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Apple Updates iBook Line With G4 Processor
Kyro writes "Apple today upgraded their iBook notebook range across the board to G4 processors, Airport Extreme, bluetooth, USB 2.0, and slot-loading combo drives. All models ship with Mac OS X 10.3, and the 12" model gets a 800Mhz G4 while the 14" models get a choice of 933Mhz or 1Ghz. Prices largely remain the same as the old G3 versions." Mwongozi adds "Although not announced on the front page, the Apple Store was updated just a few minutes ago to show the new iBook."
If pices are the same, why would I pay the premium for a Powerbook? Obviously, with the 17", the screen of course, but for the 12" and 15" I'm not sure if a $500+ markup is worth it.
The reason this is slashdot front-page material is that they moved from g3 to g4. Historically this is a biggish thing.
Basically the difference between g3 and g4 is so great that this is a big deal. Up until now, the question has been, do you go with the iBooks and save a bunch of money, but suffer; or spend a "premium" and get the leaps-ahead g4. This has been one of the biggest problems with recommending a mac laptop to someone-- they couldn't get an acceptable processor at a cheap price.
Now even Apple's bargain-basement laptops have the vastly superior g4.
This is also significant because if I am not TOTALLY confused, this means that the g3 is no longer being used in any products whatsoever anywhere. It is dead. Salute. The retiring of an entire chip line is perhaps somewhat significant on a geek site.
This is a necessary move for Apple to reclaim some market share.
I'm only going to say this once.
Nobody gives a damn about Apple's share of the entire computer market. Does anybody care about Mercedes's share of the entire automotive industry? Of course not.
Apple, like any company, has target market segments. First-time home computer buyers in upper-middle-income brackets; first-time laptop buyers in same; students; teachers; creative professionals; science and technical users. Among these market segments, Apple's share is just fine, thanks.
Apple doesn't sell well to people who already own computers and who make under $75,000 per year per household. So freakin' what? That's not their target market. Just like Mercedes doesn't sell well to single people under the age of 25.
Now that you've been educated, kindly slink back under your bridge, you troll.
i was minutes away from buying a g3 ibook for my wife yesterday, but decided to wait. by this morning i'd talked myself into it and went to the apple site. holy jebus, for an extra $100, she's [i'm] getting a g4 with twice the memory and the combo drive built in!
!(^((ri)|(mp))aa$)
My bet is they're about to put G5's in the PB line. But that would be pretty shocking. To go from desktop to laptop that quickly??? That's not like Apple, unless I'm forgetting something.
;)
I think you're forgetting that it's the year of the laptop..
And I think you'll see speed revs before (or in lockstep with) price drops, given that they said 3GHz in 2004 is realistic..
And listen, the stock G5 may dissipate lots of power at 2ghz, but don't be surprised if Apple comes up with an interesting cooling scheme, runs the chip at lower speeds, and basically sells it as a desktop replacement ala desktop P4 laptops..
It is just curious to see that Apple is not using the latest MPC7447 G4s (those found inside the newest Powerbooks) but the oldest MPC7445 , which include only 256K cache and generate more heat as they are produced with an 0.18 u technology (as opposed to the 0.13 u of the 47s)
The only reason I could see is, apart from differentating the models in terms of cache size, the future transition to G5 in the Powerbooks and G4-7447s in the iBooks.
"I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems"
Shity File System? - use a Windows machine all day for three months straight using at least 5 different memory and processor intensive programs a day and see how long it takes you to start getting fatal errors (that is of course unless you want to use your Pentium Pro 200 to defrag - cause that'll be REAL fast)
Blue Screen of Death? - I'd rather have it run slow for a bit than lose everything. Save often? I shouldnt have to!!
We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
If you bought it within the last 30 days, you'll get some money back if you ask. I bought a G4 desktop 5 days before the G5 was released, and I got $700 back from Apple. That's why I usually buy hardware from the Apple Store directly...you get perks like that. Either way, it's worth a call...
My
I actually had my wife considering an iBook for her next laptop, because she wanted iTunes. But now that she's got iTunes on her existing (Windows) laptop, there will be no iminent iBook purchase.
Thanks Mr. Jobs.
MORTAR COMBAT!
I was considering buying one of these yesterday, but decided to wait a week to see if I can find something better. Glad I did now :)
One thing I would like to ask those who have an iBook already: What's the battery life like? It sayed 6 hours in the UK Apple store for the pre-G4 12" version, which would be amazing if it was true. They've changed it to the rather vague "extra-long battery life" for the G4 version.
Perhaps you speak of the newer IBM Thinkpads that were basically designed and built in Taiwan by Acer. However, the Thinkpads that were IBM-designed and built in IBM-owned facilities *are* that tough.
I just plunked down three bills to get myself an off-lease 600E. The thing is *built*. The finish is completely coated in a rubberized coating so that even french-fry fingers won't slip. It seems to be made with a metal frame and plastic shell over the metal. Even though the thing only weighs 5 pounds, it feels very, very solid. (Yeah, I know there are much lighter lappies out there but this is the lightest one I have ever owned.)
Oh yeah...this is the only IBM Thinkpad that Big Blue took the trouble to get Linux certified. Here's a link to an old /. article about it.. The big gripe in the article was about how everything but the modem worked. Guess what: IBM did write and release Linux drivers for the MWave modem in this model! It took them a while, but they are out there now.
You can get 600Es cheap at Computer Geeks and at other places that sell off-lease Thinkpads...I suspect the reason why they are all over the place now is because they were popular around the apex of the Dot-bomb boom, and now there's a glut because so many of the folks who were carrying those around are now baristas at Starbucks. ^_^
Oh yeah, to pull this back on topic: the only thing built tougher than a Thinkpad is a PowerBook. Ph33r the mighty Wallstreet/Lombard/Pismo...those are tough mofos. Same with the iToiletSeat iMacs...those were designed with K-12 students in mind, just like the legendary eMate NewtonOS device. Even the old 100-series PowerBooks are tough as nails. And everyone I know with an Ice iBook has stories of how durable their iBook is.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Some macs are equipped with two DIMM slots, a dealer slot and an user accessible slot. Downgrading the RAM may decrease the maximum memory the computer can hold.
I was about to scream when I saw the 12" G4 iBook for $1100. I paid $1200 for a refurbed 12" 867Mhz PB (Direct from Apple, got a 20GB iPod for $270, too!). Then I realized that if I added the bluetooth module (yes, I use it) and bumped the HD to 40GB (what I have in the PB), it would only be about $25 cheaper. I'm not upset now. I'd still buy the refurbed PB for the slight speed bump and cool design.
This is too little, too late for Apple. They're dying, and everyone sees it except the Mac users themselves.
This is a funny statement. I'm not entirely sure why. It's something like a Roman Centurion around 200 AD saying "Christianity is dying. I mean, why shell out for one god when you can have a whole pantheon, and with significantly fewer commandments to follow!"
Hey freaks: now you're ju
im a fourth year CS student with an iBook 800. my university does alot with Java/C, so it works great. my wireless connection 'just works' inside thier building, everything compiles fine, etc.
;)
/will/ come up and talk to you, at least about that really cool laptop your using. as a first year college student that's a big plus!
everyone else with a laptop brings it to class, but thier all PCs. one day in a lecture, i got the pleasure of watching one laptop infected with that blaster worm propgate itself across the whole room while my iBook was unaffected. sucks for the i guess - i din't have to go all frantic.
in my networking class it's much nicer to have a laptop that 'just works' with a unix terminal instead of a 486 whose ISA nice card might be working today.
the only software i haven't been able to run is MS Project in my project management class last summer.
i think you'd really like OSX, and the price of this new G4 ibook is great. i wish i had a G4, but i'll do with a G3
also, there's something else an iBook can give you. i shit you not, but i have had those hot asian girls come up to me because of my iBook and start talking to me (normally i can guarantee you they wouldn't have.) iBooks/PBs stand out - they're lookers. if you use one in public, people
I already had a PC based DAW (digital audio worksation). But decided upon swithing back to the Mac with the ibook. One of the main reasons I chose the iBook over a Powerbook was because of how quiet they are. When you're recording classical guitar with a sensitive condenser microphone-it's nice not pick up the sound of a computer. Most of the time my iBook 700 is as quiet as can be. My Athlon box, on the other hand, generates huge amounts of heat and fan noise. Even the turbulence of the air coming out of the back of the pc generates a huge amount of noise.
Now i am really screwed. I was almost decided to buy the 12" powerbook and now i could get 2 inches bigger screen with the same ram and cpu ghz for 100$ less.
Which one should i get? My current laptop has 12" too so screen size doesn't matter that much (both have the same resolutions anyway)
I dont think i will be using the video output.
I care most about raw speed of the laptop, since i have read that mac laptops are slow and i should get at least 512mb ram.
A 1ghz mac laptop would be the equivalent of what pc's cpu speed?
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
At least one iteration of the iMac G4 (700/800 Mhz) is equipped with both a "logic board slot" and a "user accessible slot". It is possible to upgrade memory in the logic board slot without taking the machine to the dealer, but it will void the warranty.
My dual USB ibook has only one DIMM slot. It also came with 128 Megs soldered onto the logic board.
No. All Powerbooks were upgraded last month. September 16, IIRC. It'll be a while for another upgrade.
I'm sure the new G5 PBs will come out only a few days after I get my new G4 PB.
--
dman123 forever!
Filtering out the -1s and 0s since 1999.
If you look at the "Technical Specifications" page for the new iBooks, you'll notice there is NO mention of the "Velocity Engine". Same for the new "G4" eMac.
Any other Technical Specifications page for any other "G4" Apple offers, they say "with Velocity Engine".
I am afraid the iBook and eMac may not *have* a "Velocity Engine", or Apple would advertise it, wouldn't they ? These might be IBM chips, but they are not IBM chips with "Altivec". They may be "G4" in name only, i.e. we're marketing guys, we're willing to call it "G4" just because it's over 800 Mhz... this totally sucks if it's the case. I hope I'm wrong and Apple updates the Tech Specs to include mention of Velocity Engine, but I am afraid that Apple might have just stooped to the level of other hardware companies here.
I was viewing the specs and I noticed that the battery was listed as a 50w/h on the 12.1" iBook, as opposed to a 41w/h on the 12" PowerBook. In the past, I know PowerBooks had bigger batteries than iBooks. Does anyone with a G3 iBook know how much theirs is?
My Systems
The 15" Powerbook also features factory defects, such as a poorly designed casing behind the LCD panel, causing pressure on it to form white splotches in the middle of the screen.
Right now, I think anyone would be a fool to buy one. People who just received theirs are having these screen problems in as little as the first few days to 1 week of use. Apple was doing warranty replacements, but so far, the replacements had the same issues as the originals.
(To Apple's credit, though, many of the Apple support people are starting to admit they're aware of the problem - and some new orders for 15" Powerbooks have stopped shipping. It looks like some sort of fix is in the works.)