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New PowerBooks, Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse
no_demons writes "This morning Apple iCEO Steve Jobs gave the keynote at the Apple Expo in Paris. The whole PowerBook line up got an upgrade, with the 15" model now sporting the much rumoured goods (1.25GHz, backlit keyboard, bluetooth, Airport Extreme), available from today. Apple also announced a new wireless keyboard and mouse."
Is it just me, or does the new wireless keyboard looks a lot like the old "Cassie" keyboard prototype? (white, almost frameless)
--
-Sid
OK. I switched (back) to Apple this year (in Feb) for many reasons, one of which was innovation.
Where's the innovation here? The mouse *still* has only one button (yeah, go ahead, start the button wars flame game) and, while the mouse has rechargable batteries, neither the kbd or mouse has a "dock" to plug in to so they can be recharged easily.
And, at ~140.00USD MSRP (more if you don't have a bluetooth-disabled Mac) for the Apple combo, it seems like the Logitech bundle would be a better choice.
Since Apple used bluetooth, they could have at least done something extra with the kbd (like add a mini-tablet area or speakers or *something*).
I sincerely hope this isn't the beginning of a (bad) trend.
Mind the gap...
The notes say the keyboard uses encryption. I'm a little curious how the key is shared between the keyboard and the computer? At first I thought it might use a standard USB cable to connect to the computer and maybe charge rechargeable batteries, (seems like a good idea!) but it does say "no cables". Maybe you have to type a key in that's presented on the setup control panel? Although I suppose it could be exchanging keys with PGP or other public key technology.
It'd also be a nice touch if they'd have put USB ports on the keyboard, that could "tunnel" through the bluetooth back to the computer. Sure it's slow, but if you happen to have some other peripherals like a touchpad or multibutton mouse etc., that'd be a nice way to deal with some of the cord issues while maintaining compatibility with existing non-bluetooth peripherals.
Kudos to Apple though on a bluetooth optical mouse + bluetooth enabled laptop. I don't use an external mouse on my powerbook, but I can see this as "one less cable to plug in" when getting the 'book out of the bag. As it is, when I arrive home I plug in my speakers, ethernet (yes, I have 802 but cable is faster), firewire (for my pod), and power.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
is this a real bluetooth keyboard unlike microsofts where they paired via hardware Apple might have done in it software...
can you use the keyboard with a t68i ?
regards
John Jones
These are not Pro keyboards! We need a PRO keyboard (and a multiple-button scroll mouse to boot) now.
And please make it match the feel of the new Powerbook-keyboards and aluminum-colored!
"I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
>overpriced, plain and simple
A commodity is only overpriced if one of two things is true:
1) It does not sell.
2) You have reliable evidence that a lower price point would have increased your earnings (note I did not say "unit sales").
We don't know if these things will sell yet. Simply.
In absence of evidence whether they will sell at *this* price point, we *certainly* don't have evidence that they would make more money by selling it at a lower price point.
You think they are overpriced? Don't buy them. For me personally it wouldn't matter whether they sold them at $20,000 or $5+S&H: I don't have a use for them.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Probably not because of the secure channel, but it's pretty much a given that someone will make some drivers for it. Watch versiontracker - sounds like a new project for Jonas Salling who made the3 ever so useful Salling Clicker for the t68i phone.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Actually the Pro Keyboard I got with my Powermac G4 THREE years ago has a seperate island for those keys. Apple's keyboards have had a standard layout for a while now.
"Apple has made setting up Bluetooth devices as simple as turning them on and clicking through an intuitive setup assistant. The mouse and keyboard are no exception: The new combined Keyboard and Mouse system preference panel includes a Bluetooth tab that lets you set up your new wireless mouse and keyboard in a snap."
does this not bring into mind the classic x86 BIOS message "Error 5: keyboard not FOUND. [press F1 to continue]"
seriously though, wireless USB protocol keyboards frighten me due to your keystrokes being transmitted in "plain sight." how is bluetooth and the 128-bit encryption any different? are there plans to allow a single bluetooth keyboard to work with many different computers (i.e. for administration just hit a switch on the device and you can flip to a different channel or something).
sure, use this wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, but to get either working initially we're gonna have to require that you use mental psychokinetic rays for dialog navigation. i'm sure somebody has the real scoop on this
so what it is?
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
When the old 12" powerbook came out, a major issue of contention was that the G4 was losing a significant chunk of its performance advantage over the G3, because it didn't have the 1 meg of L3 cache (google cache link) that the rest of the powerbook line came with.
My first thought about these updates was "maybe apple has finally put some L3 cache in the 12" model!" But when I went to check it out, they had removed every mention of L3 cache on their pages. I doubt that they took the cache OUT of the larger models, so is this just an attempt at obfuscation by no longer mentioning the cache, or did they finally equalize the chipset?
Bluetooth is built-in to a lot of the current Apple laptops already....with wireless mice, you need a USB-based "base station" or dongle.
;-)
And if you think Bluetooth has 'more bandwidth', you might want to look at the specs
-psy
Anyone who's been waiting for this update knows that it is at least a couple of months overdue. The common concensus in the Mac community is that it's MOT's fault for not getting processors to them fast enough. There's a good chance they couldn't get enough of the 1.33MHz chips to put in both lines, so they only put it in the high end. I'm sure Apple would like to have released a faster one, since everyone's also assuming the next iteration will have G5's in them.
Nice. great GPU. Frankly I couldn't care less about 100Mhz more or less CPU-clock wise.
:-(
One question, however: does anyone know if the drivers for the R300 series are (or will be) available for PowerPC?
iirc, the R300 has a binary-only DRI/xfree86 module for x86. Fine, but do they have it for PPC?
I know nVidia couldn't care less about linux/ppc - I wonder if ATI does (doubt it, for fear of pissing off Apple maybe?)
I'm also assuming the Airport Extreme card is still unsupported in Linux? That's not a big deal if you have a cardbus slot like on the 15" and 17", but it is a big deal on the 12" - having no wireless support whatsoever in Linux would be a bummer. (And I doubt you can put an old Airport card in them - if I remember correctly they didn't have the same interface)
Oh, and don't give me "MacOSX is at least as good as Linux" - It may be true, but I'd like to have a choice, if at all possible. There's a lot of Linux programs I've grown used to, and Fink, while good, doesn't cut it compared to Debian for instance.
It's hard to find a decent laptop. I wish the 12" came out with the ATI Radeon 9200.
Right now I'm hesitating between the Apple AlBook 15" and the Sony TR1 series. They both have issues with Linux though.
Did anyone else notice that the stock 80 GB HD is 4200 RPM - almost 30% slower than the 80 GB 5400 RPM HD Option(+$125)?
Is this lame? How much does it matter performance-wise?
The mouse requires lithium AAs, which are insanely expensive ($2.50 each, compared to maybe $0.30 for Alkalines), and not widely available (very few manufacturers are making these). Lithium AAs have a higher voltage than alkalines (1.8v vs. 1.5v), and NiMH rechargables are even lower (1.2-1.3v) so the chances of rechargables working well is VERY slim.
Oh, and another thing, the screen is excellent. Probably the best laptop screen I've seen
I guess you haven't seen the WUXGA screens now shipping on HP/Compaq nx7000/x1000 or Dell's widescreen laptops. 1920x1200 resolution, 15.2 diagonal. I can't believe that Apple hasn't shipped a better screen than 1280x854 on it's 15 inch model. My 15.2inch HP has more pixels than the 17inch Powerbook! The picture is amazing. As a side note, the company that makes the Powerbooks for Apple (Compal), is the same one that makes those HP/Compaq notebooks, so I was half expecting 1920x1200 on the new Powerbook, what a let down...
Intel transfer the difficult from Hadware to software, for get more power, programmer need more technology. -- chinaitn
I think yellow dog supports it out of the box. Not sure but u had a story somewhere of a site that was offering yellow dog preinstalled along with/without OS X . I forget the link but i think it was on slashdot. There was a also some review where theguy was actaully surprised that his airport card worked just fine. I think as yellow dog optimizes their config for apple's machines, everything should work out tof the a box. And they have yum as well. It hink it should be the ultimate combination especially if u are looking for a linux laptop.
You won't see the G5 in a laptop for quite a while, maybe never. IBM is working on building a G3 with parts of the G5 SIMD logic (or compatible logic). What you'll see is that the G4 as we know it, the 7XXX series, will die. The 750+SIMD and the 970 will be Apple's chips.
Remember that the G5 comes from the Power4, which was NEVER designed to be a low-power/low-heat CPU, it will NEVER be as suitable for laptop use as the 750-series will. Even with a major die-shrink and voltage drop, the G5 will STILL put out much more heat than the G4 did, and even that was too much.
Don't worry though, I'm sure IBM will be using a lot of what they developed for the G5 in the 'mojave' G3s. They might even be marketed as G4s or G5-mobiles because they will have roughly the same features.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
While I applaud the steps in the right direction regarding Bluetooth support, I'm a little disappointed over the lack of G5's in the new Powerbooks. Yes, I know, cooling issues. But after reading all the reports from *The Register* about them being in production, this is a let down. I guess this is a way for Apple to squeeze a little more life out of the G4 before introducing G5 PowerBooks. The Apple G4's for the PowerBook and iMac (1.25 Ghz) are now at the baseline clock frequency of the PPC970, although Apple started out at the higher 1.6 frequency for the PowerMac. It would be nice to begin seeing the G3 phased out of the iBooks, and fast.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
I don't even bother with ctrl-click, I just click/hold until the context menu pops up.. I'm never in -that- big of a hurry :)
But on another note, I've never taken issue with 1 mouse button.. it's pretty functional once you get used to it.. Plus my 3 button USB logitech works just fine when i'm at my desk and want a mouse or something with more than 1 button.. Seriously, what's the big deal?
Oh, and boycotting the new powerbooks until they add a second mouse button? That's just silly talk right there. Those powerbooks kick some serious ass, if I had the cash I'd have one on my desk right this minute I don't care if it has 1 mouse button or 10. Right now i'm using a lombard from '99 and it still kicks ass as my primary workstation. I have no issues spending that much coin on a system that's going to last me 4+ years (and still be powerful in 4+ years)
-matt
1) DVI port.
I think its a good solution for Apple in the long run. I simply carry my DVI-2-VGA port in my Brenthaven bag made for my Powerbook. Its one extra thing to forget, so are the power supply, modem and ethernet cables... As a 3D visualization guy, I wish Apple sold their desktops with dual DVI instead of having the propietary ADC. If I where to use Macs to drive two displays or for stereo imaging I'd need one of those damn expensive DVI to ADC adapters(only $99.00). or ADC to DVI ($39.00). Depending on the invested display hardware and usage.
2) One button mouse trackpad
Although, I've complained to the Apple reps numerous times about the lack of substitution from the one button mouse for the desktop models when configuring machines from the online Apple Store, I can see why it isn't feasible to customize the Powerbook to be one, two or even three button trackpad. I simply bought an IBM optical mouse with a scroll wheel and leave that at work. Our chairman has the identical Powerbook I use, but he uses a smaller portable version. IBM optical mouse that works great. Just plugged it in and it works great
NOBODY CARES ABOUT OGG VORBIS.
Right. Just thought I'd share. If you want Ogg support, download it. Nobody else gives a crap.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
My only question I have for you is how can you be tethered by a one button mouse if all the programs are desinged for a one button mouse? Professional-level or not, Apple feels the one button standard is the way to go, and they have since the early days, and won't go back no matter what, so don't keep waiting, go get another laptop with a 2nd button you will never use.
Sig: I stole this sig.
Non-onerously means that they license their technology for a relatively small fee. If you think it's too expensive, that's certainly your prerogative. It is, however, the patent holder's privilege to disagree with you.
Yes, I'd prefer to destroy software/algorithm patents, but the MP3 licenser (Fraunhofer?) doesn't seem to be nearly as unreasonable as some. That's "non-onerous", in my opinion.
The processor and the OS on board the iPod is what I'm glomming under the title of "firmware". I don't know if the MP3/AAC decoding is done by a general purpose DSP (that might be easy to adapt to OGG decoding) or if it's a hardware decoder, which would require a major hardware revision for what I believe is a pretty irrelevant improvement.
There have been posts elsewhere for how to get ogg playback in iTunes, so knock yourself out. iPod support is a different kettle of fish.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I will quote my favourite MS Story here:
...nothing. No dialogs, no driver installs. Then suddenly, a new icon on the screen! A Bluetooth icon. It worked. Flawlessly. It communicated with my Sony Ericsson t68i AND the Microsoft mouse.
---snip---
Let me tell you the wonderful story of the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse. I got hold of one of these right after Christmas and went home to try it out. As I was putting the CD in the computer, I noticed that i said "MS XP only". I was running 2000 at the time (Now running RedHat 8). OK, so I couldn't use the Bluetooth device on my computer without paying additional MS tax.
OK, so I gave it to a friends girlfriend who had XP on the computer. She couldn't install it, so I went up to her to install the device. I put the CD in the machine and was told that I needed XP SP1 to do this. Fuckin' L. OK. The XP SP1 CD was included was after 30 minutes, it was installed on her computer. Reboot, and try the Bluetooth driver CD again. It seemed to install something but it soon told me that since I did not use the English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish or Swedish language, the drivers could not be installed. (She had Norwegian installed) DAMN IT!
After the failed attempt to get the Microsoft product to work on another Microsoft product, I went to my mother to have a look at her new iBook. I though that just for kicks, I could put the MS Bluetooth dongle in the Mac USB port. So I did, and...
Go figure.
---snip---
I also attended an MS press conference this Monday, where they presented some new stuff. The only thing new about it all was the fact that the scroll wheel tilted sideways as well as scrolled. It was annoying as hell, and the only use I could imagine was for use in Excel spreadsheets, but none of the computers I treid had Excel installed on them.
The rest of the press conference was embarassing, it was just a collection of ripped off ideas like Bluetooth PAN integration (Available in Q2 2004 with Windows SP2) and a new chip in the optical mice, that make them last 6 months on two AAs. Just as long as my Logitech optical, that is.