Oct 12 Event For Power Macs & Powerbooks?

[50548]

I'd say the Pro Apps that you are using, Quark, PhotoShop, KeyNote, etc etc. for whatever use it may be. The G4 1.67 will still outperform most laptops in it's class. (Laptops between 1500-2200) bucks. and it will DEFINATLY outperform any 17" laptop.

Keep in mind, The Athlon64 processors have their weaknesses. They are not APPS strong like the Intel cpus. (hence Apple goes Intel). It's a pro CPU. Not a gimmick gamer cpu with ********s of gaming grunt.
(my brother works for a major gaming company and they said AMD cpu's are worthless for working 'cus they are tweaked for benchmark and gaming performance) (long n boring story).

Intel has their Dothan. It's a killer CPU. Some ppl converted the laptop based CPU into a desktop. And got so good results Intel scrapped the P4 (the project name escapes my mind) in favor of a Dothan based desktop CPU.

Now... IF we get a FSB bump to DDR2. Then Apple is up there with DualCore G4. it's still safe to say that ANY powerbook today will run circles around any X86 based laptop trying to run photoshop.

My friends old PISMO is faster than my dad's Centrino/Dothan based 1.7ghz in photoshop.

And keep in mind, centrino is just a bogus marketing game/name. Some of the Centrino promoted laptops are so crippled it's comparable to an iBook in performance.

Take a look at Dells superlinup. The machines weigh a TON!! the screens are POOR! and the ergonomics are like ****! Fujitsu-Siemens, Acer and HP are so behind still. The 17" HP is like a dinosaur. My dad has a 15." inch wide HP and he wants to get rid of it 'cus the 1.7ghz dothan with Radeon 9600pro won't do it in PowerPoint. Whereas the PBs and KeyNote will KILL it's competitors.

the ONLY real competitor is Acer's Ferrari machine. and it's EXPENSIVE. the X700 card it features has 128mb of memory. and a Thurion 3700+ running 333mhz FSB. it's not killer news! like I mentioned before, PCs are based on CPU/Graphics specs. Take a look under the hood and the drives are second hand, the screens are second hand, and so are the internal architectures. almost like handmedowns...

Exactly. I always tell my friends how slow their PCs are in real-life operations...when you look at the specs you become impressed...but when you put them side by side with a PB, you see that difference is null, not to mention the horrible overhead that Windows has to bear, when it comes to viruses, firewall, anti-malware and the like...

Undoubtedly Macs give a much more pleasant computing experience than anything else out there; design, lightness, quality, supreme OS...even the "old" G4s give a good run for the money, apart from, perhaps, hardcore gaming...the rest is just fine.

 

[0423379]

Exactly. I always tell my friends how slow their PCs are in real-life operations...when you look at the specs you become impressed...but when you put them side by side with a PB, you see that difference is null, not to mention the horrible overhead that Windows has to bear, when it comes to viruses, firewall, anti-malware and the like...

Undoubtedly Macs give a much more pleasant computing experience than anything else out there; design, lightness, quality, supreme OS...even the "old" G4s give a good run for the money, apart from, perhaps, hardcore gaming...the rest is just fine.

Well, I bought a 5 year old Gigabit G4, I got it for 250 bucks. gave the dude an extra 60 bucks and got 1GB mem, contra 256.
I have a 120GB Sata disk I'm swapping with my friend so I can throw in the IDE disk. And I'm buying a second hand Radeon 9600 and the computer will be just FINE for gaming. Keep in mind, I got the powerlogix upgrade card. costed me some odd 400 bucks. but all in all, I paid 700 bucks for a dual G4 1.2 with 1GB mem. I can't even get a used Dual 1.2/1.4 /1.0 for 1000 bucks!!

 

[Clix Pix]

Maybe something altogether new and different?

In reading all the speculation here, I had a thought. Maybe instead of upping the specs on the 12" iBook and PB something new will be added to the mix: a smaller, tinier "handtop" Mac (kind of like the OQO or the Sony one but better) or a very, very lightweight and thin PB to rival Toshiba's ultracompact R200.... ?

Just a thought....

Senseney

On the brink of buying a Mac but am waiting to see what is new this week!

 

[0423379]

In reading all the speculation here, I had a thought. Maybe instead of upping the specs on the 12" iBook and PB something new will be added to the mix: a smaller, tinier "handtop" Mac (kind of like the OQO or the Sony one but better) or a very, very lightweight and thin PB to rival Toshiba's ultracompact R200.... ?

Just a thought....

Senseney

On the brink of buying a Mac but am waiting to see what is new this week!

that actually makes sense. and Apple don't even have a palm... :S
but then a 13" wide AND a 8-10" mini powerbook would make more sense.
with the 8-10" not being wide and not suited for photoshop works, just base-apps. non-altivec kinda.

 

[50thVert]

In reading all the speculation here, I had a thought. Maybe instead of upping the specs on the 12" iBook and PB something new will be added to the mix: a smaller, tinier "handtop" Mac (kind of like the OQO or the Sony one but better) or a very, very lightweight and thin PB to rival Toshiba's ultracompact R200.... ?

Just a thought....

Senseney

On the brink of buying a Mac but am waiting to see what is new this week!

I would LOVE to see a PB Nano, comparable to the Toshiba R200 or Sony's T-series! I have been in love with ultraportables for quite some time now, and ive been chomping at the bit waiting for Apple to release a PB Nano or a PowerTablet.

 

[Evangelion]

The reason I suggest a G5 is because I figured Apple has spent a great deal of R&D money on a G5 PB already.

And that means that they would use G5, even if 7448 would actually be better (and 7448 would not require much extra R&D-effort)?

Also the G5 FSB can run at half the CPU speed

Yes it can. But that doesn't mean it will be faster. G5 has longer pipelines, so it does less actual work every clock-cycle. Even with it's uber-fast bus and uber fast RAM, 2GHz G5 is only marginally faster than 2GHz G4 with 166Mhz bus and 512KB of L2. If you bumbed the bus to 200Mhz and doubled the L2, the difference between the two would disappear, and G4 might actually be considerably faster in the end.

supports 64 bit for more memory access

having more than 4GB of RAM in a notebook is not relevant in quite some time. By the time it becomes important, Apple has already moved to 64bit Pentium-M

and hard disk direct access mapping

Huh?

better implemented Altivec

Actually, G4 has superior Altivec-unit than G5 does. Altivec was added as an afterthought to the PPC970.

 

[deanwaterman]

12" PB or "Nanobook"

I would LOVE to see a PB Nano, comparable to the Toshiba R200 or Sony's T-series! I have been in love with ultraportables for quite some time now, and ive been chomping at the bit waiting for Apple to release a PB Nano or a PowerTablet.

I would like to see Apple drop the prices of the 12" and make it more competitive with other things out there. I would also like to see them drop the price in the whole line. How abou this?

12" Superdrive $1499.00
Backlit Keyboard
Firewire 800 & 400
1 Gig Ethernet
128mb VRAM
HD Widescreen (xbrite?)

15" Combo $1699.00
Same specs as above

15" Superdrive $1899.00
Same specs as above

17" Superdrive $2199.00
Same specs as above


If we want more PC users to convert to Mac the price points have to be better. I have always believed in volume over higher profit margins per unit. Sell 100 PB in place of 60, and you have 40 more people telling other PC users why they should make the switch. Those extra 40 people convert another 20, which in turns lead to more Macs being sold. What happens? The price drops on everything which in turn leads to more Mac users, better prices for us on new equipment and everyone wins, especially Apple.

It's time to start selling Mac's, Powerbooks, on volume. Leave the higher margin to the Power Mac line for pros. What do you say???

 

[FFTT]

Think Secret's prediction that the new models will be using
DDR2 RAM has me quite curious.

IF the stock RAM is still 512 MB and permanent but the logic board supports
DDR2, that indicates to me that you could have a PowerBook capable
of 2.5 GB RAM or higher IF the default DIMMs were not permanent.

The use of DDR2 also makes we wonder what we'll see in the new PowerMac
Motherboards.

Are we talking 4 DIMM slots using DDR2 DIMMs to expand to 8 GB
or 8 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of DDR2 RAM?

 

[BGil]

I'd say the Pro Apps that you are using, Quark, PhotoShop, KeyNote, etc etc. for whatever use it may be. The G4 1.67 will still outperform most laptops in it's class. (Laptops between 1500-2200) bucks. and it will DEFINATLY outperform any 17" laptop.

Keep in mind, The Athlon64 processors have their weaknesses. They are not APPS strong like the Intel cpus. (hence Apple goes Intel). It's a pro CPU. Not a gimmick gamer cpu with ********s of gaming grunt.
(my brother works for a major gaming company and they said AMD cpu's are worthless for working 'cus they are tweaked for benchmark and gaming performance) (long n boring story).

There's so much FUD in that post I don't know where to start.

No, AMD CPU's aren't worthless for working. At the moment they are the fastest personal computing processors available. This is fact. Most review and testing sites use real-world benchmarks so it's impossible to tweak a processor for one of those benchmarks without improving real-world performance at the same time.

Nearly every real-world test you point out will show you that G4's lag far behind Pentium M's, Turion's, Athlon 64's, and Pentium 4's. That's Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, Lightwave, Cinebench, gaming and more.

Edit: And in case you didn't know dual core A64's are shipping in 17 inch laptops now so the 17-inch powerbook is even more behind than the 15 incher.

 

[ZorPrime]

What a pointless exercise that would be. iMovie capture won't happen any faster. It captures in realtime from the Sony camera. Time won't move faster with a better CPU.

I know iMovie captures in realtime... it wasn't my point.

A faster CPU would only have had a bearing when I was applying effects, titles and such. We're talking minutes... maybe an hour overall at most. Cutting and pasting the clips around in iMovie didn't see any delays.

hmmmm... an hour of additional time, just in effects, titles, and such... after which, you can cut and paste....

The only time when any real gain could be made is the final encoding stage. That just takes time. The difference in speed between the two Powerbooks isn't going to make THAT much of a difference though. Even if it's 30 percent faster, it's still going to take a time. Not an exercise you'd want to sit and wait to finish... even on a Powermac!

I've no doubt that things would be quicker on the 15" with a faster CPU and GPU but I wouldn't consider the 12" a handicap.

I would consider a 30% performance difference a handicap, especially if it makes the difference between 120min of encode time and 84.... i guess handicap is a relative term.

I do agree with you that it would be nice to have Macs with faster encoding performance. Especially when comparing the consumer and pro line portables.

 

[fklehman]

no. apple always shamelessly cripples the 12" machines with limited capabilities. it will always have an inferior graphics chip which if you are making movies with FCP or even iMovie HD, the more professional graphics chip in the 15" will suit you much better... (i mean, look now... fx5200 in the 12" and radeon 9700 in the 15? how lame is that? fx5200 is crap) not to mention things like no gigabit (how much do gigabit chips cost now? there is no excuse for this)
also, the 15" has more ports, FW800, a monitor port in addition to s-video output (either/or on 12") and better expansion capabilities.
save your pennies and get the 15"...

Let's keep our vocabulary straight...the 5200 is PITIFUL and the 9700 is merely CRAP. Apple has always been like 2 generations behind in its GPUs, especially in the PowerBooks. The GPUs in the iMac are at least half-assed given the price point, but the standard GPUs in the PowerMac and PowerBook are just pathetic considering what is out there and considering they are the pro machines. It galls me to think about paying $2800 for a dual 2.7 with only a 9600 standard, and even more to think about shelling out $2300 for a 15" PB with a 9700...just pitiful. I love Apple and will likely buy the last PPC PB when it is out, but even then the best we can hope for is a 9800, which was great at one time but is now midrange at best. Midrange in a supposedly pro-level laptop is, again, pathetic. ESPECIALLY in an OS that becoming increasingly graphics intensive and GPU-dependent, to the point where even brand new Minis STILL don't have a powerful enough GPU. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Maybe the Intel transition will finally bring us some GPUs that aren't crippled redheaded stepchildren.

 

[carlos700]

Let's keep our vocabulary straight...the 5200 is PITIFUL and the 9700 is merely CRAP. Apple has always been like 2 generations behind in its GPUs, especially in the PowerBooks. The GPUs in the iMac are at least half-assed given the price point, but the standard GPUs in the PowerMac and PowerBook are just pathetic considering what is out there and considering they are the pro machines. It galls me to think about paying $2800 for a dual 2.7 with only a 9600 standard, and even more to think about shelling out $2300 for a 15" PB with a 9700...just pitiful. I love Apple and will likely buy the last PPC PB when it is out, but even then the best we can hope for is a 9800, which was great at one time but is now midrange at best. Midrange in a supposedly pro-level laptop is, again, pathetic. ESPECIALLY in an OS that becoming increasingly graphics intensive and GPU-dependent, to the point where even brand new Minis STILL don't have a powerful enough GPU. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Maybe the Intel transition will finally bring us some GPUs that aren't crippled redheaded stepchildren.

I agree the GPUs are simple pathetic. The PowerBook 12-inch should get the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400 128MB and the 15/17-inch should get the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 128MB (256MB as an option), and the Power Mac G5 should AT LEAST get the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB.

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT has 8 Pixel Pipelines and 1GHz GDDR3 Memory whereas the ATI RADEON 9600 has 4 Pixel Pipelines and 500MHz Memory.

Even if they do not go PCI-E, they can still use them due to NVIDIA's PCI-E to AGP HSI chip.

What's even more pathetic is ATI's charging $200 for a RADEON 9600 with 4 Pixel Pipelines and I paid $167 for my NVIDIA GeForce 6800 with 12 Pixel pipelines. The only difference is the lack of Dual-Link DVI...

 

[FFTT]

I too have never understood Apple's continued use of inferior GPU's

Sometimes I wonder if it's just greed or if ATI and Nvidea have some
under that table agreement to reserve the best products for other manufacturers.
Or it's simply sales precentages limiting how much effort they are willing to put into drivers. Beats me.

Even if you argue heat or weight issues, there is no excuse for any modern
machine to have less than 128MB of VRAM.

Any DVI enabled Mac should have enough VRAM to push ANY display
that Apple offers, period.

 

[fklehman]

I too have never understood Apple's continued use of inferior GPU's

Sometimes I wonder if it's just greed or if ATI and Nvidea have some
under that table agreement to reserve the best products for other manufacturers.
Or it's simply sales precentages limiting how much effort they are willing to put into drivers. Beats me.

Even if you argue heat or weight issues, there is no excuse for any modern
machine to have less than 128MB of VRAM.

Any DVI enabled Mac should have enough VRAM to push ANY display
that Apple offers, period.

The nonupgradeable GPUs in the PBs are what makes them obsolete before anything else. I've been using my Pismo since January 2001, and I've successfully upgraded everything on this machine except the GPU to keep it "current": a G4/550 mHz CPU upgrade, an 80GB 5400rpm hard drive, 1GB of ram, Airport card, etc., and I was able to do all that myself because the G3's were exceptionally easy to open up and work on. Between all those upgrades, I never had any trouble with system performance until Tiger. Tiger runs, but it puts a lot more strain on my processor because the pokey 8MB video card is hideously out of date. Might as well not even be there. I had to forget about gaming by 2002. If I had even a 32MB video card right now, I would willingly ride out the Intel transition with what I've got, I love my Pismo THAT much. But that damn 8MB Rage Pro is an albatross around my computer's neck. Too bad they can't be upgraded. 95% of the reason I'm waiting for the revised PPC PB is for an upgraded video card, because I've come to believe that the GPU is THE relevant factor in determining when your machine is out of date. It will be obsolete before anything else, because Apple uses borderline obsolete GPUs to begin with.

 

[AidenShaw]

It's not just VRAM...

Any DVI enabled Mac should have enough VRAM to push ANY display that Apple offers, period.

Well, except for the 30"....

A single-link DVI doesn't have enough bandwidth to refresh the pixels in a 30", regardless of the VRAM....

"Dual-link" DVI isn't an Apple innovation, it was part of the DVI spec included to handle displays with lots of pixels.

 

[mac n cheese]

Powerbooks are WAY behind....in much more than Graphics

I agree the GPUs are simple pathetic. The PowerBook 12-inch should get the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400 128MB and the 15/17-inch should get the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 128MB (256MB as an option), and the Power Mac G5 should AT LEAST get the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB.

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT has 8 Pixel Pipelines and 1GHz GDDR3 Memory whereas the ATI RADEON 9600 has 4 Pixel Pipelines and 500MHz Memory.

Even if they do not go PCI-E, they can still use them due to NVIDIA's PCI-E to AGP HSI chip.

What's even more pathetic is ATI's charging $200 for a RADEON 9600 with 4 Pixel Pipelines and I paid $167 for my NVIDIA GeForce 6800 with 12 Pixel pipelines. The only difference is the lack of Dual-Link DVI...

I was thumbing through a Dell magazine today...made me sick.

-Pentium M, 4 different choices that ALL kick the S#!& out of G4's, and have done so for a years now.
-1GB DDR2 as the BASE memory on several models
-PCI Express 256Mb nVidia 6800 or 7800, take your choice
-Widescreen UWXGAs all over the place
-100Mb 7200 RPM HDs if you want one. I'd at least like the option. We could have had the option FOREVER ago if Apple would pull head.
-8X DVD Burner
-2 Year Warranty

And this isn't just popping up in their top of the line XPS, their midrange Inspiron has some of this crap too. All of it if you upgrade some stuff.

But...my Powerbook is cute(read "wussy") and runs OSX. That argument was old a year ago, and the PBs are virtually in the same place still. They were long in the tooth last fall.

Then here's the kicker...Steve will announce updated PBs with some of the above stuff (he better if he remotely hopes to compete in the portable market) and come up with some assinine claim about how they are the FIRST to roll it out. Incredible. Apple is rarely/never the one to showcase high end hardware, but you'd never know it by listening to Steve-O blow smoke up the fanboys azzes.

I'll never buy another PC, but I can guarantee that won't stop me from bitching about the reality of being stuck with freaking weak, outdated hardware, and forced to make lame excuses about some small way that it might be able to hang with a PC.

Screw iPods. We definitely aren't seeing the money spill over into PB R&D, which officially makes the iPods worthless. The only good thing about the new Nano's, is that they'll be easier for Steve to stuff 'em where the sun doesn't shine.

Remember Apple Computers? I know, you have to dig deep. Sad. Screw iPods.

And, as for the the "maybe Steve is retiring" rumor. Please oh please, and then get someone in there that doesn't suck azz. He is the King of ***** up timely product releases...and his track record proves it.

 

[mac n cheese]

Well, except for the 30"....

A single-link DVI doesn't have enough bandwidth to refresh the pixels in a 30", regardless of the VRAM....

"Dual-link" DVI isn't an Apple innovation, it was part of the DVI spec included to handle displays with lots of pixels.

Steve-O likes to give the illusion that "Dual-link" DVI was all his idea, among all kinds of other crazy 1sts.

Including the outrageous claim that he "invented the question mark" . Seriously, he's already bald, he just needs to wear a silver suit and say "friggin'" more often.

Anybody else who over-hyped and under-delivered as much as Mr. Jobs would have been fired long ago.

 

[pigwin32]

OK, so I know squat about GPU's but that red curtain would appear to indicate the event has something to do with movies. A little extrapolation on the fodder provided by the rumour sites and it becomes obvious that the event will see the release of PowerBooks with higher resolution displays, with at least the 17" achieving HD resolution. There will be minor speed bumps from the pin-compatible drop-in 7448 processor and a minor FSB speedup. It will be interesting to see performance compared to the existing lineup.

The issue then is whether to upgrade my TiBook or keep waiting for the 2nd rev MacTel PowerBook because I don't think I will be rushing out to drop my hard earned pennies on the first rev. Frankly that wait might be too long, the paint is flaking off my TiBook, and after taking a lot of care to avoid damaging it I recently dented the lid by dropping a small speaker on it which I had neglected to unplug before trying to move.

And when Apple releases 10.5 will it fully support the G4/G5 Macs.

 

[50thVert]

I was thumbing through a Dell magazine today...made me sick.

-Pentium M, 4 different choices that ALL kick the S#!& out of G4's, and have done so for a years now.
-1GB DDR2 as the BASE memory on several models
-PCI Express 256Mb nVidia 6800 or 7800, take your choice
-Widescreen UWXGAs all over the place
-100Mb 7200 RPM HDs if you want one. I'd at least like the option. We could have had the option FOREVER ago if Apple would pull head.
-8X DVD Burner
-2 Year Warranty

And this isn't just popping up in their top of the line XPS, their midrange Inspiron has some of this crap too. All of it if you upgrade some stuff.

I totally feel you on this one. I went on HP's website and MAXED OUT a dv1000 model for kicks. Its a very nice midsize laptop, 15.4" widescreen, 5lb weight, 6hr battery life.

2.13Ghz Pentium-M
2GB DDR-2
100GB 7200RPM HD
WUXGA screen
BT and Wifi-G
Dual layer +- DVD burner
extra-long life 12-cell battery

All for....$2100!!!!!! absolutely unbelievable. If only you could put OS X on it....

I really hope something spectacular comes out of Apple for PB's on Oct 12
-Zach

 

[FFTT]

Well, except for the 30"....

A single-link DVI doesn't have enough bandwidth to refresh the pixels in a 30", regardless of the VRAM....

"Dual-link" DVI isn't an Apple innovation, it was part of the DVI spec included to handle displays with lots of pixels.

A Dual link DVI connector is not exactly difficult to include with todays technology, so hopefully Apple will address this issue in the new offerings.

I'm sure holding down options helps Apple streamline production, thus
increasing profits, but that should not prevent them from at least
offering these options BTO.
ATI and Nvidia are hardware partners to Apple, so why the hell is this such a big deal?

Apple needs to offer both PCI-e and SLI in their GPU/Motherboard
configurations if they want to keep their Pro video options competitive.
Once Apple finally makes the transition over to Intel these options should no longer be an issue.

We know they CAN offer these improvements, it's now just a matter of hoping that continued public pressure makes it happen faster.

 

[mac n cheese]

I totally feel you on this one. I went on HP's website and MAXED OUT a dv1000 model for kicks. Its a very nice midsize laptop, 15.4" widescreen, 5lb weight, 6hr battery life.

2.13Ghz Pentium-M
2GB DDR-2
100GB 7200RPM HD
WUXGA screen
BT and Wifi-G
Dual layer +- DVD burner
extra-long life 12-cell battery

All for....$2100!!!!!! absolutely unbelievable. If only you could put OS X on it....

I really hope something spectacular comes out of Apple for PB's on Oct 12
-Zach

Crazy stuff. I used to be semi-proud when someone asked about my PB, and I'd give them some ribbing about owning a PC.

Now I'm halfway ashamed, keep my mouth shut, and hope they don't start in on me....cuz I got nothin'!

I guess I could paint it black and when people ask what it is, I'll say I made it from old used PC parts off eBay. Then maybe the pathetic performance will make sense. And they'll look at the dull azz lcd and be convinced. The only way I could have gotten a display that lame is out of some 1999 microthinkpad blah blah.

I have to laugh everytime I hear someone refer to the PBs as the "Pro" line. There is nothing pro about them, they are one step from a cheap education level portable. What a joke.

 

[50thVert]

A Dual link DVI connector is not exactly difficult to include with todays technology, so hopefully Apple will address this issue in the new offerings.

I'm sure holding down options helps Apple streamline production, thus
increasing profits, but that should not prevent them from at least
offering these options BTO.
ATI and Nvidia are hardware partners to Apple, so why the hell is this such a big deal?

Apple needs to offer both PCI-e and SLI in their GPU/Motherboard
configurations if they want to keep their Pro video options competitive.
Once Apple finally makes the transition over to Intel these options should no longer be an issue.

We know they CAN offer these improvements, it's now just a matter of hoping that continued public pressure makes it happen faster.

Id love to see Apple use SLI/Crossfire for professional rendering power, rather than games. If apps were coded correctly, almost similarly to the way Apple does 2-CPU coding, rendering times in just about anything would increase by an easy 35%. I mean seriously, NOBODY would be able to compete with Apple as far as cutting edge technology claims if they stuffed two NVIDIA 7800GTX or w/e they are, SLI'ed, with two Dual-DVI ports per card. Fastest available SLI configuration AND the ability to drive FOUR 30" ACDs?

PCI-E slots are a no-brainer if Apple wants to be even close to the cutting edge, but it unfortunately requires Apple to redesign the chipset. And if theyre already redesigining it to change the graphics architechure, why the hell wouldnt they throw in DDR-2 compatibility as well?

 

[nomad01]

hmmmm... an hour of additional time, just in effects, titles, and such... after which, you can cut and paste....

No. The cutting and pasting would be simultaneous. I cut, paste and then add titles or effects where needed.

I would consider a 30% performance difference a handicap, especially if it makes the difference between 120min of encode time and 84.... i guess handicap is a relative term.

Well for a big project that's had lots of cutting and pasting and effects and transitions etc you're probably looking at longer than this to encode it. Even with your example though, 36 minutes sounds like a good saving but in a real word scenario, it's still a LOOONG wait and unless you're sitting in front of the machine waiting for it to end, it's not a big deal.

Like I said in my original post, there would be a gain there but not really an amazing gain. Comparing between the 15" and the 12" there's probably going to be somewhat less than a 30 percent gain anyway. That was my over generous estimate.

Anyway, my points were that even with a G5, it's not a task that you'd want to sit around and wait for and doing all this on a 12" PB IS NOT a frustrating task. You can get faster timings with a faster CPU but iMovie works well and you don't feel frustrated by using it on the slower machine.

 

[Compulsive]

Think Secret Updated NEW PM!

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0510oct12c.html

Well TS has been updated as the link shows....

With 4 new PM in the announcement, no doubt at least 2 will be Dualcore.

I am stoked and cant wait to spend my money (actually visa) on a new PM I have been waiting for 6 months for this.

Compulsive

 

[jimN]

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0510oct12c.html

Well TS has been updated as the link shows....

With 4 new PM in the announcement, no doubt at least 2 will be Dualcore.

I am stoked and cant wait to spend my money (actually visa) on a new PM I have been waiting for 6 months for this.

Compulsive

Powermacs all shipping within 24 hours. Outlook seems poor.

Powerbooks (15+17) 1-2 days in the states and at least 5 days in the UK. Powerbook tuesday?!