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New PowerBooks - Finally

Originally posted by Nicky G
Screen resolution on all models -- too high a resolution, and OS X and your apps will be pretty much unusable (unless you like squinting and/or losing your eyesight faster than you already are by being a computer geek). Much higher than they currently are, which some folks seem to be calling for, is ridiculous, and would make using the computer unpleasant. Anyone with any clue only uses LCDs in the native mode, so switching down to a lower res. would not be an option. But hey, it's the Wintel people who seem to dwell on only specs, and no kind of real-world common-sense aesthetic sense. So I guess I see what mentality is leading to their argument, even if it is silly as all heck.


I fear you speak without experience!

Until recently, I had an Apple ColorSync 20" monitor which I used only at 1600X1200 dpi. Of course, I did enlarge the fonts, but I could get a whole page of text with FrameMaker and all my pallettes on the screen with real estate to spare. The same held true for PhotoShop, Canvas, Premiere...everything. It was neither unpleasant nor stressful.

Alas, the monitor died and I replaced it with a 17" Orion FS .2 mm unit for economic reasons. It is a great monitor, but it peaks at 1280X1024. I have 30% less real estate on the screen, must keep pallettes stored until I need them, and invariably must reduce graphics and text pages to see them all at once.

I recently did some graphics for my wife--a teacher-- on the school's Dell Latitude with the 15+ inch screen at 1600X1200. The quality and crispness were amazing. With OS X and Quartz graphics, it would be unbelievable!

For the record, I am no Troll! I have owned only Apple Computers (a IIgs, PM 7100/66, PM G3 450 B/W), and I plan to buy a PB 17 when Rev B comes out. The fact remains, however, that I and many other graphics and DV users legitmiately need all the screen real estate we can get.

The technnology exists now for a high quality 1920X1200 presentation in a 17" diagonal screen. Whether you think is is necessary or not, it should be an option. Perhaps it will be in the future, when Apple/IBM no longer have to fight the absurd Ghz wars.
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Originally posted by singletrack
Aluminium is about half the weight of Ti and conducts heat better. It's about half as stiff though so you have to use more aluminium than Ti to retain structural rigidity although I suspect the rigidity in a Powerbook comes from the main chassis rather than the outside panels. If it's like an iBook, those are magnesium. Magnesium is quite brittle though so not such a good thing for an outside case. It (aluminium) does however dent more easily as it's not as ductile. Steel wins on the dent stakes although I can't see that being cool unless Apple started making Reynolds 853 air hardening laptops.
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The frame isn't pure magnesium, it's a magnesium alloy (which is good, because pure magnesium is extremely flammable, and when it does catch on fire, it burns extremely brightly and extremely hot). Titanium also bends more than Aluminum. Also, aluminum can be anodized for color, while titanium has to be painted. The paint sometimes flakes off titanium.
 
Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
The frame isn't pure magnesium, it's a magnesium alloy (which is good, because pure magnesium is extremely flammable, and when it does catch on fire, it burns extremely brightly and extremely hot). Titanium also bends more than Aluminum. Also, aluminum can be anodized for color, while titanium has to be painted. The paint sometimes flakes off titanium.
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While that's all true, it takes something with nearly the heat of a cutting torch to ignite magnesium, even if it's pure. Not gonna happen, unless you're a real pyro and decide to line the interior of your powerbook with primer cord, "just in case."
 
Originally posted by zync
While that's all true, it takes something with nearly the heat of a cutting torch to ignite magnesium, even if it's pure. Not gonna happen, unless you're a real pyro and decide to line the interior of your powerbook with primer cord, "just in case."
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Nonetheless, the NeXT cube was made of a magnesium alloy that was designed to be difficult to ignite. Ultimately, however, it could be ignited. I wish I remembered where I read about that.
 
Re: Re: 1.25GHz vs. 1.33GHz

Originally posted by tuc
Well don't let the processor speed throw you. I think you can count the number of times you'll be able to tell the difference between 1.25GHz and 1.33GHz on zero hands.
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Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
The difference is 110 MHz.

That's twice as fast as my 6100.
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While I don't disagree with what you say (well, mostly: I get a difference 80MHz, not 110Mhz) I stand by my statement.

The difference measured in magahertz does handily exceed the speed of your 6100, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to feel any speed difference.
 
Although I have not seen any documentation on this, I have exhanged batteries several times with my Pismo on sleep, worked flawlessly.
 
shipping info

Originally posted by gif32
My order status is still “open,” but changed to “On or before 9/18” (used to be 9/16.)

Anyone who has received shipping conformation: where did yours ship from?
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The same thing happened to me. It used to say on or before 9/16, but then it changed to on or before 9/19, a day later than yours.

However, I just got email that says it has shipped. The email says it's coming from "F/G Distribution Center; Elk Grove, Ca 95758" but tracking the package on airborne.com seems to indicate it's actually coming from "APPLE COMPUTER CONS DISTR; Franklin Park, IL 60131."
 
Originally posted by richarch
I don't think the statement above is completely correct.

The terms and conditions of the rebate form states:

"and any HP DeskJet printer with an MSRP of $99 or higher, any HP Photosmart printer with an MSRP of $149 or higher, or any HP All-in-One product with an MSRP of $149 or higher."

The buy-a-bundle page says:

"You’ll even get the world's best-selling MP3 player — any iPod you choose, and a free printer, too."

The printer could not be free if it cost more than $99.

I'm purchasing the HP 5150, including it as part of the rebate, and printing out all the documentation. If Apple changes the terms and conditions, I'm ready for a fight :D

-rich
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Okay.. I was just confused because after that line "any HP DeskJet printer with an MSRP of $99 or higher" it says, "This offer is not valid with the purchase of Apple education promotional bundles." Which is where it made me think twice and say, eh?
 
ok, i just purchased my first apple (ya!) a 15" PB with the 1.25. i got it setup with one 512 RAM and was wondering where i can get the correct type RAM at the cheapest price for the remaining slot. i want a 1 gigabit but may ahve to settle for a 512. please help me out in finding where to buy the right type, and how much it woill cost. thanks!
any other advice greatly appreciated too
 
Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Nonetheless, the NeXT cube was made of a magnesium alloy that was designed to be difficult to ignite. Ultimately, however, it could be ignited. I wish I remembered where I read about that.
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I actually read the same article. But in a science class we once lit magnesium on fire and we had to do some chemical reaction to do it I believe, the reaction was the catalyst to set it on fire. As is though, even if you took a lighter to the magnesium in the powerbook it'd be fine...hell even at the temperatures in a structure fire it'd still be fine.
 
Originally posted by Nawlins
It's a shame Apple couldn't have released the new Powerbooks over the summer so more college students would buy them. I've been in school for 3 weeks now - I had to buy a computer over the summer, and so did a lot of other people.

Alex
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This has to be hitting Apple hard and will probably have a major affect their earnings for the year......but on the bright side.....BRING ON THE G5's! I bet Jobs is pissed as heck and G5 development has been pushed up to priority one.
 
Bundle deal you speak of

You guys keep mentioning some bundle deal involving the purchase of a powerbook and ipod, or something like that. Could someone please give me the details of this? Is it mentioned on the apple page? I checked out the deals on the page but didn't find the one you guys were referring to. Thanks!
 
Re: Bundle deal you speak of

Originally posted by somecows
You guys keep mentioning some bundle deal involving the purchase of a powerbook and ipod, or something like that. Could someone please give me the details of this? Is it mentioned on the apple page? I checked out the deals on the page but didn't find the one you guys were referring to. Thanks!
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It's an educational deal. You have to log in to the online store as a student for it to appear, AFAIK. It comes in at the top of the page when you select a school for an educational discount. I'm not sure if it applies to anyone except college students/staff though.
 
It's an educational deal. You have to log in to the online store as a student for it to appear, AFAIK. It comes in at the top of the page when you select a school for an educational discount. I'm not sure if it applies to anyone except college students/staff though.
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Yeah, it applies only to students and faculty at schools and universities. The ad will also show up on the side down towards the bottom. Also if you go through the process of picking a machine it will let you choose a printer and iPod and has links for the promotion and rebate.

I ordered a PB last week (my first mac) and they upgraded for free, but now there is at least a week delay in getting it. I just wish that they'd send it today!!!
 
I'm ready to get my first laptop and my first Mac! The thing is, I really want to have 10.3. If I get the PB on Christmas (or whenever 10.3 will be released) will it be preinstalled in the 15" PowerBook?
 
Compusa?

How long do you guys think it will be before these powerbooks start to appear at Compusa? I'd like to be able to check one out before purchasing....
 
know you can upgrade a G3 to a G4 but does anyone know if it is going to be possible to upgrade a G4 to a G5? I assume not because you won't be able to upgrade PowerMac either? If not will I not be able to upgrade my new 17" PowerBook at all? (1.33Ghz will be last chip made?) Any feeback greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Paul
 
Originally posted by vrapan
you cannot upgrade PBs.
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Well that's only partially true. There are no upgrades for any G4 Powerbook though there are ones for the G3 Powerbooks. If this is due to the design of the board or simply a current lack of demand I do not know. I'm sure you could shoot an email to one of the upgrade manufacturers and they would be happy to explain it.

As for upgrading a PowerMac G4 to a G5 I would say no but I have read feedback from the upgrade companies and they say it's potentially possible though there will be some hurdles they think they can overcome them. At this point I wouldn't count on it but I wouldn't buy a Mac with the expectation of being able to upgrade the CPU. I bought the B/W G3 which had the new to Mac CPU ZIF socket which was going to make upgrading a breeze. Well guess what soon after the CPUs went to a different PIN configuration and all of a sudden upgrades were out still to this day you can not get a G4 chip for a B/W G3 that is faster then 550MHz. Macs hold there value pretty well so in nearly all cases it's almost always better to sell your old Mac and a buy a new one. Your just better off getting the new one anyway because it's not just the CPU that is upgraded it's the whole system.
 
Originally posted by RBilRamZ
ok, i just purchased my first apple (ya!) a 15" PB with the 1.25. i got it setup with one 512 RAM and was wondering where i can get the correct type RAM at the cheapest price for the remaining slot. i want a 1 gigabit but may ahve to settle for a 512. please help me out in finding where to buy the right type, and how much it woill cost. thanks!
any other advice greatly appreciated too
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www.dealram.com
 
Originally posted by mrdeep
All I need now is a book called "iSwitch".

Tomorrow (err ... today), I will be heading down to the campus store, and buying a new 15" powerbook, and for once my school has actually done something good:

"*NEW** 15" POWERBOOK SPECIAL PRICE - A special bulk purchase enables us to offer the brand new 15" Powerbook 1.25GHz/512MB/80GB/SuperDrive/AirportExtreme/Bluetooth/BacklitKeyboard at a price of $1995. This is a limited quantity purchase and it is not clear if we will be able to repeat this offer when they are gone.
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Which school is this??? Cause I'm a student and my university doesn't offer anything close to that.
 
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