The future of the p-book.

[sammyman]

I am planning to buy a new powerbook before the fall of 2005. I was curious what you all think will happen to the lineup of powerbooks by August or September? I know that no updates are around the corner, and there is no way to know what is coming in the future, but was hoping for some educated speculations.

Also, how long will they keep the current p-book style notebook? How often do they tend to upgrade the styles of their computers?

 

[berkleeboy210]

There Probably won't be another update until at least The Expo in Paris which is mid-september. So you should be ok for a while. - I just bought a 12" 1.33ghz

As far as the Style's Go. - First there was the Titanium, and now the Aluminum. I think it's safe to say that aluminum for a while. If and when they decide to change the design/style again, it probably won't be until the G5s make there way into the books.

I'm guessing it'll go to the Dual-G4's first, then we'll see G5's sometime next year. But what do I know? I'm not Steve Jobs.

 

[mcgarry]

Sorrry, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I really think this is too hard to predict.

There are all sorts of juicy rumors about for the next rev.s of Apple laptops, but they tend to be short on specifics, especially as it regards release dates. Almost all of these have been of Page-2-calibre. 15" iBooks, widescreen 12"/13" PowerBooks, at this point none of us really know, but maybe someone has good guesses.

There have also been scattered whispers of carbon fiber as the next PB material. Doubters have added the asterisks of wireless reception and global c.f. supply problems to this particular swirl. I claim no special understanding of either issue (quite the opposite).

Talking from no particular basis of knowledge, personally I think an iBook update by the fall, or even by the summer, is highly likely. Though I have less confidence for a PB update, I have lingering doubts that they would be far behind any iBook update, if not concurrent. But really I have no idea, and neither does almost everyone else in this forum, AND neither does the beloved Buyer's Guide of "Don't Buy-- Updates Soon!"-fame.

SO I say ignore the torpedoes of doubt and just buy when you decide you need it most, which is totally up to you.

 

[powerbook911]

I must admit carbon fiber is about the only thing I can imagine liking more than aluminium.

 

[sammyman]

I will get whatever they got in September. I just had a thought though. Has anyone noticed that apple has a lot of black on their webpages these days? Maybe the carbon fiber will happen, and apple is already going from white to black. Just a thought.

 

[berkleeboy210]

I will get whatever they got in September. I just had a thought though. Has anyone noticed that apple has a lot of black on their webpages these days? Maybe the carbon fiber will happen, and apple is already going from white to black. Just a thought.

good catch... i actually like the black better on the homepage more than the plain white.

who knows what apple has up there sleeves.

 

[Demon Hunter]

I can't imagine Apple will stray much from the current design, unless the processor changes dramatically, which is possible. But as with the old mirror-door G4s, Apple only does this when it's good marketing, such as with the announcement of the G5, when everything went grated-aluminum.

The G5 will change before the PowerBook does, of that you can be certain.