took a huge financial loss by selling it cheap...... jk