Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

September 18, 2002: PowerBook Rumor Summary

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,130
38,889
The PowerBook line has received a lot of attention from a rumors/speculation standpoint during the past few months, primarily due to the fact that it is the oldest product in Apple's current product line... with an introduction date of April 2002.

April 29, 2002 brought us a top end Powerbook at 800MHz, pushing down the previous top-end configuration of 667 to become the low-end model. Before April, the previous two Powerbooks updates occured at 9 and 6 months intervals, respectively.

Following previous patterns, Powerbooks can be expected to be updated between October and January... which, conveniently corresponds to rumors circulating in the community.

PowerPage originally reported that new Powerbooks were not to be expected until MacWorld SF in January... with speed bumps and the addition of Bluetooth as a standard feature.

Astute readers, however, noted educational discounts for the Powerbooks that end on September 25th. This coupled with repeated reports of low supplies of reseller Powerbooks have added fuel to the fire.

MacOS Rumors and Spymac.com supply hints that Powerbooks will be coming prior to MWSF, but are unable to provide concrete dates. These hints are correlated by our own sources.

Kodawarisan provides the most definitive date, reporting that the 3rd week of October will bring us 800MHz/1GHz Powerbooks with an external Superdrive option.

The PowerBook is most certainly the next line from Apple to get an update. Based on the information available, pay attention to the coming weeks.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2002/09/20/september-18-2002-macrumors-com-powerbook-rumor-summary/
I imagine we get one last little bump in the TiBook before MWSF, no frills just a 1GZ, and maybe a better graphics card.
At MW or a little afterward, I see for the 'Books a complete overhaul, new casing, new frills, new chips ('please'), bluetooth, superdrive, the works. This just might be the first piece of hardware being OS 9 non-compliant, but then I think that that will only come with the possible new chips, if we are so lucky.
 
Originally posted by pretentious

At MW or a little afterward, I see for the 'Books a complete overhaul, new casing, new frills, new chips ('please'), bluetooth, superdrive, the works. This just might be the first piece of hardware being OS 9 non-compliant, but then I think that that will only come with the possible new chips, if we are so lucky.
Click to expand...

If we see a tibook upgrade in OCT/NOV then i think MWNY, not MWSF, will be more likely venue for the next upgrade.

I think the first machine to go "OS X ONLY" will be the iMac. Here's my reasoning:

1)imac has not been "speed bumped" or upgraded(except for the screen) since its unveiling at MWSF 2002.

2)Apple will make the consumer level products "OS X ONLY" first, giving pro users some time to get there os X apps upgraded(not all companies have made the jump to OS X as you know). Once the consumer machines go "X ONLY" the pros know theirs are next.

However there is the slight chance we might see an iMac upgrade before the holiday buying frenzy, in which case this all goes out the window.;) :D
 
why not low end tibook at 1 ghz, and higher end 1ghz+ ?

i am sure it's possible and if it takes until mwsf, that will be ok

also a 64 MB graphics card will certainly be a must

a built in superdrive would be a real plus
 
I would love to test one of those out. But wouldnt that suck if there was a 6 week wait or something along those lines. Kinda like the new DPmacs... That would suck, but I doubt that happening.
 
Originally posted by jefhatfield
why not low end tibook at 1 ghz, and higher end 1ghz+ ?

i am sure it's possible and if it takes until mwsf, that will be ok

also a 64 MB graphics card will certainly be a must

a built in superdrive would be a real plus
Click to expand...

DOnt aim your guns too high..... I think we would all like a 1 GHZ + PowerBook, but I dont think apple will give that to us. It would be to hot for a laptop, and until we have a cooler processor/better cooling system we wont find speeds over 1 GHz. I could be wrong but I would be suprised to see speeds exceeding 1 GHz. As for a 64 MB graphics card. THat would be nice, but the powerbooks aren't meant to play games so I wouldnt mind if there was a 32 MB one - but I am still expecting a 64.
 
Originally posted by jefhatfield
why not low end tibook at 1 ghz, and higher end 1ghz+ ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I heard that they can match the current PowerMac CPU speeds in the PowerBook but Apple chooses to keep it's speed down to distinguish the two product lines. If this is true, I think it's a big mistake.

There's so much more to distinguish these two lines: portability, bus-speed, DDR-RAM, video cards, form-factor, price*, etc. I don't think that Apple needs to worry about a faster PowerBook canabalizing it's PowerMac line. Laptop and desktop customers are fundamentally different in their approach to buying a system.
 
Originally posted by tfaz1
Yeah, I think I heard that they can match the current PowerMac CPU speeds in the PowerBook
Click to expand...
I would be suprised if this is true. With the three fans and the giant heatsink I can't see them sticking that into that thin tiBook. I don't know how much heat the 1.25 ghz cpu puts out, but I imainge it's quite a bit.

From what I've heard in the past, Steve would rather not have fans in his computers.

On another note, I think it a shame that they can't put the 1Ghz G3 cpu in the iBooks because of the lack of processor speed in the TIBook.
 
Originally posted by pgwalsh
I would be suprised if this is true. With the three fans and the giant heatsink I can't see them sticking that into that thin tiBook. I don't know how much heat the 1.25 ghz cpu puts out, but I imainge it's quite a bit.

From what I've heard in the past, Steve would rather not have fans in his computers.

On another note, I think it a shame that they can't put the 1Ghz G3 cpu in the iBooks because of the lack of processor speed in the TIBook.
Click to expand...

the tibook would heat up faster and thus slow down the cpu

also a 1.25 ghz tibook might suck up the battery time unless there was a lower voltage battery option...does that exist in tibooks? if so, then the 1.25 ghz, but with reduced voltage and speed while on battery, and at 1.25 ghz while plugged in would be fine

nothing irks me more than a fast laptop that is too fast that it runs hot and has high voltage and sucks the battery dry...some 2+ ghz p4 laptops get just two hours while on battery going full speed...what use is that to most people?

but with all the vents and fans and large heatsinks, desktops can operate at full speed, stay cool, and suffer less slowdown from overheating

my amd k6-2 laptop overheats quickly and starts to get really slow and sluggish...and my battery times were just 1.5 hours at best brand new on the nimh battery but i should have got the liion battery which would have been better
 
Originally posted by jefhatfield
my amd k6-2 laptop overheats quickly and starts to get really slow and sluggish...and my battery times were just 1.5 hours at best brand new on the nimh battery but i should have got the liion battery which would have been better
Click to expand...

I have the exact same processor in my laptop (550 MHz) I know what you mean...my NiMH battery conks out in less than an hour, pitiful I'll say.

I'm buying a pb real soon, hopefully when they update it to 1 GHz this year...but I have a question. Will it be out-dated when apple switches chips (which could be next year)? Will there be a massive jump in processor speed when they catch up to PCs? (highly unlikely) Will I be satisfied with the ti in three years if I buy after the next update?
 
Originally posted by Over Achiever


I have the exact same processor in my laptop (550 MHz) I know what you mean...my NiMH battery conks out in less than an hour, pitiful I'll say.

I'm buying a pb real soon, hopefully when they update it to 1 GHz this year...but I have a question. Will it be out-dated when apple switches chips (which could be next year)? Will there be a massive jump in processor speed when they catch up to PCs? (highly unlikely) Will I be satisfied with the ti in three years if I buy after the next update?
Click to expand...

for a power user, after one year, ANY machine is obsolete since they are into pushing the edges of photoshop, video editing, and games

if you are an extremely modest user like me...appleworks, internet, and e-mail...then a tibook will be fab for three years..and an ibook will be good for 2+ years, conservatively
 
Help please

Hi, i know this is off topic but MacRumors
wont let me create a new topic.

[edited:

The reason you can't post a new topic is that you are likely posting in the wrong section. If you posted in the appropriate section, you would likely be able to post. For example, regular users are not allowed to post new theads in MacRumors.com News Discussion.]
 
Powerbooks preloaded with 10.1?

Hey, I was just putting together a laptop, and I noticed that it specifically said that they are preloaded with 10.1 not 10.2? Is this a typo or is this for real?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back