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Apple Updates PowerBooks
Tablespork writes "Apple this morning has updated the PowerBook G4. The new models feature 1.5 or 1.67 ghz processors, 8x superdrives, 512MB memory standard, Bluetooth 2.0, updated graphics cards, a sudden motion sensor, as well as a scrolling trackpad. Looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for the PowerBook G5."
...no dual core G4 or a G5
the 15" and 17" can now drive 30" cinema displays!
And optical audio out on the 17"
Plus, brighter backlight, better prices and 5400rpm drives across the board.
Now where is my powerbook G5 damnit!
Not all that impressive. I would still buy the low end ibook over the low end powerbook.
Some kind of self defense mechanism to guard against the fury of the user only having one mouse button?
Not surprising that Apple would do this. They needed to keep the line fresh while they attempt the Herculean task of getting a super hot, server-oriented G5 chip into a PowerBook.
.\.\att Clare
Who still expected a G5 Powerbook any time this year. TOO MUCH HEAT, PEOPLE. I don't care how strong the Apple engineers' kung-fu is, there's just no way to cram the G5 into that small a form factor without melting the keyboard. Give it some time, and it'll happen. But not soon.
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
What about articles about new HP or Dell notebooks? Where's all of the hoopla about those very useful systems? Oh, yeah, that's right Apple's are good and anything else is bad, good job on that elitism, jerks.
Woohoo! Now I can lug a 30" display wherever I go!
They probably intended it for people who want to leave a big display at home, but what'd be the fun in that?
You can scroll with the trackpad now in an ipod esque manner. Of course many PC laptops have had scrolling built into the trackpad, this new feature on the powerbooks might prove to be interesting.
Ohh and it is different from other features by the fact that first of all, it requires both fingers on the track pad, secondly you can either scroll up or down, left or right, or you can scroll in a circle.
I dunno, but on the portables I dont find ctrl+clicking to be that bad mainly because one of my hands is already in that general area ontop of the ctrl key, and the other hand on the trackpad.
.. and when it does come, i wonder if we can get it unbadged ;)
Great, can't wait for the article about some guy trying to stuff a pc laptops guts into the 12" PB and claiming success even though you have to use an external optical drive and use two little wires to connect the battery that will no longer fit, but it works damnit!
This sounds like a cool feature, can anyone confirm from personal experience that it really works?
Come one! Get to it Apple people!
Sam
You mean "one button touchpad"
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
I think this is a great feature to have. For those interested in such a feature on an older PowerBook (which I was), check out SideTrack, software that will allow you to set the edge of your trackpad to be a scrolling area. Good on Apple to include this standard, and the two-finger idea seems neat.
"I've got to stop masturbating! It makes me too lazy! Stop it, Albert. Stop it." -- Albert Einstein
A G5 Powerbook would not come until it is announced at a Mac World. We will have to wait at least until after the next one which is later this year.
Evolution or ID?
Optical audio I/O, and dual-link DVI on the 17" PowerBook to drive the 30" display, too.
This is more than just a speed bump. These new features are nice.
And it works just fine.
12" used to be $1599, now it's $1499.
The same way car manufactures max out their offering just before the release of a redesign (BMW is doing this with their 3-series right now). G5 pbooks will be out by the summer!
Usually when Apple released a new Gx to the marker in the forum of a regular computer, in the past, itsbeen about a year and a half until it is compacted into a laptop. As for these babies, why the sudden motion sensor? Is it for the screensaver, if it detects motion it turns it off? If so, smart idea, because it uses no human interaction. How long until G6? :-P
The Scrolling Trackpad looks just like my scrolling track pad. Hmmm, I wonder if I can get my Side Track style scrolling back via Software Upadte? .....Nope, Nothing there. I don't want to pay $15 for the feture rich Side Track application just to scroll with my track pad, and Windows track pad can do that. That said, it is a good App. I'll give Apple a week.
.\.\att Clare
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
We know that the PowerMac G5 needs elaborate cooling, so I wonder if the Apple engineers had problems working a G5 into the powerbooks because of heat?
Hmm, I can scroll up-down, left-right and in a circle (emulates the mouse wheel) on my Panasonic, and their models have had that feature for years. The touchpad is even circular, so all you need to do is to drag your finger along the edge. Wouldn't want to have a computer without it today.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
After making a typo in their HTML code referring to the G5 I can't believe they'd go and stab us in the back like this!
Well, not that I am a mac lover by any means, but you can use standard (i.e. useful) PC mice on the mac's.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
The 17" machine is wide enought to fit a full-sized keyboard, but it still comes with the same cramped minature one as the 12" machine has. I'd be far more likely to buy one if Apple fixed this.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
You don't need a right mouse button. Of course, you can use a mouse that has a right mouse button and a mouse wheel, and they all will be supported by Mac OS X, but you don't really need them (at least the right mouse button).
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR 1 Gbit Ethernet on top models Firewire 800 Airport extreme (802.11g) is built in (no additional cost) My (2) employees have iBooks. Next time I buy them PowerBooks. Bert
All those artsy "mac-only" people have a hard time with their left's and right's ... so in the interest of a simple UI we have the reft mouse button, er, the light mouse button ... I mean ... the mouse button.
I think what they mean is IBM's Shock Protection System for hard drives ... I think it works ... nobody has so far sued IBM for that technology for failing .....
Now there's a nifty little way to do one's scrolling with the trackpad--use one finger, it's a pointing device; two, and it behaves like a scroll wheel. If it works as advertised, it'll be a far cry better than the "scroll zone" trackpad hacks out there today...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
I do not have any thermal performance data, but have to say, P4 is good enough to cook on it and there are a ton of notebook computers powered by it.
Given how expensive new macs are, is there any resources for getting decently new ones used at a good price? I don't mean ebay, either (I've had too many bad experiences with them).
Handled with Care
Now the 17-inch PowerBook G4 is equipped with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor to protect your most valuable asset: your data. The Sudden Motion Sensor senses change in axis position and accelerated movement. In the event of a drop or fall, the Sudden Motion Sensor instantly parks the hard drive heads so they won't scratch the disks on impact, lessening the risk of damage and improving your chances of retrieving valuable data. When the Sudden Motion Sensor senses your PowerBook is once again level, it unlocks the hard drive heads automatically.
See, now that's just cool.
What a waste I could do that with my dell pc MUCH cheaper. All I'd need is 6 8ft 2x4s, a roll of ducktape and the A-Team theme song playing on my boom box(cheaper so therefore "better" than iPod).
End PC zealot
"Asustek will also start shipping iBook G5 notebooks to Apple in the second quarter of this year" /different article
/nt
Looking at the 17" model, it specifies the screen as having 1440x900. My Dell i8600 with WSXGA has a 15.4" screen (same display aspect ratio too) with 1680x1050. The 15" model has a 15.2" screen with 1280x854, if you want to compare as closely as possible. Is it just me or does Apple not seem to have the best deal here? Apple has been known as the machine to do graphics on but it doesn't lead the class as far as display resolution in a given area?
I'm not trying to Troll or Flamebait here but it just doesn't sound like the best deal out there to me.
Flamebait or troll is certainly the right moderation. Possibly offtopic, as the powerbook doesn't even come with a mouse.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
I have a 12" PowerBook, I love it. I was just on Groklaw and PJ admited she uses a PowerBook.
I would love a G5 laptop except for 2 things.
1: Battery life. All that heat has to come from an energy source, so unless you have jumper cables hooked to a huge Cat Battery, the G5 oven will not last long.
2: Heat. I have a Dual G5 PowerMac, and when CPU usage starts to go up, I hear all 6? 7? fans spooling up like some scene for the old movie "Strategic Air Command" getting a 50's SAC bomber ready for take off. This is not what I want in a lappy.
Besides, how fast does a lappy need to be. I love my PowerBook, and I'll bet everyone that has a PowerBook will say the same thing. It is a product that is just right, it really is.
Cheers
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Don't know what happend to my first reply...but...
This puts the G5 Powerbook on track for WWDC '05. I think it would be a great place to introduce what I think will be an engineering masterpiece. Let's keep our fingers crossed...who knows...maybe it will come sooner...;)
was the PB impressive to you at any time? you do realize both PB and iBooks get better specs over time, and this PB update is part of that cycle? if you think iBook offers better value, then PB will probably never be "impressive." even if PB came with a G5, it will be priced accordingly and you'll probably think it's not "impressive" for the price, compared to the iBook.
You don't need a right mouse button. Of course, you can use a mouse that has a right mouse button and a mouse wheel, and they all will be supported by Mac OS X, but you don't really need them (at least the right mouse button).
Dude, of course you need a right mouse button. And a scroll wheel. How else are you going to change weapons and use the alt-fire in Unreal and other FPSs?
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Didn't IBM introduce this feature on their laptops a few months ago?
Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
Oh my god, i am still looking for that G5-spot while using my two fingers...
Right. Last year's AlBooks, even though they are great and I do not regret buying mine, did suffer from random quality problems (bad PMUs, the screen blobs, etc) because they were a significant redesign. This new model is clearly AlBook 1.5
- Optical digital 5.1 audio in/out on the 17"
- Dual link DVI on the 17" (for 2560x1600 30" display support)
- A new era: 512MB RAM stock on all models
Apple needs to increase the pixel density of the LCDs in the laptops. Make the 17" a 1600x1024 or something.
I had the 17" (1440x900) for about a year and it was quite nice, but even that resolution felt constricting using the apps Apple markets around that PB (Final Cut Pro/Exp, DVDSP, Shake, etc).
Incremental upgrades for the system, incrementally upgrade the display as well.
So, in order to click while scrolling, do you have to give the touchpad "The Shocker"?
I can explain why this speedbump occured when it did: I just bought one of the previous models this month. They're just doing it to spite me.
I wonder what the actual hold up on the G5 laptop is? IIRC, the G5 proc has approximately the same sort of heat issues like an AMD64 chip, yet we have had AMD64 notebooks for over a year now. Now, admittedly, my laptop is big, bulky and basically the antithesis of what I would imagine a Powerbook laptop would look like, but it WORKS, and it is FAST. I would figure that Apple, given a year or so since it was shown as economically and technically feasible to cram something that hot and powerful into a laptop chassis (albeit a desktop replacement at ~7.5 lbs), would have been able to come up with SOMETHING chic and cool like they always do. Seems to me that they are going to delay it by another 3-4 months minimum, which is a shame.
;-)
Personally, I can't wait to see what the G5 laptop will look like!
The G5 heat problem has been solved with the latest rev.
Its just an industrial design problem at this point to make the case look nice.
Stop making excuses for Apple. These PB's you see will be the last with a G4. The PB line is just old and creaky at this point. You would only buy one right now if there is some reason where you *HAVE* to have a PB (i.e. you use one for work and your current PB is stolen).
But if you can wait 6 months, it would intelligent to wait, because you'll get something that doesn't sport a 3 year old design.
Bah, I prefer the free dual 2.5Ghz G5s.
http://www.spamsucksyourass.com
I'm more glad they finally installed the right amount of RAM: 512MB on a single stick. First off, no Mac should ship with 256MB, especially not a "pro" machine. Second, last year's high-end models came with 2x256MB sticks, which means you lose half of it when you upgrade. Adding a 512MB stick (for 768 total) was severely value-deficient, and unfortunately 1GB SO-DIMMs are still at a nasty price premium.
you should upgrade to 512mb RAM.
Ohh and that is odd, you might have a problem with your mac mini. I have an older ibook that only has a 4200rpm drive, and it takes me no where near 20 minutes to copy a 17meg file, in fact it takes on average 3 seconds to copy a 17meg file.
The sensitivity is configurable, so it can be disabled too. ThinkPads have a history of breaking HDDs so that must be why it's been deployed back then.
So without disabling this you wouldn't be able to use your laptop onboard an airplane?
Where did you get your bus speed from? (I thought that the new PB bus ran at 333 MHz.)
I just purchased a Mac mini and 23" monitor. I wanted the 30", but didn't want the bulky monster that the G5 tower is (the only machine that could drive one as of a few hours ago). It wasn't so much a price issue (duh... the 30" is still over $3000) but the size of the machine itself. Grrrrrrrrrr. Oh well, I'll wait for the Mac mini G5 that will probably be released by the end of the year (yeah right) and give my wife the 23" and current Mac mini. ;-)
Look at the AdBlock elements: one of the links on the page: http://switch.atdmt.com/action/apple_g5_powerbook
Yup. Remember this thing about how there was going to be a new G5 Powerbook? Hehe.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Whew.
I was scared there for like, ten seconds.
512MB standard. Finally someone was thinking.
I love my 12" powerbook but 256MB is not enough, especially if you run java applications.
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Wonder how much cache those 80GB and 100GB drives have. Most 5400RPM laptop HDs these days come with 8MB of cache, but there are 16MB versions too which really remedies the problem of slower performance of laptop HDs. I put a 60GB 16MB cache 5400RPM Toshiba drive in an IBM T21 and the performance difference compared to the previous HD (4200RPM, barely any cache) was simply amazing. Although, the only problem was that the drive was too hot for the poor T21 and RAM was located above the HD slot, so things got really unstable after about 10 minutes of operation.
Nice idea and I hope it works.
But it's the kind of gadgety feature I can imagine going bonkers and effectively shutting down your computer until you send it in for a refit.
(OK, that happened to an iBook which wouldn't be likely to get the fancy extra features anyway... But I can dream, can't I?)
I really like the PB line, pretty much everything about it.
I wondered a bit about the keyboard, because it is the same as the 12", but Apple explained it was the right size, and that's good enough for me.
People, just buy them. When we need something faster, Apple will let us know, and they'll tell us to buy it.
errm, here's the link with the taiwanese companies that make the apple range.
...with an estimated ship date of 02-18-05. This morning after the announcement from the order status page.
PBG4 15.2/1.5/512/80/COMBO/APX-USA
Open Est. Ship 02/09/2005
W00T!
I've ordered system before on the verge of an announcement of new Apple systems. When the order arrived, it was the newer announced system, with slight upgrades from the original order.
Looking forward to some PowerBook G4 goodness!
Way freakin' cool!
You are not root, go away.
I had put in an order for a 15" powerbook, on friday, (I didn't believe in a G5book) and checking my order status today, apple upgraded everything in the order, and dropped the price. they even dropped about a week off the ship date. Pretty happy with them right now.
As a long time ThinkPad user who has been contemplating what to buy when ThinkPads start to suck, the PowerBook has been an option at the top of my list. However, as a longtime user of OS's other than MacOS, I'd really like to see two mouse buttons, and idealy an IBM TrackPoint. I know most people don't like them, but for me, it's the best mobile pointing device out there. One mouse button? Come on, that's like playing with those huge Lego blocks instead of the cool Techno stuff...
I said a year ago that I wasn't going to purchase a new powerbook till it was either a dual core or a G5. Looks like I'll still be waiting. And there are many more just like me.
I bought an aluminum G4 PowerBook 15" to replace my TiBook, mostly for the faster processor, backlit keyboard, and acceptable WiFi reception. But I still use the old unit sometimes, and whenever I do I'm immediately struck with how beautifully made it is. It's slightly smaller, the keyboard and trackpad feel nicer...it's really a design masterpiece. It just makes me happy to be using it. The new enclosure gets the job done but Jonathan Ives really took a step back with it.
Actually, I was trying to be Insightful, not Funny.
It's flamebait, because the PowerBook doesn't come with a mouse. No ragging on the touchpad could get him a nice zero score or maybe even an interesting. But ragging on an item that doesn't even come with the computer, is just some idiot taunting the unfeed masses, or flamebait.
The soft Aluminium that the PowerBooks are made of dents easily. If you drop one, they'll know about it. (My 12" has a really badly dented RHS where it fell off a sofa)
Knowing that the number five comes after four is not a major insight into Apple's product cycle. Anyway, to summarize my trolling on my own post: I feel vindicated.
.\.\att Clare
The keyboard is so nice on my 15" PowerBook that I bought the Macally IceKey, which has similar keys. I can't recommend it enough.
"Dave, I stand still--the conclusions jump to me!" - Bill McNeal, NewsRadio
Even with the new features, the 15" is starting to show its age agsinst the competition regarding price. A year and four months ago, Apple and Dell were nearly side-by-side on price (PB 15" vs Inspiron 8600). Now the PowerBook is the same price ($2000) when the Dell can be had for $1400 (or less, that's being conservative!). A year and a half without a price reduction is just plain dumb...especially considering that the 12" PB is getting eaten by the iBook G4. There is no compelling ~$1500 Apple professional solution; however in the PC World no one in their right mind pays over $1600 (for a laptop with similar limited features: ie- lowest resolution 15" lcd, moderate HD size/performance, DVD-CDRW combo, marginal processor performance, limited support options)
Apple needs to learn that price PLUS performance are key. Just because they can't figure out how to product place the 12" PowerBook doesn't mean that the price for the 15" PowerBook just HAS to be jacked up! I thought the Mac mini was an omen of better decision making...guess not.
With the top model running $2,399.00 with the educational discount... not a bad rig for a college student. perfect for on campus use, good battery life, wireless, Mac OS X! you can start at $1,499.
IMHO it's a pretty good machine. It's all pretty good hardware. Not many laptops ship with 512 MB from the factory, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 5400 RPM HD. Lately it seems 4200 RPM drives have been making a comeback thanks to their low power consumption and price. It's a good place for a manufacturer to cut corners. Most customers don't realize. Heck when I bought my laptop most sales people didn't even know what was shipping. I got forwarded around several times when I called most companies... and never got an answer.
Apple's pretty good about quality hardware.
Apple still is crippling the 12 " PB by not including
- Gigabit Ethernet
- FireWire 800
- backlit keyboard
OK the backlit keyboard just looks cool but why can't they at least make these optional?
I have a 15" but would have liked to have gotten the 12" if it had better specs. The only real advantage the 12" PowerBook has over an iBook is the dual screen capabilities. Even that can be hacked into the iBook.
sorry for my lack of html skillz, but note:
r ma tion/0,,30_118_10220_10221^11030,00.html
r ma tion/0,,30_118_10220_10221^10269,00.html
r pc -g5.html
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInfo
Summary: the small/low power version of the AMD64 has a heat dissipation of 35W... not too bad, actually!
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInfo
(i.e. the proc I have)
Summary: heat dissipation of 65W. Still doable, since my laptop hasn't burned my lap yet... (though it DOES get hot at times.)
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/powe
Summary: PowerPC970 processor at 1.8Ghz = 42W. (apparently, the JUST the processor itself)
I might be mistaken, so please someone pipe up if they see something wrong with my comparisons here. Seems like IBM/Apple would have themselves a winner for a laptop proc.
Wonder how much cache those 80GB and 100GB drives have. Most 5400RPM laptop HDs these days come with 8MB of cache, but there are 16MB versions too which really remedies the problem of slower performance of laptop HDs. I put a 60GB 16MB cache 5400RPM Toshiba drive in an IBM T21 and the performance difference compared to the previous HD (4200RPM, barely any cache) was simply amazing. Although, the only problem was that the drive was too hot for the poor T21 and RAM was located above the HD slot, so things got really unstable after about 10 minutes of operation.
From what I hear putting a 5400rpm drive in a PowerBook G4 really livens it up. A coworker of mine installed one for his father and the performance is noticably better, especially when opening large files in PS etc.... but I haven't had any feedback on heat issues. Has anybody else tried upgrading the PowerBook to 5400rpm? I'd be interested in hearing your experiences.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
But Um Apple it's Monday... You guys create awesome machines but have you heard of iCal? You don't put out new stuff till tuesday... Maybe you should set a recurring alarm or something.
I was in the same position as you when I threw caution to the wind and bought a 500mhz TiBook a few years ago..
:) and honestly I could use either on it now. One, two, scrolly.
I too thought that as a longtime user of OS's other than MacOS I wanted two mouse buttons...
and after six months with the powerbook I realised I wasn't using those OS's with the powerbook, I was using OS X, and the one button thing just clicked (pun slightly intended
I'd never have accepted that as possible before I got one though.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Strictly speaking, you don't even need a mouse (can be emulated with arrow keys on Windows). But having one is much more confortable, and that's how many people feel about more mouse buttons and a scroll wheel.
What I am missing for Apple notebooks is a viable dockingstation. There are bookends but they are not integrated into OS X and you still have wear and tear on the onboard connectors. It would be nice to have the onboard port still free. Why should I use a 30' Cinema-Display when I have to connect at least 2 cables ervery time I want to use it. I think most people will have to connect 4 cables (keyboard&mouse, power, network and Video) plus optional sound, scanner/camera, external drives &c.
It is not possible to use technology to solve social problems
two finger scrolling ability... hardware or software? hardware may prove difficult, but software should be portable/hackable to a rev C, B, or A, no?
...and that's all there is to it.
The only laptops I have seen a 10-key built onto are those massive "Desktop Replacement" ones that you can't put on your lap without fear of burning... something valuable.
These are meant to actually be portable, and useable on the go. As such, Apple would have about 40 million carpal-tunnel-in-the-right-wrist lawsuits if they were to offset the keyboard to the left to accomodate a 10-key.
Also, think of the market that Apple sells the most PowerBooks to: Audio, Video, and prepress people. They don't care about a 10-key...
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
While it's not exactly what you want, you could get SideTrack, an alternative driver for the trackpad that allows for scrolling (on trackpads without it) and allows you to assign seperate functions to the button, a tap on the trackpad, and the corners of the trackpad as well.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
One thing that I hope Apple winds up incorporating into their laptops is something that a friend of mine has on his Dell. It's a special "DVD only" mode where it switches over from being a general purpose computer to a DVD player only, and the battery life is increased substantially thereby.
This seems to be a good idea. We use our PB as a DVD player frequently at night in bed*, and a power cord is annoying. Having this would be just another nice touch, and I couldn't imagine it would be that hard to engineer.
* And to head off the juveniles: Yes, sometimes we do watch porn.
Ok, can we stop feeding the trolls? Seriously...
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I can't believe you people like the PowerBook keyboard. They are much the same as other notebooks and that's the problem - cramped! I would probably buy one if the made the keyboard more like a standard one and replaced the trackpad gizmo with something that actually works well.
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
Great, you make a legitimate comment and get marked flaimbait. Even the Linux crowd will let you disagree with them in an open forum.
TW
What mouse? These are laptops.
That was classic intercourse!
I like the Trackpoint too. My girlfriend has an old Tosh Satellite Pro that has one and I find it the best way by far to drive a laptop. Don't some Tosh machines still have one?
That was classic intercourse!
Wow, they brought down the lowest end by $100. Nice.. I could actually afford one now if I hadn't bought that Mac Mini first.
ShortFormBlog: Writing a little. Saying a lot.
I know this will probably end up off topic, but everyone will be reading this Apple thread and not the others.
My Mac Mini was due to be shipped last Friday - 28/1/5 - and the status is still "open". The Irish girls on the phone say they've requested Manufacturing to explain why it hasn't been dispatched/built (for it was BTO) but don't know anything else; which is fair enough.
Am I the only one who ordered a BTO Mac Mini as soon as Jobs' keynote speech was done (*after the Apple web store came back up) who hasn't recieved it yet? Anyone else with similar experiances?
Cheers for any comments.
I used to own a NeXT, and used the old Xerox machines, which believe it or not existed before the Mac. The nice thing about pulldown menus is that they appear wherever your mouse already is - click the right button, get a menu. On the NeXT all the apps could generate a menu anywhere with the right button, this meant you could avoid going to the screen menu and made life much faster.
I just wish there were a second *hardware* button on the machine, bound to the same action, and an OS preference to activate it to generate the pulldown menu which is still buried somewhere in the Mac OS if I remember rightly. That way noone gets confused, and power users get the second button.
This is not a troll, if Apple is not made aware that their target audience want improvements to the already excellent machines, the machines won't get better. Ah, yes, I also would like better battery life.
This is not a signature.
It's mandatory if you attend Case University
Great to see!
PB 15" w/ superdrive was $AUS 3,999 NOW $3,649.
Falls in line with US's weakened green back and now makes it attractive not to buy the PB in the US
Woohoo!
This guy posts in every Apple hardware thread with the exact same bullcrap. Just ignore it, and he'll go away.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I just bought a 12" PB two weeks ago. According to my receipt, I'm two days over my return window. Anyone have experience with the Apple return policy? How likely are they to cut me a break?
Maybe because your experience isn't the norm. I'd say, if it took over 20 minutes to transfer a 17MB file, most Mac users wouldn't be so in love with their computers. I routinely transfer files over 100MB and up to 5GB, from folder to folder, from folder to secondary hard drive, from folder to server, from folder to remote location using FTP, SSH or Timbuktu or even Apple's Finder. And with the exception of GB files to remote location have never spent 20 minutes on the job. As a test, it just took ~5 sec for my computer to duplicate a 65MB file.
It doesn't happen that often, but it sounds like your Finder is frozen. This can either mean a bad OS install or you could just need more memory. When the Finder is damaged lots of routine tasks can take forever, plus other inconsistencies abound. I've seen brand new systems that just need the OS hosed and re-installed. It happens! Mac and/or PC.
But also memory makes a huge difference. I've seen some people use 256MB RAM with no issues. But I personally can't tolerate OS X with anything less than 512MB. Background tasks can eat up all of your 256MB RAM, leaving you to rely on the hard drive for virtual memory. With the hard drive speed in the Mac mini, I'd say your not doing yourself any favors if that's what your relying on. Sure if you were using Mac OS 8.5 or Mac OS 9, you'd probably be fine, but Mac OS X is a different beast, and has stronger memory requirements.
Try putting Windows 2000 or Windows XP on your wife's old Athlon with 96MB RAM, and see how fast it runs. I'm not even certain if XP would even complete the install process. It helps to make comparisons with comparable items. Running Windows 95 or Win98 on 96MB RAM isn't comparable to running Mac OS X on 256MB RAM. Running Windows 2000 or WinXP is far closer to this.
Practically every venue, I've read about the Mac mini mentions the fact that you should upgrade the RAM to 512MB. I can't think of a single article in exception. Which leads me to believe you deliberately decided not to upgrade (assuming your a regular Slashdot reader, and a tech geek or at least tech addicted). It's silly to shoot yourself in the foot, then complain about the pain. But even still, its probably resolvable by just purchasing a memory upgrade.
If you want a faster Mac laptop, just kill Aqua and use the command line!
Sure, but the faster the G5's come out, the faster the, ahem, "public beta testing" is over, and the sooner it's safe to buy one! So it would still be great if the thing came out. Of course, I got my powerbook a year ago, so I'm in no hurry.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
I help my coworkers and we all got Thinkpad T41s recently and they do 1600x1400 or something of that nature.
90% of them immediately after getting their new laptop were upset/couldn't read/needed help fixing and then weren't happy with how it looked.
Adjusting it down to 1024x768 or whatever they were comfortable with was fuzzy and looked like trash.
reading 1600x1400 on a 14 - 15" screen is hard for them older folk, you know, people over 25 - 30.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
I usually only have one hand on my PB when I'm using it. Yet another example of porn driving technological innovation.
This is an old, old troll.
Check out
http://www.kottke.org/98/11/my-mac-sucks
to see the same post from 1998, but with a 8600/300mhz with 64 mb of RAM, instead of a Mac Mini.
This fellow is whoring himself in the hopes that his mini-mac referral gets modded up into general display. Do not fall for it.
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
Quoting the Reg - As yet the new machines' processors are not known, beyond the generic G4 classification. Previous models used the Freescale MPC7447A, clocked at up to 1.5GHz. It would be nice to think the new machines may use that chip's successor, the MPC7448, Freescale's first 90nm G4. However, Apple's specs point to 512KB of L2 cache, as per the 7447A, not the 7448's 1MB.
Race for Development http://princeton.aidindia.org/marathon/anish.html
Unbadged? I don't see what's wrong with badged, my Linux system is badged.
Using a second finger changes the functionality of the trackpad. Does this mean people will FINALLY stop complaining about Apple shipping machines with a single button mouse, even though it has a good excuse?
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
just sign up at stanford (there are some other places, too...), pay your 42k per year or so, and use the nice deals at the bookstore there. saves you lots on apple products ...
you didn't expect a practical suggestion, did you? ;-)
Looks more and more like the nice way to run Linux apps on those (and no, Fink hasn't ported *everything*) would be Linux-on-Mac -- does this exist yet?
This is...
O
U
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R
A
G
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O
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!
The 12" PB comes with 256 on-board + 256 SO-DIMM, upgradeable to 256 + 512 for $75 (or 256 + 1024 for absurd $$$).
The 15" & 17" come with 1x 512 SO-DIMM, upgradeable at outrageous prices. Buy the extra RAM 3rd party; the point is that you don't have to waste the original 512 (unless you really need 2GB).
Has anyone else noticed how Apple seems to almost be responding directly to the complaints of /.res lately? They just need to give a 2 button mouse option to confirm my theory...
Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
One thing you can do with Windows is adjust the resolution. Windows XP calls 96 dpi standard resolution and 120 dpi high resolution. If you change the DPI setting under display properties->advanced->general->DPI setting, Windows will scale text and graphics to fit your new resolution. It looks pretty ugly, though, since most icons are small raster graphics that look really bad when scaled. Windows Longhorn is supposed to ship with vector graphics to fix that... I just leave it at the default setting, since I like small fonts, even if it means 1 cm on my screen doesn't correspond exactly to 1 cm on paper.
Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
--Proverbs 9:7
From the apple stores specs on the twelve inch models:
$1,499.00
60GB Hard Drive
$1,699.00
80GB Hard Drive
Correct me if Im wrong: The only difference I see between the two twelve inch models is the hard drive space. Is 200 dollars worth this?
-bdb
But these go to eleven...
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
You had to purchase this separately before...
If anyone is interested in the noteook my sibling poster is talking about (circular scroll)--
K A18442 b ook
Panasonic W2 ToughBook
http://www.superwarehouse.com/p.cfm?p=404027&CMP=
http://www.google.com/search?q=panasonic+w2+tough
A little lighter, smaller and slower than a PowerBook, but cost competititive, I guess. Synaptics trackpads can be found on many Wintel portables and can all use the circular scroll.
If weight isn't an issue, I'd say the PowerBook is a better deal.
Read Heinlein's 1953 Revolt in 2100, now more than ever.
Mac fanbois feel they're doing this discourage people from waiting for the G5, which is bad in their book, because it "hurts" apple.
Its a weird weird thing going on with fanbois. Scary, really.
Jeez, it seems like every single hardware/software update that Apple produces gets a Slashdot posting. I know Apple is cool, but there are also plenty of other things happening in the techsphere/geeksphere...
Are story submissions to Slashdot so poor that we must resort to this??? Wait, wait--maybe I really don't want to know the answer to this question...
This is something I've never seen before, actually. Apple's new trackpad works differently than other scrolling trackpads, which set aside an area to be used to scroll. The Powerbook scroller detects that you are pressing two fingers rather than one, and uses that to decide whether to scroll.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
I'm a two-toed sloth, you insensitive clod!
"1.5? Are you f'ing kidding me? That would be fine if PB's were $1600"
Lucky for you, the 1.5 GHz PowerBook is $1,499. Next!
No need to get all pedantic, it was a joke.
I was about to purchase one until i looked at the bus specs. i love powerbooks im writing this on one now. but you could have a 1thz processor and still have a slow computer. when i do spend the money i want a PB with at least a 500Mhz bus, that would really allow you to use the computer and the graphics card. otherwize you are stuck with a slow computer no matter how you slice it.
Command is not the key that simulates a right button click, control is. And there is only one control key - on the left hand side of the keyboard. This makes it quite difficult for left-handed people to control-click - they either need to use their right hand on the trackpad, or cross their hands. I'm quite surprised no one at Apple has picked up on this.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
And now you can go down to "-1, Offtopic" for crying about the (IMHO well-deserved) moderation. The one-button mouse thing has been discussed to death elsewhere. If you have something new and insightful to add to the discussion, then by all means show your genius. If you're going to post one line quips that are not only incendiary but obvious, don't expect much in the way of praise or positive moderation.
The odd thing about this is that the new notebooks weren't released on a Tuesday.
mbbac
Nah... the PowerBook12" is superior to the iBook12" just on quality of the keyboard alone. Throw in DVI for your flat panel and you've eliminated the last remaining reason to keep an old machine under the desk. That's sweet...
.. in a nice little portable that runs at 2ghz or so ..
.. it wasn't so long ago that this was a 'SGI or Sun[Dec,Alpha*etc] -only' kind of spec.
..
.. i've been saying 'x'-k is 'a lot' since 6k was a 'lot', so i think i'm qualified to have an opinion at least.. i've spent an awful lot of money on RAM in my lifetime, and i'm not still using all of it, darn it ..
.. give us a dual-proc G4 powerbook in the next release, at least, same lovely form-factor, maybe better batteries, try to ignore the "always have more"-zealots, pay some attention to us 'just have refined goodity that is -not- x86'-dudes, like you always do:
...
there's still *PLENTY* of room in the G4, folks. 64-bit computing is fine and all, but you only need 64-bit if you need it, and very few people actually really do.
i love my current pbg4 setup (17"/2G RAM/100G HD/OSX+linux dualboot) and i have to say i'm extremely happy to have a 'workstation-class' laptop, finally, after 20 years. 2gigs of RAM, nice fancy graphics, y'know
a *loooooooooooooooot* of good software can still run just fine, on 32-bit CPU's like the G4 (Altivec is lovely, thanks!), with a lot of RAM, in a tight package like the pb's lovely flatness/completeness represents.
someone, please, show me a laptop thats as nice and comfy and 'lifestyle'-integrating as a powerbook, with a processor in it other than x86-blah, and i'll switch. but until then, there just isn't anything on the market as hacking-friendly as the pbg4's are
and while i say "2gigs is still a lot, buckwheat" yes
just, Apple, Mr. Jobs, please
my current computer is a powerbook, my next computer will probably be a powerbook, my last one was as well, so there you go
[tho i'm definitely -not- an apple zealot! os9, ack-spit blech! pre-G4 hardware, raooulpH! spit!]
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
You didn't hear this from me, but they generally silently switch shipping on new products to overnight or 2-day for free. So unless you really, really want it now, you should never pay extra if you're ordering something on its release date.
If you pay for upgraded shipping, you'll get it, but chances are they would have done it for free anyway.
I know that all the mac zealots have been hanging here since apple.slashdot.org opened up, but how is this news worthy? Or at least how is this front page worthy? Would it be a front page story if dell updated their laptop line? It probably wouldn't make the site at all. So how is this different?
Design flaws of the Ti Book:
-cracking hinges(fixed with a single wide hinge)
-chipping Ti paint(Aluminum doesn't need painting)
-Slot loading drives jammed more often (none so far)
-keyboard marks up the screen when closed (so far so good with Al PowerBook)
The Al PowerBooks feel much better to me.
I'm glad they finally updated their 'Superdrive'. It was getting embarrassingly outdated, when competitors from the PC laptop realm had DVD±RW with DVD-RAM drive drives. I have a Powerbook 15" with the old DVD-R Superdrive and had to admit I was a bit envious that a professor who's new Toshiba laptop had DVD±RW and DVD-RAM drive capabilities. Although, I still feel my Powerbook is better form factor, thinner and enjoy running OS X better than running a Toshiba with XP. I can't figure out why Apple can't offer a DVD-RAM solution as well, like the Toshiba or MCE., being a member of the DVD consortium. I'd be willing to pay an extra $80-$50 to get DVD-RAM capabilities in my next machine. Better than paying MCE $249 for their replacement drive. MCE new drive doesn't have DVD-RAM support but offers DVD-R double layer instead, which makes it a little better than Apple's new Superdrive offering.
I have an old 15" 1 Ghz with 512 MB of RAM and Mac OS X 10.2.8 from a few years ago. How much faster is this 1.67 Ghz compared to mine? 10% faster?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
You will note that you cannot get a SuperDrive (DVD writer) in the 12" iBook.
So the 12" PB also has the advantage of being the only 12" laptop Apple offers that writes DVDs. To me, this is the biggest difference. I'm more likely to want to write a DVD on the go than any of this other stuff.
I can't believe you're complaining about this stuff. FW 800? What are you going to use FW 800 for? Do you have any FW800 devices? Do they provide any additional performance over FW400 anyway? I mean, even with a FW add-on HD, is your drive going to do more than 50MB/sec?
I have my entire house rigged up for GigE, so I'd like to have it. It'd be nice. Transfers would probably be twice as fast or so. Neither the G4 processor nor the memory bus in a laptop is ideally suited to maximizing throughput on GigE, so you won't get much more than that.
As to the backlight keyboard, I'm typing this on a 15" PB right now, I even use it in the dark a lot. The backlight keyboard doesn't do anything useful. You have the screen directly above the keyboard illuminating the keys. I find the keyboard backlight usually makes the keys illegible anyway. They light up the black letters on the keys until they are about as bright as the silver around them, making them unreadable.
Anyway, I find it funny that the 12" is "crippled" to you. I personally got a 15" because the screen on the 12" isn't high-rez enough. Mac OS X has so much crap on the screen that 1024x768 doesn't really cut it. Sometimes I wonder if Apple makes all the controls and window adornments on X large just to drive new monitor/laptop sales.
"Looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for the PowerBook G5."
.gif? THERE WAS A CLEAR .GIF, DAMMIT!!! From an AD AGENCY! Doesn't that mean ANYTHING?!?!? Arrgh!
But, but... but what about the clear
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
It does come with one track pad button though :)
And they're off to troll again about buttons and UIs.
I won't be parting with money for an apple lappy, until it's a 64 bit one.
Remove the digit boys.
- The anodized aluminum shell is much harder to scratch. My white iBook was hideously scratched; my Powerbook barely at all.
- DVI out.
- Spanning video out versus mirroring. Although you can probably hack an iBook's firmware to allow spanning.
- The Keyboard. A Powerbook's keyboard is firm and durable. An iBook's keyboard is squishy and cheap.
- Opening it up. Opening a Powerbook is not fun, but it's mainly a matter of unscrewing screws. An iBook is held together with easily broken and hard to release snaps. I upgraded my hard drive Saturday to a 100GB Momentus, and it was only mildly stressful.
- The clincher. A DVD burning Superdrive as an option. I've put together several DVDs on my 12", and this is the main reason I went with the Powerbook.
Again. I think the iBook is a great little box; but if you have the means, I highly recommend the Powerbook 12".Apple updated things on a Monday? We knew it was coming quickly because they End Of lifed the earlier models a week and a half ago, but they usually only update on Tuesday.
The new features are all well and good, but i just priced a loaded 15" Powerbook with everything i want (add 128 Graphics, subtract DVD-R) for less than $2100 (with student discount) This similar setup on prior models ran me almost $2800.
THAT to me is the selling point. Add on my bluetooth apple keyboard, and ordering another 512MB of memory plus a logitech MX900 from Newegg and i'm friggin set. I have my fully featured powerbook ready to take o nthe world for less tahn 2300, 2400 if i grab an extra battery which i probably will when i order.
now all i have to do is come up with $2400...anybody willing to help a poor college kid live the dream of OSX?
I knew something was going on. I called Apple yesterday saying I was interested in buying a new PowerBook to replace my 1GHz 12". The guy at Apple assured me that there would be no new PowerBooks until later in the year --- but also offered me a PB with a free SuperDrive upgrade and free hard drive upgrade, plus free shipping. Obviously those deals are not available today.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
The hardware looks nice, but as usual the cost is about 30% higher than a comparable PC. For many people, the Apple ease of use and panache are worth the cost delta.
However, I wish Apple would restrain their marketing department. They often make obviously incorrect statements. In their exuberance to push their products, the Apple marketing weasels continue to lie. One example from the Apple link provided in the original /. article:
The fastest available, unless you want to count the Netgear WGT624 I'm using or the comparable offering from Linksys, both of which run at 108 Mbps, twice as fast as the Airport Extreme. And Belkin is currently selling pre-802.11n hardware that *really* pumps up the bandwidth.
Remember when Apple claimed the title of fastest processor and got their ass handed to them for telling such a blatant lie? Apple hardware is very nice, and their products are friendly and innovative. Do they need to lie through their teeth to sell their stuff?
>> My ultraviolent Linux switch video.
Of course, +1 Funny would be a good mod too. But that would only work if you had a sense of humor about the issue.
Possibly irrelevant story to follow:
I went to military journalist school about 15 years ago. One of the interesting aspects of the school is that it wasn't just an Army school (my branch of service), but, in fact, trained military journalists from all branches of service. This was my first interactions with significant numbers of Air Force, Navy and Marine personnel.
One of the things I found out is that the different branches have very different core cultures. One of the way this was exhibited was in the status they gave to their branch.
Army people will bitch incestantly about the Army. They may be slightly annoyed when others do it, but they won't give them too hard a time because they all had such a good time cutting it down themselves.
Air Force people really do look at their service like a job. If you were to cut down the Air Force to them they'd just shrug and not pay much attention.
Navy people seem to have all joined on a dare. They don't complain too much about the navy and they have a lot of pride in it, but they're not going to get into fisticuffs unless the offence is very bad.
Then there were the Marines. If you made fun of the Corp in front of a Marine, you'd get an extremely stern, "that's not funny" at best. Yes, even things that every other human being on the planet would find funny, the Marines would most certainly NOT find humourus if it even slightly disparaged the Corp. Of course, they had no problem at all making fun of every other service.
How is this relevant to the matter at hand? It's become my opinion over the last couple of days that The Mac Faithful (TMF from now on) are just like the Marines. They are proud and they have some good reasons to be proud, but they are completely incapable of finding fault with themselves or seeing humor in that fault.
Since I started this line of thinking, I'll have to compare a couple of other OSs too.
Windows users are definately the Army. They have the largest numbers and don't hesitate to crack on their own platform. Others don't hesitate either and for the most part no one gets too worked up about it.
Unix users are mostly the Air Force (Some of them show Marine tendencies though). They pretty much do their jobs and shrug it off if someone cracks on their OS.
Linux users are the Navy. They joined on a dare, but are pretty proud of their OS and wont hesitate to defend it.
Yeah I've stretched a bit with the other OSs, but I think I hit it dead on with TMF. The Few, the Proud, the Macs! pretty accurately describes their level of attachment. The thing is.... they should really lighten up.
TW
Mac user Jeff S.> Dude, my mac has stopped working...
Apple tech> I see you have had two acceleration events in the last week, abuse is not covered...
uhhh.. what? I'm right handed, use the trackpad with my left hand, it only takes a second to tap the ctrl key with my ring finger and the button with my thumb. Once you right click, the contextual menu should stay open. I may have larger hands than you, but I think they're pretty average.
moox. for a new generation.
You'd have thought that Bill would have had better things to spend his time on, (where the fsck is Longhorn?).
In October 2003 I purchased a 12" Powerbook with my student discount (right after they bumped up the specs).
This is what I got:
1ghz G4
Superdrive (2x, DVD-R only)
80GB 4200rpm HD
Bluetooth/WiFi
256MB ram (bought it elsewhere)
All this totaled to: $1801
NOW, I price a similar machine and you get:
1.5Ghz G4
Superdrive (8x DVD+/-R)
100GB 5200rpm HD
Bluetooth/WiFi
768MB ram
2 years applecare!!
and what does it come to after student discount: $1828!!!
Oh well, by the time I can afford to get a new one they will have G5 or freescale dual core G4 models I hope.
So I wonder if they actually have a new trackpad, or if they have simply updated their software?
BTW, you can get third party drivers to enable the features that Apple isn't using, and more. For example, SideTrack gives you vertical and horizontal scrolling, corner taps for more buttons, and more.
It's all the same, whether it's the Marines, Mac heads or Catholics.
Looks like they also dropped prices. The base 17" model is now 2699, where it used to be 2799. Furthermore, a 5400 RPM drive is now standard, and that used to be a $100 upgrade, and 128 MB VRAM is now standard, and that also was a $100 upgrade. Configure the new PowerBook with an 80 gig drive to match what the old one had, and that's $100 off, so basically it is now $2599 for the new vs. $2999 for the old.
Could I get that chestnut roasted on an open fire?
You have shown yourself to be untrue to the iFaith...
Are there any problems with choosing build to order (BTO) options in terms of quality or warranty? I am considering buying a 15" PowerBook. 512 MB is too little memory. Should I get 1 GB through BTO? Should I buy a 512 MB stick elsewhere and install myself?
The video memory upgrade looks tempting, too. Is the difference noticeable?
The upgrade to a 100 GB hard drive seems way overpriced.
Finally, are there any adapters or accessories that are so useful that I might as well buy them with the laptop?
There would be one simple thing Apple could do to make me upgrade my year-old 12" to a new one: please, replace the broken internal ADB keyboard with a proper USB one, so that I can remap caps lock to control.
>firewire 800 is still not in mainstream use, and the same goes for gigabit ethernet.
PowerBooks are not mainstream computers. They are "Power" Books. They are designed for professionals who need powerful computers. All PowerMacs and PowerBooks have GigE and FW800 except the 12" PB. I think these are both important to professionals.
Quite a few comments (usually modded troll) commenting how the powerbooks are overpriced, underpowered laptops. I'm curiious what x86 laptop they'd reccomend for the same price that would have so much more power. However, I'm not interested in a 2" thick 10 lb. "desktop replacement", thanks.
Who still expected a G5 Powerbook any time this year. TOO MUCH HEAT, PEOPLE.
But what about those pictures taken in the French elevator of the aluminum backpack and hose connected to that laptop... clearly this is the new prototype G5..
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Oops! I meant that the iBook has 32 MB of video memory while the PowerBook has 64.
I help my coworkers and we all got Thinkpad T41s recently and they do 1600x1400 or something of that nature.
90% of them immediately after getting their new laptop were upset/couldn't read/needed help fixing and then weren't happy with how it looked.
Adjusting it down to 1024x768 or whatever they were comfortable with was fuzzy and looked like trash.
reading 1600x1400 on a 14 - 15" screen is hard for them older folk, you know, people over 25 - 30.
This is why I like my old T20. It has a 14" screen with a *native* 1024x768 resolution. Most websites are designed to this. Even then some of the fonts they use are ridiculously small, in an attempt to be arty.
BTW I'm 40 but my eyes haven't changed at all since my 20s. I watch younger people at their high resolution screens, faces all screwed up, squinting. They'll have wrinkles for sure when they're my age, as well as bad eyes.
FYI -- If you're planning to buy, consider getting a Select ADC membership. It costs $500 and you'll get discounts on one hardware purchase.
I just saved $700 (net $200 after membership) on a 17" PB with 2GB RAM.
Plus, you get access to Tiger betas & all the fun stuff that comes with.
Chikli Consulting LLC - http://agileshrugged.com
Current Powerbook G4s are defficient because of their slow 167MHz FSB and battery life.
. jsp?code=DRPPCDUALCORE
. jsp?nodeId=02VS0l72156067
Freescale (formerly Motorola SPS) is releasing a new G4 core, the e600, with and integrated DDR momory controller. It will be available as single and DUAL CORES.
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview
A dual core e600 with IMC would rock for performance and reduce the power sucking system controller in current machines.
Plus with Freescale's "SemiCustom Processor" program Apple could take some of that 6 billion that have in the bank and pay to have a HT link replace the 4 Gigabit controllers on the CPU.
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview
They've already got the HyperTransport license!
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20920
Then they can start using any number of chipsets from ATI / Nvidia.
Dual Core G4 in '05!
It's still wrong. Consumer machines should be 512. Pro machines should be 1 gig. End of story.
I sincerely hope the Mac mini falls flat on its ass after people start realizing how slow it is with only 256 MB and a 42000 rpm disk for swap. Maybe then Apple will learn their lesson.
OS X is awesome, but not in 256 or less RAM. In that case, it is absolute hell.
Apple Patent article
IBM began including a similar feature on its ThinkPad notebook line in October 2003. Apple's patent application was filed in June 2003, but it wasn't published until last week.
I doubt Apple would actually try to sue IBM for infringment, even if it does get the patent. Apple needs its G5 chips too badly.
Does this mean you can get bluesnarfed at higher speeds and longer range?
I mod down pyramid schemes in sigs.
"makes you think that this guy has been or ever was an apple customer?"
He's not an apple customer. A real apple customer, even if he is disappointed with the spec, will buy it anyway, because if you buy it, that's supports Apple, which will make them stay in business, which means more Apples.
Sure, you're disappointed, and its more than you wanted to spend, but you're buying an Apple. And anyway, Windows sucks.
The whole Mac/Marines analogy is very accurate..
;-)
Back when things seemed very grim for Apple (about 1997 or so), there was a webring/mailing list called MacMarines, specifically geared towards getting the positive word out about Macs. (The slogan was "Fighting back for the Mac!")
Yes, I was a member, and yes, I've mellowed a lot since then.
The 17" is 100 ppi. Install GIMP. When you get to the part where GIMP asks you to measure the screen, you'll see :-) Whether or not 100 is ideal, I'm not really sure. Apple has been designing computers a lot longer than I have though, so I'm content in taking their word for it :-)
That is the wrong cat. Now this is a cat.
This is great. I've been waiting for this for a while. My primary mode of transportation is a bicycle, and I've been pretty happy with my paneers from jandd. However the 15" powerbook doesnt really fit inside of the paneers I currently have. Now that I'm getting a powerbook, I was wondering if anyone could suggest any paneers suitable? In case the question comes up, I'm not interested in a messenger bag.
-- john
A stock Dell Inspiron 8600 is $ 2,164
A stock Apple 15" PB is $1,999
I'm hanging out for a PowerBook with that upcoming dual core G4. That will be sweet . For most of what I do, I'd expect the dual core G4 to whomp all over a single G5 system.
So when are they going to add the scroll wheel to the stock mac mouse? They can even make it so that it doesn't click so as not to confuse 48-year-olds.
The Farewell Tour II
That other companies make LCD displays using panels that didn't meet the Apple quality standard. Reading about QC issues with Dell monitors on all kinds of forums, I think he wasn't lying.
Plus, Dell monitors look like ass.
Thank goodness they haven't updated the PowerMac G5 line yet. I would hate having my drool glands start again after having just purchased a dual 2GHz a month ago.
The probably need to slim it down more than slightly. That iMac is thicker than it seems, especially when compared to a lap top. It's got a lot of fans and heat sinks in it too.
That being said - very slick design.
Sleep is for the Weak
....and finally, Amiga users are the Coast Guard.
They keep to themselves, are cool in their own way, but they suffer from being a little defensive and overly senstive because everyone always forgets about them.
... it's the 120 acceleration events per minute for seven minutes at a time that will pretty much cripple the use of the machine and shut it to a crawl, as a pr0n deterrent...
Instead of offsetting the keyboard, what if they just left it in the center and stuck the numeric keypad next to it? I think there's almost enough space...
It'd look weird and asymmetric, but it would still be ergonomic.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
UControl Mapping control to caps lock since you were in diapers.... .... well, not really, but you get the idea.
Does anyone know if the Scrolling Trackpad is the result of a hardware mod, or just some clever changes to Mac OS X? I know that today's tap-click-trackpads use a button-like mechanism to accomplish the clicking. Portables with trackpads from the early 90s, like the PowerBook 500 series, did not have this button and thus cannot tap-click, regardless of OS. It seems like it would be easy to do two-finger scrolling in software, however.
I ask because I'm curious if older portable Macs could support this with a software update.
I just tried customizing an order for one of the new 15" Powerbooks. I'm not sure if I encountered a bug in Apple's Online Store, or if I have a misunderstanding about what VRAM is.
If you customize the high-end 15" Powerbook (the 1.67 GHz one) and choose to upgrade the Video Memory to 128M, you get the following printout for what your custom order will be:
- 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
- 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
- 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/128MB VRAM dual
- AirPort Extreme Card
- Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
- 1.67GHz PowerPC G4
- ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (64MB DDR)
- 15.2-inch TFT Display
But aren't the two lines saying "128MB VRAM" and "Radeon...64MB" contradictory?
No, that would be s specific tuesday. Apple releases new kit on a more abstract generalized Platonic ideal Tuesday.
I'm afraid we'll have to wait until MWSF. (Note: I didn't say which MWSF!)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Very well said! I'm a long time Mac user (I switched from mainframes) and thought it was pretty accurate. But I'm usually embarassed by my Mac brethren.
But of course, your story reminded me of an old joke:
There's an inter-service meeting of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. The moderator of the meeting gets up and says, "It's time to break for two hours for lunch. That means that the Army people will return to this room at 1400 hours. The Navy people will return at 5 Bells [or whatever the number is--I have no idea]. The Air Force people will return at 2:00 PM. And for the Marines, Mickey's big hand will be on the 12 and his little hand will be on the two."
But you have to give him credit for updating the content (iTunes vs. Netscape, emacs vs. BBEdit).
Apple has NO presence at MacWorld Boston. Jobs now uses the WWDC to make major mid-year announcements.
Though in this case, the timing may be dictated more by technology than marketing...
It's all guesswork at this point, though I will be HUGELY surpried/disapointed if the G5 PB misses a summer release.
-Pie
Note that, internally, control-click and right click are distinct. It's quite possible to write applications that do different things with left click, right click, control-left-click, control-right-click and so on. It would be obnoxious for anyone to have functions on right-click that can't be done using control-left-click, but there are plenty of obnoxious programmers out there.
I'd like to see the scroll wheel useable for horizontal scrolling, perhaps by control-scroll. Anyone know how you detect scroll-wheel motion in Tcl/Tk (scroll wheel click is button-3)?
Hey, how'd I get logged out? Anyway, responding to my own post, Shift-scrollwheel DOES do horizontal scrolling! Wow, I should have played around more with it before posting!
Mac G5 (dual 1.8) with a couple Maxtor 250-300GB SATA drives - transferring files between them I get easily over 10MB/sec (which is rather startling when I consider that my first computer, a Lisa, had a total of 10MB of disk space).
Every 5400 RPM drive I had died in a year or two (all five of them). 4200 RPM drives live longer. All my dead 5400 RPM drives were 12.5 mm high,maybe the new 9.5 mm 5400RPM drives are better. 100GB 5400RPM Seagate laptop drives, were on sale at Fry's on December 31, I bought 5 of them for $179 a piece. I currently use them as external drives, initially I wanted to install them in my laptops, but I did not do it because I thought they would not last long.
But where would their speakers go?
That's the funniest and fairly apt set of comparisons I've seen, especially wrt us Mac Zealots.
I would like to point out that there are certain Windows users that could be compared to lifers. (Both in the sense of being careerists and to the life sentence).
Also, there is a subset of Linux (excuse me, I mean GNU/Linux) users that are perhaps even more wild eyed and extreme than your worst Mac Zealot. If we were comparing OSes to religions, they'd be jihadists for certain. (I'm sure some Mac Zealots could qualify for this as well.)
Anyway, thanks for cracking me up.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Hmm... There is alot to be said for the idea that alot of the processor power is taken up by bloated code. They can get away with it because Intel and AMD keep making faster chips. CPU manufacturers aren't making faster chips so you can run better software, they are making faster chips so you feel a need to replace the one you already got. They are like GE, they don't wanna make the proverbial lightbulb that never goes out...
I must say that you've come up with a pretty apt description. I've never realised it before, but Mac users are very much like Marines when it comes to defending the honor of their beloved Corps... uh, Computer.
;-)
Now I finally know just how annoying we are.
A reflex is an automatic response to a mere descriptive phrase, or an example, as many gun rights advocates argue) was united states v. Miller. This case also said that citizens, "when called for service ... Were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the opening at the time. Yes, it's parsing words, but so's quibbling over meaning of life, the universe, and everything is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its scientists, the hopes of its laborers, the genius of its laborers, the genius of its children. This is not a computer program, and i am a human being, which means i do what i want to ban guns. That's awesome! I'll just install gaim on a windows machine, then microsoft will be doing soon.
I tried both and I ended up preferring SideTrack. I wanted a solution that was equivalent to what I'd seen on PC notebooks and this was it. I haven't had stability problems.
"I've got to stop masturbating! It makes me too lazy! Stop it, Albert. Stop it." -- Albert Einstein
Does nyone know if this would allow running two LCD panels off a single DVI port, as some regular video cards allow, or do they use some other technological trickery ?
So resolution comes in second... or third as the response rate contributes to the quality of the screen image as well. A screen with a high response rate (about 22-23ms or >), can have ghosting effects when watching dvds, animation, or even moving a window around. The powerbook is decent but could do better in some cases. Generally, Powerbook screens have lower response rates than most other laptop pcs (but not all)... ibook screens are ok for response rates, but not as good as the Powerbooks...
Above the keyboard, like on the 12"?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
The firewire port on my old 667MHZ Titanium PB died. No big deal, I have a PC card slot and I can still use firewire devices.
The firewire ports are prone to die. What happens if the firewire port of a 12' PB dies and you are out of warranty? Spend a fortune on a new motherboard? Today a FW PC card can be bought with only $25. Moreover early models of 12" Al PC only came with USB 1.1. If they had PC Card slots, it would pe possible to use high speed USB on these machines, by investing $25-30 on a high speed USB card. Apple is EVIL, they want you to buy new Macs every year.
If I were the guy who wrote this... http://www.ragingmenace.com/ I would be pissed Adam
Navy people seem to have all joined on a dare. They don't complain too much about the navy and they have a lot of pride in it, but they're not going to get into fisticuffs unless the offence is very bad.
Would this be bad?... "Hey, I've heard that people who join the Navy with an ass hole, leave it with a port hole. So is that true? When you fart, does it sound like a light wind in an old ghost town? You're all fags, right? Are you thinking about sucking my dick right now?"
How does that rank next to buying a new video card to get better frame rates in the latest shooter that you can already run?
We can think of around a bajillion worse testaments to ego. People are driving around in cars that cost them several grand more than what they needed for no reason, paying huge insurance premiums, and getting godawful mileage. White supremacists are out there thinking the "whole problem with this country today" has to do with treating anyone else like a human being with rights. People are installing hideous pop songs as ring tones on their Palm Phones, which they don't actually use to store much of anything but phone numbers. Oh, the humanity!
Don't be too hard on yourself, kid.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
1. Sure, more bus speed good.
2. Pentium M's are only now approaching 2 GHz
3. Eh, what competition might that be? The best all around competitor to the PB lineup, imho, is the Dell D600 and D800, in terms of performance, screen, weight, etc. My D800 lasts around 3 hours. My powerbook 17-inch 1.33 usually lasted about the same for the first year of its life, but now due to use it's down to a bit over 2 hours.
4. Don't be petty.
A contrast of two laptops:
My PB runs Oracle 10g and J2EE app servers at similar speeds to my D800. I find it handles full memory situations much more gracefully, yet my PB has only 1 gb ram vs. my D800's 2 gb.
On the other hand, Eclipse is faster on my D800 due to Windows SWT optimizations. And my D800 has a faster hard drive (7200 rpm), which is definitely noticable.
On the video front, the Powerbook's Radeon 9600 w/ 64 MB seems to play World of Warcraft faster than the GeForce FX 5200Go w/ 32 MB in my D800. Given the new powerbooks have a full ATI 9700 w/ 128 megs, I'd say the new one would play games even better.
Is the PBG4 "f'ing slow"? Not at all. It's not a dual G5, by any means, but I get as much done with it as my D800, and more, because I truly miss the interface when I'm in XP.
-Stu
Averatec laptops provide more functionality than the powerbooks, at a much lower price.
I chose to save $1,000+ and Apple can try to figure out how it is falling behind the PC companies...
Hey another DINFOS trained killer, I was at Fort Ben in '87 the crowd I hung with was all interservice and we had a blast. Only weird thing there was Army people shout "at ease" when they want you to come to attention when a senior officer enters the room. Never did figure that one out.
It's rather funny that the best way to troll Apple users seems to be to troll them into being helpful. ;-)
Where'd you get that from? From Apple's Powerbook specs page:
- Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports up to 1024 x 768 pixels on the built-in display and
- up to 2048 x 1536 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
And that's for the 12" model. The 17" supports 2560 x 1600.has anyone seen any reviews as to concerning the rapid motion sensoring or the scroll function?