New iBooks and Powerbooks!

[bretm]

Re: Re: Re: Re: PB Battery Life

Originally posted by Over Achiever

I know how you feel. My 550 MHz AMD-K6-II barely gets over an hour of light use...less than 20 minutes at full CPU! So yeah, funny how technology changes...

Anyway, has anyone ever put a battery intended for a newer powerbook into an older, slower one? I'd imagine the battery life would go over the 5 hours apple expects...

If you want full battery life that they advertise you'll have to do a few things. #1 run OS9 instead of X. X lessens the life by about a half an hour. Why I don't know.

#2 Run your screen at it's dimmest.

#3 Scale the processor speed back in energy saver. On my 400mhz PB I did an AE test at the slower processor speed. It rendered the same speed as a 604e running 300mhz. I had just gotten my PB at the time and wanted to see how fast it was. I was quite irritated until I realized it was using the slow processor speed because it was on battery!

With all those things done the longest estimate my PB EVER showed me in the battery life clock was just over 4 hours. In OSX, running normally with a full screen I get 2 hours. When it gets down to a few minutes I can dim the screen and grab an extra10-20 minutes.

You can bet that when Apple did the tests to get the 5 hour result they did all the above and probably some other trick like turn off all the extensions, make the desktop black (there's a thought!) and then lie a little.

 

[MacBandit]

Re: Re: Re: Great news for me!

Originally posted by Over Achiever


It depends on the school. I personally know that my prices are a tad lower than the regular store. And the colleges in CA seem to have the best prices of all

Oregon has no sales tax? Thats nice...that money must be coming from somewhere tho'.

Yeah from property and income tax.

I was confused about the prices because at the time I didn't realize they were not normal student prices they were student developer prices.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by scem0
Does it have that feature with the name that I forgot, that saves battery life ? I forgot what it is called, but it monitors how much of the system resources are being used, and then it assignes that much resources, and doesn't use the rest, and in turn it saves battery life. It was something like that. Do the new tiBooks and iBooks have it?

Yes and no. They have had variable cpu timing for years. What the current thing is is variable bus timing. So in affect it will control the entire system rather than just the CPU. This will hopefully save even more power.

 

[vixapphire]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PB Battery Life

Originally posted by bretm


If you want full battery life that they advertise you'll have to do a few things. #1 run OS9 instead of X. X lessens the life by about a half an hour. Why I don't know.

#2 Run your screen at it's dimmest.

#3 Scale the processor speed back in energy saver. On my 400mhz PB I did an AE test at the slower processor speed. It rendered the same speed as a 604e running 300mhz. I had just gotten my PB at the time and wanted to see how fast it was. I was quite irritated until I realized it was using the slow processor speed because it was on battery!

With all those things done the longest estimate my PB EVER showed me in the battery life clock was just over 4 hours. In OSX, running normally with a full screen I get 2 hours. When it gets down to a few minutes I can dim the screen and grab an extra10-20 minutes.

You can bet that when Apple did the tests to get the 5 hour result they did all the above and probably some other trick like turn off all the extensions, make the desktop black (there's a thought!) and then lie a little.

that's some very interesting info, and quite useful.

on the last point, though, wouldn't it actually require more energy to make the desktop black because the computer would be 'activating' (or whatever) the liquid crystal display's surface to make it black, which requires more energy than leaving it blank/white? just a thought.

 

[designpro]

bumped-out

what a surprise move by apple aint it? I love it but only for one thing...
i got home from work and eagerly went to the apple store in costa mesa, ca. was going to buy the 867TiBook with double the ram and everything. only to find out from the saleswoman that if i want to double the ram and subtract the $60 installation fee, then i'd have to buy $350/3years of apple care...
this is my first time try buying anything from the Apple store and when i heard of that, everything just went up in the air.
i mean it's great to have apple care and all but dont make me buy it to waive the installation charge.(its not the case if you order it online thru apple, which will ship within 3-5 days compare to the 1-2days early this release-morning)
pretty bumped-out, but i think i'll order it from clubmac or somewhere along that line where you can get 768MB of RAM at $2333,99(?), only thing is that i have to wait for it instead of instantly at apple store. oh well.

 

[MacBandit]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PB Battery Life

Originally posted by vixapphire


that's some very interesting info, and quite useful.

on the last point, though, wouldn't it actually require more energy to make the desktop black because the computer would be 'activating' (or whatever) the liquid crystal display's surface to make it black, which requires more energy than leaving it blank/white? just a thought.

I don't think the LCD would require more power with either choice. The power savings comes with the lack of processing needed to draw a solid color.

 

[Arch_mac]

got mine

I ordered my PB....yes. I needed mine for school and I am getting into rough areas without it right now. I couldn't wait for the 3-4 weeks. So I ordered the custom setup without the superdrive so that I can get it in 5-7 days. Besides, it was what I could afford with all that tax added on.

Best part of it all. I called apple to see if the 3-4 weeks was firm and told him I wasn't ready to make my mind up and he gave me an extra 75 dollars off my buy. So I got the custom PB, apple care, and the Kensington MicroSaver Security System for 2967.95. With tax it was 3,160.87. Promotional savings of 317.00. That was all I could afford. So even if I wanted the superdrive..I couldn't pull it right now. Oh I am a student as well. So call them on the phone, they may just hook you up a little more than online.

 

[robguz]

Originally posted by pnz999
when do u think apple will re-design their laptop, iBook and PowerBook? it has been 2 years now, since Apple introduce this "design" for ice dual iBook

Almost, but not quite. The ibook came out in April or may of 01, so just barely 18 months old. The Ti came out in Jan 01 with many not actually getting them until Feb 02 so still shy of 2 years. They are both among the best designs Apple has ever produced and I believe still have some life in them. I think if subsequent updates add bluetooth, USB2, Firewire2, better and faster optical drives and such, better battery technology-the basic case doesn't have to change much and the macs will still be able to keep up with all the new technologies.

 

[irmongoose]

Originally posted by robguz
...The Ti came out in Jan 01 with many not actually getting them until Feb 02...

Feb 02??? What the F**K are you smokin??

(or perharps, it's a typo... I do hope so...)



irmongoose

 

[User X]

Did any body notice that the superdrive only burns dvd's at 1x speed? I wonder why they couldn't incorperate the 2x version...maybee heat or size issues...oh well still very cool.

 

[UnixMac]

If I install the IBM 40GB GNX, and boot the PB, what will I get?? Does it then que you to install OS 9/X????

Don't want to go down this road with out a road map..........

Also, do you think apple went with 4200RPM for heat issues?

 

[Postal]

User X:

You're right, it's just the nature of the technology at the moment. I would suppose that it's just the necessity of squeezing in the appropriate read/write head(s) into not just a portable form, but a slot-loading portable form.

It's not going to be a rocket, but there are undoubtedly many people (especially in southern California!) who would love the ability to shoot video footage, edit it if necessary, and then burn a copy of it before even returning to the office. It's a bit of a pain that it would take as much time to burn the footage to DVD as it would to play it all back, but before DVD-R laptops it wasn't even an option.

Me, I'd be quite content with a Combo drive. I'm more likely to burn my fingers while lighting a candle than to burn a DVD.

 

[mr evil brkfast]

new laptops big surprise

Pleasantly surprised that the powerbook specs were bumped in both models. I really thought that Apple might wimp out with bumps to 800 and 933 with no superdrive.

The ibooks were pretty much as predicted but are a much better deal than they were before. For $300 dollars less Canadian I can get a model that has 16mb better graphic card, a 100mhz boost and a 10G larger hard drive. The combo drive looks like it has better specs too- am I wrong about that? Hopefully for non-altivec applications it will run close to the old 800 PB.

My order is in!

 

[Theta138]

Anyone notice the prices for the ADC members gone way up?

 

[ncbill]

Re: Is the 7500 good enough for handling Jaguar and Quartz Extreme?

ATI's website has the 7500 Mobility 2.5x than the original Mobility
(9000 is rated at 3.5x faster)

Originally posted by bentmywookie
I just wanted an opinion from people who have used the TiBooks with the mobility 7500. Do you think this chip will help make the IBook less sluggish in Jaguar? In general, I'm curious as to whether or not these new Ibooks will be able to run jaguar nice and smoothly with no sluggishness. any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

 

[ncbill]

Use ebates.com with 3rd party vendors for up to 2% rebate

Plus when you go through ebates.com (register first) you'll find that many of the below vendors also get you a 2% rebate through ebates.

Originally posted by bretm


None. Absolutely none. Have you ever seen it be cheaper to buy directly from the manufacturer than on of it's retailers?

Let's not forget that MacMall, ClubMac, etc. also doesn't charge you sales tax. And they sometiems throw in triple the ram for free. Many many extras.

And many people don't realize you can call them on the phone and haggle on top of all that... "hey man, I'm gettin all this stuff... can you throw in Norton?" Doesn't always work, but sometimes. If I know people make a commission, sometimes I just cut to the chase and ask flat out "Hi, I'm prepared to buy the new Powerbook from you right now. What's the best price you gave give me?"

 

[eric_n_dfw]

Re: Re: Student ADC discounts

Originally posted by longday


Before YOU drop hella attitude I suggest you check with someone who's actually done this before, and I can tell you that it is painless. They just requested my student ID number, and wether or not you're in any classes at the time didn't matter when I did this discount earlier this year.

Lighten up!

I just quoted what Apple's web site says.

 

[von mac]

Re: YAAAH!!!

Originally posted by prefect
Just locked mine in!!!

Going to be a long 3-4 weeks!!!

1 GHz
1 Gig of RAM
SuperDrive
60 GB HDD
etc

All for $2300!!

woooo hoooo!! Glad I waited!

How the heck'd you get that price? Just bought the exact same config via apple.com last night and paid $3000 plus $250. in sales tax (which, unlike tax-free macmall doesn't come up until you click purchase)

 

[warlock]

re:Student ADC discounts

Personally i'm a little suspicious that the discount on the top end Powerbook is a mistake:

the prices listed for the 3 Ti models are:

$1,839, $2,799 and $2,399.

Whilst putting in the order, i got a price of $2,999 on the next page, but it then shows $2,399 on the final screen, but if you select the memory upgrade the 2,399 jumps up to 2,999, and stays there.

So i've ordered it without the upgrade and i'm currently waiting for apple to call me back about it.

 

[Theta138]

Re: re:Student ADC discounts

Originally posted by warlock
Personally i'm a little suspicious that the discount on the top end Powerbook is a mistake:

the prices listed for the 3 Ti models are:

$1,839, $2,799 and $2,399.

Whilst putting in the order, i got a price of $2,999 on the next page, but it then shows $2,399 on the final screen, but if you select the memory upgrade the 2,399 jumps up to 2,999, and stays there.

So i've ordered it without the upgrade and i'm currently waiting for apple to call me back about it.

The high-end price is correct ($2399). It shouldn't change though. The moddle-end price is the one that is really wrong. Just yesterday is was barely above $2000.

 

[WasteGate]

This is my first post, good news for me is I'll be switching back to a mac (havn't used one since my quadra 610), but one thing I noticed on the Ti Book specs is at http://www.apple.com.au/powerbook/graphics.html down the bottom right corner it says "Quake performance:
3D games push the graphics processing unit harder than any other application. And of these 3D games, Quake performance has come to be the benchmark against which all graphics processors are measured. So you’ll be pleased to hear that when playing the Quake III Arena version 1.30, in millions of colours, at 1024x768 resolution, the 1GHz PowerBook G4 blazes away at a scorching 76 frames per second".

Thats not scorching especially for a Radeon 9000 with 64Mb.
I have been holding off buying a Ti Book for 6 months waiting for this beast to come along and I'm sure that this was the same score for the older model with the Radeon 7500 32Mb.
Any thoughts?

 

[npongratz]

Re: re:Student ADC discounts

Originally posted by warlock
Personally i'm a little suspicious that the discount on the top end Powerbook is a mistake:

the prices listed for the 3 Ti models are:

$1,839, $2,799 and $2,399.

Whilst putting in the order, i got a price of $2,999 on the next page, but it then shows $2,399 on the final screen, but if you select the memory upgrade the 2,399 jumps up to 2,999, and stays there.

So i've ordered it without the upgrade and i'm currently waiting for apple to call me back about it.

Yeah, I was suspicious too, so I called Apple and asked them about the price irregularities. They said that they're having a problem with the powerbook section of the store, and things will allegedly be fixed by the end of today (11-7-02). Hopefully their "fix" isn't an increase in the price!

Just thought y'all might like to know.

 

[shadowfax]

sorry [edit]WasteGate[/edit], that's how it is. the 9000 isn't THAT much faster than the 7500 , and the rating with the 7500 was 71 frames per second optimally, according to the articles i have read. i don't think the 3d engine on the 9000 is that much better, it just adds some features, and probably runs better on other areas like antialiasing. all in all though, it's the fastest on the market, if not by much, and i am sure the 64 MB DDR will help in other places.


[edit]sorry about that Npongratz, i don't know how the heck i managed to respond to the post of the guy before you and use your name..... i'm getting far to careless lol. [/edit]

 

[Theta138]

Thanks, npongratz. I appreciate the update.

 

[Telomar]

Re: Re: Student ADC discounts

Originally posted by longday


Before YOU drop hella attitude I suggest you check with someone who's actually done this before, and I can tell you that it is painless. They just requested my student ID number, and wether or not you're in any classes at the time didn't matter when I did this discount earlier this year.

Then you lucked out. Normally they will ask for a transcript or some other evidence when you try to actually buy the hardware.

Apple has the right to ask for proof and have done previously so all the guy was doing is warning them.

Edit: Just in case you don't believe Apple wants proof from the developer site itself.

Please be sure you are adhering to the Terms and Conditions before ordering. In addition, we request that students fax a copy of student identification AND proof of current class registration in developer-related courses. Apple reserves the right to refuse access to this offer by non-students and/or non-developers.

You can thank someone else for that added bit over here. I just borrowed it from their thread