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What about new powerbooks?

M

MacManiac1224

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2001
227
0
NY
My question is: powerbooks have not really changed much since thier introduction last year. My question is: Whhen is the next Powerbook update going to happen? and What is the new powerbook going to feature. All i say is: it better be bigger then a 177mhz speed jump, I would like to see 900mhz powerbooks. maybe:
733mhz and 900mhz. That would be a lot better then 550 and 667. we shall see though. Also I would like to see more resolution on the screen, and better video card. What do you guys think?
 
I'd probably have to change my pants if a new powerbook came out, considering that's what I am waiting for, but there may be a problem.

As you said, the new powerbook isn't very old. I would guess that they will continue to evolve the current design with memory, hard drive and speed advances. A new model or major redesign is probably a ways off.

That being said, if there is a nice speed jump, memory and hard drive advances (maybe firewire 2) Apple will have a new customer. Me.
 
I think the top 3 PBook rumours have been discussed on other threads:

1. Apollo G4s - low power versions (w/out level 3 cache) running at c.800MHz.

2. New video cards supporting 1500+ horizontal res.

3. New case coatings to make them more durable/interesting looking...

Can't remember any other 'major' rumours recently, off hand...

Oh, yeah:

4. New lithium polymer battery technology.
 
Sweet Jesus. If we could only have one come out this month.... :(

After playing with my roommate's new 800 MHz iMac, I can't help but demand more horsepower to a portable machine that clocks at around $3000.

But as soon as that upgrade comes, count me in, Apple. PLEASE DELIVER!!!
 
Re: What about new powerbooks?

Originally posted by MacManiac1224
My question is: powerbooks have not really changed much since thier introduction last year. My question is: Whhen is the next Powerbook update going to happen? and What is the new powerbook going to feature. All i say is: it better be bigger then a 177mhz speed jump, I would like to see 900mhz powerbooks. maybe:
733mhz and 900mhz. That would be a lot better then 550 and 667. we shall see though. Also I would like to see more resolution on the screen, and better video card. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

i like the footprint and thinness of the g4 powerbook and if we go g5 powerbook probably late next year, i am still for the same shape and design and titanium as an outer case is still the ultimate for strength and looks
 
Powerbook combo meal.

Footprint? Nah, I want an all new powerbook. I want a keyboard that separates so I can type farther from the screen. Heck, might as well make the screen bigger too, like maybe 19 inches. Shoot, let's throw in two 1 ghz processors and a mouse, and we're really in business.

Wait, that's a G4 Tower!

As for the powerbook, my current lust item, I hope apple does something soon, cause darnit, I want one. A new high speed, low power chip would be very very nice!

Can I have fries and a shake with that powerbook too?
 
New Tibook soon.

Probably at MW Tokyo.

Apple is opening the TiBook to it's employees in a dump action that ALWAYS preceeds a rev.;)
 
two things i think the new Pbook needs:

1: speed bump w/apollo

2: better battery life

idea be happy if that is all we see, but i dont expect more than just a small speed bump.

o one more thing... no production problems.
 
I agree...

I agree with the fact that in the Powerbook deserves a much enhanced battery life, a low power Apollo G4 chip, and higher resolution.

However, I doubt that Apple will touch 900MHz in their top line Powerbook. As far as I can see Apple G4 speed increments have gone in average of somewhere around 150 or 167MHz. I think that (from resources including MacOSRumors) Apple will release a faster powerbook, with a low end of 733MHz and a high end of 867MHz.

MacOSRumors has reported a while ago that a new revision will support an enhanced resolution, somewhere around 1536 by 1024 pixels. I don't think that the actual size of the screen will increase, though.

mcrain, although the thought of a dual processor Powerbook G4 and a huge screen may be mouth watering, but it is a bad idea, for four reasons:
(1) Currently the prices of LCD screens are already sky-high with Apple, and I do not see why Apple would spend around $1000 for a 19" monitor.
(2) Having a 19" screen defeats the purpose of having a portable computer because, (a) the computer would be to large, and (b) the hardware for supporting the screen would become larger and would make the Titanium G4 much heavier.
(3) The processing power of the Dual 1000MHz Apollos will eat up battery life like a bear through garbage.
(4) The entire cost of this model, even by the end of this year, will cost around, or more than, $5000. You might as well get a PowerMAC G4 for home and work.

The idea of Firewire 2 and USB 2 sounds like a great idea, but I personally see each arriving in the first PowerMac G5, or updated G4s.

Finally, I think that Apple will stick with the 133MHz bus and 15.2 inch screen, while trying to insert much larger Hard Drives, say 40 to 60GB.
 
buffsldr
DO you guys really need that much power in a laptop?


Actually some do. I would like a Tibook to run music apps such as Reason, Cubase and Digital Performer which are processor hungry. Why not get
a tower, you ask? I don't need expansion slots and
I could take it to gigs, studios, rehearsals, vacations, etc. and still be able to make music.
 
my guess...

probably see a revision to the currnet tibook...mghz bump...extra something or another....

as for a g5...

i see the g5 powermac happening first.
 
Originally posted by bonehead
buffsldr
DO you guys really need that much power in a laptop?


Actually some do. I would like a Tibook to run music apps such as Reason, Cubase and Digital Performer which are processor hungry. Why not get
a tower, you ask? I don't need expansion slots and
I could take it to gigs, studios, rehearsals, vacations, etc. and still be able to make music.
Click to expand...

That's a fair point. I guess I am judging others based on my needs. All i want is a portable with a snappy finder that can surf the net, e-mail, and maybe do 5-10 min movies on imovie (<10 gigs).
 
They'll seriously need low-power chips to make the PB any faster. Otherwise they're going to be getting sued by the people who got scalded when they touched the case while playing Quake.

Other than that, I kinda selfishly hope they don't bump them just yet. I only just got my combo drive installed today. :)
 
Besides the speedbumps and larger drives,
and a better graphics-card.
What can Apple do more without changing
the winning concept that the TiBook is?
(the case and weight)
New colours? I don´t think so…
It is a notebook for professionals, right?
 
Originally posted by freedom
Besides the speedbumps and larger drives,
and a better graphics-card.
What can Apple do more without changing
the winning concept that the TiBook is?
(the case and weight)
New colours? I don´t think so…
It is a notebook for professionals, right?
Click to expand...

you are right of course. the pbook is a wonderful machine.

i doubt new colors will happen but, i dont think people mean anything along the lines of the old imacs. i think people want to retain the metallic look, but with highlights. a black highlight. a chrome highlight. that make sense? (its late i cant tell anymore)

i think a better battery though would be a big feature on most people's lists. especially since these new pbooks cant carry two batteries those of us who moved up from the g3 powerbooks feel like we got down-graded in the battery life department. and then to make it worse osx eats up far more battery life than os9 ever did. and then there are those chiclets some call the ipod showing off its long battery life. i dont know enough about hardware to know for sure but i would guess switching to a lithium polymer battery would be a BIG revision.

my complaints regarding the pbooks (as perfect as they are i can always find some problem) are:

•short battery life

•slow graphics card (the radeon in the newer models helped out here)

•too damn HOT (ever see a pbook with the center of the keyboard melted in?)

•slow hard drives (apple fixed this with the 32 and 48 gig drives woohoo!)

so apple has been systematically fixing all the minnor complaints i had. they cooled down the revb models a bit, so the only thing they havent addressed is battery life. and i expect an apollo to jump into a pbook whenever we see the next revision (not making predictions regarding when that is, but like everyone else im hoping very soon).

if the pbook cools down some and ups the battery life it might actually be good for use in the field, so far most people either buy an ibook (cuz it runs cool and is rugged) and suffer with not having enough power, or they buy a pbook (try to keep it in the shade) and suffer with it getting too hot and shutting down at times.

oh and one more lil thing (a complete pipedream mind you) id like to see a laptop (ANY apple laptop) with a outdoor monitor toggle, so that it uses reflected sunlight to boost monitor brightness for use outdoors (sony did this). that would be perfection.
 
Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon


oh and one more lil thing (a complete pipedream mind you) id like to see a laptop (ANY apple laptop) with a outdoor monitor toggle, so that it uses reflected sunlight to boost monitor brightness for use outdoors (sony did this). that would be perfection.
Click to expand...


hey thats a hellofanidea!



:D
 
should I buy or whait.

I'm a designer wanting to come back to the mac platform. I've cheacked out most of the laptop's though some may be faster I'm just in love with titanium. What should I do we it seem to me that for 2500 $ titanium 550 is a good machine and would probably be as powerful as a 900 pIII but the PIII og P4 are shipping in 1.3-1.7mhz.... dam this is a hard choice.

My work will be mainly Photoshop work, hopfully more video stuff... and browsing.

Should I wait a month to see if MacWorld tokyo will ship a improved tibook ?

more resolution would make a lot of sence, a new graphic's card would make sence to. Like Geoforce 4 to go 32 and 64mb.
 
if you can afford to wait.... why not do it?...it wont cost you anything.
on the other hand if you cant... then buy now. and buy the tibook.
try not to get caught up on the pc for design.truth is..the mac is made especially for graphics and artistic projects. the processor in the mac has a co processor (altivec...i believe) that is designed to deal with number crunching and extra loads from graphic programs.....compared to an intel processor that does not have a co processor or is not made to deal with this issues in general. im a graphic artist and i use the 667 tibook. i have had no problems. i run photoshop, illustrator, internet exlporer , dreamweaver and itunes all on classic mode and it hasnt slowed down or crashed...yet. im more than pleased with my machine. however i could see how they could revise it...with the better harddrive thats out there, better battery, heatsink issues, mhz bump...etc. etc.
 
g4 550 or 667

I'm that kind of guy who can't wait, I just hate to wait when my mind is set to something. I'm getting a 550 on loan from our local apple dealer for a day or two. Hope that will sort this pc / mac issue out. The reason for my reluctance is what I've just seen.

Here's a speed comparison in photoshop and this is against a pc 800 something.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/PowerBookG4_fall2001/powerbook_g4_667_quake3.html

This is just to close, I'm working on a pc comp. 1000mhz. with a 64meg. card. How would the titanium match up to that... :-(

And this is the 667 if I'm getting a 550 duhh.. I'm getting frustrated allready.

I need something to make me belive that buying a titanium is the thing.
 
The "new colors" talk got me thinking: I wonder how a TiBook would look if you stripped all the silver/gray topcoat off and left it with just the raw titanium surface. Talk about a "bronze" PowerBook. :) I can't decide if it would look good or not, though.

Oh, and I'm not going to strip my own TiBook to find out. ;)
 
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