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Will there be a new pbook before the g5 pbook?

B

Bilba

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 2, 2004
77
0
Hey all,

as some of you know I am holding purchasing a new pbook to replace the one which I sold about a week ago.

My question now is this: do you guyz think that there will be new G4 powerbook line before the g5 powerbooks hit the streets?
I still believe that there is some time before we will see the G5 pbook, and as some mentioned, it would be better to get 2nd generation G5. I am not planning on waiting this long, but I would like to purchase the "last" g4 powerbook 15".
 
No one knows for sure (except Apple), but their are some rumours that Apple will have one last G4 update to the Powerbooks before they go G5. I recently purchased the 1.25 GHz 15" Powerbook and I find the performance more than adequate for my needs. Apple stated after the G5 desktops came out that they felt that there was plenty of life yet in G4 based laptops. They may have been referring to the then upcoming G4 iBooks, but it is unlikely that G5 PowerBooks will be released until Sept / Oct time, if that is correct, we may well see a final G4 Speed bump in March / April.
 
i am thinking there will be one final pb g4 update in april and we will see the g5 in january. that is just my guess. i plan to buy in april regardless.
 
I expect to see the G4 in the powerbooks for another year at least, with probably at least one more speed bump.

(i.e. no G5 powerbook this year)
 
I would agree with most of the above posters. Steve said he would like to see a G5 in a PowerBook by the end of this year, but I doubt we'll see one much sooner.

Updates may come soon, or not until March or April, and I believe they will be the last line of G4s, clocking 1.25/1.33/1.42 GHz, unless Motorola comes out and surprises us all... I certainly think they would be a better option than a 1.2 GHz G5.

Oh expect the 12" PB to get the backlight and 64Megs of graphics RAM. The other PowerBooks may see improved graphics cards.
 
Have to say i agree with most people here.

But i don't think that we will see a new G5 Powerbook till the end of the year at the year. I would be very surprised if a G5 was relesed before december.

So expect to see 1 more G4 bump, the 15" and the 17" might get a 128MB Radeon 9600. (when the G5 comes out it should have one of these) The 12" ... might... get a new video card, i think the only reason it hasn't yet is that space is at a premium in the 12". No PC laptop company has even got close to the size and functionality of the 12" powerbook without having to sacrafice ports, internal optical drive, so on.

I hope they get a bump soon so i can buy a reduced cost current version :)

d-fi
 
I would imagine an updated version arround this/next month. This version should hold until G5 are ready ~8 months.

At least this is what I keep telling myself in order not to order now ;)

I already ordered the soundsticks 3-set and I should receive them soon. Just thinking how hard it is going to be watching them outside of the box with nothing to plug them make me wana puke.

oh well......:confused:
 
Sorry for the extra post, but anyone knows any other popular mac rumors site... I want to read as much as possible on the subject...
 
well, last powermac processor upgrade, (to g4) apple took about 16 months to get it into a powerbook.

following the same logic, since apple announced the g5 powermac in june '03, the powerbook g5 should be released sometime around october '04, which is 8 months from now.

(edited for correct dates)
 
I think it is going to take more than 8 months to get G5 in powerbook.
The questions is will Apple wait with its current line or switch to a new G4 model first.
 
Originally posted by Bilba
I think it is going to take more than 5 months to get G5 in powerbook.
The questions is will Apple wait with its current line or switch to a new G4 model first.
Click to expand...

well, the last update was in september '03. i doubt apple will wait 11 months to make an update.

expect one (possibly 2) updates before the g5. or, apple could surprise us, and make a powerbook g5 in 12 months... i would love that. and i would love my new powerbook g5.
 
I'm affraid I have to agree that there will be at least one more G4 upgrade before the powerbook goes G5. However, with the current 90nm G5's, Apple may be able to release a PowerBook G5 at 1.6 and 1.8 GHz, and be able to keep it cool and a fairly good battery life. Something like this could happen sooner then what people think. Any ideas on what the PowerBook G5 may look like?
 
Originally posted by spencecb
I'm affraid I have to agree that there will be at least one more G4 upgrade before the powerbook goes G5. However, with the current 90nm G5's, Apple may be able to release a PowerBook G5 at 1.6 and 1.8 GHz, and be able to keep it cool and a fairly good battery life. Something like this could happen sooner then what people think. Any ideas on what the PowerBook G5 may look like?
Click to expand...
It's dangerous to say we may see it sooner than we think :D. Remember how long people were waiting for the 15" AlBook last year? ;) (And people were saying it would be G5 while the 12/17" were still G4 :rolleyes: )

What I don't get is that people were so sure that the September '03 updates would be G5, yet now people keep saying there will be another revision. I not doubting there will be - I guess people have realised that getting a G5 in there at acceptable thickness/heat/performance, etc is harder than people anticipated. I certainly don't think a 1.2 GHz G5 would be much good, even if it does have 64 bit, 600MHz front side bus, etc.

I would say that the G5 PB would have the same form factor as the AlBooks - it will look the same except for "PowerBook G5" and massive air intakes on the front like the new Xserve :)D only kidding). It is not cost-effective for Apple to have just re-designed the 15" if they are going to change it again. Besides, Aluminium is where the future is at - the new PBs already have the G5 form factor is you like.
 
My thoughts are G5 powerbooks are at least 6 months off given speed bump for G5 powermacs, the roll out of the G5 servers, and the heat issues...
 
According to the:

PowerPC 970FX specs (look at page 9)

it just consumes 12.3W operating at 1.4Ghz, more than feasible to integrate in a powerbook.

It remains, of course, to see how much power the "northbridge" controller consumes (it's around 30W currently in the G5s). Then, those controllers are designed for two CPUs, so maybe Apple has to design a single channel controller that would be used both in Powerbooks and in the consumer G5 models (iMac G5 anyone?)

That said, I would be more than happy with a 1.4GHz G5 Powerbook :)

T
 
I guess so, but really no one knows (except the Apple guys, but they won't tell) There have been some rumors as well that we see at least a price drop on the current ones.
 
When IBM first officially demos the new 970FX processor on the 18th then we will know the true speeds that they have it operating at, and all the good details about the chip's operation (heat, sys bus, etc.). I am looking forward to Powerbook G5s and an updated Powermac G5 lineup around that time. 10.3.3 will be shipping with both of these computers as it will provide needed application support and optimization for the G5 and Panther.
 
Don't hold your breath for G5 Powerbooks. They still haven't updated the Power Macs from 2GHz.

I think the current PBs are great. They're not meant to be render-farms, and the styling is superb. When the G5 PB comes out, they'lll probably introduce a new case. I doubt this will happen in 2004.
 
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