The 17" PowerBook is amazing.
Having said that, it has some noticeable problems. The form factor is just slighty too big too fit into a standard backpack. This means a large/custom backpack, or laptop bag (read: STEAL ME PLEASE). Also, the unit I played with would not light the keyboard. I don't know if that's configurable in System Prefs, if it was missing from some preproduction models, or...gasp...broken after 2 days of use. Additionally, while lighter (and much thinner) than most desktop replacements, it is going to be awkward to tote. The beautiful and enormous screen does make it a bit unwieldy. It is more of a notetome than a notebook.
It performed without a hiccup while simultaneously opening every app in the dock (about 20, including Photoshop, all Office apps [except PowerPoint!], and iDVD, iMovie, and iPhoto. I was pretty impressed.
Oppening one app at a time, sped application launch to as fast as my Dual 867.
Bluetooth performance SUCKS while heavy processing is going on! They provided several T68is to show off iSync, and while I was testing other things, Bluetooth dropped to 0.2k/sec. For all those of you who think Bluetooth is the answer to everything, this sort of performance should dispel the myths...Bluetooth is slow, and get molasses slow with activity.
The 12 inch machine is nice as well, but really looks like an aluminum iBook. It slowed to a crawl under heavy multi-tasking as it lacks the L3 cache. The 20 apps which all opened in 20 secs on the 17" took 2 minute plus on the 12". This means that the 15" will remain the best compromise for people who run lots of services/apps, but still want notebook portability.
The new iApps looked real impressive, and were a pleasure to use on the iBook I tested them with, I didn't play with Keynote. Safari was prominently displayed, and IE was removed from the dock of the machines I played with!
The Xraids were in evidence, however, I was unable to ascertain if the Xraid in the Apple corral was actually functioning, or just plugged in/turned on. Even at Macworld, Apple only had a few Xserves in their rack, although someone had a rack full top to bottom with Xserves...sadly, they were cardboard prints, but it looked cool from a distance.
DiscWarrior 3.0 coming in Feb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It boots on an X cd!!!!!!! I played with DiscWarrior, and it looks ready.
SoftRAID 3.0 coming in March.
I would have been much more excited about this without native RAID, but it really does look like they got it right.
The DVForge.com iPod stand is just damn sexxxxy.
Apple and Thursby had really plush carpet padding. Most people did not. This is the most subtle trick I've seen to increase 'look time' in a booth.
Tchotckys seem less common in the recession. Our landfills would like to thank the industry for not giving us company logo squishy balls, Made for mac mousepads, and Lexmark Groucho Marx glasses.
HP, was two booths from Epson, which was two booths from Canon...intentional, or poorly planned? You be the judge.
According to a little birdy, the PowerSchool division may be for sale (sooner rather than later).
JBL/Harman had a really huge 'space', with 4.1 Mac Surround capable speakers for release next month.
YourMacLife (the radio show) was being presented, and one of the prizes given away was a set of JBL creatures. I would be really jealous of the winner, other than the fact that it was me. Whoohooo.
If you're there tomorrow around 2-3:30, go to the North hall stage, and watch the broadcast. That Shawn King gave away $2,500 worth of merch in the 45 minutes I was there. He'll likely do the same tomorrow. Also, there were ~100 people in the audience, so you're chances of winning are high!
There were no screaming bargains (that I saw).
The ONLY beige Apple machine in the whole place was a 7x00 that Ryan Rempel was using to demo XPostFacto in the OWC booth.
StarryNight (space.com) had a really cool planetarium booth.
There are a lot of good instructional sessions going on for business/creative software. Adobe, Corel, M$, Macromedia (they're back) are all giving some good tutorial sessions.
O'Reilly are there in a good sized booth (20% off all, 40% off selected). I heart O'Reilly books.
Any questions are welcome...I'm staying by the machine all night, and will be checking this thread (and listening to my new speakers).
Having said that, it has some noticeable problems. The form factor is just slighty too big too fit into a standard backpack. This means a large/custom backpack, or laptop bag (read: STEAL ME PLEASE). Also, the unit I played with would not light the keyboard. I don't know if that's configurable in System Prefs, if it was missing from some preproduction models, or...gasp...broken after 2 days of use. Additionally, while lighter (and much thinner) than most desktop replacements, it is going to be awkward to tote. The beautiful and enormous screen does make it a bit unwieldy. It is more of a notetome than a notebook.
It performed without a hiccup while simultaneously opening every app in the dock (about 20, including Photoshop, all Office apps [except PowerPoint!], and iDVD, iMovie, and iPhoto. I was pretty impressed.
Oppening one app at a time, sped application launch to as fast as my Dual 867.
Bluetooth performance SUCKS while heavy processing is going on! They provided several T68is to show off iSync, and while I was testing other things, Bluetooth dropped to 0.2k/sec. For all those of you who think Bluetooth is the answer to everything, this sort of performance should dispel the myths...Bluetooth is slow, and get molasses slow with activity.
The 12 inch machine is nice as well, but really looks like an aluminum iBook. It slowed to a crawl under heavy multi-tasking as it lacks the L3 cache. The 20 apps which all opened in 20 secs on the 17" took 2 minute plus on the 12". This means that the 15" will remain the best compromise for people who run lots of services/apps, but still want notebook portability.
The new iApps looked real impressive, and were a pleasure to use on the iBook I tested them with, I didn't play with Keynote. Safari was prominently displayed, and IE was removed from the dock of the machines I played with!
The Xraids were in evidence, however, I was unable to ascertain if the Xraid in the Apple corral was actually functioning, or just plugged in/turned on. Even at Macworld, Apple only had a few Xserves in their rack, although someone had a rack full top to bottom with Xserves...sadly, they were cardboard prints, but it looked cool from a distance.
DiscWarrior 3.0 coming in Feb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It boots on an X cd!!!!!!! I played with DiscWarrior, and it looks ready.
SoftRAID 3.0 coming in March.
I would have been much more excited about this without native RAID, but it really does look like they got it right.
The DVForge.com iPod stand is just damn sexxxxy.
Apple and Thursby had really plush carpet padding. Most people did not. This is the most subtle trick I've seen to increase 'look time' in a booth.
Tchotckys seem less common in the recession. Our landfills would like to thank the industry for not giving us company logo squishy balls, Made for mac mousepads, and Lexmark Groucho Marx glasses.
HP, was two booths from Epson, which was two booths from Canon...intentional, or poorly planned? You be the judge.
According to a little birdy, the PowerSchool division may be for sale (sooner rather than later).
JBL/Harman had a really huge 'space', with 4.1 Mac Surround capable speakers for release next month.
YourMacLife (the radio show) was being presented, and one of the prizes given away was a set of JBL creatures. I would be really jealous of the winner, other than the fact that it was me. Whoohooo.
If you're there tomorrow around 2-3:30, go to the North hall stage, and watch the broadcast. That Shawn King gave away $2,500 worth of merch in the 45 minutes I was there. He'll likely do the same tomorrow. Also, there were ~100 people in the audience, so you're chances of winning are high!
There were no screaming bargains (that I saw).
The ONLY beige Apple machine in the whole place was a 7x00 that Ryan Rempel was using to demo XPostFacto in the OWC booth.
StarryNight (space.com) had a really cool planetarium booth.
There are a lot of good instructional sessions going on for business/creative software. Adobe, Corel, M$, Macromedia (they're back) are all giving some good tutorial sessions.
O'Reilly are there in a good sized booth (20% off all, 40% off selected). I heart O'Reilly books.
Any questions are welcome...I'm staying by the machine all night, and will be checking this thread (and listening to my new speakers).