PowerBook Updates -- As Early as Next Week?

[vrapan]

In any case I never stated that what makes powerbooks is increased R&D. I believe that PBs are a good balue even by todays standards especially the Al ones. Since our last conversation I asked my friend to bring his Sony V505 and give them a Photoshop informal tests. Most of the tests were slightly slower on the Sony V505 - his machine has 512MB mine has 640MB - and the system was a bit less responsive than mine while we were comapring the filters. On WC3 the game run a bit smoother on my computer - I am using 7B39. If I have heard correctly OpenGL optimisations are not finished yet so I expect a bit more of improvement there.

The next test was encoding MP3s while playing a DVD. PB did very well Sony did ok. Sony was taking something like one and a half minutes more - he was using MMJB Plus which is supposed to have fairly fast encoding - the files were WAV ripped on the disk in order to isolate CD speed differences. The movie on the Sony had obvious choppiness when ripping while the PB seemed not to lose a frame.

In any case I felt that the 12" PB faired very well in contrast to a similarly equipped similarly sized and priced laptop. And so did my friend. I don't know how the 17" would fair against a monster like the 2.8GHz P4 17" Toshiba - I guess it would be slower - but I think that the PowerBook might still be more responsive and better at handling more than one tasks at a time. If you check it they are similarly equpped the only major difference apart from the processor is the better Toshiba graphics card. The difference in price is 700$ or so but the Toshiba is 10 pounds has 3 fans on the bottom is 2.5" thick. There you pay sleekness and portability.

So maybe the 15" lags behind a bit and yes the 1GHz G4 shows it's age. But given how old it is it does very well. I guess you can attribute that to the effort of Apple to provide efficiently written software for a slower processor in order to compete. Watching my 867MHz PB ripping and playing a movie effortlestly - the fan didn't kick in even once the sony fan was on most of the time - while a processor with 2.3 times the MHz of mine barely keeping up made me an even prouder owner of an awesome little 12" PB...

 

[soggywulf]

Originally posted by vrapan
Watching my 867MHz PB ripping and playing a movie effortlestly - the fan didn't kick in even once the sony fan was on most of the time - while a processor with 2.3 times the MHz of mine barely keeping up made me an even prouder owner of an awesome little 12" PB...

That's pretty cool. It's anecdotal, but still it is good when you can beat the PC on its own turf.

 

[AppleMatt]

Originally posted by vrapan
the system was a bit less responsive than mine while we were comapring the filters.

This is exactly it, I own some very, very fast PC's. But I spend so much time tapping my fingers waiting for something to happen, or putting up with 'choppiness' while it's doing that. Call me crazy, but in 2003 I expect to be able to use my mouse without lag while encoding video,.

Which is just one of the reasons why I'm a die-hard Mac guy

Applematt

 

[vrapan]

Soggy dunno if it was anecdotal or not but my friend was looking at his choppy movie and couldn't believe it either. A 2GHz P4 M was pretty bad at handling two things at a time. I loved every minute of it and to think that I was pretty scared that I would find out that my PB would be ages behind the Sony... I came close to convert him it is just that he bought his Sony just a few weeks ago. He did tell me though that if they upgrade them and if he can find someone to buy his Sony he will consider switching ... 3rd person in 5 months since I switched NOT BAD AT ALL!!!!

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Originally posted by soggywulf
Unfortunately, this quote doesn't hold much weight with me. What R&D exactly is Apple doing? I think it more likely that Mr Kay doesn't really know what R&D means. Perhaps he thinks that the iTunes music store is research? So I am still unconvinced that Apple is doing any R&D at the moment.

And to tie this back in to my previous point, since Apple does not do R&D, this cannot be a valid reason for Apple products to be overpriced.

From what I know, Apple no longer does user-interface R&D. However, Apple is in charge of the Firewire technology, and is the primary developer of Firewire. Apple also does some chip design, chipset and board architecture (which Dell and the others don't do.) Apple has collaborated with IBM and Motorola designing processors. They participated in the design of the G3. So Apple does do some R&D. It's not like, say, IBM's R&D, where they rearrange atoms to spell the letters "IBM" just to set the groundwork for future work in nanoprocessing. But it is R&D.

 

[robodweeb]

Originally posted by soggywulf
Normally the term "R&D" is used to describe technical research, but this kind of thing does cost extra money as well.

I'm not disagreeng with you, but I point out that such research (eg time-and-motion studies to inform the design of new technologies and organizational processes) is more than a century old. I agee that it's only been in the past 20 years that the state of the art has reached a level of maturity that human, soccial, and organizational factors have become increasingly important, but they have long been a "normal" part of technology design.

Now, the question is this. There is an implication here that Apple is bearing a larger burden of R&D, or knowledge discovery, or whatever you want to call it, than the combination of MS and Dell and whoever else. Do you think that is really the case? Does it justify a higher powerbook price?

By itself, no. A higher price is justified by mrket demand and, if you read these Powerbook discussions, you might get the impression that the technology is in demand. As much as I may personally dislike paying for it, but I recognize that Apple's attention to the R&D instantiated in the technology make it worth a premium price. Well, maybe not for the past 6 months, but that's another discussion...

In the context of our discussion, this is like saying "Mac Users spend more on their powerbooks so that Apple can create a cool new music store so that Apple can make more money for itself." This sounds pretty wierd, right?

No, but I think it's fair to claim that Apple builds in a little R&D cost into every product sold ... and this, in turn, has the potential to show up in future products. If Apple customers want to buy Apple products, then this extra cost is part of the package ...

This is what you are implying if you say that overpriced powerbooks fund Apple research

"Over-priced" is a subjective judgement ... I do agree that every Powerbook sold contributes to funds available for Apple's R&D.

What would sound more reasonable is the following: Apple makes powerbooks and sells them at competitive prices; and Apple invests some money to create the iTMS

"Invest" is an interesting choice of word. To use your argument, Apple "invested" in the R&D that led to the Powerbook and Apple continues to reap a return on that investment (ROI) in response to the ever-changing tension between supply and demand (albeit awkwardly at times), rather than eliminating their profitable ROI by pricing them to be competitive with the lowest common denominators found in other products from vendors who are competing more with each other - and driving their prices down - than competing with Apple.

I'd like lower prices as much as anyone, but Apple markets itself as a vendor of "elite" products and we all buy into it (literally). In return, we get products we consider superior (for the most part ... I really dislike the current iMac's snowball design). So, I'll gladly buy a 15" Powerbook - if they are ever released - and know that part of what I spend will likely result in something else I want in the future.

 

[yujini]

Yo, check this out guys.
Though I'm sure most of you guys can't read Korean text at all,
I just checked the korean apple website,
http://www.applestore.co.kr/PowerBook.html

and though most of you won't be able to read one single character, if you look at the 15 inch powerbook sections,
there is a blue text below the 2 options.

If i translate it, it says the stock is low on this option.
You can pre-order it. Please call 080-3404-622 to ask questions.

Wow, this might confirm the fact that they are getting ready to
replace these notebooks very soon!
I have never seen the Korean apple website post something like this saying they were low on stock of any powerbooks. Usually they are never low on stock in korea due to the fact that macs are not even close to 5% of the computer users in Korea. (more like 1% i think)

 

[AllenPSU]

Original Stock

Originally posted by yujini
Yo, check this out guys.
Though I'm sure most of you guys can't read Korean text at all,
I just checked the korean apple website,
http://www.applestore.co.kr/PowerBook.html

and though most of you won't be able to read one single character, if you look at the 15 inch powerbook sections,
there is a blue text below the 2 options.

If i translate it, it says the stock is low on this option.
You can pre-order it. Please call 080-3404-622 to ask questions.

Wow, this might confirm the fact that they are getting ready to
replace these notebooks very soon!
I have never seen the Korean apple website post something like this saying they were low on stock of any powerbooks. Usually they are never low on stock in korea due to the fact that macs are not even close to 5% of the computer users in Korea. (more like 1% i think)

This could also be a reflection on their original stock. Hard to draw any conclusions based on one store. If this shows up in other stores (especially the US one) then it MIGHT mean something.

 

[Squire]

This Is a Sign

Originally posted by AllenPSU
This could also be a reflection on their original stock. Hard to draw any conclusions based on one store. If this shows up in other stores (especially the US one) then it MIGHT mean something.

I disagree. This, in my opinion, is the news many have been waiting for.

Originally posted by yujini
"Usually they are never low on stock in korea due to the fact that macs are not even close to 5% of the computer users in Korea. (more like 1% i think)"

The 1% guess is very, very optimistic, in my opinion. I'd say more like 0.5%. They don't sell very many Macs here and they probably aren't going to bother getting any in until the new ones are announced. In the US, there are a lot more buyers. Not here. Stores are still trying to unload 667 MHz PowerBooks for top dollar.

Let me make an analogy. Let's say Apple Computer, Inc. is Audi and there are rumors of a new Audi TT coming out soon. If you're a dealer in Manhattan, this rumor probably won't affect your sales too much due to the customer traffic. So you keep a shiny new TT on the showroom floor despite these rumors. However, if you're the dealer out in [insert backwoods town name here] and you know a replacement is on the way, you'd be a little more reluctant to order an "old" TT for your showroom.

My analogy is weak in a few areas but I'm sure you get the picture. (By the way, I was only comparing Korea to "backwoods town" in terms of sales volume. The Mac loyalists here are just as knowledgeable about upcoming product announcements as anywhere, it's just that their numbers are fewer.)

Good heads up, yujini. Not a bad first post at all. The Korean Apple Store would be the last place I'd expect to see a hint of future releases. (The online store's only been open for about 6 months.)

Squire

 

[AllenPSU]

Re: This Is a Sign

Originally posted by Squire
I disagree. This, in my opinion, is the news many have been waiting for.

I hope you are right.