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Apple Announces New iBooks
vasqzr writes "Apple has announced new iBooks. New features include G4 processor up to 1.33GHz, built-in wireless networking capability, a DVD-burning SuperDrive and up to 1.25GB of memory. G5 PowerBooks can only be closer...They also show a single processor 1.8GHz G5 PowerMac desktop for $1,499"
I'm not sure if I'm the only one to notice this now, but I haven't seen it before. While I was browsing the store, I saw an Apple Price Matching ad... Apple is now going to Price Match all resellers on hardware and software.
Price Match details and FAQ
I usually only see the resellers selling for $3 or $4 less on most products though, so not sure how much this will help sales. Where Apple seems to maybe get bitten on this is when resellers are bundling printers and other items with big hardware purchases.
Only Ninnle Linux is certified to fuck Roland Piquepaille mother until she reshits him a more proper way.
Smile, don't click...
Also, with the new 1.2GHz iBook with 256MB RAM, 30GB drive, and 802.11g wireless coming in at $899 (education), and the eMacs and iMac G5s coming in at $599 and $1099 (education), respectively, I fail to see how people continue to say Macs are too expensive. Even Walt Mossberg notes "If you tried to match the specs of the base iMac G5 in a traditional Dell tower, you'd also pay more. A Dell Dimension 4600, with the best processor, Windows XP Pro, the best 17-inch flat-panel monitor, a CD recorder and the same graphics card, costs $7 more than the 17-inch iMac. And it's much bulkier and uglier."
A month after my girlfriend gets hers.. darn.
"What seems to be the problem, osciffer?" (pronounced aus-if-fer.. bah forget it)
I'm sure by the time I hit submit there will be 500 posts saying the same thing but...
Priced too high! For the same price you can get an iMac that comes with a built in display for the same price!
And for shame Apple on crippling the FSB.
Ok so I'm a little miffed that I paid the same price for my 933MHz iBook that would have gotten me a 1.33GHz iBook with a Superdrive today...
These new G4 chips have support for 200 MHz busses. Why does Apple not let those of us still browsing back in the G4 section have that little bitmore performance? iBooks and PowerBooks should have 200 MHz busses all thw way across the board.
BLING BLING. Meet the architecture that's changing everything.
I bet a revision of the PB line can't be far off: the 12" PB now looks way overpriced next to the 12" iBook.
The iBook is only $100 more otherwise.
I love apple but 1499 is insane for a single 1.8GHz G5.
I can build a comparable Athlon64 for about $500. I don't care how cool the case is it's too much. Hell for $1499 just buy an iMac instead, at least you get a 17" screen. Stupid overpricing.
(BTW I own 4 Macs)
This post is retarded. The 1.33 GHz 14" iBooks have been out for a long time. Apple only redesigned the web site. I've had one for four months.
Apple: going out of business since 1984.
Speak truth to power.
And she loves the back door lovin'
---lame
Even though I'm more of a PC guy, I have always liked Apple computers, since I don't know a LOT about them (I only fixed them now and then at a dutch apple reseller), I find them to be generally userfriendly and appealing to the eye (Except for the first I-Mac design).
:)
From what I've seen, Apple is not really afraid to take risks (hence the IMac design, 2nd IMac design and the latest IMac, OSX). I've also been quite impressed by their network/server solutions, they do seem to have a lot of horsepower for their intended job.
Even though I'm not buying one (I'm more of a PC gamer/tech than an Apple one), I hope they will do well in the future
This is the sig that says NI (again)
However, There really is no correlation between improved iBooks and the problems that apple face in getting the G5 to stay cool enough for use in the powerbook design. It's just wishful thinking.
from mbonig
5 8b19-6f45f145ca c 0563-18969179a8 1 50e2-0bef3ba2a4 2 cd83-e0644e7ef5 6 9d32-22621daaff 7 c84e-b9e70ce4cd
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-51723
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-13556
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-bc9b1
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-d6f30
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-62e3c
https://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-b0ab39f1a8-6c3f0
...or is this machine really seem like the thing from last year? Now I'm a PC person, never used a mac before for anything serious. So now I'm looking at these there specs and I see 1.3GHz clock, 133MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 512 MB cache. New PC laptops with these specs were hot, what, at least 2 years ago. So what's the deal? Are the PowerPC cpus that much faster clock per clock? Is memory used that much more efficiently?
Apple news is old news, who cares what they did after 1984? I'm waiting to hear the new powerhouses that Tandy is going to come out with. I hear they put math co-processors in their machines too.
Very doubtful.
If you had said $1000, I might believe you. Apparently you've not seen a Power Mac G5 before, nor taken a good look at its specs.
GAH...and AE built in!!! well, I bought my iBook 2 moths before the 1 GHz model was released, I was not mad then, can't get made now since it is almost a year since I bought my machine.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
12" is 1.2ghz
http://www.apple.com/ibook/specs.html
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
Even on the cheapest new iBook, they don't give me an option to choose a cheaper drive than the CD-burning Combo Drive. What if I fucking don't want to burn CDs on my laptop and just want a lower pricetag?
:^)
That said, these new iBooks look beautiful.
apple sucks
I'm actually helping a close friend purchase a new 12" apple laptop...we had more or less settled on the powerbook (she's a new college student studying film, the thinking being that the powerbook's more robust bus would help with video editing, if she decided to do that) but now I wonder again...what should one know in comparing the ibook to the powerbook, now that the ibook has the new speed increases?
Another apple love fest on ./
:-) ]
yawn.
[ just buy a mac
I would still go with the PowerMac because it's upgradeable.
In one year, I will want a new video card. In 1 1/2 years a second hard disk, one year later a third.
Maybe, in a few years, processor upgrade cards become available.
My current Mac used to be a Powermac G4 running at 400Mhz, a 20 gig HD and a really slow ATI video card.
Now it's a Dual-1Ghz (Powerlogix), 1.5 GB RAM, 3 Harddisks and a ATI Radeon 8500 (I also need video-out for watching films o the TV). Considering I bought the system more than four years ago, it still runs new games pretty well.
I don't need a signature.
And here's me that splashed out little more than a month ago on a shiny new 14" 1GHz iBook, as well as the seperate Airport Extreme card. Now as far as I can tell the cards are built in, the machines are faster and yet they're still the same price as they were before.
Thanks for taking my money rather than warning me to wait another month or two, Mr Reseller.
Apple also updated its Xserve RAID system, which starts at $5999, "to deliver a massive 5.6 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity at the industry's most aggressive price for storage of just over $2 per GB. Apple has also expanded support for heterogeneous environments with certification from Cisco and SUSE Linux and optimized the system to work with its Xsan Storage Area Network file system."
t ml
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/sep/19raid.h
I just wonder what happened to battery life. I wouldn't sacrifice a minute of battery life for few hudred MHz's... Hopefully they were able to lower operation voltage of the processor. Well, maybe it's still ok. If Apple would add IBM style trackpoint pointing devices to their laptops I wouldn't even have to consider buying a PC laptop... They could leave the touchpad attached so it would please everyone. I'd easily pay 20$ or more for trackpoint...
$150 - Reasonable Athlon64 processor
) where he says:
$100 - Motherboard
$100 - Radeon 9600-class video card
$50 - Case and power supply
$60 - 80GB SATA drive
$30 - 256MB RAM
-----
$490
So you're telling me that this machine is *comparable* to a Power Mac G5? If you don't care about quality assurance, support, dealing with a single vendor, survey-proven reliability, industrial design, or anything else relating to Apple hardware and specifically the Power Mac G5, great...build your own box. But if you CARE about any of those things, you're automatically talking about someone like Dell, and any Dell machine under $1000 is most certainly nowhere near in the same class of construction as a Power Mac G5.
And perhaps you missed Walt Mossberg's recent column (http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20040923.html
"If you tried to match the specs of the base iMac G5 in a traditional Dell tower, you'd also pay more. A Dell Dimension 4600, with the best processor, Windows XP Pro, the best 17-inch flat-panel monitor, a CD recorder and the same graphics card, costs $7 more than the 17-inch iMac. And it's much bulkier and uglier."
Of course, you can change a million different options and everything is up for debate, but this idea that "Macs are so expensive" - especially in an institutional setting when TCO is considered - is very, very tired.
Nowadays all but the absolute lowest-end PC laptops have dual-headed display support with separate "screens" on the built-in display and the video out port. It's in the $1000 Compaq/HPs, the eMachines and Medions and so on. About the only major-brand PC laptop you can now buy withour dual-head support is Dell's 1100-series Celeron laptop.
Apple still cripples the iBook with mirrored-only video. No desktop spanning. The Radeon chipsets they use do support it, but Apple reserves that feature for the Powerbooks.
Should $1800 really be the cost of entry for a dual-head capable laptop in 2004? And if Apple really wants to make Bluetooth ubiquitous it's probably time to make it standard equipment on every machine like they did with USB and 1394.
...possible to build an El Cheapo $500 AMD/Intel boxen to match or even ouperform G5 Apple boxen, the trouble with such a box is still that IT WOULD NOT RUN OS.X. It would probably not be as stable as a Mac either.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
The built in wireless is definitely a plus for me. Then I could code in the living room while watching Adult Swim! Alas, the budget just won't allow it right now... Eventually I'll probably pick one of these up simply because I'm sick of Windows but I don't really want to wrestle with Linux on a laptop. If Apple could get the prices down to be a bit more competitive with Windows laptop pricing they might be able to pick up even more disaffected Windows users like myself. This isn't a complaint, just speculation. Hey! How about a laptop trade in program? Bring in your old laptop and get $100 off a new iBook. Hmmm....
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I like my iBook's hardware; it's survived enough abuse over the past 3 (or is it 4?) years to make replacing the expensive battery earlier this year worth it, rather than the sort of reluctant decision that it would be if I ever decided to replace the battery in my Toshiba, in which the PCMCIA slots have grown flaky ... and Yes, I know my iBook doesn't even have PCMCIA slots to *go* flaky ;)
...), and I happen to like blackbox/fluxbox, WindowMaker, Gnome and KDE a lot, and I use all of them as my mood dictates. (Others, too.) OS X is nice, and familiarity is nice, but since there's change going on in different directions aesthetically and in supposedly well-reasoned user-interface decisions, I like to switch around and see what's up in the free-GUI world.
:)
:)), I'd think it would be easier to find a good Live CD-installer than it is, esp. considering how very well Mepis/Knoppix work.
When I travel, I prefer the iBook because it's small/light, has a better keyboard than most laptops (though nothing like an IBM's, sadly), and gets good battery life.
However, when I'm near an outlet at least, I prefer my Toshiba laptop or other intel-type machine just because I like the gigantic rafts of software that come with a typical Linux distro, I like auto-raise windows (is there any way to do this with OS X?) and virtual desktops (again -- maybe they exist for OS X, but I don't see built-in to the OS
Also, though I understand it to be a nice application, I don't use iTunes (though I have used it) and don't at this date own an iPod (though I might one day). I am not a big fan of the iTunes interface -- many people like it, and I'll call it better than most interfaces but just not my thing. When I pop in a CD, it used to annoy me that iTunes would load rather than a simpler CD player app. So I'm perhaps not the typical OS X users
So:
Is there any current live Linux CD that will a) work spiffily - wireless, sound, sleep, keyboard controls for brightness and sound - on all current macs, or even all G3/G4 current macs? and b) serve as an easy installer, the way Knoppix or Mepis (or a bunch of others) will on x86?
Something that comes with OpenOffice (with good fonts), AbiWord, The GIMP, XMMS, mplayer / vlc / firefox / gaim / several window managers would be good. Yes, I know some if not all of these are available for OS X, but only piecemeal afaik.
I'm not knocking OS X: it's a very nice OS. I like it. However, I'd rather have a Linux desktop in general (I like the underlying software as well as the application software to be Free, for one thing, and for another thing, there's no accounting for taste), and I'm lazy. I've tried -- last year sometime -- the Gentoo PPC live CD, which was slow and IMO buggy on my iBook, and took googling just to find out how to reach X. There's been a PPC knoppix version, but I don't see any versions newer than July 2003. (Which might be OK, I have not yet tried that on my iBook.)
Since the iBook hardware (and Apple hardware in general) is pretty stable (not to say "limited"
timothy
p.s. Really, I've read the flames on this topic before, so you can just say "FLAME" if you want; I'll get your meaning, and you'll save your wrists. I like OS X and do not demand that Live CD-Installers exist, but I am hopeful and curious.
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
I'm well aware of the specs, thank you.
5 64863
Apparently all you're interested in is just the raw numbers of the specifications. Sure; look at my other post here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=126226&cid=10
And you're calling a home-built Athlon64 with the cheapest parts you can get "comparable" to a Power Mac G5?
To each his own, I guess...
Think secret was right again, even down to predicting the date of the announcement.
All this is is apple trying to drive the rest of it's resellers out of business.
Done.
So now I'm looking at these there specs and I see 1.3GHz clock, 133MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 512 MB cache. New PC laptops with these specs were hot, what, at least 2 years ago. So what's the deal? Are the PowerPC cpus that much faster clock per clock? Is memory used that much more efficiently?
So the specs that were hot two years ago are now in the consumer laptop. Seems reasonable.
The specs happen to be just fine to run Mac OS X well. And that's "the deal".
We're not throwing as many resources as possible at Windows to get it to run reasonably - we're running a solid unix-based user-friendly OS on hardware that's up to the task.
So yeah, the PPC are faster per clock, but it doesn't really matter. Noone's going to build a render cluster of these, that's for certain, but if you want a reliable laptop with a very high build quality, it's hard to go wrong with an iBook.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Is it just me, or does the RAM limit seem a bit on the low side. Sure, it's enough for now, but in 2 or 3 years, having a ceiling that low would prove to be a headache.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
For under $2,500 I can get my wife off my Powerbook AND a new G5!
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
I know this is OT, but I feel like Slashdot is the right place to ask. I've been a very happy iTunes / iPod user for almost a year now and I've finally decided to try out an Apple system. I don't want to spend a boat load of cash on a brand new system because I'm not sure if I can or will ultimately make the switch. I've decided to go with a used system and I'd like to know what kind of hardware people would recommend that I buy so that I can get a good feel for OS X? I just need something that I can use for the web, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets and Apple's iLife applications (minus Garage Band because I doubt I'd use it). I don't plan on using it for any high end video or graphics editing, or anything like that. I just want to get a system with enough power to get a basic feel for what it's like to use a Mac with OS X.
"Apple still cripples the iBook with mirrored-only video. No desktop spanning. The Radeon chipsets they use do support it, but Apple reserves that feature for the Powerbooks"
Actually my G4 iBook (800MHz vintage) does dual display spanning just fine - 1280x1024 on the external, 1024x768 on the iBook's own screen. But I had to void my warranty to do it.
There's a firmware hack that unlocks this. Note that it can be RISKY (read article), but it's been working great for me for nearly a year.
Fantastic little laptop, by the way. I crammed 640MB of RAM into it though. A laptop with less than 512MB RAM (from any vendor) is not seeing its full potential.
Explain Apple's consistent #1 ranking, year after year after year, by Consumer Reports for technical support, incidence of repairs, and overall quality, eclipsing all other computer manufacturers by a pretty wide margin.
EVERY SINGLE Consumer Reports report that comes out on this, every year, for many years now, has Apple at #1. And it's not just for tech support: it's for quality and incidence of repairs. No one else comes close.
At the very least it was a throwaway comment that doesn't need any moderation... but a -1?
I've got to meta-moderate more...
...and you know it. If you don't care about support/repair/single vendor/etc. then of COURSE almost none of what I said matters to you.
But you represent a ridiculously small portion of the marketplace, and your group will ALWAYS be able to say "lol, I can build a machine for ten times cheaper than any Mac"...if that's your desire, great. As I said in another post, "to each his own".
eMac still $749 education for most of us...
just saying. That $599 that you listed made my eyes pop... maybe your school has a special deal with apple?
But alas, I'm not willing to part with winamp (text matching through internet radio), google desktop search, native gaim, and whatever the newest toy is...
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
You should look again...when I connect to the Apple retail store, I see "eMac from $799". When I connect to the education store, I see a 1GHz G4 eMac, 256MB RAM, 40GB drive for $599.
1.) They released a new iBook, at a lower price point, with more included than before. A fully useful Mac laptop is now $999.
2.) They released a new XServe RAID. They are competing at $2 a gig. This is much more aggressive pricing than their competitors, allowing them to edge into the enterprise based both on price and performance.
3.) They now offer a single processor low-end G5. This lowers the price of entry into their pro-range. It helps keep up with demand, given that supply of G5 processors is an issue.
What is this all about? Well, it lowers the price of entry for the platform. That is good for average consumers, and wooing people to the platform.
However, look at which units these are. The low-end G5 is a great office machine. This is the computer you put under your desk. The iBook is a great laptop for someone who already has a desktop. The XServe RAID gets Macs into the server room. This is all about the Enterprise. Go for the solid midrange, and they will come.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
Not really, the people who shock and disrupt my reality are the ones who are in love with Windows. I like OS.X as a desktop OS because unlike Linux, everything works out of the box practically all of the time and unlike Windows I don't spend half my time pruning the massive field fortifications needed to keep out trojans, worms and viruses. I suppose one can probably get Linux to a mostly similar quality level as OS.X in the desktop role but it just takes to much time for my taste.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I wonder when apple will join the 21st century and start shipping with 512mb RAM as default. 256 is NOT enough, unless you only have mail and safari opened. Try running a small java desktop application and watch the beachball come to play
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Can you run a regular airport card on these new iBooks?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Leave it to an apple fan-boy to purposely miss the point.
This graphics card is soon very obsolete by Apple's standards, because it won't support the upcoming Core Image technology which is part of 10.4 Tiger, scheduled to be out pretty soon as far as the lifetime of the iBook is concerned. Core Image is damn cool, and this little puppy will be left in the dust.
And it can be had for about 100 bucks
It has an s-video port on there which is worthless since no tv's I own (or anyone else I know of) have an s-video jack on them.
Is ther anyway to convert s-video to a standard rca video in?
Even the 14-inch has only 1024, which is simply below par IMO. Apart from that it looks like a very nice contender in the low-end portable market, but that screen would probably make me avoid it if I were shopping today. Shame; I do like that iPod-look.
sudo ergo sum
The iBook video adapter that has the s-video port also has an rca port. Note that this adapter is an additional purchase, at least it was for the iBook G3.
I wanna know when Acer releases a new notebook!
Apple still cripples the iBook with mirrored-only video. No desktop spanning. The Radeon chipsets they use do support it, but Apple reserves that feature for the Powerbooks.
Get Screen Spanning Doctor.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
When will Apple catch up to the rest of the world's notebooks using Radeon 9700 or 9800 and NVIDIA 5700 chips with at least 128 MB VRAM. Soon the Acer's of the world will be using PCI-Express for the GPU's where does Apple stand on this?
Alex
"The Brady Bunch is back...working homicide"
I would still go with the PowerMac because it's upgradeable.
In one year, I will want a new video card. In 1 1/2 years a second hard disk, one year later a third.
Don't underestimate the power of the Ebay Upgrade. Apple gear holds its value beyond reason.
If you're talking about additional capability via PCI cards, PowerMac makes sense, but if you just want more of the same (RAM, HD, Video), it may not.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I fail to see why you'd WANT to dual boot OS X...run the developer Environment .pkg, open a terminal, and you've got a FULL BSD U*ix implementation. Gcc works, X works, port works...
.2 Ghz bump in proc.
It was pretty cool compiling libpcap and snort and just having it work.
I bought my 12" ibook about two weeks ago ($999 refurb)...I've gotta say I don't feel too put out that I had to pay for the airport extreme card ($70 refurb) as the only real difference was the
I've had 6 or 7 really intensive things going on (compile, wget, convert shorten to mp3, etc.) and the little ibook just soaks it up and runs with it. I'm loving this thing to DEATH.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
video editing with iMovie
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
GoLive
I usually have 3 browsers open plus iTunes going, plus several other things going on.
all on 640mb of RAM and OS 10.2.8, once I move to Panther (10.3) I expect a bit more performance.
so basically, anything you buy will be better than what I have and what I have is fine for what you want.
I like microcars
My GF wants a laptop, and likes the Apple ones. So I was thinking of getting her an iBook for Christmas. This seems like good news, the specs are better than the old ones (which, to be honest, sucked). But this is still hardly good value - as has been mentioned elsewhere on this thread you're paying a LOT for the lightup Apple logo on the lid. But whatever, it's not for me anyway.
But then I come on here and read some of the patronizing, childish comments from the mac fanboys, and to be honest, it puts me right off. You guys need to calm down - coming over as whiny 13 year old fanboys does not win any fans.
Think different indeed.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
That's unusual, I bought my last TV 3 years ago, and most TVs at the time (except the REALLY cheap stuff) had s-video)
o 2cvideo.ht mlt _id= 2012
Anyway, yes, you can get cheap adaptors starting at $10, or you can wire your own. Here are some (google, 10 seconds)
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/svide
http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?ca
Unfortunately, the pinouts on the Airport and Airport Extreme cards aren't the same. If you have a newer iBook or Powerbook, you can't use the old Airport cards, and vice-versa with the older systems and the new Airport Extreme cards.
Go into an Apple store during the Christmas season, after Apple releases one of their new products, and ask "Are you going to get these things in?" They'll say, "I don't know, Apple doesn't tell us and we don't find out until the shipment arrives at the store." And this is an Apple store, not some random reseller!
I love some of my Apple products. But screw Apple for burning its customers so often (like the time I bought QuickTime 5.2 nine days before QuickTime 6 came out, and Apple wouldn't upgrade me.) That's how Apple makes money on upgrades. A poor sap buys an iBook and then two weeks later, a new one comes out. Said sap thinks "man, this thing is already behind the curve and I'll definitely have to upgrade again next year!". Screw Apple for pulling this shit.
Whenever I recommend an Apple product to someone, I always warn them about this shit that Apple pulls. Since most Apple customers have sworn fealty to Apple since birth, they don't care if Apple pulls this shit.
I recommend that people don't buy an Apple product unless it's just been released. Otherwise, it's going to be obsoleted within a very short time, and you're going to feel screwed.
What's the difference between Apple and a prostitute? When you get screwed for money by Apple, it doesn't feel good.
Doh - I forgot to mention: Apple doesn't talk it up much, but a few standard PCMCIA wireless cards work just dandy with OS X. The makers of Kismac, a wireless stumbler for Mac OS (Kismac? Kismet? Get it?), maintains a list of 3rd party cards which work with their software.
You should check out Desktop Manager for OS X. It will even use those neat user-switching animations to switch desktops (e.g. the cube, etc.). I used it briefly, and it's cool, but I ditched the idea completely, simply because it's so easy to just do "Command+h" to hide the current application. Also, I do use Expose, and that helps.
That said I really had to look around for a TV with an S-Video jack. My wife thought I was nuts, but my PS/2 plugged into the S-Video jack has a much crisper picture. Of course you also have to invest in the S-Video cable for the PS/2.
That said, I think my PS/2 has played more hours of Baby Einstein videos than console games.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
But can they RAM match? 256 barely runs a toaster with OS X.
From the Apple Webpage:
"To maximize its speed, Apple engineers pair the G4 processor with a fast 133MHz system bus and 256MB of onboard memory to accelerate calculations and make your applications scream."
(hint for Apple: fire those engineers)
Most resellers throw in an extra 256 for free, saving me far more than a 3 or 4 dollar price match difference. Plus I'll be able to run Mail and Safari at the same time without having to watch the rainbow pinwheel for 15 seconds every time I try to switch between them.
-Cosmo
http://cyclocosm.com Pro cycling at its worst
nothing can go wrong. Just add MPC7445 or MPC7447A parts to the mix, offered by Freescale at 90nm and you have written something interesting that no non-geek will ever understand.
;-D
Impressive.
Price for the 12" ibook £749.00 ($1,200)
For a 1.2ghz processor and 30GB drive? It's competing with £300 PC laptops.
It's not surprising I haven't actually met a mac owner for years...
Sad to say, I love some aspects of the Apple hardware, but I won't be buying another portable from them until they ditch Broadcom. Their choice of Broadcom wireless cards ensures that we'll never get linux wireless working on them, and I can buy numerous other brands of laptop which are more linux-friendly.
/dev/null.
I've sent Apple numerous (polite) emails explaining that their choice of Broadcom over more "open" vendors is costing them sales, but they (as always) never responded, and I was left thinking my "feedback" emails just went to
I suppose they view Linux as competition and don't want to make it any easier to "switch"; what they're not getting is that they can't control the ever-increasing mob of linux users the way they can control Mac users. If they don't want to give linux users the specs we want, we'll go to the competition. With Mac OS X, there IS no competition, and so OS X users have no leverage to demand better. Apple should decide whether they want Linux users using their hardware (and the resulting money) or whether having total control of their platform and product is more important to them. They can't have it both ways.
In the meantime, I'm looking at alternatives in the x86 world, and they're looking pretty good.
"For under $2,500 I can get my wife off... AND a new G5!"
Sorry, had to do it.
PS2. Not PS/2.
The XServe's little brother.
its basically one of the new iMac G5's without the screen.
The iBook does not come with an S-Video adapter, only VGA. TV output, both S-Video and standard RCA, is added with a $19 adapter.
Apple releases new iBooks -- with Broadcom wireless cards.
I say I won't buy an iBook BECAUSE they have Broadcom wireless cards and are therefore a bad choice for linux users.
Seems ontopic to me. Unless debating the pros and cons of a new product is a BAD THING now.
I've been dying to have FFM on MacOS X since it came out, but I don't want or need anything else in this heavyweight desktop manager - are there any other options to get FFM? Thanks.
They are in the right place, I don't have to move my hand to move the damn pointer, and regardless of the improvements with respect to distinguishing wrist from intended use, it still frequently misregisters if I rest my wrist.
Also, it isn't like it is an expensive mechanism or is particular intrusive if you have both and want to ignore one or the other, it is pretty easy.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I have been comparison shopping recently, and believe me when I say there's a big difference in the viewability of the 12" iBook and the 12" PowerBook. The PB has much more contrast and can be viewed from a wider angle.
There probably won't be a G5 powerbook. It is very unlikely that with the power consumption and space requirements of the G5, it could be fit into a powerbook size and weight. There might be a low voltage, scaled down version of the G5 developed that allows the processor to be more manageable and use less energy.
All your Sybase are belong to us.
As for a US$2000 laptop wiping the floor with a US$1000 laptop? It damn better, otherwise it isn't worth US$2000.
Yeah ! I'm surprised they ever sell any BMW's too, I mean, come on, they are competing with Fiat 500's !
:-D
It's all about features my lad. Do the comparison and thou shalt see the difference.
Then, if you want to go back to your dreary windows world you can, but the rose colored glasses apple give me make my world look nice (even when it's raining)
and the fanboys are are organized and vicious
Dell almost always has huge promotions going on, such as this one which nets you something much better than the ibook for $750, and gives you quite a lot of choices (courtesy of techbargains.com):
4.9lb Inspiron 600m Centrino Notebook $750 shipped free
4.9lb Inspiron 600m Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 715 1.5Ghz 2MB Cache, 14in Screen, Free 512MB/30GB, DVD, Intel 802.11b card, plus $182 in options = $1500 - $750 off $1500 off coupon:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 = $750 shipped free after rebate.
Select Intel 802.11b card, plus $182 more stuff. We'd recommend a DVD/CDRW and longer warranty.
Thin/Light 4.1lb Inspiron 700m Notebook $750 shipped free
Inspiron 700m 4.1lb light, 1.5in thin Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 725 1.6Ghz 2MB Cache, 12.1in WideXGA Screen, Free 512MB/30GB, DVD drive, Intel 802.11b card, Word Perfect, 6 months ISP, XP Home SP2 plus $51 in options = $1500 - $750 off $1500 off coupon:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 = $750 shipped free after rebate.
Select $51 more in options. CDRW/DVD Combo +$44
Inspiron 9100 Desktop Replacement Notebook $799 shipped free
Inspiron 9100 High End Desktop Replacement 8.9lb Notebook Pentium-4 3Ghz with HT, 15.4" WideXGA Screen, Free 512MB/40GB, Fast ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, DVD/CDRW, Modem, Ethernet, XP Home, 1-Yr Warranty, $1549 - $750 off $1500 off coupon:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 = $799 shipped free after rebate.
Recommended upgrade: Dell 1350 wireless card +$29
Update 10AM PT: Looks like the 9100 has been removed from their website.
Inspiron 8600 Centrino Desktop Replacement Notebook $750 shipped free
Inspiron 8600 High End Desktop Replacement 6.9lb Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 715 1.5Ghz 2MB Cache, 15.4" WideXGA Screen, Free 512MB/30GB, GeforceFX 5200 Video card, DVD, Modem, Ethernet, XP Home SP2, 1-Yr Warranty, plus $132 in options = $1500 - $750 off $1500 off coupon:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 = $750 shipped free after rebate.
Select Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 802.11b plus $132 in options. ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 +$99 enables some decent gaming.
Inspiron 5160 Desktop Replacement P4-2.8Ghz notebook $750 shipped free
Inspiron 5160 8.3lb Mobile P4 518 2.8Ghz w/HT Tech, 15in XGA Screen, Free 512MB/30GB, DVD, XGI XP5 graphics, Word Perfect, XP Home SP2 - $1149 plus $351 in options = $1500 - $750 off $1500 off coupon:
ZD5$P0NS954P16 = $750 shipped free after rebate.
We're still working on two mouse buttons here. Two pointing devices is right out.
(And before anyone flames me, I actually like one mouse button for a laptop, due to the hand positions.)
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I'm no fan of dell but the figures you just listed are pure crap.
My girlfriend has an 1100. Now it is a bit bulky and the warranty is totally gay. However, most of your other points are just wrong.
* The battery life is around 3 hours, whic his better than any mac laptop I've ever owned/used.
* It has a radeon 9200.
* It has a CD-RW/DVD combo drive.
* It has svideo out.
* It has firewire.
* It has a PCMCIA slot for a wireless card, which she has. (All mac laptops come with airport built in these days, but that's a very recent change, it used to be only the high end ones, otherwise you had to spend 99 dollars for a card, which is a total rip off. Wireless cards for PC's are 30-40 dollars which is a negligible price difference).
So let's see... that's 6 points that you were totally wrong about. Good job.
Joseph?
Actually I have experience with OS X on a G5 1.8 (dual), a 667Mhz Powerbook, and an older 400Mhz G4 tower.
OS X is actually pretty zippy on all of them - they all have a decent amount of RAM (more than 512MB each) and the G4 I did replace the video card with a bit newer model, which makes a large difference in UI smoothness. Using the OS feels pretty similar across all of them.
Some apps feel slower than others, just using Photoshop feels pretty simialr across the computers but doing anything computer intensive is of course much slower on the older platforms than the G5.
For browsing, document editing, or many other things even older computers still are quite "zippy". The old G4 tower is still at work creating newsletters for print with InDesign and scanning a PhotoShop work.
Not to mention that computers in general are more "zippy" when they need no anti-virus software running.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The iBook 12", and the PowerBook 12" use the same exact LCD - Google it if you don't trust me ;)
Q: What do you think about American Culture?
A: I think it's a good idea.
(adapted from Gandhi)
$54.00. It'll run GeOS, which everyone knows is just as good as OSX. It'll be cool.
I drank what? -- Socrates
yes
Every time the subject of Apple computers and prices comes up, I see no end of Apple fans talking about how Apple hardware is really tops, they don't sell junk, etc, etc.
Now, I have no doubt that's true. I've only looked inside a couple of macs, and they seemed as nice as any PC I've worked on, at least.
Know what, though? Most of us don't really care that much. Mercedes makes cars like Mac makes computers, but most of us can't afford them, and have no real reason to need one. Not every person who needs a hammer needs a $50 Estwing, not everyone who needs a car has any real reason to spend $100000 instead of $15000.
I've been using Windows and Linux since forever, but recently I tried Mac out of curiosity. I must say, it is a very nice platform. I'd like to have one. But I'm not going to pay that kind of a premium.
Everyone makes the tradeoff, every day; money versus time. Bill Gates may not bend over to pick up a $5 bill, but I sure as hell do. For some people it may be worth it to them to spend an extra $500 to get a machine that has a 5% chance of breaking in its 4 year lifespan, rather than a 10% chance. Some people would pay the same $500 extra to get a machine where they don't have to learn to use safe computing practices to keep viruses and worms away. The rest of us can spend the 20 minutes to learn what to do, 30 minutes to install Firefox/Thunderbird, and the 10 minutes a week it takes to run Windows Update, and save our $500.
It seems to me that one of Apple's original sales quotes could easily be used by the Wintel camp these days. Apples are computers for those with the cash to afford them, and Wintel is "the computer for the rest of us."
...that I was on the Internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.
Here's a little maths for you:
A 17-inch 1.8GHz iMac is $US1,499, or $AU2,499.
A 1.8GHz Power Mac is $US1,499, or $AU2,699.
So, why the $200?
All mac laptops come with airport built in these days, but that's a very recent change...
Apple confuses me totally. If I look in the tech spec it says: "Built-in antennas and expansion slot for optional 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme Card; (compliant with 802.11g standard; Wi-Fi Certified for 802.11g and 802.11b interoperability)". But if you look at the list of possible options, a WiFi card is not listed. So, which if the two is true???
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
Try it over component. The difference from composite to s-video is much more noticeable than the difference from s-video to component, but its still a noticeable difference.
Mmm. PS2 games over component on HDTV set. So nice. Must play Katamari Damacy. So nice.
---
Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
Anyone else notice that the Front Side Bus frequency on the new 1.8 GHz G5 PowerMac is 600 MHz.....1/3 of the CPU's core frequency? On the single-CPU 1.6 GHz G5 PowerMac, it was 800 MHz (1/2 the core), as is the case with all the dual-proc versions. I assume this was done to maximize CPU and core logic chipset yields, but it'll clobber performance in apps that aren't cache-friendly. Comments?
nt
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Yeah, I bought the 12" 1GHz $949 refurb 4.5 weeks ago. Sigh. I don't feel the love nearly as much as you seem to. $150 is quite a bit difference in just a little over a month.
http://slashdot.org/~tf23/journal
Don't think of it that way....instead think of all the two and three year old iBooks on eBay that are STILL worth $550-$700!
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
four versions of the 1150. The low end one kind of matches what the guy in the parent thread said (I don't know what kind of 1100 your girlfriend has):
-No S Video
-No Radeon 9200 (i.e. integrated shit video)
-No combo drive for the $999 one
-No firewire
-No PCMCIA
FYI, wireless was debuted by Apple in an *iBook*. That's right, the first machine shipped by Apple to have AirPort was an iBook so no it's not a recent change. I am yet to see more than an hour and a half hours of life from any PC non-Centrino laptop (the bricks with two batteries not counted). Your girlfriend has one hell of a laptop there for $999.
Hmm, it says 'Score:0, Informative' but it changed to Score:2 when I pressed reply. Going back to the main page and reloading (not from cache!) it says Score:0 again. /me is confused.
I never thought I'd become an Apple geek but that's exactly what happened after I purchased my first Mac, an 800 Mhz iBook with ATI 7500 graphics. I can't explain why but I love this computer. I use it for basically everything I do on a computer except for gaming. I leave that for a home-built Windows-based machine. Anyway, I think that $1000 is a great price for what is, in my opinion, the best laptop on the market. Now hows that for religious zeal?
Why the $200 more in Australia, when the prices are identical in the US?
Yes, yes it is.
But is it two hundred dollars scarier?
while you're at it, please lobby ATi/Nvidia to release 3D drivers and ensure that the modem is supported.
:)
But seriously, why would you want to run Linux on a laptop without support for a second or third button on the built-in pointing device?
Thank god I have a Mac. I wouldn't know what to do with all those extra buttons.
AppleEvents?
The bump in speed is only 0.13 GHz, you'll find that your "1GHz" 12" iBook has in fact a 1.07GHz CPU. The difference in speed is insignificant. What is significant is the price drop and the included Airport express.
Yes, because we all know that a 10lb paving brick with a desktop processor and less than 1 hour battery life is SO much more portable than a 5lb thin-and-light with a much more efficient processor for 5 hour battery life and a better OS to boot!
Maybe you haven't met a Mac owner because they don't hang out in crack houses?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
The iBook has always had integrated wireless support. That meant the actual wireless card was an additional $80 hidden cost. There were always some models that came with free wireless cards, and some that didn't, but with this rev Apple is putting cards in all computers sold.
Here's a little disclaimer. On at least 2 of the laptop models (700M, 9100), they shut the $750 rebate off in a matter of hours
The deal on any of the laptops was only good until 6:00am the next morning anyway. That's a very small window of time to be informed, and then order something like this.
On the other hand, Apple sells $999 iBooks every day.
That's right, the first machine shipped by Apple to have AirPort was an iBook so no it's not a recent change.
iBooks have had SUPPORT for airport for a long time - only very recently do all of them actually come with a card though. That's what I was talking about.
Joseph?
Sorry, but I jsut dont believe that at all, from my experience. 4-5 hours.. ok, does that include actually using it? eg browsing the web, moving files around, etc? I've never seen any laptop last longer than ~3 hours.
I can maybe believe that 8 hours when youre jus tlistening to music.. but this is probably because the screen shuts off after 5 minutes and that's easily half the power drain.
Joseph?
Sorry, I checked with the GF and it's actually an 1150 - not that there's really much difference. It cost $999 and everything in my original post still applies. :P
Joseph?
...insane import taxes make Mac prices go sky high. Just a few examples:
- Power Mac G5 (Dual 2.5 GHz G5/512MB/160GB/SuperDrive)
in USA: U$ 2999.00
in Brazil: U$ 6096.09
- eMac (1.25GHzG4/256MB/40GB/Combo/Modem)
in USA: U$ 799.00
in Brazil: U$ 1867.50
- iPod 40GB
in USA: U$ 399.00
in BRazil: U$ 1274.91
- iBook (14.1"TFT/1.2GHz G4/256MB/60GB/CD-RW Combo drive/VGA-out/Enet/56K)
in USA: U$ 999.00
in Brazil: U$ 3567.85
(full price list:
www.latinamerica.apple.com/pricelist/br/)
I wanted one of these new machines, even a low-end one. But I'm sticking to this old G3/500, because, other than some extra RAM or a bigger HD, there's nothing else I can afford! Damn my country's government - primitive, protectionist, anti-free-trade, left wing zealots. Hell, there was a time, not too long ago, when it was ILLEGAL to import a computer without authorization from the government!
This country sucks, I should save some money and move...
Circumcision is child abuse.
From the Apple online store. I wonder if the $599 is just for a school's inhouse use only and not an individual's purchase. Someone mentioned that the $599 price can only be had at an on campus computer store.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
A post complaining of unfair moderation being unfairly moderated? Heh. Slashdot moderators at their most corrupt. But of course, I wouldn't expect a post breaking the unspoken "Apple Worship Rule" to remain alive longer than an hour without a downmod. Dishonest Apple salesmen like you seem to rule this site. Congratulations on your part in destroying the free market through deception.
Censorship through moderation? Certainly. Moderator bias is rampant, and Taco and friends are powerless (or unwilling) to stop it. My post doesn't deserve this. Neither of them do. A common sales pitch for potential geek switchers (ie. all of Slashdot) is that if they don't like OS X, they can always run their beloved Linux. Well, they can, but the sales droids are leaving quite a bit out, such as the fact that Linux on PPC is definitely a port. There is a noticeable lack of software (you can always port it from x86 yourself, I suppose), but worse, most of your Apple hardware is unsupported, NOT because Linux coders are less skilled (as another post in this thread implies), but because of a lack of documentation and Apple-designed roadblocks to Linux PPC progress. If you can accept that Apple has become a greedy corrupt multinational who isn't "Apple" but for the name only, then fine. Apple ain't "Apple" no more. Your astroturfing is the ultimate proof of that. The "Old Apple" would never have stood for it, let alone encouraged it. The "New Apple" is corrupt, as are the "moderators for hire" such as yourself.
To save the name "Apple", you've killed the company that made the name mean something.