Updates pending for powerbook?

[rchirnom]

Hi,
I've got a nearly 3 year old iBook, and I'd like to get a new laptop while I can still take advantage of the student discount (graduating this May). I'm deciding between a fully loaded 14" iBook or a SuperDrive 12" Powerbook. I'm leaning towards the Powerbook. I'm thinking I should wait until 10.4 comes out, which I understand is April/May. But, any word on whether there are expected to be updates to the powerbook (or ibook i guess) before then? If so, what are these updates supposed to be? I'm assuming we won't see a G5 powerbook for awhile still...

Also, Apple has a free printer promotion going which expires April 12. Any idea what would happen after this expires? Another free low-end printer, or maybe the 'cram and jam' promotion will return??
Thanks
Ryan

 

[Tom Morello]

I was thinking about buying a 12'' iBook, sorry I can't answer your question but I heard that it is just as well getting a 12'' iBook over a 14'' because of something to do with the resolutions? Is that true/could you explain?

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

I was thinking about buying a 12'' iBook, sorry I can't answer your question but I heard that it is just as well getting a 12'' iBook over a 14'' because of something to do with the resolutions? Is that true/could you explain?

The resolution on the 14 inch and 12 inch ibooks are both 1024x768. You dont get any extra screen space. Basically if you opened a bunch of programs on the 12 inch and you do the same to the 14 inch they will look exactly the same. Imagine the 14 inch the same screen as the 12 inch just magnified.

 

[rchirnom]

Yeah I was wondering about that too...So essentially, this means that the 12" and 14" have the same number of pixels, and thus that the 12" has a greater density of pixels? I suppose this would translate into a shaper picture, inch for inch, right?

Anyway, any strong ideas on updates to the notebooks?

 

[Demon Hunter]

Don't worry about the free printer thing... they always have that going on. It just means different printers when the deal "expires."

 

[risc]

The PowerBook was only updated a few weeks back why would you expect another update? The iBook on the other hand looks due for an update soon(ish).

 

[jestershinra]

Yeah I was wondering about that too...So essentially, this means that the 12" and 14" have the same number of pixels, and thus that the 12" has a greater density of pixels? I suppose this would translate into a shaper picture, inch for inch, right?

Anyway, any strong ideas on updates to the notebooks?

I don't think it's sharper...but your other points are right.

Just imagine the 14 inch as being a magnified version of the 12. nothing else.

 

[rchirnom]

Oh, okay...i didn't know that the powerbooks had been recently updated. So, iBooks look likely but not Powerbooks?

as for the printer thing, I wasn't thinking whether I was going to miss out past April 12th, but rather if something better was gonna come along (like the cram and jam promo). What is most likely is another lowend printer, right?

So it sounds like I should just wait until Tiger is announced, then place my order, right?

 

[gallivant]

The iBooks have updated every 6 months like clockwork for, what, three years now? And right before that it was 5-7 instead of 6-6. So yeah, April iBook updates are a pretty likely thing. If nothing else, I'm guessing they'll get 64mb of video RAM and possibly 512MB of main memory, for Tiger. PowerBooks... not as much. The current lineup's very Tiger-friendly, and I personally suspect this is the last update till dual-core/G5.