True, true, and if it really does have multiple CPUs I'd expect them to be in multiples of 2 - either 2 or 4. Three seems a strange number in this case.
Yes. it's inherrent to all digital signals encoded in mpeg2 - you can virtually eliminate them when encoding for DVD because you can plump it up in the 6 ot 7Mbit range.
In order to squeeze more channels and content over the limited spectrum the Sat/cable companies have available to them, they compromise on the quality and blocking artefacts apppear in the signal.
Sky (in the UK) varies the quality of individual channels - it's noticeably better on some channels than others, although the general quality is very good. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Sky movie channels and an average DVD.
There are some things that mpeg2 has trouble with that show up the artefacts more - things like large patches of similar colour and complex texture, like grass.
Apple never gives stuff away because of fame - you have to buy it like everyone else.
There was an article in (printed) MacWorld a while ago about a bloke employed by Apple to go round to professional musicians and demo Apple kit to them.
People like Paul McCartney and a few other big names have tried to blag Apple stuff for free, but they're always turned down.
Re:Lets hope that the result is progress
on
Google v. Microsoft
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· Score: 1
Replying anonymously eh?
Still on the testosterone replacement therapy then?
Re:Lets hope that the result is progress
on
Google v. Microsoft
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· Score: 1
Microsoft can win by adding a line to everyone's hosts file redirecting people to Microsoft search when they type in google.com.
Or pop up a page in IE that says "this webpage is incompatible with IE, you can use MSN Search instead" when you type google.com in the search bar.
Of course, this is illegal, but we've all seen how effective the DOJ has been against this convicted monopolist.
How in the name of King Kong's left bollock can the very first post on the comments page be modded "redundant" when it asks a question related to the story but otherwise not answered?
Mods must have been smoking some of that Caldera-brand(tm) crack.
Yeah, the MS player runs ok - but it's hit and miss whether it will decide to play a file is supposedly supports.
They dragged their feet for ages releasing a WMV9 compatible player, and when they eventuall did it craps out on half the version 9 WMV files out there.
I don't trust that they'll keep the Mac player updated to work with the content.
Basically, I don't trust them as far as I can piss.
At least if this site went with an mp3 stream then everyone can get in on the action - iTunes or Quicktime on Mac (or windows if you so choose) and an assortment of players on Linux.
If you're streaming audio content I can't think of any goos reasons/not/ to use a format that 99.9876% of the computer-using world can use with their native players.
I don't really have a choice - I'm away from the mains all day. I can use my iBook until it drops to 10% (or whenever it says "danger will robinson! low battery!") then I have to put it to sleep until I get home.
I then charge it up overnight.
It's lasted almost 2 years this way, with an almost daily charge.
I'm glad you're having good experience with yours.
Whoever came up with those problems was talking bullshit:
1) the video chip is on the underside of the logic board - pressing down on the case next to the trackpad would just push down on the section enclosing the hard drive, which is mounted slightly proud of the logic board with rubber grommets - there would be no way to affect the logic board by pressing on the case from the top.
2) the logic board couldn't electrify the screws - the whole laptop uses DC, so while it's possible to have the screws at a higher PD than some other component in the computer, you'd have to close the circuit to get current to flow - ie, connect it to the negative terminal of the battery. So, you'd have to touch the screw, then touch the battery's negative terminal to feel any shock, and that's assuming the screw is somehow connected to the battery.
2b) DC very rarely arcs at such low voltages (12 to 24 volts at 1.8 amps in an iBook) over the sort of distance it would have to in order to go from logic board to frame. His claim of arcing between the logic board and the frame is silly - where was the frame earthed? The board is already connected to the negative battery terminal by design, so there's no way to force a path from positive to negative battery terminals via the logic board and a spark to the case. It's also very hard to get a low current to arc - it's why arc welders use such high currents (50 to 200 amps or more).
3) While the power cable has been seen to spark at the plug, this is due to the fine copper cables touching together and coming apart as the cord is moved. It's not dangerous, but it does mean your power supply is borked.
4) sometimes the power and video cables to the display get pinched in the display hinge, causing them to break, this is correct. However, there is space for them if they're fitted properly.
Here's a picture of the inside of my iBook (taken when I upgraded her hard drive with a more spacious model). As you can see, pretty much all of the metal parts inside there are already attached to the logic board - nowhere for this mysterious electrical arc to go to!
I just took a figure of about 2000 failures (based on petitions) and grabbed the first article that google came up with for Apple's sales figures. I extrapolated the yearly figure from the Q4 results quotes, so my numbers aren't at all scientific.
It sucks that iBooks are failing, and I'm not denying there's a problem - there obviously is. It's just not as widespread as people seem to think or make out (although if my iBook kept failing I'd be pretty pissed off too!).
It would be a shame if you decided not to buy Apple again after your experience, although I can understand why you'd be reluctant. I've been an Apple user since the days of the 9600/300 - a machine that we still use 6 or 7 years on! I also look after a Beige G3, a Dual 450 G4, 12", 15" and 17" powerbooks, dual usb iBook and dual 2Ghz G5 - none have had any problems (aside from some booting issues with panther + ati graphics + g5 causing the display not to start, but that's been fixed now).
Well, calling me an idiot while chosing to remain anonymous...
Ok, maybe a well known fault, but this is the sort of hyperbole I'm talking about. Those online petitions contain maybe a thousand names (many of them as original as 'donand.d.duck@disney.com' and 'mac-sux@domain.com'').
Apple has shipped something like 680,000 iBooks in 2003 alone (137,000 in Q4 according to that article) - so a measly few thousand people with logic board faults doesn't really mean all that much for overall build quality and customer satisfaction.
"there are a lot of people with this problem, look up the petitions" - I did, and I looked at the total number of iBooks sold too. The number of people on the petitions (being generous and assuming they're all legit) makes up a mere 0.2% of iBook users just using the 2003 figures for iBook sales.
Zero point two percent, if that. Out of proportion hype? I think so! How often do you hear of major problems with Dell, IBM, Gateway [some other random x86 box maker] because of hardware problems? Certainly not on issues affecting such a small subset of the users.
They tried to employ the Quake III announcer to shout "Denied!" whenever a patent wasn't approved instead of using the stamp, but he was paid by the number of failed patents so he had the quit because of low pay.
I've done the recalibration. The battery just seems to be old now - I'm sure it's coming to the end of its 500 cycles and will need replacing soon. I've been using it daily (but only charging it when it dropped to 10%, back up to full) for 2 years.
Thanks for the link though - it should be modded up for people to see. When I recalibrated I got another hour from a full charge.
I understand that, but what often happens is people will blow it out of all proportion (ipoddirtysecret.com anyone?) and moan about how the percieved high cost of Apple products should mean they have a 0% failure rate, or that Apple should pay to fix anything that breaks, regardless of how far out of warranty it is or what happened to break it.
I seem to make similar posts in Apple threads where iBook logic board discussions arise. I'm a happy owner of a Dual USB 600MHz iBook which has been used for 4 hours or more per day since I bought it nearly two years ago. It's been over the Atlantic three or four times since then and it's travelled all over the UK in my car, on buses and on trains.
It's bombproof, and I still get 2 hours on a full charge even at this age (down from the original 5 or 6 hours when new).
I've never owned a more robust piece of hardware, and that includes my sledgehammer and welding kit.
Well, they certainly confused me into buying an iBook - the best computer I've ever owned. This 12" marvel has served me better than any other PC laptop I've seen, does everything I ask of it, is small, light, attacts girls, fairly powerful despite modest G3 cpu, is almost completely silent, has long battery life, is built like a tank, can burn CDs and play DVDs on the move...
It was definitely the right choice for me. It fit all of my needs, and just so happened to look good into the bargain.
Slashdot Mirror
Not at all.
The fact that I'm as ugly as a smacked arse would put women off.
I was just pointing out that not all women are stupid.
And so many people at /. wonder why they don't have a girlfriend...
The smartest person I know is female.
True, true, and if it really does have multiple CPUs I'd expect them to be in multiples of 2 - either 2 or 4. Three seems a strange number in this case.
The new 90nm G5 chips uses something like 24W.
Almost chilly!
I don't know what the power consumption/heat numbers are for the G4 chip.
Well, three PPC970s at 2Ghz would be 6Ghz - and IBM and Apple have both mentioned that 3GHz PPC970s will be here in mid 2004 - which would be 9GHz.
I know it's not as simple as 2x 2Ghz = 4Ghz, but generally it's a fair indicator of performance.
I'd be surprised if we had "most" home PCs at 9Ghz by the time the Xbox2 ships.
Yes. it's inherrent to all digital signals encoded in mpeg2 - you can virtually eliminate them when encoding for DVD because you can plump it up in the 6 ot 7Mbit range.
In order to squeeze more channels and content over the limited spectrum the Sat/cable companies have available to them, they compromise on the quality and blocking artefacts apppear in the signal.
Sky (in the UK) varies the quality of individual channels - it's noticeably better on some channels than others, although the general quality is very good. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Sky movie channels and an average DVD.
There are some things that mpeg2 has trouble with that show up the artefacts more - things like large patches of similar colour and complex texture, like grass.
Indeed - I guess Apple's philosophy is "you can afford it, so stump up the cash if you want one!"
Apple never gives stuff away because of fame - you have to buy it like everyone else.
There was an article in (printed) MacWorld a while ago about a bloke employed by Apple to go round to professional musicians and demo Apple kit to them.
People like Paul McCartney and a few other big names have tried to blag Apple stuff for free, but they're always turned down.
Replying anonymously eh?
Still on the testosterone replacement therapy then?
Microsoft can win by adding a line to everyone's hosts file redirecting people to Microsoft search when they type in google.com.
Or pop up a page in IE that says "this webpage is incompatible with IE, you can use MSN Search instead" when you type google.com in the search bar.
Of course, this is illegal, but we've all seen how effective the DOJ has been against this convicted monopolist.
An Airport Extreme base station is just a standard AirPort Extreme card fitted to a custom board.
If your base station breaks but the card is otherwise ok, you can pop it into an Apple laptop or desktop that supports it, or sell it on eBay.
How in the name of King Kong's left bollock can the very first post on the comments page be modded "redundant" when it asks a question related to the story but otherwise not answered?
Mods must have been smoking some of that Caldera-brand(tm) crack.
Yeah, the MS player runs ok - but it's hit and miss whether it will decide to play a file is supposedly supports.
/not/ to use a format that 99.9876% of the computer-using world can use with their native players.
They dragged their feet for ages releasing a WMV9 compatible player, and when they eventuall did it craps out on half the version 9 WMV files out there.
I don't trust that they'll keep the Mac player updated to work with the content.
Basically, I don't trust them as far as I can piss.
At least if this site went with an mp3 stream then everyone can get in on the action - iTunes or Quicktime on Mac (or windows if you so choose) and an assortment of players on Linux.
If you're streaming audio content I can't think of any goos reasons
1) purchase battery from ipodbattery.com for $49
2) remove iPod case with tool supplied in battery kit
3) disconnect old battery, connect new one.
4) replace cover
5) wipe hands on pants (sorry, wrong site)
Or you can send it to Apple for $99.
Either way, not too bad.
Indeed it does - I took mine apart. It occupies the entire left side of the case, with the right side taken up by optical drive and battery.
I don't really have a choice - I'm away from the mains all day. I can use my iBook until it drops to 10% (or whenever it says "danger will robinson! low battery!") then I have to put it to sleep until I get home.
I then charge it up overnight.
It's lasted almost 2 years this way, with an almost daily charge.
heh, indeed.
You can see a few more and a short description of my upgrade on my journal here.
Hope you have many productive years with your iBook.
I'm glad you're having good experience with yours.
Whoever came up with those problems was talking bullshit:
1) the video chip is on the underside of the logic board - pressing down on the case next to the trackpad would just push down on the section enclosing the hard drive, which is mounted slightly proud of the logic board with rubber grommets - there would be no way to affect the logic board by pressing on the case from the top.
2) the logic board couldn't electrify the screws - the whole laptop uses DC, so while it's possible to have the screws at a higher PD than some other component in the computer, you'd have to close the circuit to get current to flow - ie, connect it to the negative terminal of the battery. So, you'd have to touch the screw, then touch the battery's negative terminal to feel any shock, and that's assuming the screw is somehow connected to the battery.
2b) DC very rarely arcs at such low voltages (12 to 24 volts at 1.8 amps in an iBook) over the sort of distance it would have to in order to go from logic board to frame. His claim of arcing between the logic board and the frame is silly - where was the frame earthed? The board is already connected to the negative battery terminal by design, so there's no way to force a path from positive to negative battery terminals via the logic board and a spark to the case. It's also very hard to get a low current to arc - it's why arc welders use such high currents (50 to 200 amps or more).
3) While the power cable has been seen to spark at the plug, this is due to the fine copper cables touching together and coming apart as the cord is moved. It's not dangerous, but it does mean your power supply is borked.
4) sometimes the power and video cables to the display get pinched in the display hinge, causing them to break, this is correct. However, there is space for them if they're fitted properly.
Here's a picture of the inside of my iBook (taken when I upgraded her hard drive with a more spacious model). As you can see, pretty much all of the metal parts inside there are already attached to the logic board - nowhere for this mysterious electrical arc to go to!
I just took a figure of about 2000 failures (based on petitions) and grabbed the first article that google came up with for Apple's sales figures. I extrapolated the yearly figure from the Q4 results quotes, so my numbers aren't at all scientific.
It sucks that iBooks are failing, and I'm not denying there's a problem - there obviously is. It's just not as widespread as people seem to think or make out (although if my iBook kept failing I'd be pretty pissed off too!).
It would be a shame if you decided not to buy Apple again after your experience, although I can understand why you'd be reluctant. I've been an Apple user since the days of the 9600/300 - a machine that we still use 6 or 7 years on! I also look after a Beige G3, a Dual 450 G4, 12", 15" and 17" powerbooks, dual usb iBook and dual 2Ghz G5 - none have had any problems (aside from some booting issues with panther + ati graphics + g5 causing the display not to start, but that's been fixed now).
Well, calling me an idiot while chosing to remain anonymous...
Ok, maybe a well known fault, but this is the sort of hyperbole I'm talking about. Those online petitions contain maybe a thousand names (many of them as original as 'donand.d.duck@disney.com' and 'mac-sux@domain.com'').
Apple has shipped something like 680,000 iBooks in 2003 alone (137,000 in Q4 according to that article) - so a measly few thousand people with logic board faults doesn't really mean all that much for overall build quality and customer satisfaction.
"there are a lot of people with this problem, look up the petitions" - I did, and I looked at the total number of iBooks sold too. The number of people on the petitions (being generous and assuming they're all legit) makes up a mere 0.2% of iBook users just using the 2003 figures for iBook sales.
Zero point two percent, if that. Out of proportion hype? I think so! How often do you hear of major problems with Dell, IBM, Gateway [some other random x86 box maker] because of hardware problems? Certainly not on issues affecting such a small subset of the users.
I submit that you sir, are the idiot.
They tried to employ the Quake III announcer to shout "Denied!" whenever a patent wasn't approved instead of using the stamp, but he was paid by the number of failed patents so he had the quit because of low pay.
The poor bloke had to eat!
I've done the recalibration. The battery just seems to be old now - I'm sure it's coming to the end of its 500 cycles and will need replacing soon. I've been using it daily (but only charging it when it dropped to 10%, back up to full) for 2 years.
Thanks for the link though - it should be modded up for people to see. When I recalibrated I got another hour from a full charge.
I understand that, but what often happens is people will blow it out of all proportion (ipoddirtysecret.com anyone?) and moan about how the percieved high cost of Apple products should mean they have a 0% failure rate, or that Apple should pay to fix anything that breaks, regardless of how far out of warranty it is or what happened to break it.
I'll second your post.
I seem to make similar posts in Apple threads where iBook logic board discussions arise. I'm a happy owner of a Dual USB 600MHz iBook which has been used for 4 hours or more per day since I bought it nearly two years ago. It's been over the Atlantic three or four times since then and it's travelled all over the UK in my car, on buses and on trains.
It's bombproof, and I still get 2 hours on a full charge even at this age (down from the original 5 or 6 hours when new).
I've never owned a more robust piece of hardware, and that includes my sledgehammer and welding kit.
Well, they certainly confused me into buying an iBook - the best computer I've ever owned. This 12" marvel has served me better than any other PC laptop I've seen, does everything I ask of it, is small, light, attacts girls, fairly powerful despite modest G3 cpu, is almost completely silent, has long battery life, is built like a tank, can burn CDs and play DVDs on the move...
It was definitely the right choice for me. It fit all of my needs, and just so happened to look good into the bargain.