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PowerBook Updates -- As Early as Next Week?
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simply from a numbers standpoint, apple would do well to release the updated powerbooks now with free upgrades when the updated osx hits. there's a huge base of mac users that would just upgrade their operating system while not buying a new mac - with outher words your spreading out the dollars, that makes for steadier income.
I completely agree, I need a 12" and even if they come out next week I will wait until panther comes out, unless they have a free upgrade to panther.Originally posted by mrsebastian
simply from a numbers standpoint, apple would do well to release the updated powerbooks now with free upgrades when the updated osx hits.
What I want to see in the new 12"...
1ghz
L3 Cache
256 Ram standard
ATI Video Card
What I hope to see...
Backlit keys
Cooler hard drive operation
Longer battery life
Same price or lower
I know a friend of mine who got his new 12" iBook Friday received a free upgrade coupon to Panther. Personally I think anything less then 3 months before the ship date of Panther should get free upgrades. IMHO of course.
I'm going to be really bummed if the 15" gets updated this Tues and they didn't throw in a 15.4" screen or a Radeon 9600 Mobile... preferably 128. With this kind of delay, they really should.
Re: Hey Arn
This is an amalgam of unverified rumors... including unverified anonymous reports.
No especially reliable sources individually. But with reason to believe that they all aren't just repeating things. The most consistent thing seems to be the specs. The timeframe is less solid.
arn
This is an amalgam of unverified rumors... including unverified anonymous reports.
No especially reliable sources individually. But with reason to believe that they all aren't just repeating things. The most consistent thing seems to be the specs. The timeframe is less solid.
arn
I'm with you... but at USB 2
I was going to buy one this Friday but I guess it won't hurt to wait until Monday.
I would like to see USB 2.0 in the new models though.
Originally posted by Lord Bodak
All I want is L3 cache and 1 GHz in the 12", although a drop from $1599 to $1399 would be nice too!
I'm actually kinda hoping they don't make it thinner, b/c I like the current form factor, plus all the nice sleeves and bags would need to be redesigned and I don't want to wait!
**Ready to buy his first Mac next week!**
I was going to buy one this Friday but I guess it won't hurt to wait until Monday.
I would like to see USB 2.0 in the new models though.
Re: I'm with you... but at USB 2
I would wait until Tuesday.... They seem to like to release updates on that day....
I would wait until Tuesday.... They seem to like to release updates on that day....
You'd better be quick to order!
If the new PB's are announced on the 19th it will mean that Moto has FINALLY delivered sufficient chips to announce them.
But I've read that Moto is getting around a 20 percent yield on the chips, meaning that delivery over the coming months will be slow.
This means that anyone waiting for an upgraded PB had better be one of the first to order one, or they will be on a looooong waiting list.
The unusual thing about introducing a new 15" is that Apple doesn't need a big show to get it in the public's eye. They can put it on their website and within an hour it will be on all Mac related sites and the rumour boards will go wild. WIth 2 or 3 hours they will have orders for the first month or two of production. This one is going to be wild and will probably beat the first week of G5 sales.
For my 2 cents, I think it will happen as SJ has got to be totally pissed about the 15" situation. To make up for Moto I think he will make the 15" an Al and put all the goodies into it that he can.
If the new PB's are announced on the 19th it will mean that Moto has FINALLY delivered sufficient chips to announce them.
But I've read that Moto is getting around a 20 percent yield on the chips, meaning that delivery over the coming months will be slow.
This means that anyone waiting for an upgraded PB had better be one of the first to order one, or they will be on a looooong waiting list.
The unusual thing about introducing a new 15" is that Apple doesn't need a big show to get it in the public's eye. They can put it on their website and within an hour it will be on all Mac related sites and the rumour boards will go wild. WIth 2 or 3 hours they will have orders for the first month or two of production. This one is going to be wild and will probably beat the first week of G5 sales.
For my 2 cents, I think it will happen as SJ has got to be totally pissed about the 15" situation. To make up for Moto I think he will make the 15" an Al and put all the goodies into it that he can.
Re: Re: A voyage to nowhere
Damn you are right. I have been waiting to spend my money for a long time. I won't settle on a half assed product.
All i want is an apple laptop with good speed and graphics chip. NOT a cpu which is behind in mhz and can't take care of real ddr ram.
Damn you are right. I have been waiting to spend my money for a long time. I won't settle on a half assed product.
All i want is an apple laptop with good speed and graphics chip. NOT a cpu which is behind in mhz and can't take care of real ddr ram.
Moto has a 20% yield???
Can anyone confirm this?
Come on! If I were in any sort of production business, and I only had 20% yield on my production, my buyers would tar and feather me, as well as switch to someone else.
That must mean there are some serious technological issues with their fabs, if only 20% of the chips on any given wafer work...
And can't they compensate by creating more wafers faster?
Jaedreth
Can anyone confirm this?
Come on! If I were in any sort of production business, and I only had 20% yield on my production, my buyers would tar and feather me, as well as switch to someone else.
That must mean there are some serious technological issues with their fabs, if only 20% of the chips on any given wafer work...
And can't they compensate by creating more wafers faster?
Jaedreth
Applecare covers physical problems with the computer. I suppose if there was a software problem, e.g., couldn't wake the computer up, the tech on the phone would walk you through software solutions too. But basically you buy the computer as a package deal at the time; you pay for the current operating system and get support for that system. Applecare is not invalidated if you later upgrade; Apple is happy and wants you to spend your money on upgrades. It just won't give the upgrade to you for free.
But I see a post that someone's "friend" got a promise of free upgrade to Panther from a current purchase. Was that a joke or real? if it's real, then buying a laptop now would get you a free copy of Panther.
Why not wait till next week?
You are correct. I know. I was an AppleCare Rep for a while. AppleCare is bound to the machine. If you sell a machine covered under AppleCare to someone else, they get the AppleCare and it is not retained by the original owner. Its all tied through the serial number and original purchase date of the machine.
As for buying a new OS, that does NOT invalidate AppleCare. Allow me to clear this up with this example. Suppose you bought a brand-spanking new G4/533 when released in Jan 2001 that came with Mac OS 9.1 and is under AppleCare.
Senario 1: Panther comes out in Sept. You buy Mac OS 10.3 immediately and install. Apple SW comes with 90 days free support, but you already have AppleCare, which covers your OS and computer until Jan 2004, so the 90 free support for 10.3 is meaningless. You are already covered.
Senario 2: Panther comes out in Sept or later. You buy it in Dec. From Dec to Jan, your computer and support for the OS qualifies under AppleCare, so the 10.3 support is meaningless at that time. After the Jan 2004 purchase date for your computer rolls around, your AppleCare expires. When you call after that date, you still have abt 2 months of free SW support for your purchase of 10.3. If the problem turns out to be HW related, it is not covered by Apple and you'd be refered to a AASP.
Senario 3: Panther comes out whenever and you buy it after your AppleCare expires in Jan. If you call, you get only the 90 days free SW support and any hardware issues, you get refered to an AASP.
I hope this clears it up!
Craig
I feel pretty certain that there will be updated PowerBooks next week. Since PowerBook sales have been rather flat (actually, last quarter I think unit sales were down) I can see no other explanation for the PB shortage other than end-of-life for the current configurations. Last night I noticed that the Apple store showed 5 to 7 days for delivery on the 15" and several days for __all__ of the remaining models. This contrasts with their usual same business day or (at worst) 1-2 days.
If the 15" goes to a 1.3GHz G4 and they update the graphics to a Mobility Radeon 9600, and then add Firewire 800, USB 2.0, Airport Extreme, and Bluetooth then I think it will be a good product. If at the same time they go to an improved 15.4" display, reduce the weight, and improve the battery life (significantly) then it would be a great product. If they add an improved SuperDrive to all models and then hold the prices at the current levels (i.e. SuperDrive at the price of a combo drive) then it would be an insanely great product.
If the 15" goes to a 1.3GHz G4 and they update the graphics to a Mobility Radeon 9600, and then add Firewire 800, USB 2.0, Airport Extreme, and Bluetooth then I think it will be a good product. If at the same time they go to an improved 15.4" display, reduce the weight, and improve the battery life (significantly) then it would be a great product. If they add an improved SuperDrive to all models and then hold the prices at the current levels (i.e. SuperDrive at the price of a combo drive) then it would be an insanely great product.
Can you verify this? I've heard nothing definitive about "free updgrades to Panther" with currently shipping machines.
Can you post a photo of the coupon your friend received?
If I knew for sure they were updating them on Tuesday, I'd camp out at my PowerBook and keep refreshing the store.apple.com website until the *moment* the new PowerBooks are available so I can be one of the first to order one and get it now instead of sometime "around November" due to Motorola unable to keep up with demand or something.
Well Excuse Me
So now that there seems to be REAL rumors the new PBs will be out next week all you ungrateful Macheads are now bashing the idea of the updates (I only read the 1st handleful of posts and then couldn't take it anymore). A couple days ago you're all on your needs begging for buttermilk that they be updated.
As a switcher I am looking forward to purchasing my 1st Mac when these come out. If all you're going to do is complain I suggest you keep those posts to yourselves.
And eat Apple's words, "G5's aren't coming to PB's anytime soon." So stop complaining about that too for the time being. Sheeeesh.
So now that there seems to be REAL rumors the new PBs will be out next week all you ungrateful Macheads are now bashing the idea of the updates (I only read the 1st handleful of posts and then couldn't take it anymore). A couple days ago you're all on your needs begging for buttermilk that they be updated.
As a switcher I am looking forward to purchasing my 1st Mac when these come out. If all you're going to do is complain I suggest you keep those posts to yourselves.
And eat Apple's words, "G5's aren't coming to PB's anytime soon." So stop complaining about that too for the time being. Sheeeesh.
Heat Problems?? i work with both the 12" and 17" every day and a slew of PC notbooks and i can tell you that a P4 in your lap will burn your nickers off fast!
Wow i think you are dreaming! thats a little too much of a boost i think your more likly to see somethinng like two 15" models both with 15.4" screens FW400 and FW800 and 867mhz model with combo drive and a 1ghz model with the superdrive with bluetooth and APextreame in both and the same NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go with 32MB of DDR SDRAM it make more sence
I am glad i haven't useda P4 laptop then cause even my 12" PB burns through everything short of thick pair of jeans. and given the 30 somethings or 90 somethings we have here there is no way I am wearing shorts.. This is the first thing I would beg for the 12" to get less hot please Apple do something about this HD.
Hey crees!, don't let others get you down. I, along with many others, are more than excited about these updates. The PowerBook I am on now is my original "switcher" machine I bought in 1999 when I became a switcher, so this is my first "updated" Mac product and I am excited. I don't have Firewire, I don't have Airport, I don't have Bluetooth, I don't have DDR, I don't have ATA/66 or 100, I don't run OS X....this update will be a huge jump above everything I have ever used on a Mac, so I am thrilled that soon I will have even a G4 and all these goodies. I would have loved to leap from the G4 and go from G3 to G5, but even a G4 would be leaps and bounds above what I am using now. Here's hoping that this time next week we are all posting the specs of the new PowerBooks we've all ordered.