Because it would ruin the entire Apple user experience of "it just works" that they can deliver on their own hardware platform. They'd be years behind Windows in driver compatibility, simply because they haven't had the legacy Windows has had in developing it.
Not to mention, hardware is where they really make their money. Everyone would probably just end up pirating the OS, anyway:)
No L3... 256k L2 cache. Find me a Pentium/Centrino with L3 cache and you've got a valid point. Udderwize...
and on top of everything else lacks several legacy ports it abandons in favour of firewire and USB.
Uhh... That spells "modern laptop" moreso than a big bulky, ugly 9 Lb monster with parallel and PS2 ports... You're conveniently ignoring 802.11g as well...
In that perspective, it's struggling to stay a competitive deal even if it dropped another $100
Re:not bad
by
Steve+Cowan
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
You can poo-poo the 1024x768 screen on the 12" PowerBook, but to my knowledge there is no higher resolution 12" display on a notebook anywhere. If you want higher resolution you need a bigger notebook. This is the right trade-off in my opinion, because things would start getting pretty tiny at higher res on a 12".
Also check the Apple PDF Datasheet on the 12", you'll see that the drive is stated to write at 24x, not 2x as you suggest. (I just checked, and interestingly the Apple Store page says the drive writes at 8x. Weird, but still faster than 2x.)
Re:not bad
by
NotoriousQ
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I have a Fujitsu P2000 series.....
10 inches screen, 1280x768 res. Low latency and high contrast ratio too. Looks great.
It could be too small....But then just crank up the DPI rating, and it will work perfectly. Product site
The only laptop I was considering over this one was the powerbook. The fujitsu won based on the price.....
-- badness 10000
How about the rest of the world.
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Unfortunately the Australian PB prices still seem to be as high as they ever were. Not only has out dollar climbed in value against the US since the PB12 was released, and Apple have dropped the price of the PB12, we should be seeing some awesome savings, like with the eMac and iBook, both of which recently dropped quite a bit.
I'm looking buying a new mac soon. It would be tempting to go for a PB12 if they dropped as much as they should in price.,
Re:How about the rest of the world.
by
questamor
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Holy crap there's a disparity there.
$1599US for a powerbook12 is $2451 australian, with a direct currency conversion - something that will always be under the real cost due to importing, our taxes etc.
Still, the Australian base powerbook12 is $3995. $1500+ difference.
bah!
Education Prices
by
Pirogoeth
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
If you're eligible, the Education Store has them for only $1499!
-- Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
Upgrades pending?
by
Jeff+Kelly
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Seems to me like Apple is going to upgrade some of their Powerbooks in the near future. 15'' PBs are nearly sold out and are hard to get.
I have been waiting for a very long time now for Apple to upgrade the 15'' PB to an AI Model with Bluetooth and Airport Extreme. But now it won't probably be long until I get my PB and iPod. (My precious)
Regards
Christian
Re:Upgrades pending?
by
shayborg
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I have been waiting for a very long time now for Apple to upgrade the 15'' PB to an AI Model with Bluetooth and Airport Extreme...
The HalBook? Might be interesting...;-) (I think you meant Al with a small letter L, not AI.)
If you are informed enough to ask a question like that, you shouldn't have to ask a question like that. Anyway, the rumor mill has been going full steam after months of, well, nothing. Here is the latest...
Yes, conflicting reports... But it's always safe to assume that when Apple lowers prices, their main goal is to clear out inventory for a new or updated model.
--
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
Now, why doesn't Apple make OSX for x86 machines ?
I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but everyone, repeat after me:
Because Apple is a hardware company!
Selling OS X for x86 machines would cut into their margins, encourage their competitors, and there's simply no way they could survive as an OS-only vendor (remember BeOS? That was a lot better than Windows, too).
Re:Down From What?
by
questamor
·
· Score: 4, Informative
While the article doesn't mention it, macnn's story on the price drop does.
If it's 2x DVD-R, then you are correct - Apple has DVD burners in their laptops - something that few (any?) PC laptops have.
If you're talking about CD writing speed, it's bollocks - my iBook is a year old and has an 8x combo CD burner. The newer iBooks have 16x burners - I see no reason that the powerbook would have a 2x burner.
If it was a typo and you meant to type "24x" and call it slow, then you're just impatient. I doubt there's much point putting a burner of that speed in a laptop - the faster you spin the disc, the more battery you use doing so.
You also note that it "lacks several legacy ports in favour of firewire and USB" as if this is a bad thing. I don't want a paralell port or an RS232 port on my laptop. I'm sure there are people who do need these ports, for them there are two options - buy a PC laptop or buy an adapter. There's no reason to include them on 98.7654% of modern laptops*.
* 88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot.
Yellowdog Linux for your old Macs an option...
by
SYFer
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
"What do us people with old powerbooks do?"
Well, one suggestion might be to give it a new, longer period of usefulness by loading Yellowdog Linux, but that strategy may well not suit your needs as you may require certain OS X apps.
In my case, I primarily use a current generation tower with OS-X loaded--this is needed for my work. I also happen to have an old G3 Firewire laptop laying around that is about to go Yellowdog. Since it only has 128 megs of RAM, its not really a good candidate for OS X (and I won't put any more money into it at this point).
It is currently doing duty as my "legacy" OS 9 machine and I use it to run the 2 or 3 remaining pesky OS 9 apps that I have not/can not upgrade to OS X. And I no longer even care to run "classic" on my main machine.
The minute those apps are no longer needed, that old laptop will get a new lease on life running Yellowdog which does very well with older Macs. Then I'll be able to run more meaningful apps like GIMP (and hopefully even filmGIMP).
This is a great solution because instead of becoming increasingly meaningless (OS 9) or redundant (and underpowered) as an OS X machine, it will now fulfill a unique and useful roll in my studio.
To find out more, visit hwww.yellowdoglinux.com of course.
-- "...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
Still using my 400 MHz G4 PowerBook & still loving it more than I ever did any of my PC laptops--no matter how fast they were.
It feels so good finally being content with something.
I look back to the foolishness of my former self with pity; I was never satisfied with my laptop. Somehow I thought that new hardware or a new OS would fix my problems. Somehow I kept at this for years, searching for the right laptop. I became a computing nomad--jumping from laptop to laptop, thinking that maybe my issues would be solved with the latest hardware. And jumping from OS to OS--from Windows to Suse to Debian to Mandrake to OpenBSD to FreeBSD... on and on. I couldn't find anything that really fit my needs.
I find that it wasn't really speed I needed all those years I was on the MHz treadmill--it was just a computer that worked the way it was supposed to.
I'm quite happy with what I have, and for the first time, I know I'll be using a computer until it dies its natural death. For the first time I can concentrate on getting things done rather than that gaggle of concerns and problems I had to think about before I could even start a project.
So, I've found out first-hand what people with old PowerBooks do--a lot more than people with old PC laptops.
Slashdot Mirror
Damnit.! They had to go do that a month after I bought mine.
(got a 12", love the little sucker. So small and light, goes with me everywhere)
This
Because it would ruin the entire Apple user experience of "it just works" that they can deliver on their own hardware platform. They'd be years behind Windows in driver compatibility, simply because they haven't had the legacy Windows has had in developing it.
:)
Not to mention, hardware is where they really make their money. Everyone would probably just end up pirating the OS, anyway
Chris -- http://www.bitter.net/
I'm no fan of Apple by an means of the imagination, but $1599's pretty decent and a heck of a lot more affordable than a tablet.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
Unfortunately the Australian PB prices still seem to be as high as they ever were. Not only has out dollar climbed in value against the US since the PB12 was released, and Apple have dropped the price of the PB12, we should be seeing some awesome savings, like with the eMac and iBook, both of which recently dropped quite a bit.
I'm looking buying a new mac soon. It would be tempting to go for a PB12 if they dropped as much as they should in price.,
If you're eligible, the Education Store has them for only $1499!
Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
Seems to me like Apple is going to upgrade some of their Powerbooks in the near future. 15'' PBs are nearly sold out and are hard to get.
I have been waiting for a very long time now for Apple to upgrade the 15'' PB to an AI Model with Bluetooth and Airport Extreme. But now it won't probably be long until I get my PB and iPod. (My precious)
Regards
Christian
Makes you wonder why the Combo Drive iBook is still $1,299 base...
I hate Grammar Nazi's
"What do us people with old powerbooks do?"
:)"
:-D
Um, use them?
"I want to finance a nice sexy 15.4" Aluminium PowerBook (coming out real soon) or a nice PowerMac PPC970 (G5?) Tower, with 64bit Panther
I also want $UNANNOUNCED_PRODUCT!
(These jokes may not be as funny as I think they are. The coffee pot's still churning this morning.)
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
If you are informed enough to ask a question like that, you shouldn't have to ask a question like that. Anyway, the rumor mill has been going full steam after months of, well, nothing. Here is the latest...
RIP G4???
G4 iBook???
Yes, conflicting reports... But it's always safe to assume that when Apple lowers prices, their main goal is to clear out inventory for a new or updated model.
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
Now, why doesn't Apple make OSX for x86 machines ?
I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but everyone, repeat after me:
Because Apple is a hardware company!
Selling OS X for x86 machines would cut into their margins, encourage their competitors, and there's simply no way they could survive as an OS-only vendor (remember BeOS? That was a lot better than Windows, too).
While the article doesn't mention it, macnn's story on the price drop does.
The prices are:
12" Combo drive PowerBook - $1,599 ($200 drop)
12" SuperDrive PowerBook - $1,799 ($200 drop)
15" Combo drive PowerBook - $1,999 ($300 drop)
15" SuperDrive PowerBook - $2,599 ($200 drop).
Nice drop on the 15" combo drive powerbook.
What media are you talking about there?
If it's 2x DVD-R, then you are correct - Apple has DVD burners in their laptops - something that few (any?) PC laptops have.
If you're talking about CD writing speed, it's bollocks - my iBook is a year old and has an 8x combo CD burner. The newer iBooks have 16x burners - I see no reason that the powerbook would have a 2x burner.
If it was a typo and you meant to type "24x" and call it slow, then you're just impatient. I doubt there's much point putting a burner of that speed in a laptop - the faster you spin the disc, the more battery you use doing so.
You also note that it "lacks several legacy ports in favour of firewire and USB" as if this is a bad thing. I don't want a paralell port or an RS232 port on my laptop. I'm sure there are people who do need these ports, for them there are two options - buy a PC laptop or buy an adapter. There's no reason to include them on 98.7654% of modern laptops*.
* 88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot.
"What do us people with old powerbooks do?"
Well, one suggestion might be to give it a new, longer period of usefulness by loading Yellowdog Linux, but that strategy may well not suit your needs as you may require certain OS X apps.
In my case, I primarily use a current generation tower with OS-X loaded--this is needed for my work. I also happen to have an old G3 Firewire laptop laying around that is about to go Yellowdog. Since it only has 128 megs of RAM, its not really a good candidate for OS X (and I won't put any more money into it at this point).
It is currently doing duty as my "legacy" OS 9 machine and I use it to run the 2 or 3 remaining pesky OS 9 apps that I have not/can not upgrade to OS X. And I no longer even care to run "classic" on my main machine.
The minute those apps are no longer needed, that old laptop will get a new lease on life running Yellowdog which does very well with older Macs. Then I'll be able to run more meaningful apps like GIMP (and hopefully even filmGIMP).
This is a great solution because instead of becoming increasingly meaningless (OS 9) or redundant (and underpowered) as an OS X machine, it will now fulfill a unique and useful roll in my studio.
To find out more, visit hwww.yellowdoglinux.com of course.
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
who the hell looks at a laptop as an investment?
Actually, the PowerMac I bought in January 2000 can't possibly have dropped as much in value as the tech-stocks i sold have done since.
Somewhere in the heavens... they are waiting.
Still using my 400 MHz G4 PowerBook & still loving it more than I ever did any of my PC laptops--no matter how fast they were.
It feels so good finally being content with something.
I look back to the foolishness of my former self with pity; I was never satisfied with my laptop. Somehow I thought that new hardware or a new OS would fix my problems. Somehow I kept at this for years, searching for the right laptop. I became a computing nomad--jumping from laptop to laptop, thinking that maybe my issues would be solved with the latest hardware. And jumping from OS to OS--from Windows to Suse to Debian to Mandrake to OpenBSD to FreeBSD... on and on. I couldn't find anything that really fit my needs.
I find that it wasn't really speed I needed all those years I was on the MHz treadmill--it was just a computer that worked the way it was supposed to.
I'm quite happy with what I have, and for the first time, I know I'll be using a computer until it dies its natural death. For the first time I can concentrate on getting things done rather than that gaggle of concerns and problems I had to think about before I could even start a project.
So, I've found out first-hand what people with old PowerBooks do--a lot more than people with old PC laptops.
Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us