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PowerBooks & iBooks Get Speed Bumped
Currawong writes "Apple has, as rumors predicted, speed bumped its line of portables. The PowerBooks now come in 1.33 and 1.5Ghz G4 versions, including either NVidia 5200's or Radeon 9700 video hardware. The iBooks can now be had at 1 or 1.2Ghz with Radeon 9200 video included. All can be purchased at the Apple Store. This complements nicely the recent speed and feature increases on the eMac range."
The real question (rumor?) floating around other mac-specific news sites is whether or not this is just to hold us over until the release of G5 notebooks sometime in the not to distant future (January?) A couple interesting threads:
Apple Insider
MacNN
Posting as directed.
seriously, if you are buying an apple laptop with the prospect of playing doom3 or half-life2 you are an idiot. I am not entirely sure if half-life2 is even slated for a mac release. In any case, for a laptop that you are using to do day to day stuff with, then a 5200 is a pretty decent card. If you honestly think you might use it for gaming get a laptop with a 9700. In both cases you are looking a mobile version of these cards which means you are getting a somewhat underpowered card to begin with.
Fear trumps hope and ignorance trumps both
You can usually find good deals on older hardware right around the time that they are about to announce a new model. They just don't offer it to everyone through the Apple Store. Instead, I usually see them advertised in the Mac User's Group store and places that other long time customers have a chance at them.
A caution to anyone who'd likely buy one of these new PowerBooks: may your lap beware!
I own one of the "older" 12" G4 PowerBooks (867 MHz), which I absolutely adore, but it has heat issues. The main heat venting location on the case (that I've found) is the bottom rear of the machine. This means that if you're sitting down with it on your lap and you're wearing shorts, prolonged use (3+ hours) may result in warming to the point of extreme skin discomfort. This isn't usually a problem, though it's something you become aware of after the first couple of times you accidentally scald yourself. With the increase in speed, however, the speedy processor would cause an even higher temperature level, barring a radical change to the way in which heat is vented (which is not apparent from the official specs).
Mercifully (in a way), a semi-recent update changed the fan kick-in temperature to a lower threshold, meaning less built-up heat but a lower battery life. Expect the batteries on the new PowerBooks to not quite last as long as they're listed as, though they'd probably last long enough as is. For a college student like me, just having them last through class so that I can go back to my dorm and plug in for the evening's homework is fine.
I'd still buy one (if I had the money and needed a new computer), though I'd be careful to do most of my work on a table.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
I have the previous version of the 12" PowerBook running at 1ghz and it's noticably faster than my p4 1.5ghz. I'd rate it as feeling about the same as a 2.0ghz p4.
So I'd say the 1.5 would be about a 2.8 or 3.0ghz pentium.
While we're on this topic I'd like to point out that Macs feel much faster than they actually are because of the superb multi tasking and UI response under heavy load.
When I am encoding a video on my Windows machine I can't do anything else on my computer, if I try to click something it takes about 30 seconds for the menu to popup.
On the other hand, my Mac can have 20 apps running and encoding a video at the same time and the UI still responds beautifully.
This is why using a Mac is a great experience, you so rarely get frustrated at it because it just works.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
So on the offchance that you're not trolling:
- Fink isn't developed by Apple, and they have nothing to do with it, aside from some possible back channel help. However, it did not come "included" on your PowerBook, unless you bought it used.
- You can check for a more recent version of fink by: % sudo fink selfupdate
- You don't need to sell your hardware to update your software.
Hope this helps. Welcome to the Mac.--
$tar -xvf
resellers including smalldog.com and macmall.com often offer older models (ones that are totally gone from the apple store) for more reasonable prices.
It's likely they already have feasible prototypes. However, IBM is currently having problems turning out enough G5's just for the towers and XServes. They are not likely to push ahead until they are certain supplies will be maintainable.
And really, the need to handle power/heat issues in a laptop may be causing other problems with getting one in a laptop anyway. If they went through the trouble of introducing a speed bump G5 laptops won't be in the next 6 months. In addition, when they do arrive they will probably be only in the high end at first, so if your thinking low-end money range it will probably be longer still.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
When I am encoding a video on my Windows machine I can't do anything else on my computer, if I try to click something it takes about 30 seconds for the menu to popup.
That's a result of Windows's semi brain-dead priority system. Pop open task manager, find the encoding process (the one that's gobbling all your CPU), right click on it and set priority to 'Low' or 'Idle'.
I used to play Unreal Tournament while encoding videos all the time without a problem. It encodes slower at low priority but UT didn't suffer much of a performance hit. Made me miss my old dual-CPU system though.
Unless of course you're running that 9X/ME crap, which even most Windows users these days realize sucks.
Search for "refurbished" at the Apple Store for great deals. These are usually returns, got a 1GHz G4 17" with 512MB RAM, 60GB drive, superdrive, Airport Extreme, etc., for $2300 there about two months back. In perfect condition, no less.
It is not an CISC vs. RISC issue, it is an IPC-count issue. The G4 typically has better IPC-counts than a P4 thanks to a pipeline flush being a lot cheaper. They are still slower overall of course on account of the P4's pipeline allowing the rather incredible clock frequencies it does. The current G4 is not really cache-starved, at 512 kilobytes of L2 it is behind the P4 but it is not really bad. It features more L1 cache than a P4 and has lower access latencies for both L1 and L2.
All in all the G4 is faster clock-by-clock than the P4 in most cases. It doesnt make it faster than the P4 either way though since it still clocks far too low, but it is a competent CPU.
The resale value on Macs (Powerbooks especially) lets me upgrade the whole thing for less than I could do with an equivalent PC notebook.
Obviously to you, if you don't perceive a need for it, then nobody needs it.
You don't get out much, do you? I know a number of people that have gigabit networks in their homes (including mine), much less at work. There are quite a few inexpensive gigabit ethernet switches on the market, including the NetGear GS108 (8 port) for $150 and the GS105 (5 port) for $80.
With gigabit, I can do AFP or SMB transfers at over 50MB/sec which is a good 5x faster than a 100mb network to/from the network file server, and that is w/o jumbo packets.
Even the slow ATA drive in laptop can push 20-30MB/sec, so network performance would benefit from gigabit over fast ethernet. Try pushing around some video clips and you'll appreciate the speed difference.
The 8600 configured as you speced, except for a 9600Pro w/ SXGA+ screen, and integrated bluetooth is $2,654(they are running a free dvd-burner pro-mo so this will be a little higher after wed). Buying your second stick of 512mb at crucial brings the price down to $2,509
A Powerbook specced similarly, but with a G4 1.5Ghz, a 9700 w/ SXGA+ screen, and a 5400rpm drive is $2,999.00. Buying the second stick at crucial brings the price down to $2,829
The powerbook costs $320 more, pretty close. A sale in the other direction could make the powerbook cheaper.
I want a portable laptop, the 12" powerbook is considerably cheaper than a inspirion 300m, it also has more options.
SS = "spec sheet"
The 15" and 17" PowerBooks include a single Type I & II PC Card slot, and always have. The iBooks don't have it as a means of feature differentiation from the PowerBook line. The 12" PowerBook doesn't have it for obvious reasons.
Of all the people I know with PowerBooks, absolutely none of them have ever used a PC Card in one. Why would you, when every PowerBook since about 1998 has had everything you'd add via PC Card already built-in?
The only thing I can think of anymore that someone might have a use for is a memory card reader-- but why buy a PC Card one and limit yourself when you can use a USB one on any computer?
~Philly
Apple laptops have ordinary Synaptic's touchpads. You just need a better driver. See here.
Voilá, scrolling areas and tap corners (==5 mouse buttons). Also a Windows-style acceleration mode, which IMO makes the whole touchpad much more useable.
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus