Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Macworld Expo Boston 2005
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
joeconvert said:
Hi Joeconvert, believe me I'm not planning to get an iMac inside an airplane.
But I don't think it's correct right now to spend $2,700 USD for the "high end" Powerbook with the "lowend" iMacs so much powerful at a lower price.
alexf
macrumors 6502a
Don't buy a Powerbook now!
Yes, I think it would be somewhat obsolete soon.
Save your money and don't buy a Powerbook now!
Not obsolete in the sense that it won't be supported, but obsolete in the sense that the G4 is simply outdated, and has been for awhile now.
It is not a good thing (from Apple's marketing perspective), that a base-model "comsumer" iMac can smoke a current top-of-the-line "pro" Powerbook (and I mean seriously smoke - there is no comparison between a G4 and a G5, no matter what MHz the G4 is).
Unless you absolutely need the portability and need a Mac, why in the world would anyone spend so much money on a new G4 Powerbook right now? Even Apple knows that the processor is outdated, and it is probably now one of the slower laptops on the market that you can buy now.
Trust me: they have been furiously trying to get a G5 into the Powerbook for nearly 2 years now, and even Jobs admitted at the WWCD (in a way) that they have failed (due to IBM; indeed, that was one of the "excuses" that he used for the Intel switch).
Unless you absolutely need the have the portablility, save your money and wait just a little while until an up-to-date processor gets fitted into a PB.
Now that IBM announced the new PPC chips, in my opinion it is very likely that G5 Powerbooks are just around the corner - I highly doubt that they would leave the rapidly ageing G4 chip in the PB for the remainer of the year.
jcampa said:
Yes, I think it would be somewhat obsolete soon.
Save your money and don't buy a Powerbook now!
Not obsolete in the sense that it won't be supported, but obsolete in the sense that the G4 is simply outdated, and has been for awhile now.
It is not a good thing (from Apple's marketing perspective), that a base-model "comsumer" iMac can smoke a current top-of-the-line "pro" Powerbook (and I mean seriously smoke - there is no comparison between a G4 and a G5, no matter what MHz the G4 is).
Unless you absolutely need the portability and need a Mac, why in the world would anyone spend so much money on a new G4 Powerbook right now? Even Apple knows that the processor is outdated, and it is probably now one of the slower laptops on the market that you can buy now.
Trust me: they have been furiously trying to get a G5 into the Powerbook for nearly 2 years now, and even Jobs admitted at the WWCD (in a way) that they have failed (due to IBM; indeed, that was one of the "excuses" that he used for the Intel switch).
Unless you absolutely need the have the portablility, save your money and wait just a little while until an up-to-date processor gets fitted into a PB.
Now that IBM announced the new PPC chips, in my opinion it is very likely that G5 Powerbooks are just around the corner - I highly doubt that they would leave the rapidly ageing G4 chip in the PB for the remainer of the year.
It's a shame this has turned into a non-event but I and most people cannot justifying going to this event. Major vendors are missing on both the hardware and software sides.
I guess that this event will disappear in a year or two.
Doug
I guess that this event will disappear in a year or two.
Doug
solvs
macrumors 603
I can kinda see why Apple decided to pull out, especially with the costs involved and the tenuous relationship with IDG at the time. But I still wish they'd suck it up and at least have a presence there. It's still a big deal to people. They don't have to release anything new (at least not the big stuff), nor does Jobs need to do a keynote, but it would still be nice if they had a booth or something.
alexf
macrumors 6502a
jcampa said:
Good, I'm glad I could offer my advice.
Of course, I could very well be wrong about the G5 Powerbook coming soon. There is a chance that the G5 Powerbook will never see the light of day - meaning that the next PB incarnation will have an Intel processor in it (this subject was - and maybe still is being - debated on the recent thread about IBM's new PPC announcement 2 days ago).
However, as I said, I find this unlikely, especially since Apple has undoubtedly invested so much time and energy over the past 2+ years designing a Powerbook for the G5 chip. In fact, I'll bet the design is long finished and currently under close surveillance.
The G4 chip really is outdated, and in my opinion Apple is ripping off its customers by not significantly lowering the price of the Powerbook, which is no longer a "pro" machine.
I have a 3 year old 800 MHz Titanium Powerbook and there is not a huge performance difference between that and the PB you can buy new today for the same price! (And remember: in computer years, 3 years is a long time!)
What if you were to shell out $2000 or so for a new G4 PB and then a few weeks later the G5 PBs were announced and offered for about the same price? I don't know about you, but I would feel quite ripped off, especially since the price you paid for your G4 PB has already been set by Apple as though it were the fastest available processor, i.e. a G5.
Of course, this is a risk you always take when you buy anything is the quicky changing computer world, yet in this case, the difference would be quite extreme, as, from my experience, the difference between a G4 and a G5 processor is like night and day.
Good luck with your decision. 🙂
alexf said:
Really? If you look at benchmarks comparing a 1.67 Ghz Powerbook G4 to a 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz iMac G5, there is no "smoking" going on.. Maybe a slight edge to the G5 (with some apps performing better on the G4)... I want to see a G5 in the Powerbook (or something more up to date than the G4) but the fact is the G5, at least in the low end implementations, does *not* outperform apple's highest end G4s in any sort of impressive fashion...
At least with current applications, operating system, and hardware, the G4 and G5 chips appear to be similar performers clock for clock.
ibooks
Do you think that if Apple doesn't release ibooks at boston it will be all the way until september when they do? do you think the next ibooks will be intel? i'd like to get a new ibook but i want to wait until they look different than my 500 mhz ibook with dvd that i bought in mid 2001......
Do you think that if Apple doesn't release ibooks at boston it will be all the way until september when they do? do you think the next ibooks will be intel? i'd like to get a new ibook but i want to wait until they look different than my 500 mhz ibook with dvd that i bought in mid 2001......
alexf
macrumors 6502a
blackcrayon said:
If you are using XBench to compare the two, keep in mind that the program was not written to test the G5 and the results may be misleading (at least I've read).
Trust me, a G5 will smoke any G4, mostly because the huge increase in FSB. The best way to see is to go into an Apple Store and simply play around with Photoshop (esp. with large files) and Final Cut Pro on an iMac and then a Powerbook.
alexf
macrumors 6502a
swingerofbirch said:
The iBooks will be updated VERY soon - buying a one now would be an even worse decision than buying a Powerbook (unless, of course, you really need one, you get a great deal on one, or you don't care very much about a little more speed and extra HD space).
wdlove said:
Well, sort of. It used to be held down in Southie not in the Back Bay. It was the largest trade show to be held in Boston each year. IDG brought it back with the wooing of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and a whole lot of promising that the show would be everything that it was and more. The MCCA is doing quite a bit of wooing to fill the space (and you better hope they do or consider the vacancies a waste of your tax dollars). The egg was on their face when they had to fill the space not filled with the return of MW with a second convention/meeting. Now MW is being held in a smaller, harder to get to, more expensive to get a room, and hardly any parking convention center.
Did Apple abandon the expo? That is a matter of interpretation. Apple explained clearly what they wanted and how they would respond. I think we can agree that Boston may be the Hub of the Universe but New York was logistically a better location (unless you are from MA). IDG made the choice to move on hoping that Apple would come along in the last minute and assume the program would continue to be a success. Was it? Again, up to interpretation. My opinion was/is that it doesn't measure up to the old conferences and IDG blew it. I would rather go to Paris or San Francisco.
I'm excited about MacWorld Boston 2005. I think it's gonna be alot of fun. Besides Apple it does attract alot of companies, including Hewlett-Packard and Xerox. There are tons of Macs available for playing with including some Xserve G5s and a multitude of Pentium based Powermacs. Just because Steve-O isn't giving a keynote doesn't mean the show will be a flop.
~Shard~
macrumors P6
swingerofbirch said:
The iBooks should be updated in the very near future - Apple would be foolish not to update the almost-year-old product line before the popular back-to-school rush. As for whether they'll have Intel chips in them or not, I would say no - the first portable to receive snazzy new Intel chips will most likely be the PowerBook.
andiwm2003 said:
If Apple is a sponsor or on the BOD they do. The organizers don't do this out of the goodness of their hearts. It costs moneybig money to be a vendor and the ROI is low.
Understand, these conferences are a business. IDG's offices are right up the street and of course they want one of their bread and butter events in their own back yard.
I wonder if Apple still has offices in Boston. Does anyone know?
I agreeandiwm2003 said:
You COULD look at it that way, or you could also say that they could treat MacWorld Boston like an opening of an Apple store, just to get people in the door. They could easily and inexpensively have a BIG presence in MacWorld Boston just because all the other vendors do most of the work, really. This year they've got recent changes to the iPod, a possible iTunes-mobile deal, and an Intel Mac to demonstrate... it'd pull crowds in.clonenode said:
stevietheb
macrumors 6502a
Walked through the Prudential Center today...the Hynes Convention Center is all gussied up with MacWorld Boston banners and such.
Never been to anything like this...do I have to pay to get in? If not--I might show up...
Never been to anything like this...do I have to pay to get in? If not--I might show up...
I know Apple releases things in cycles, 8 months or so, and that other PC makers update more often. Apple wants to avoid changing their products, make the product line simpler and all that - which is fair enough.alexf said:
What I don't get is why Apple doesn't slowly discount their products over their life. When the latest Powerbook G4 has been out 6 months drop the price a bit. Basically make it so on the day of a new product's release, the old product's price yesterday was still a good deal (slower than the new but cheaper than the new too).
Does that make sense? They'd remove the buying focussed on release dates and get more consistent sales. Am I missing something?
alexf said:
Well, I still have to disagree with you- I'm talking about in real world tests, see http://www.barefeats.com/fcp4.html and notice how close a 1.5 ghz powerbook is to a 1.6 Ghz G5. A look at http://www.barefeats.com/g4up.html shows that the G5 beats the G4- comparing a 2ghz G4 to 2ghz G5. But by no means does the G5 "smoke" the G4, and the G4 is running inside of a Quicksilver Powermac! And with more cache (can you say Freescale 7448?) on that G4 the distance would be even less... Again, I'm not saying the G4 is faster or I'd rather have the G4.. But "smoked?" 🙂
alexf
macrumors 6502a
blackcrayon said:
I'm not sure what you mean here... On the page you reference, the authors write:
"Though the 2.0GHz G4 upgrade produced respectable performance, it's no match for a dual G5 Power Mac running at the same clock speed."
From the test results it is pretty clear that a G5 chip running at the same clockspeed is a whole lot faster than a G4 chip.
In all fairness, however, the authors go on to state:
"The argument is not settled, though. Until you can put a G4 CPU in a motherboard with the same frontside bus speed and same memory bus speed as the G5, we can't really say whether a G4 running at the same clock speed can match it. The reality is that G5 systems have a much faster frontside bus, memory bus, and graphics slot."
I admit that if the G5 chip finds its way into a Powerbook (and I maintain that it will), the FSB will probably be a lot less than it is on the Power Mac - and maybe even less than the iMac. However, it will still surely be at least 3 - 4x faster than it is on the current Powerbooks - a crippling 167 MHz - and this will account for a tremendous speed increase, especially during certain types of operations.
manosira
macrumors member
Frankly I think Boston is a great city to hold MacWorld East. It's certainly has the venues and the capabilities for the event. They moved it this year to the Hynes Convention Center, because they barely used the space in the new Boston Convention Center. I think one MacWorld should be a consumer trade show and the other a btob or vendor one. Either or I probably still end up going to both, with or without apple.