My Pismo 500Mhz seems adequate for most tasks short of working with video. Ripping MP3s take about twice as long as I'd like, but that hardly make my laptop unusable. I don't have any trouble with 100MB+ photoshop files either.
Several incremental enhancements have kept me happy, none of which are CPU upgrades. First 768MB of RAM. Second, a 5400rpm drive (fluid barring made a huge difference in noise reduction, even 1 1/2 yrs. later (the original drive got loud 2 months after I got it). And finally, Panther made a big difference.
The biggest disappointment is the inability to take advantage of Quartz with only 8MB of video memory.
There are few things the average pro/sumer needs CPU power for that they will actually notice. Editing/renderring video is the most notable. Audio editing will be taxing for many. But much of what people percieve a need for speed, is really dependant on hard drive performance.
How much would a G5 really enhance ripping audio/video compared to a G4 velocity engine optimized procedure.
So, get yourself a iBook or whatever laptop floats your boat, just make sure it has a decent graphics card that suits your needs. For most people the CPU isn't that important. And get a laptop with the crappiest hardrive available built in and rip it out as soon as you unbox it. Put it to good use in a $30 ext. firewire case and do yourself a favor and get a $250 60GB 7200rpm 2.5in drive for your new iBook.
As for the G5 90nm, IBM isn't supposed to be at full capacity until mid 2005. Until then Apple will have to ration where these chips go. I doubt they could meet demand if it goes in the PowerMac, Powerbook, iMac and xServe between now and this summer. Maybe we'll see it in the 17 in. first, but that could be troublesome from a marketing perspective.
XM satellite and Sirius will eventually be the biggest contenders for iTunes.
The capital these 2 companies have put into creating libraries of music, new content and delivery makes iTunes, Napster and MusicMatch combined looks like peanuts.
What happens when they enter this market of downloading individual tracks and streaming playlists? Combined they already have a tech savy 2 million customer base and rapidly growing. They could offer services for a minimal additional mo. service fee. Getting customers to add services to a monthly payment is much easyier than getting new customers.
If Apple and XM or Sirius teamed up to offer one of thier librararies with iTunes as the store front, they could may a serious contribution to legal downloads. They need the Apple iTunes interface to make it a success and a promotional in.
Here come the "iTunes XM Store". Now that would be a coup. Although, they could try to duplicate Apples succes on there own (not likely)
XM could even be the conduit for licensing some of the indi music.
Slashdot Mirror
My Pismo 500Mhz seems adequate for most tasks short of working with video. Ripping MP3s take about twice as long as I'd like, but that hardly make my laptop unusable. I don't have any trouble with 100MB+ photoshop files either.
Several incremental enhancements have kept me happy, none of which are CPU upgrades. First 768MB of RAM. Second, a 5400rpm drive (fluid barring made a huge difference in noise reduction, even 1 1/2 yrs. later (the original drive got loud 2 months after I got it). And finally, Panther made a big difference.
The biggest disappointment is the inability to take advantage of Quartz with only 8MB of video memory.
There are few things the average pro/sumer needs CPU power for that they will actually notice. Editing/renderring video is the most notable. Audio editing will be taxing for many. But much of what people percieve a need for speed, is really dependant on hard drive performance.
How much would a G5 really enhance ripping audio/video compared to a G4 velocity engine optimized procedure.
So, get yourself a iBook or whatever laptop floats your boat, just make sure it has a decent graphics card that suits your needs. For most people the CPU isn't that important. And get a laptop with the crappiest hardrive available built in and rip it out as soon as you unbox it. Put it to good use in a $30 ext. firewire case and do yourself a favor and get a $250 60GB 7200rpm 2.5in drive for your new iBook.
As for the G5 90nm, IBM isn't supposed to be at full capacity until mid 2005. Until then Apple will have to ration where these chips go. I doubt they could meet demand if it goes in the PowerMac, Powerbook, iMac and xServe between now and this summer. Maybe we'll see it in the 17 in. first, but that could be troublesome from a marketing perspective.
XM satellite and Sirius will eventually be the biggest contenders for iTunes.
The capital these 2 companies have put into creating libraries of music, new content and delivery makes iTunes, Napster and MusicMatch combined looks like peanuts.
What happens when they enter this market of downloading individual tracks and streaming playlists? Combined they already have a tech savy 2 million customer base and rapidly growing. They could offer services for a minimal additional mo. service fee. Getting customers to add services to a monthly payment is much easyier than getting new customers.
If Apple and XM or Sirius teamed up to offer one of thier librararies with iTunes as the store front, they could may a serious contribution to legal downloads. They need the Apple iTunes interface to make it a success and a promotional in.
Here come the "iTunes XM Store". Now that would be a coup. Although, they could try to duplicate Apples succes on there own (not likely)
XM could even be the conduit for licensing some of the indi music.
Philip