PowerBook and iBook Confirmation?

[thatwendigo]

Indeed. Great disparity between G4 and G5 FSB is really depressing. For some regular daily tasks don't matter much, but considering how many people would (want to) use PowerBook for some serious number crunching (video,audio) this disparity becomes major issue. I quite frankly think that Apple isn't quite out of woods yet regarding their CPU woes. I for once,thought that when G5's were released everything would change instanly. But as it turned out to be,this is long and painful process of transition.

If you're doing your "serious number crunching" on a powerbook, then you're missing the boat to begin with. For the same money, you'd have a much faster desktop machine that would have the full FSB benefit of the G5. As it is, I'm wondering if they'll have to go to a 3:1 or 4:1 multiplier to bring the heat down enough to cram it into a laptop.

Besides, these are birth pangs. Sit back and watch the beauty of a new life for Apple, and then kill the doctor if it turns out he's botched the delivery.

 

[Gyroscope]

Visit the Motorola Press Release

This release is OLD (from February) but it contains a few details that support claims of earlier posts. Most importantly, that speeds will hit 1.5 Ghz and above:

"This high-performance, power-efficient 32-bit RISC device, operating in excess of 1.4GHz, is the latest and fastest member of the MPC74xx PowerPC processor family."

Note "in excess of..." And that was in February. Another interesting thing to note:

"MPC7447A processors are pin-for-pin compatible with Motorola’s MPC7445 and MPC7447 processors. This pin-compatible migration path helps customers reduce their development costs, accelerates time to market, and ensures software compatibility."

This may suggest little or no form-factor change. If they're sinking a ton of cash in developing a G5 Powerbook, they're probably not going to dish out too much re-vamping the old stuff. Especially if all they have to do is switch them out, pin-for-pin.

I don't think this processor is being used for anything at the moment, and is therefore the most likely candidate to be found in Sunday's Powerbooks.

Yeah,that's what they have said. Now they are saying "can reach speeds upto 1.5 ghz" I would be happy to see them reaching 1.6 ghz or more,but I don't think that will happen with Motorola's track record. MPC7447 is basically variation of more or less same 7400 design. Yes they have added few more pipeline stages to ramp up mhz but overall existing design of G4 (shallow and wide) won't hit speeds of 1.8-2.0 ghz anytime soon.

 

[aswitcher]

Hey, they make Mac OS X... What more do you want?

That + iApps is principally why I am switching. Super sleek hardware is a bonus

If you want to switch, I'd actually recommend you get a lower-end, cheaper machine to try things out on first. There's no sense in a big expenditure that you aren't sure about.

I'm pretty confidend you'll like it over here, though.

Well I do want a machine that has some legs. I am a comp sci major from the late eighties so am no stranger to computers.

I want a desktop replacement in a portable form factor...so a laptop. Time to move out of my makeshift weekend office and get about when I write etc

Principally I need it for - heaps of word processing, spreadsheets, internet (20 pages at a hit sometimes when researching - no not porn ) and maybe games. Re game no envelop pushing because I have my xbox for that. Still it would be nice to have Halo and a few others to play when I am travelling in my hotel room and with friends over the net.

And its got to be doing this in 4-5 years time as I have a mortgage and won't be up for replacing it as far as I can tell. Likely I'll keep it until it stops working and is too expensive to fix because it will always be useful to have a spare laptop.

My main concern is I want a machine that isn't going to baulk at DV editing with iMovie (and maybe final cut) when I pick myself up a camera later this year. So good screen realestate to work with and everything else to keep it humming.

I figure a powerbook super is what I want, probably the 15".

I have concerns though that the G4 will
a) the G4 (and bus/ram) will just be too sluggish for what I will be doing in the next few years as I delve more and more into DV and other apps
b) not allow me to upgrade to the new 64bit optomised os and other apps in the next 1-3 years, which will leave me with a relatively slow machine
c) I am a geek, and I would like the latest

so can I wait...?

 

[SuperChuck]

IMHO, a lot of people are being lured by the "cutting edge" technology and not stopping to think about either how much better that technology really is, or what they would actually do with it.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think there is one really, really good reason to be wary of dishing out a lot of dough on a G4 - the next OS.

OS X "Tiger" (or whatever the heck they decide to name it) WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE A 64-Bit OS. Of course, they will come out with a 32-Bit version and call it "Home Edition" or "iTiger" or some such nonsense, but the fact will remain that the primary freaking reason you bought a mac (the OS) is not optimized for your really expensive computer. And when you are buying their "professional" grade product, that is a pretty big deal.

That said, I need a Powerbook and I can't wait around for the G5, so Apple will get my cash anyway, but don't pretend that no G5 in a Pro computer is not a big deal. The Tiger is gonna make our G4 PB's seem pretty cruddy.

 

[thatwendigo]

Wow. Another reason to dislike Intel.

From Intel's website:

Intel® 855GME chipset, when paired with DDR-333 memory, contributes to higher integrated graphics performance than 855GM, with realistic 3D graphics with sharp images and enables balanced memory usage between graphics and system for optimal performance. Integrated 32-bit 3D/2D Gfx with frequency up to 250 MHz, Bi-Cubic Filter, Video Mixer Rendering or AGP4x (discrete graphics only).

By comparison: The Radeaon 9600 Mobile that's in PowerBooks 15" and above:
AGP8X support
400mhz GDDR2-M integrated memory at 32/64/128MB on-board
Pixel and Vertex Shader 2.0
Quad Rendering & Dual Vertex engines
0.13 micron process
Multisampling with 6 unique samples per pixel and ATI patented gamma correction
16X Anisotropic filtering
Lossless color compression
Lossless z-compression (8:1 with no FSAA, up to 24:1 with FSAA)
Integrated dual-channel LVDS, with support for notebook LCD panels as up to QXGA resolutions (2048x1536)
165 MHz integrated TMDS transmitter, for support of DVI Digital Flat Panels at up to UXGA resolution (1600x1200)
Integrated HDTV encoder, supporting component output (YPbPr) for both North American and Japanese D-link connectors
Hardware acceleration for MPEG encoding and decoding, for DVD playback, personal video recorder and time-shifting applications
Video Input Port for notebook TV-tuner solutions
FULLSTREAM™ - hardware accelerated video de-blocking for enhanced Internet streaming video quality
Optimized support for wide-aspect LCD panels and HDTV output

 

[thatwendigo]

That + iApps is principally why I am switching. Super sleek hardware is a bonus

Come on in. The water's amazing.

Well I do want a machine that has some legs. I am a comp sci major from the late eighties so am no stranger to computers.

Here's a hint... Apple machines have legs that you wouldn't believe. I had a Tangerine iBook Rev A, and it served me well from purchase to accidental violent death, this past December. That laptop was a low-end machine from around four to five years ago, and yet it ran Jaguar 10.2.8, and only got faster with each OS X revision.

My one regret was that Panther was too much for its puny GPU. My snowbook replacement, bought off of eBay, runs Panther pretty damn well, with its RAM maxed at purchase.

I want a desktop replacement in a portable form factor...so a laptop. Time to move out of my makeshift weekend office and get about when I write etc

I can sympathize. My eMac sits on the desk at home, where I do most of my posting, music listening, and creative work, but sometimes I wander with my iBook and its Airport card, so that I can get a different positioning in. I even took up warwalking/wardriving as a hobby, because of how easy the wireless is on that thing.

Principally I need it for - heaps of word processing, spreadsheets, internet (20 pages at a hit sometimes when researching - no not porn ) and maybe games. Re game no envelop pushing because I have my xbox for that. Still it would be nice to have Halo and a few others to play when I am travelling in my hotel room and with friends over the net.

If you want to game, I seriously recommend you stay away from laptops. They're just not really up to the task, in my experience, and the setup isn't really ideal for an FPS like Halo. There's no mouse, for one, and a trackpad is terrible to try to fight with. Then again... I've never gotten my sweaty little hands on a top of the line 17" PowerBook, so they might actually be fun machines to game on.

And its got to be doing this in 4-5 years time as I have a mortgage and won't be up for replacing it as far as I can tell. Likely I'll keep it until it stops working and is too expensive to fix because it will always be useful to have a spare laptop.

Ah, now I see. Well, I'm a college student, and there's not a lot of money to go around these days. When I was living at home, around four years ago, it was a different story, but now I largely support myself.

I just buy what I can afford, when I can afford it, and try not to run my loans too high.

I have concerns though that the G4 will
a) the G4 (and bus/ram) will just be too sluggish for what I will be doing in the next few years as I delve more and more into DV and other apps
b) not allow me to upgrade to the new 64bit optomised os and other apps in the next 1-3 years, which will leave me with a relatively slow machine
c) I am a geek, and I would like the latest

so can I wait...?

A) I do some Photoshopping on my eMac, but not a whole lot of video editing, so I'm not really qualified to advise you on that.
B) That's a valid concern, and I can see why it would worry you. My next machine is likely to be a G5 PowerBook. Gently used, and out of the hands of someone else.
C) Man, I hear you...

 

[James L]

I am glad to see people are saying there won't be a G5 PB this week... there won't be that many disappointed people that way.

I won't completely repost from the other forum, but the long and short of it is that Apple has NEVER said they would have a G5 PB at this time... indeed, they have said the exact opposite, with quotes such as "the G4 still has a long life in the PB" and "we would LIKE to have a G5 PB by the end of 2004". IBM is NOT producing the G5's good enough for xServes or desktops, let alone PBs. I would have to go with Apple on this, not the rumor mill.

Now, on the subject of new G4's, I would buy in a heartbeat if they had:

15" 1.42GHZ G4
ATI 9700 GPU (64 OR 128 MB VRAM)
512 MB RAM in 1 chip
80GB 5400 rpm hard drive standard
Faster Superdrive

...considering I would be upgrading from a G3 iBook 600, this machine would rock for me. And, considering Apple has probably sold over 350,000 powerbooks in the last 2 quarters (which is down a bit) I bet they would sell a lot of the new G4 ones too.

With regards to 10.4 being ALL 64BIT, I highly doubt it. Their best selling machine is the iBook. The eMac sells very well. The iMac has historically sold well, but let's say that it will be G5 in the next 6 months. I highly doubt that apple would announce an OS in the next 2 months (they announce them at WWDC, then ship in the fall usually) that can't run at all on their best selling machine. I wouldn't be worried about this until (at the earliest) 10.5 coming out in fall of 2005, and even then I might not be too concerned about it.

..just one man's opinion. Cheers!

James

 

[aswitcher]

Now, on the subject of new G4's, I would buy in a heartbeat if they had:

15" 1.42GHZ G4
ATI 9700 GPU (64 OR 128 MB VRAM)
512 MB RAM in 1 chip
80GB 5400 rpm hard drive standard
Faster Superdrive

Mmm. I would like all of that.

What makes me think I will teater, is if the screen resolution goes up from 1280x854 on the 15". That would make everything look so much crisper. It would be excellent for iPhoto, Expose and DV editing.

I suspect after last years problems they may have gone up, but I also fear with so much going on an no tweak to the existing OS to properly scale icons, they will skip this time and go for it with the G5...

With regards to 10.4 being ALL 64BIT, I highly doubt it. Their best selling machine is the iBook. The eMac sells very well. The iMac has historically sold well, but let's say that it will be G5 in the next 6 months. I highly doubt that apple would announce an OS in the next 2 months (they announce them at WWDC, then ship in the fall usually) that can't run at all on their best selling machine. I wouldn't be worried about this until (at the earliest) 10.5 coming out in fall of 2005, and even then I might not be too concerned about it.

..just one man's opinion. Cheers!

James

In the next 18months I would say to really do justice to the G5 and take a real leap on MS, they will release a 64 bit optomised OS (whilst still supporting 32 for years to come). I really would prefer to take advantage of that.

 

[elo]

With all due respect to everyone here, there won't be a G5 PowerBook this *year.* There's absolutely no way in hell to make that chip work in a notebook at present. Moreover, no one needs a G5 notebook computer right now. The G4 is an excellent performer and really quite ideal for notebook use, as it's evolved with power management issues in mind. The analogy on the other side is the Pentium M, which is a far better choice for notebooks than the Pentium 4 (even though the latter does work in a notebook). And just because Motorola didn't move quickly enough in ramping up the G4's speed doesn't mean the chip can't be made to run very fast.

Apple's notebooks, for the foreseeable future, will have G4's. If you're waiting for something else, give up now.

elo

 

[aswitcher]

With all due respect to everyone here, there won't be a G5 PowerBook this *year.*

Apple's notebooks, for the foreseeable future, will have G4's. If you're waiting for something else, give up now.

elo

Steve said there would be a G5PB by the end of 2004. I know there are problems with the G5 but its only April and Apple have had prototypes to work with for more than 6 months from what other posters are saying. We know the G5 90nm is cheaper, cooler and low power - which makes me think its perfect for a powerbook. What really compelling evidence do you have that their will be no G5 this year?

 

[TRiPod]

October.. of what year?

oops--i was thinking of 3GHz Pmac's. dont expect to have G5 pbooks in hand til at least january '05.

 

[James L]

Steve said there would be a G5PB by the end of 2004. I know there are problems with the G5 but its only April and Apple have had prototypes to work with for more than 6 months from what other posters are saying. We know the G5 90nm is cheaper, cooler and low power - which makes me think its perfect for a powerbook. What really compelling evidence do you have that their will be no G5 this year?

Hey aSwitcher,

Actually, Steve said:

"Afterwards [Jobs] admitted that the decisive revolution will be the introduction in laptops of the new 64 bit chip, the G5, that the company has developed along with IBM, with an investment of 3 billion dollars. 'We are working on it and what we'd like is to have it by the end of next year', he said."

...this too me definitely doesn't sound like a sure thing, and considering the unexpected problems with IBM it doesn't look great.

Having said that, I would put my money on MWSF 2005 in January. Ironically, this would be about 18 months since it appeared in a desktop, which IIRC was how long it took for the G4 to go from the desktop to the laptop.

Cheers!

James

 

[csubear]

Mmm. I would like all of that.

What makes me think I will teater, is if the screen resolution goes up from 1280x854 on the 15". That would make everything look so much crisper. It would be excellent for iPhoto, Expose and DV editing.

I suspect after last years problems they may have gone up, but I also fear with so much going on an no tweak to the existing OS to properly scale icons, they will skip this time and go for it with the G5...



In the next 18months I would say to really do justice to the G5 and take a real leap on MS, they will release a 64 bit optomised OS (whilst still supporting 32 for years to come). I really would prefer to take advantage of that.

Hate to be off topic here, but.. Apple will most likly never have a 64-bit complied OS. Why, because 64-bit instruction is twice as large. Its a big waste. 64-bit is good for doing double floating point, and huge addressing. We have 64-bit math, all we need is 64-bit addressing. The next Mac OS 10.4 i think will support this maybe, if it has been built in to the current G5 chipset. There is a lot more to 64-bit addressing. It most likly won't even be 64-bit more like 40 or 42.

Back on topic.

I know i shouldn't get my hopes up but maybe we could get a 1.6 Ghz g5 with a 400Mhz FSB? that would be nice.... If 2 Ghz yeild(90nm) have been low then it is resonable to belive that there would be quite a bit 1.4-1.6 Ghz chip. And by the way the only reason i want a G5 is for the faster FSB and double FPU... heres hoping

 

[aswitcher]

Hey aSwitcher,

Actually, Steve said:

"Afterwards [Jobs] admitted that the decisive revolution will be the introduction in laptops of the new 64 bit chip, the G5, that the company has developed along with IBM, with an investment of 3 billion dollars. 'We are working on it and what we'd like is to have it by the end of next year', he said."

James

Thanks for that . By the way, what date is the quote from?

 

[h_harker]

Now, on the subject of new G4's, I would buy in a heartbeat if they had:

15" 1.42GHZ G4
ATI 9700 GPU (64 OR 128 MB VRAM)
512 MB RAM in 1 chip
80GB 5400 rpm hard drive standard
Faster Superdrive

James, that has me very excited just thinking about those specs. Oh for it to be true.

My story? I held off from buying my 15" until i cracked 3 weeks ago after no new sign of a revision. I could have bought on the online education store, but instead bought a customer return with one dead pixel. I was a very happy man until it started playing up, and I realised that wasnt the only thing wrong with it, so it became a customer return model again!

That was just 3 days ago, so imagine my delight at the news of the final G4 revisions. If James' dream is right, then believe me, from briefly owning the current model, it would make a supreme difference. Obviously I realise that ALL of these things will not be updated, but in particular 512 in one slot, oooo that makes me happyjust to dream. Keep youre G5's until they are good and ready, im not going to wait.

Question- does a revision mean an external image change? Whats the difference between a "revised powerbook range" and a "new ibook 14" model"? If there are aesthetic changes to the powerbook, what do we think they will be?

 

[HiRez]

If you're doing your "serious number crunching" on a powerbook, then you're missing the boat to begin with. For the same money, you'd have a much faster desktop machine that would have the full FSB benefit of the G5.

You are missing the point. People who don't understand this are the same people who said no one would buy the iPod Mini because you can get a regular iPod with ~4x the HD space for $50 more. There are reasons people like or need to be portable. Or course you can get a faster desktop machine for the same price, but there is a market for people who want high-performance portablility, that's what the PowerBook is. People who need portability but don't need the cutting-edge buy iBooks.

I'd still like to see the long-rumored dual-G4 17" PowerBook if the G5s are going to take so long. If they came out with a dual-1.25+ GHz G4 PowerBook, I'd buy one right now (assuming you could disable one CPU when on batteries). Performance-wise, it would probably kick the arse of a single 1.4-2.0 GHz G5 PowerBook, even with the slow FSB.

 

[aswitcher]

Hate to be off topic here, but.. Apple will most likly never have a 64-bit complied OS. Why, because 64-bit instruction is twice as large. Its a big waste. 64-bit is good for doing double floating point, and huge addressing. We have 64-bit math, all we need is 64-bit addressing. The next Mac OS 10.4 i think will support this maybe, if it has been built in to the current G5 chipset. There is a lot more to 64-bit addressing. It most likly won't even be 64-bit more like 40 or 42.

Ok, semantics aside, its going to be faster right? iApps and the OS will do things substantially faster on the same hardware...so when it happens everyone running a G5 gets a nice big speed boost?

Back on topic.

I know i shouldn't get my hopes up but maybe we could get a 1.6 Ghz g5 with a 400Mhz FSB? that would be nice.... If 2 Ghz yeild(90nm) have been low then it is resonable to belive that there would be quite a bit 1.4-1.6 Ghz chip. And by the way the only reason i want a G5 is for the faster FSB and double FPU... heres hoping

That's what I thought but others are saying no. Not being an engineer I don't get it but I am a little worried that if I resign myself to getting a G4 (so I don't have to wait anything up to a year for these G5s to get to OZ), then I might suffer the same fate as those who bought the last iteration of the Ti book, when the AL book appeared within a few months...

*Sigh*

 

[jbrown]

In agreement.....

Several people have pointed out the fact, and backed it up with proper debate and arguement, that a 1.5 G4 is more than enough for our needs - and this G5 thread is based on unreasoned hype.

I for example, ( 1.25 Al book ), am not a RoadWarrior Hollywood film editor / director / producer trying to edit and assemble Starwars 1 for release this weekend ( which is of course the image all advertisers like to portay of anyone with a laptop - you know the image --- young Brad Pit lookalike, with three days of oh-so-hunky stubble, comes in of the dusty jungle/desert road - its hot out there and he's obviously been on the road for weeks. From his well worn rucksack, he pulls out a gleaming, sleek, powerful laptop and tosses it onto the well worn bed. If he doesn't tie up the report ( with embedded feature length/quality movie he's done himself ) within the hour, then the whole trans-continental multi cultural billion dollar Patagonian Highway Electro Dam Inner Urban Regeneration Poverty Elimination Project will be lost ----- and the kids will go hungry ( he's only doing it for them ).

That or a super suited young business ******** in the ' Corporate Boardroom ' scene - but I wont go into this one!!

Reality is that we just want to out-brag our mates most of the time, with the remaining time being used to frag opponents in Unreal Tournement - Killing Spree.

So in summary -- there is not a single good reason why I, or most powerbook users here NEED a G5 laptop............













..........but I sure do WANT one, he he he

 

[zepkin]

Uh...

Maybe Apple will surprise with a PowerBook G5 somehow. Apple surprised us with the G5 and 12" & 17" PowerBooks, maybe they will surprise us again... Or maybe Steve will announce some crap, and no one will clap, like the somewhat embarassing iPod mini price announcement moment. Apple does surprise, though, maybe this time's not the time? But I sure hope it is.

G5 PowerMacs were NOT a surprise. The Mac community expected them. 12" and 17" PowerBooks were a surprise, up until the night before the announcement when info was leaked to Think Secret (?). G5 PowerBooks at this point would be a real surprise and should not be expected. At best, I think we can expect G5 PowerBooks at the end of the year. For this update we should see a speed bump, new graphics cards, and maybe larger hard drives.

 

[aswitcher]

You are missing the point. People who don't understand this are the same people who said no one would buy the iPod Mini because you can get a regular iPod with ~4x the HD space for $50 more. There are reasons people like or need to be portable. Or course you can get a faster desktop machine for the same price, but there is a market for people who want high-performance portablility, that's what the PowerBook is. People who need portability but don't need the cutting-edge buy iBooks.

I'd still like to see the long-rumored dual-G4 17" PowerBook if the G5s are going to take so long. If they came out with a dual-1.25+ GHz G4 PowerBook, I'd buy one right now (assuming you could disable one CPU when on batteries). Performance-wise, it would probably kick the arse of a single 1.4-2.0 GHz G5 PowerBook, even with the slow FSB.

Do you think they could squeeze two chips into the 17" this time around???? Ok, wishful thinking until they do that dual thingy on the same chip...

But what a coup that would be.


I am a Geek, I can dream!

 

[Zaty]

AppleInsider:

Meanwhile, it appears that Apple is on target to refresh its portable offerings during the first half of next week, as previously anticipated. Taiwanese distribution sources have indicated that a number of iBook and PowerBook configurations are currently in air-transit to US distributors.

Additionally, multiple sources have now confirmed a majority of the Apple product numbers listed for the new laptops in an earlier report. According to an unconfirmed tip, among the many configurations planned for release are a 12-inch 1GHz G4 iBook equipped with a 30 GB hard drive, 256 MB RAM, and a Combo Drive. The low-end 14-inch iBook model will reportedly pack a 1GHz processor, 40 GB hard drive, 256 MB RAM, and Combo Drive.

If the two entry level iBook configurations are indeed accurate, next week's product introductions will mark a milestone for Apple, as it will no longer be manufacturing a CPU unit with a clock-speed below 1GHz.

I only hope the 12" iBooks comes with a 40 GB HD. You can hardly find any current laptops with HDs smaller than 40 GB anymore. As for the introduction of an all 1GHz+ cpu line-up, this really is a milestone. That's why I'm pretty sure the 12" will come with a 1 GHz cpu and not, as some people still believe, with only a 933 MHZ chip. Although it's not much of a difference performance wise, it's important from a marketing point of view b/c many PC users thinking about switching would be more tempted if the 12" iBook came with a 1 GHz processor.

 

[aswitcher]

At best, I think we can expect G5 PowerBooks at the end of the year. For this update we should see a speed bump, new graphics cards, and maybe larger hard drives.

Come on, promise me better screen resolution as well

3 sleeps to go

 

[Reuven]

Slightly faster CPUs.....new video cards....hopefully more RAM....bigger HD....these are good things.

I don't see why everyone is hung up on the G5 thing. Do you really need more than 4GB RAM on your laptop? Do you even have that many slots? Are you really going to use 64 bits? Remember folks, the G5s aren't significantly faster clock-for-clock than the G4s. Maybe years down the road when compilers get *really* optimized and everyone starts releasing software specifically optimized for the G5 that will change. But today, it simply doesn't matter that much. Oh yeah, but to paraphrase Nigel Tufnel, "it's one faster isn't it?". Ok, whatever

Some words of wisdom! I could not agree more.

I am pleased that I waited for the current PB range to come out , so what If there's no G5 its not likely as if there's going to be a 64 bit OS to support a G5 for a very long while yet.

For my general day to day needs im sure the new PB range will be more then enough to handle basic tasks that I require .

And as mentioned before just wait till you do install a 64 bit OS how fast will your G5's be then ah ? a lot slower then now I can guarantee! perhaps 30-40% slower then using a 32 bit OS would you agree ?

 

[QCassidy352]

And as mentioned before just wait till you do install a 64 bit OS how fast will your G5's be then ah ? a lot slower then now I can guarantee! perhaps 30-40% slower then using a 32 bit OS would you agree ?

you're saying a 64 bit chip will run 30-40% *slower* with a 64 bit OS than with a 32 bit OS?

 

[zepkin]

Why is no one talking about battery life?

Maybe I haven't done such a good job reading the posts. One thing that I would LOVE to see if better battery life or a new battery technology. There has been much talk about fuel cell batteries, which for me would be the one thing that would coerce me to give up my iBook for a PowerBook. A higher resolution monitor would also help convince me to 'switch' to the PowerBook. These are two improvements that I would value over even a G5. For me personally, CPU speed isn't that big of a deal. I'm all about screen real estate and battery life...and sleek, sexy design...