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PowerBook Updates in September?

Here is my computer specs.

g3 iBook-366 MHz

A bunch of Windows PC's like everyone. Just bought a new one.

a newerish iBook but not the new updated one

Dual Core PM G4


And I need a PowerBook for a lot of stuff, where I live our schools do a lot of word processing and researching, but I am a computer geek :) lol. I do video editing, image editing, and other things that I need a good laptop for. I have been waiting for the right moment to get one, I waited for the WWDC keynote a whileback and am not sure if anytime in 05 if there will be a PB update....By September I will have one though. I need a dualcore PM G5 and then I will wait a while for the Mactels.
 
I got $50 that says P4's or P5's and Xeons will still be alive and kicking in 2007. It won't be Netburst but Intel definitely not be switching to Pentium M desktops.

You're article say exactly what every other credible news source is saying, which is that they don't know. It's expected to use less power and have a shorter pipeline but Intel hasn't spilled the beans yet.

Here again is my case:

---No dual processor Pentium M only dual core in the future (which puts them far behind todays Opteron and Xeon platforms)

--No cheap dual core like Intel offers with the P4. Pentium M's are simply more expensive to make.

--Higher prices and lower performance than what Intel offers today.

--- Too expensive. A 2.13ghz Pentium M goes for $437 on Pricewatch while a dual core 3ghz P4 goes for $319.

-- No 64-bit until the end of 2006 at the earliest.

-- No more megahertz myth would just open the door for AMD to gain major marketshare.

-- A64's already perform better than Pentium M's and higher clock sppeds too. The Yonah is set to debut at 2.16ghz while AMD will be above 3ghz around that time.
 
iQuit, in your original post, you wrote:

iQuit said:
Why would they even update with such a little boost? I need a new laptop (high end) for highschool this year and need it almost right away for projects and such, my laptop is starting to get old too. What is the chance of an update and should I just get the 17" now or wait till September, is the wait worth it....I will wait but only if there is a big chance...please help.
Click to expand...

Then you write...

iQuit said:
Here is my computer specs.

g3 iBook-366 MHz

A bunch of Windows PC's like everyone. Just bought a new one.

a newerish iBook but not the new updated one

Dual Core PM G4


And I need a PowerBook for a lot of stuff, where I live our schools do a lot of word processing and researching, but I am a computer geek :) lol. I do video editing, image editing, and other things that I need a good laptop for. I have been waiting for the right moment to get one, I waited for the WWDC keynote a whileback and am not sure if anytime in 05 if there will be a PB update....By September I will have one though. I need a dualcore PM G5 and then I will wait a while for the Mactels.
Click to expand...

Which is it? Do you need a G4 Powerbook or a Dual Core PowerMac G5?

It sounds more like you're running a computer lab not looking for a machine to do homework on. The word need obviously doesn't accurately depict your situation. I know how you feel because I like good ol' instant gratification, too. However, my advice is that you wait for the update. On the other hand, if you have:

1) an old iBook
2) a fairly new iBook
3) a "bunch of" PCs including a brand new one
4) and a Dual Processor (not "core") PowerMac G4

...then money doesn't seem to be an issue for you (or your parents-- whoever makes the purchases in the Quit residence). If that's the case, knock yourself out. March right down to the nearest Apple Store and grab a nice 17-incher.

I'm not trying to be cruel but, come on, we're on page 12 of a thread about a Powerbook update in a month that seems very likely. What kind of response did you expect when asking whether or not you should buy one now? Especially considering the fact that you do not need one. Exercise a little restraint and you'll pat yourself on the back come late September.

Squire
 
shawnce said:
Altivec is superior to what x86 has had (however SSE3 is basically on par now).
Click to expand...
Don't confuse architecture and implementation.

SSE has had some advantages over AltiVec (such as being able to do double precision floating point and extended precision integer).

Intel's "implementation", however, has been inferior to Motos. Moto put in a special arithmetic unit(s) to do the parallel arithmetic - Intel fed many of the operands serially to the existing ALU units.

Intel's approach was faster than non-SIMD x86 code, but it lacked much of the true parallelism of AltiVec. When you had cache-friendly code, AltiVec would shine. (If your code depended on memory access speed, the P4's faster bus and memory would win.) There's a lot of YMMV.
___________________________________

Having said that, Intel could easily make a compatible chip with parallel SSE arithmetic units. The Instruction Set Architecture doesn't specify the number of FP and integer units - it specifies how the SSE instructions behave.

Maybe Jobs has seen future plans for parallel SSE arithmetic, and he's not worried about losing AltiVec.
 
shyataroo said:
1.

Just you. Motorola still hasn't broken the 2GHz Barrier, and the FSB is only 167MHz its older and has been under development since before the G5 was released and they still can't beat it. Motorola sucks right now.

-That is all.
Click to expand...

http://www.powerlogix.com/press/releases/2005/050809.html
http://www.insanelygreatmac.com/news.php?id=5140

Test of the 2ghz http://www.barefeats.com/g4up.html

That is a 2ghz CPU. Apple just dont use them. Why not how knows? I dont understand, the cost of a 1,42 and a 1,8ghz g4 must be the same. So why apple dont speed up there mac mini and emac? They coulde speed away at 2ghz if apple wanted them to. But on the laptop side I understand that the exstra heat would not be that good.


PS: NO intel CPU is comming even CLOSE to the exstream low watt output that the g4 has. AND pci-e uses more power then agp. So apple should avoid pci-e if they can when they make a p-m powerbook. And the thing with ddr2 is this at 533 mhz they have crap latenzy, and the higher the fsb the more heat. The g4 is a amacing laptop cpu, it is rahter fast and it take almost no power.

Freescale has a reason to suck, on acout that they should not spend money on a cpu that they will never sell. On acount that the g4 is EOL. Cant blame a man for not being stupid.
 
What about a G5 Powerbook. IBM announced the chip.

it is due and would tide the powerbook people over for 2 years until the top end new intel powerbook comes out.

we need the G5 powerbook. Really need it to happen.
 
Well I am going to wait. But here is the thing.

1.I am not rich, I am well off...and I SAVE my money, been saving for a while.

2.I have good desktop PC's but need power for when I am at school or on the way home from school and iBooks can't cut it...and I hate the keyboard.

3.I have saved enough for a 17" and don't want to get it and a new PB comes out but I also know that a lot of the PB rumors never happen and it has been a g4 1.67 for a while.

4.I need the space,graphics,extra speed,and screen a PB has.

5.Why do I need? There is a project for school on day one, involving research and a lot of word processing. I have been waiting a while for a PB and a new lappie. I can do stuff on the way home from school. PB's rock and everyone should have one. The 17" screen that will allow me a big work area for things.

(edit)

The main issue is a whole months work of use. The WWDC was rumored to have one and didn't and PB rumors always are never true. I don't want this to be a very slight chance and miss out a whole month for nothing. I don't want the speedbump to be SOOO light that it won't really matter and will again waste a month of usage.
 
iQuit said:
Here is my computer specs...A bunch of Windows PC's like everyone. Just bought a new one...
Click to expand...
Wow - well that just made me laugh! Windows PCs like everyone [implied has] ha! My household will stay Mac only, and I have a few friends who are the same way :cool:.
I'm sorry to hear about your new unjustified expense btw :D

PS - sorry for bashing your Windows PCs (Personal Crappers), I just can't image a house that I own with a Windows computer in it
 
iQuit said:
Well I am going to wait. But here is the thing.

1.I am not rich, I am well off...and I SAVE my money, been saving for a while.

2.I have good desktop PC's but need power for when I am at school or on the way home from school and iBooks can't cut it...and I hate the keyboard.

3.I have saved enough for a 17" and don't want to get it and a new PB comes out but I also know that a lot of the PB rumors never happen and it has been a g4 1.67 for a while.

4.I need the space,graphics,extra speed,and screen a PB has.

5.Why do I need? There is a project for school on day one, involving research and a lot of word processing. I have been waiting a while for a PB and a new lappie. I can do stuff on the way home from school. PB's rock and everyone should have one. The 17" screen that will allow me a big work area for things.

(edit)

The main issue is a whole months work of use. The WWDC was rumored to have one and didn't and PB rumors always are never true. I don't want this to be a very slight chance and miss out a whole month for nothing. I don't want the speedbump to be SOOO light that it won't really matter and will again waste a month of usage.
Click to expand...

iQuit,

After reading one of your posts from May debating a PB purchase then, I can empathize. However, I still recommend waiting for one particular reason: the iBook specs. Really, there's not a great big difference between the 14" iBook and a 12" Powerbook. To me, that translates into an impending PB speed bump.

And realistically, if I can do video editing with my 2-and-a-half-year old iMac, you can probably manage with your fairly new iBook. The research and word processing, of course, will require very little computing power. I was using a 166 MHz Pentium (with MMX) up until last fall at my office. (It's amazing how few problems one runs into while not connected to the Internet.)

Good luck with your project no matter what you choose to do.

Squire
 
sord said:
Wow - well that just made me laugh! Windows PCs like everyone [implied has] ha! My household will stay Mac only, and I have a few friends who are the same way :cool:.
I'm sorry to hear about your new unjustified expense btw :D

PS - sorry for bashing your Windows PCs (Personal Crappers), I just can't image a house that I own with a Windows computer in it
Click to expand...

No PCs here either....just look at my signature, hehehe..! ;)
 
aussie_geek said:
If this rumor is true - all new PowerBook owners may need a thermal protection system to operate it in 'laptop' mode... :D

With those speeds, who knows.. they might even liquid cool them !!!:eek:

aussie_geek
Click to expand...


hahahahahahahahah very good point!! I imagine it will be a little nuzzle speed bump ala the ibook update. You could probable run OSX on any old SSE2 SSE3 capable pc lappy by then anyway!!! I do love the idea of a black pbook like the old black g3's

:D
 
BRLawyer said:
No PCs here either....just look at my signature, hehehe..! ;)
Click to expand...

I wish I could have an all-PC household. Unfortunately, it's just not possible. The compatibility is still mediocre over here at least. What I mean is there are still too many websites/programs/services made for PCs only. Using the text encoding option for every other Korean website makes it a tough sell. My wife and I need a PC. Perhaps that will change when the intel-based macs come along. Who knows? Of course there's always Virtual PC but, from what I hear, even it has limitations. Plus, buying a whole PC is not that much more. Oh, well.

Back on topic. I wonder, as others obviously do, what will happen to the 12" PB. At least it has more room to grow than the others. I mean, they probably can't improve the 17" and high-end 15" models that much, can they?

Squire
 
Squire said:
I wish I could have an all-PC household. Unfortunately, it's just not possible. The compatibility is still mediocre over here at least. What I mean is there are still too many websites/programs/services made for PCs only. Using the text encoding option for every other Korean website makes it a tough sell. My wife and I need a PC. Perhaps that will change when the intel-based macs come along. Who knows? Of course there's always Virtual PC but, from what I hear, even it has limitations. Plus, buying a whole PC is not that much more. Oh, well.

Back on topic. I wonder, as others obviously do, what will happen to the 12" PB. At least it has more room to grow than the others. I mean, they probably can't improve the 17" and high-end 15" models that much, can they?

Squire
Click to expand...

I see your point, Squire, and hope ya get over it ASAP.

Believe me...I know what you mean, as I've been using Apple since 1989 (and Macs since 1994), waay before the much-more compatible USB and OS X days. As far as I know, support for non-western languages still lacks in many fronts, and I am sure you use PCs ONLY because you need them for that (as they still encompass some 90% of the market).

Indeed, even though I have practically ZERO problems with website compatibility on my Macs (apart from few specialized exceptions), the general image that people have about Macs is that they belong to another world, totally apart from the Winblows universe.

This is especially true in academic environments, where many schools that employ Macs still use OS 9 or even 8 on their iMacs/G3s...this surely plays against a positive "insertion" agenda for Apple...

But then again, back to topic...we will only see some speed bumps and not major changes in PBs for the next months...the PB G5 is a dead horse and nothing more than a summer dream now...and I hope that the 12" gets as many features as possible, but WITHOUT losing its main appeal...to be compact, lightweight and beautiful.
 
Yeah, like I said, hopefully this switch will fix those issues. (I'm glad you understand. I figured I might get blasted for that comment but, unfortunately, it's true.)

I really hope they don't treat the 12" as the bastard child (Can I say that?) of the Powerbook family. I say keep jacking up those 12" specs regardless of what the 15" and 17" are packing.

Squire
 
shyataroo said:
Windows Steals features but Apple stole the GUI from Xerox and the mouse.
Click to expand...

Haha - if I invite you to my house and offer you a sandwich for lunch - you did *NOT* steal a sandwich from me!

Apple stole the idea of making a cheap computer from IBM DELL COMPAQ (AKA Amiga) and basically every other PC company.
Click to expand...

You're missing a few chapters in your computer history book! I'm not even sure what you are inferring about Amiga - but they had nothing to do with IBM, Dell or Compaq!
 
RobTheGob said:
Haha - if I invite you to my house and offer you a sandwich for lunch - you did *NOT* steal a sandwich from me!
Click to expand...

I was going to make a similar comment but I was waiting for someone more...versed...in Apple history to come out of the woodwork. Nice analogy.

Squire
 
Just got my 12" combo-drive powerbook ^^ yesterday

i love it, i needed a new one for school as the 1Ghz was showing its age in some things
 
RobTheGob said:
You're missing a few chapters in your computer history book! I'm not even sure what you are inferring about Amiga - but they had nothing to do with IBM, Dell or Compaq!
Click to expand...

I think he is confusing Compaq with Commodore.

But if I remember right Amiga was actually a separate computer company "Apollo?" that Commodore acquired to develop and market the Amiga.

They were an amazing group of techs, the Amiga and the Amiga OS were way ahead for their time. Too bad Commodore botched the marketing job.
 
digitalbiker said:
I think he is confusing Compaq with Commodore.

But if I remember right Amiga was actually a separate computer company "Apollo?" that Commodore acquired to develop and market the Amiga.

They were an amazing group of techs, the Amiga and the Amiga OS were way ahead for their time. Too bad Commodore botched the marketing job.
Click to expand...

Actually the Amiga OS was a crap in terms of overall UI and stability, anyone who has used the WorkBench at that time is able to confirm...both the Mac System and the GS/OS (of our beloved Apple IIGS) were way ahead of it by then.

Perhaps the biggest breakthrough of the Amiga was to use dedicated custom chips for graphics/sprite and sound handling...that's the main reason they were so popular (and good, indeed) for computer games.
 
biohazard_6969 said:
30 F***KIN MHZ IS NOT AN UPDATE!!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
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With a 20% increase in bus speed and a 100% increase in cache size, it will still make a lot of difference in processing speed.
 
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