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Apple Ships 17-inch PowerBook
spathi writes "After a long wait, Apple has finally started shipping the 17" PowerBook. This thread over on the MacNN Forums shows a few people have received their tracking numbers. It seems Apple hit it's deadline of 7-10 weeks after all"
Apple really did piss a lot of people off with their slow shipping. Not me... I got the 12". Who really wants to carry around a behemoth of a laptop? This is not to say, of course, that I wouldn't take one if I got it for free. But, err, Apples don't, um... grow on trees. heh.
Dismantle globally, renew locally.
where did Mini-me get his then?
I was waiting until our University store got one in to look at, now I will have to be on the lookout. I could handle a big laptop like this. The thickness is still 1", so just a bit wider in 2 directions. I had my laptop for a study group and another guy came in with a brand new Compaq laptop. It must have been 3 times as thick!
I would assume that for most people the majority of their laptop use is in 1-2 places, so carrying it around is a matter of putting it in some bag, walking it to the car/bus/etc., and then setting up in the next place. This is a nice option, having such a big screen.
They didn't say the 17"-er was everyone, they just say you have more of a choice. But then again, everyone should have one. Way to go Apple.
Except for the video card, which IMO is a step back in the new models.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
That the delay was caused by Apple putting the 7457 in them which does 1ghz with 512k L2 cache with less power? I know the 57 isnt in production yet but Apple and other big buyers have had samples for some time. So could Apple have put the squeeze on Moto for early chips and that was the cause of the delay? Not to mention the few 17" in stores are display models only and cant be turned on. Were the ones at Macworld working? anyone know the details?
Bueller?
OMG BIG PENIS ATE MY SOUP
The discussion thread can be found at
1 50756
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?&threadid=
"It seems Apple hit it's deadline of 7-10 weeks after all."
Well, perhaps--after blowing right by the February ship date that Steve Jobs stated at Macworld. I'm not too terribly impressed--they really need to make their announcements more realistic, because I no longer believe them and refuse to preorder anything. I know a lot of folks who are doing the same.
I am a homosexual. I bought an Apple computer because of its well earned reputation for being "the" gay computer. Since I have become an Apple owner, I have been exposed to a whole new world of gay friends. It is really a pleasure to meet and compute with other homos such as myself. I plan on using my new Apple computer as a way to entice and recruit young schoolboys into the homosexual lifestyle; it would be so helpful if you could produce more software which would appeal to young boys. Thanks in advance.
with much gayness,
Father Randy "Pudge" O'Day, S.J.
that said, I'm waiting for the 15" update too...
That's my purse! I don't know you! -- Bobby Hill
a bunch of lowercase stuff that isn't at all lame, so *thpppt*
Visit PBZone to see what other peoples experience has been for the 17" PB.
Remarks that are a dream of a markeeter. Not only brand awareness, but retention and recall of the ad too... (remains to be seen if it actually drives people to buy the things though...)
I was at the Apple retail store in Salem, NH today and they had just the display model of the 17" PowerBook; still none for sale. It's striking how thin it is compared to all the other Apple portables. It's like a 15" Powerbook with just the light grey rim around the case and no bottom third.
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
Finally! I ordered mine about a month ago... I can't wait to get mine. Of course, the laptop itself wiped me out so i got the slow shipping, too. Oh well. As for the size, this is meant to be a desktop replacement with some mobile benefits. I checked out the 12" but I can't stand that small of a screen. What makes it worse, you can't hook up an Apple display to it. Here I am, crossing my fingers that it will come soon.
...people start buying laptops that are bigger than their desktops.
Personally, I will not buy this new 17" laptop. I'm holding out for the 24" Cinema Display edition. I hear it will double as a card table!
Seriously, why aren't *all* computers laptops yet? I'd love a portable 21" display+computer all in one!
But I don't know how much longer I can wait. I want it now. It will be my first new computer in 4 years. My B&W G3 is still going strong, but I want a portable.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
A couple of the shipping notices in that thread say that the total price was $2639. The Apple Store states a starting price of $3299. Can anyone explain this discrepancy? I didn't think the student discount was that deep.
You say Apple Developer's discount is that good. What is required to become a "Developer"? I am an ADC member already, but I didn't pay for any membership or anything. Please advise...
Can be found in this developer note.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
...wait 6-8 weeks to recieve. Remember "Sea Monkeys"? Ship them off in May, recieve them in July. If it takes 2 months to ship Sea Monkeys, how long for a big-ass laptop?
Only in slashdot are posts of solidarity modded at -1 Redundant, while posts of antagonism are modded as -1 Flamebait.
I saw this earlier.
So it's still the 7455
OMG BIG PENIS ATE MY SOUP
neophyte non-apple user:"is yours the big one"
me:"yes it is sweetheart, come over to my place and let me show it to you"
nnu:"what about mini-me?"
me:"there's nothing mini about it"
etc. . . . . .
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
You all should be more than lucky with your prices in the U.S.
Here in Austria the 17'' PowerBook in Standard-Apple-Web-Store-Edition makes 4198,80 EUR, compared to only 3299,00 US $ in the U.S. Apple-Store...
Pricing for all other gadgets is similar. I don't see where these 900 EUR difference should come from since actually (due to Irak-Crisis) the Euro has a significantly higher value than U.S. Dollar. So the above mentioned 17'' PowerBook should be around 3000 EUR...
I call this discrimination!!
nnu: "Say, you look like you know something about computers...why don't you fix my computer while I go out on lunch and fuck my boyfriend who incidently doesn't make coy comparisons between his laptop and his prick."
me: "heh, heh...oh"
My guess is they get the parts from Asia, ship them to California for completion and then ship to Europe. Plus it's my understanding you have that dumbass VAT to pay as well.
Why should apple take the loss? You want cheaper Apples move to the USA. Otherwise just enjoy the Eastern-Block.
I guess I was a fairly wrong.... Thank's for VAT information...
I am in that same boat with you. I took a different job at work and in the process had to swap my 15" TiBook 500 for a BW G3 350. Ouch! The good news is, it's obviously so old that they want to replace it for me and I convinced them to get me a 15" PowerBook.
Here's the tricky part. The money's there, I could put the order in on Monday. But I do not want to find out that I just missed the 15" AlBook by a week. On the other hand, the money is budgeted for this fiscal year ending July 1. So if the 15" AlBook doesn't appear until MacWorld July...then I'd be forced to buy a 15" TiBook in mid-june and would have waited all that time for nothing.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
As the Mac forums posters usually say, a Mac in the hand is worth two on a rumors site. It's usually better to go for it.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
Yeah I know. Jesus, if I had a dollar for every time I myself have told a user that... But knowing that I'd be living with sub-standard wireless range, no bluetooth, no firewire 800...not just today but for the next 3-4 years...somehow that makes me want to wait. I mean I know damned well that the current 15" models will be replaced between now and July. It's just a question of when.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
I've got my $$$ saved and READY for that new 15" pb...
Apple laptops are effectively unusable for unix users.
I am a long-time Unix user. That means I need to have the Ctrl key to the left of the A key. This is a genuine need, not merely a want; it is based upon ergonomics. The Ctrl key is heavily used in unix, and it must be easily accessable. It cannot be off in the lower left corner of the keyboard where it is difficult to get at, and where it distorts the position of your left hand such that you can't easily type other keys while holding the Ctrl key down.
Apple desktop keyboards are now all USB. They are all OK. The CapsLock key can be re-mapped into a Ctrl key.
Unfortunately, even in this modern age, all Apple laptops have built-in ADB keyboards. The ADB keyboard is broken-by-design. It is, in general, not possible to remap the CapsLock key into a Ctrl key.
There are some exceptions, but they are horrible kludges. They are horrible kludges because the original design of the ADB keyboard was a horrible kludge. The correct solution would be for Apple to re-design their laptop motherboards to use built-in USB keyboards. This hasn't happened yet. If you run Linux, use Debian's solution. For Mac OS X users, uControl works. There are no solutions (that I know of) for either NetBSD or OpenBSD. Please note once again that the "solutions" above are in fact kludges, because of the original bad design of the ADB keyboard.
Apple provides a technical note on how to remap the keyboard, but provides no solution to the hardware problems caused by the design of the ADB keyboard. This tech note helps foreign language users, but does nothing for the CapsLock/Ctrl problem.
Apple is (currently) ignoring Unix users! This is not merely speculation on my part. In an on-going email exchange I am having with an Apple employee (whom I won't name) in their marketing department, the Apple marketing person directly stated to me that Apple was catering to their historic Mac customers, and is purposely ignoring the Unix market. He also claimed that Apple would soon start paying more attention to the Unix market. I won't hold my breath. Apple has been ignoring Unix users for more than 12 years. I expect that trend to continue.
Apple has now lost two opportunities to sell me hardware. I really wanted an Apple laptop for their superior battery life, and for the PowerPC with Altivec CPU. (The Altivec is vastly superior to the x86 line for DSP.) Because I can't live with the broken-by-design built-in ADB keyboard in all Apple laptops, Sony and IBM sold me laptops instead. If Apple fixes this problem, they will sell me a PowerBook next year; if they don't, I'll still be running OpenBSD on x86 hardware, and wishing I could use a Mac.
No, really, I mean, much funnier than its parent!
For us Europeans there are only 3 ways of buying a cheaper Mac.
1/ Fly to Andorra or Jersey (good deal with the Euro at 1.46 to the pounds)and buy VAT free
2/ Fly to the US and get an adaptor(in the US the guarantee is only 3 months against 1 year over here)
3/ If the company you work for, happen to have a deal in place with its IT supplier you can get a little something off the price (100 pounds off a G4 tower for me)
Any other Idea?
If I were you, I'd buy the 15" now. In my experience, it's always better to have the last of a generation rather than the first. Even if the 15" AlBook is the best laptop in the world, it will have some wrinkles associated with it. I'd rather own the 1GHz 15" Ti, which is practically perfect (I own the 667/DVI Ti, which is identical in most respects - only exceptions being the processor, video card which was bumped to a Radeon Mobility 9000, and the SuperDrive). Believe me, it's impossible to regret buying a TiBook.
After having spent top-dollar on a 400 Mhz G3 B&W desktop way back when, I'd have to agree with you. Although I am still running the machine daily at home, I can't get around the fact that I replaced the HD twice and finally went with a 3rd party IDE controller to bypass the nasty one built onto the motherboard.
Still, there are known issues with the existing 15" powerbook. Wireless range, for example. It's just not up to par with either the iBook, new PowerBooks or with 3rd party cards.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?