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No PowerBook Updates Before 2005
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AidenShaw said:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory/display/20040920150146.html
Samsung plans to launch mass production of the 80nm process, 2Gb DDR2 SDRAM in the second half of 2005. The 2Gb DDR2 devices meet fine-pitch ball grid array (FBGA) package specifications for DDR2. Even without modifications, the devices can directly drive module density levels of Gigabyte (GB) scale; 2GB, 4GB and 8GB.
It will have to be scaled for a laptop, however it can be done. And that is at 80nm, if they shrink it the speed will "theoretically" increase. How soon is up to the manufacturer TBH.
In reality I do feel that the application(s) may have some memory leaks and are bloated. This also goes for Java based applications. :-(
m a y a said:
Thanks for the reference - so, by the end of 2005 we may see higher density SO-DIMMs if these chips will fit in the SO-DIMM form factor. I also remember that it took many months between the time that Samsung entered "full production" on RDRAM before RIMMs were readily available.
Maybe by the end of 2006 the price will drop to where it would be affordable to use them.... (The newest, highest-density DIMM modules historically have cost much more per byte than the commodity DIMMs using "standard" density chips.)
I think this lines up with my "couple of years before 64-bit really useful in a laptop" comment....
AidenShaw said:
Lets just wait and see what kind of "rabbit" Apple manages to pull of of the tall hat this MWSF05.
I remember at one event where Steve.J introduced the iMac G4 and had claimed that they didn't want to slap the computer on the back of an LCD screen since the optical and HDD would have a shorter life and poor performance. And yet vola we have the iMac G5. Hypocrites, depends on opinion.
Best just to anticipate the show till Jan05 and then come back here in a few min after the Keynote and complain.
don't expect no magic bunny
Well, if the "rabbit" is holding a big banner shouting "64-bit", but at the same time has "max RAM 2 GiB" in the small print - then we'll need a big dose of RDF to think that it means anything.... "some pills make you larger, and some pills make you small..."
If you can't install more than 4 GiB of RAM, a faster (or dual) 32-bit processor will be better than a 64-bit CPU - almost always.
m a y a said:
Well, if the "rabbit" is holding a big banner shouting "64-bit", but at the same time has "max RAM 2 GiB" in the small print - then we'll need a big dose of RDF to think that it means anything.... "some pills make you larger, and some pills make you small..."
If you can't install more than 4 GiB of RAM, a faster (or dual) 32-bit processor will be better than a 64-bit CPU - almost always.
Portable for Digital Photo Work
Anyone have any experience with Sony laptops? I really need a portable for digital photo work, and I'm not going to drop the kind of money apple wants for one of their outdated laptops. I like Macs, and have been using apple for about 20 years, but it seems apple is putting all their effort into ipods, and a trickle of 2.5 G5's.
This isn't meant to start a flame war - I've been a computer user for 35 years, and just want an honest evaluation of portable, reasonably priced, powerful laptops. Since apple seems to have turned its back on its core constituency, I guess it's time to move on to other, more responsive manufacturers.
As for digital photos, I have found Photoshop works just as well on a WinIntel machine as it does on a Mac.
Anyone have any experience with Sony laptops? I really need a portable for digital photo work, and I'm not going to drop the kind of money apple wants for one of their outdated laptops. I like Macs, and have been using apple for about 20 years, but it seems apple is putting all their effort into ipods, and a trickle of 2.5 G5's.
This isn't meant to start a flame war - I've been a computer user for 35 years, and just want an honest evaluation of portable, reasonably priced, powerful laptops. Since apple seems to have turned its back on its core constituency, I guess it's time to move on to other, more responsive manufacturers.
As for digital photos, I have found Photoshop works just as well on a WinIntel machine as it does on a Mac.
re: the Sony Vaios
We have a few at work, they are well designed and relatively fast. They are no rugged by any means (I would go with IBM if it might be knocked around).
The only problem we have had is with Sony support which is *abysmal* . We had two major fruitless go-arounds with them and were basically SOL.
If you get a good one, no problem ....
JT
We have a few at work, they are well designed and relatively fast. They are no rugged by any means (I would go with IBM if it might be knocked around).
The only problem we have had is with Sony support which is *abysmal* . We had two major fruitless go-arounds with them and were basically SOL.
If you get a good one, no problem ....
JT
JCT said:re: the Sony Vaios
We have a few at work, they are well designed and relatively fast. They are no rugged by any means (I would go with IBM if it might be knocked around).
The only problem we have had is with Sony support which is *abysmal* . We had two major fruitless go-arounds with them and were basically SOL.
If you get a good one, no problem ....
JT
Thanks JT,
We have Dell's where I work, and it's the same, if you get a good one it's alright, if not, you're SOL. IBM was my other consideration.
Thanks for the quick (and civil) reply.
go for pixels and bytes, IMO
I use a Dell Latitude D600, both for work and photography.
The D600 has a 1400x1050 high resolution 14" screen - which is simply superb for photos. Trying to work with one of Apple's low resolution 1024x768 screens would be painful - so much of the camera's resolution is thrown away scaling to the low resolution screen.
If I were choosing a laptop mainly for photo work, the #1 criterion would be "more pixels".
My advice would be:
- look at the resolution, and get as many pixels as possible. Windows does a pretty good job with making everything readable when you set "large fonts". Running Photoshop with a 500 Kpixel view of a 5 Mpixel image hurts...
- RAM, RAM, RAM. Get a system with at least 1 GiB of RAM, and which cacn support at least 2 GiB. I'm on my third primary laptop, and in both cases the earlier ones were replaced because their maximum RAM capacity was too small for the work I was doing. The processors weren't too slow - but I simply couldn't add adequate memory.
No complaints about Dell service, but we're a big corporate account. Any problem is Call, FedEx overnight, Fixed next day.
lha72 said:
I use a Dell Latitude D600, both for work and photography.
The D600 has a 1400x1050 high resolution 14" screen - which is simply superb for photos. Trying to work with one of Apple's low resolution 1024x768 screens would be painful - so much of the camera's resolution is thrown away scaling to the low resolution screen.
If I were choosing a laptop mainly for photo work, the #1 criterion would be "more pixels".
My advice would be:
- look at the resolution, and get as many pixels as possible. Windows does a pretty good job with making everything readable when you set "large fonts". Running Photoshop with a 500 Kpixel view of a 5 Mpixel image hurts...
- RAM, RAM, RAM. Get a system with at least 1 GiB of RAM, and which cacn support at least 2 GiB. I'm on my third primary laptop, and in both cases the earlier ones were replaced because their maximum RAM capacity was too small for the work I was doing. The processors weren't too slow - but I simply couldn't add adequate memory.
No complaints about Dell service, but we're a big corporate account. Any problem is Call, FedEx overnight, Fixed next day.
Diatribe said:
Ah, come on, 45 minutes burning time isn't _that_ bad - just let the disc burn over lunch hour, while you're getting ready for work in the morning, while you're making dinner at night, while you're reading or talking on the phone, while you're out picking up groceries... There are lots of times during the day when you could let one of those guys burn!
Anybody think the G5 Powerbook would have a screen much like Sony's Xbrite or Toshiba's Trubrite? I'm really hoping they do!
Price drops?
I've been tracking this thread for days and can't remember how much this has come up.
I am considering buying a PB (either new or one of the ones being sold by a member) as I am confident that there will be nothing before January. In Jan. either a speedbump or a nucleur reactor (which won't reach these shores until the middle of the year a la iPod Mini).
So, question is, does Apple have a history of dropping the prices of hardware when not accompanied by a new revision? It seems to make emminent sense at the moment with PBs weighing in at massively more than the increasingly comparable iBooks.
Need a better screen than the horrible item on my G3 14" iBook.
I've been tracking this thread for days and can't remember how much this has come up.
I am considering buying a PB (either new or one of the ones being sold by a member) as I am confident that there will be nothing before January. In Jan. either a speedbump or a nucleur reactor (which won't reach these shores until the middle of the year a la iPod Mini).
So, question is, does Apple have a history of dropping the prices of hardware when not accompanied by a new revision? It seems to make emminent sense at the moment with PBs weighing in at massively more than the increasingly comparable iBooks.
Need a better screen than the horrible item on my G3 14" iBook.
~Shard~ said:Ah, come on, 45 minutes burning time isn't _that_ bad - just let the disc burn over lunch hour, while you're getting ready for work in the morning, while you're making dinner at night, while you're reading or talking on the phone, while you're out picking up groceries... There are lots of times during the day when you could let one of those guys burn!
That is bad, 45 mins. Why is Apple falling behind on key technologies in the mobile market. 10-20 mins might be more acceptable than 45 mins.
And why has the SuperDrive still not natively supporting DVD-RW. The drive is capable of it. I don't want a 3rd party hack. This is just lame on Apples part.
Apple really needs to get they act together in the mobile market. G5 or G4 dual-core who cares at this point. They seem to be sleeping or putting everything into the iPod and mini (which I like) however last time I checked they made computers not JUST "iPods".
Need to upgrade the notebook, next year. Lets see what they bring upon us in that time to the consumers.
Benj said:
Yes, it does seem Apple is falling short in the mobile market:
1. LCD Screen resolution.
2. Optical DVD drive not supporting DVD-RW or even +/- formats.
3. Low Standard ram 256. should be 512.
You can add more to that list if you desire. :-(
m a y a said:
I was being half-serious - see the
at the end of my post? Guess you missed it...m a y a said:
If you see signs of Apple "sleeping" and neglecting all things non-iPod, then perhaps you should look at the latest iBook revisions, the updated Pro tools (FCP HD, Motion, etc.), Airport Express, the new PowerMacs, the new displays (most notably the 30" monster!), the G5 iMac, and you might as well throw Tiger in there as well.
Is Apple focusing solely on the iPod and neglecting their other lines? Not in the least. They are simply capitalizing on their own genius with respect to the iPod and iTMS and trying to maximize their profits, as any well-run business should do. Apple does make computers and not just iPods.
If you can do things better, and if you can design one of these G5 PowerBooks or dual-core G4 systems you so impatiently want and feel should be released soon, then I suggest you knock on Steve Jobs' door, tell himself yourself Apple is sleeping on this front, and give him your plans on how they can do things more efficiently and quicker than they currently are. I'm sure he'd be happy to hear what you have to say.
sankara said:if I remember correctly, the prices of TiBook 15"(last rev.) and AlBook 12"&15"(1st rev.) were dropped 200$ w/o new revisions in 2003.
Yah, I think the price drop was the "revision"...
Thanks chaps.
The current PB does more than I need - just need a half decent screen on the go and the ability to access better resolution on an external screen. (Otherwise the iBook would do just fine.)
Sounds like it might be worth hanging on for a price drop then. I'm guessing if they do it, it will have to be soon or anyone buying them now will be a tad annoyed.
Something to tack on to all of the iTunes/iPod announcements next week?
The current PB does more than I need - just need a half decent screen on the go and the ability to access better resolution on an external screen. (Otherwise the iBook would do just fine.)
Sounds like it might be worth hanging on for a price drop then. I'm guessing if they do it, it will have to be soon or anyone buying them now will be a tad annoyed.
Something to tack on to all of the iTunes/iPod announcements next week?
Benj said:
Don't know about that, but we'll have to see. With the hardware announcements this past Tuesday (new iBooks and new PowerMac) I don't know if another announcement like that will happen - this Tuesday might be reserved for iPod+iTMS.
