Apple Updates PowerBooks 781
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."
Dont forget (Score:5, Informative)
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!
Re:Dont forget (Score:5, Funny)
Tuesday, duh....
Re:Dont forget (Score:2)
Yeah, what's up with that? Today is Monday... Apple is supposed to do releases on Tuesday. Tomorrow is Tuesday.
Re:Dont forget (Score:2, Funny)
Finally got the RAM right (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Finally got the RAM right (Score:5, Informative)
The 15" and 17" come with 512mb ram on one stick.
Re:Dont forget (Score:3, Interesting)
One of the primary advantages of the G5 over the G4 was the memory bus speed, and also also the reason that most Pentium and Athlon chips were kicking the G4's ass
G5 PowerBook - Keep Waiting (Score:2, Insightful)
Will come after a macworld (Score:2)
Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:5, Funny)
but what about iHeatSink (Score:3, Funny)
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..
Re:Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:5, Insightful)
And the answer, ultimately, is always, "Yes."
Re:Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:5, Interesting)
I was thinking. Since Microsoft is moving the XBox to the PowerPC is there a chance that we will see a special version of the CELL? Maybe even a CELL that is modified to emulate the x86 at very high speed to act as a bridge away from x86? Frankly now that Longhorn is going to drop all DOS support this seems like a good time to make the move. With windows running in native mode the emulation speed could be very good.
Re:Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:4, Interesting)
The G5 is a bad tradeoff at the moment, but the G4 is bad as well. I agree G4s may be appropriate for iBooks, but these are PowerBooks, and the slow bus simply precludes their use in many applications. The Centrino platform from Intel has lower power usage and dramatically better performance (particularly with the FSB), and it's only going to get worse with Centrino II.
Apple needs upgraded PowerBooks. Very soon.
Hey, come on, this is Slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tablespork, you must have been the only one (Score:5, Insightful)
A G5+ processor is indispensible if you're converting from one video format to another (like when someone gives you a video screen capture that needs to be integrated) or when you're doing compositing (layering of images). In my experience, most of those are best done on the dual processor G5 in any event, and a dual processor G5 is unlikely to ever land in a laptop since the heat and power consumption problems are too difficult.
But the cold truth - in my opinion, anyway - is that few true Apple obsessives want to feel left out from the G5 revolution and so we are holding back from buying G4 PowerBooks because we just know it will be downright embarassing to have last year's model when the G5 PowerBook comes out.
In a sense this is very good because the flood of orders that will come when the new PowerBook G5 is introduced keep Apple in business. At the same time, it's a kind of sad testament to the power of ego in human life.
D
Re:forget the G5, but give us dual-proc G4's .. (Score:5, Informative)
Can't wait for .... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't wait for .... (Score:3, Interesting)
Trying to fit an Apple 12" G4 powerbookin a X40 case would be tricky....
Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:5, Interesting)
This sounds like a cool feature, can anyone confirm from personal experience that it really works?
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:5, Funny)
From these test, I can only conclude that Apple is falsely advertising the merits of the Sudden Motion Sensor, in each and every case, not only was the data corrupted, the PB G4 broken beyond all recognition, but the most staggering result being the complete destruction of my bank account.
Please take these experimental results as a note of severe caution when purchasing your next computer.
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:2)
sure thing, just let me get hold of the new $1499 12" PB and when i let it drop from the second floor, i'll get back to you. :P
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:2, Insightful)
Whodunnit first? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Whodunnit first? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Whodunnit first? (Score:3, Informative)
The patent: [uspto.gov]
Re:Whodunnit first? (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, the new Powerbooks do feature "PowerPC G4 processors with Velocity Engine".
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:5, Interesting)
It also adjusts to constant steady motion, like a car or train. It's pretty neat and I think a very worthwhile feature. I use my PB around the office going from place to place in the data center a lot. I'd like it on that.
Re:Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:3, Interesting)
One of my roommate's professors was talking a little while ago about a similar motion-detecting feature in the IBM Thinkpads which was supposed to protect the hard drive in the event of a fall. According to whatever studies or experiments this professor cited, between the time it takes for the sensor to realize the computer had been dropped and the time it takes to park the hard drive, these things simply weren't effective for falls of under five feet or so.
Does anybody have any (slightly more informed)
When are they going to update the Mac mini?! (Score:5, Funny)
Come one! Get to it Apple people!
Sam
Scrolling trackpad (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Scrolling trackpad (Score:3, Interesting)
price drop (Score:5, Informative)
12" used to be $1599, now it's $1499.
Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:2)
Re:Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:2)
i think apple would like its user to be oriented at the center in relative to the monitor. that's why those extra keys aren't offered. but even 12" do not have "minature" (sic)
Re:Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, I suppose on the 17" they could have gone wild and put in full-height arrow keys, maybe even a number pad. But the keyboard is already normal size.
Re:Why use a tiny keyboard on the 17"? (Score:3, Insightful)
So when is Apple gonna upgrade the dim, washed-out, and kinda "soft" looking LCDs on the iBooks and 12" Powerbooks ? Hell, it's an embarrassment - esp. in comparison to even some cheap, crappy Dell...
Two-finger scroll (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Two-finger scroll (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Two-finger scroll (Score:3, Informative)
This is slightly different
Dragging one finger across the pad acts as a normal movement moition of the pointer
Dragging two fingers up/down or left/right will drag the scroll bar
Potentially off-topic question (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Potentially off-topic question (Score:4, Informative)
Sudden Motion Sensor (Score:2)
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
The Screens? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not trying to Troll or Flamebait here but it just do
Re:The Screens? (Score:5, Informative)
I think this is a deliberate choice. Apple seems to have the idea of an ideal DPI - see this page [apple.com], which says "After years of experience, Apple engineers have discovered the ideal resolution to display both sharp text and graphics -- a pixel density of about 100 pixels per inch (ppi)." If my trig is correct, a 1680x1050 screen with a diagonal width of 17" has a horizontal width of arccos(tan(900/1440)) * 17" ~= 13", and a DPI of 1440/13" ~= 110, so this PowerBook is already over their ideal.
In the long run, Apple is clearly wrong - if you have high-resolution images and can scale them any way you like, there's no reason not to display that detail. But for now, scaling probably isn't a good idea. In addition to having to change all the software for it, you'd probably be upscaling slightly, at odd ratios. It would make the images look worse. And having more resolution but not rescaling just means that the icons are smaller and harder to see. I think Apple made the right choice for the short term.
I'm using a 17" PowerBook right now, and for what it's worth, I'm fairly happy with the resolution.
Re:The Screens? (Score:5, Interesting)
One thing that a lot of PC laptop users might understand is that smaller pixels is not always better. Apple sells to a lot of graphics and design professionals that are used to 100 dpi resolution, and that is the nice thing about Apple displays. They always maintain 100 dpi resolution across the board, no matter what size you buy. It's very important to note that a lot of applications (especially in Windows) don't scale fonts properly so viewing some things on a 14" screen that is 1600x1200 can be painful sometimes. I've marvelled at some of the Dell laptops that have very high resolution LCDs, but I don't think I'd want to work on one for an extended period of time. I think it would hurt my eyes after a while.
Not Everyone Can Deal with that. (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:The Screens? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm comparing them to Apple Cinema Displays because I haven't found good information about the 'B
G4 PowerBooks are already fine (Score:5, Informative)
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
Fingering the Trackpad (Score:5, Funny)
Also new... (Score:2, Redundant)
- Dual link DVI on the 17" (for 2560x1600 30" display support)
- A new era: 512MB RAM stock on all models
Powerbook LCDs (Score:2)
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.
Re:Powerbook LCDs (Score:3, Informative)
Apple still tries to appeal to the publishing and photo industries. They make a big deal about keeping their screens at 100 dpi no matter what the size or model.
Re:Powerbook LCDs (Score:5, Informative)
Best Resolution for Images and Words
The quality of the pixels you see impacts how you use your computer. After years of experience, Apple engineers have discovered the ideal resolution to display both sharp text and graphics -- a pixel density of about 100 pixels per inch (ppi). Other vendors may offer a larger monitor, but with less resolution, so you end up with fewer pixels, or a smaller monitor with a high resolution that causes eyestrain and headaches. Apple's balanced 100 pixels per inch format is optimized for images, yet allows you to easily work with text in email, Safari and sophisticated type treatments in layouts.
So that would be the reason why they don't make higher resolution displays.
--
It works. [wired.com]
Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free Mini Mac [freeminimacs.com]
This is the g5 (Score:3, Interesting)
Yup. Remember this thing about how there was going to be a new G5 Powerbook? Hehe.
The SMS (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Still not as nice as the TiBooks (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I respectfully disagree. (Score:3, Informative)
The case design on the TiBook is not very robust. Othe
12" still crippled (Score:5, Informative)
- 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.
Re:12" still crippled (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:12" still crippled (Score:3, Informative)
You know, I was thinking that too, but it's just not the case. Here are the diffs:
- Faster (1.2GHz to 1.5GHz on the 12")
- Faster buss speed (100MHz vs 167, IIRC)
- Faster, bigger HD (iBook's are only 4200RPM)
- Better Video (32MB ATI9200 vs 64MB GeForce 5200 on the 12"PB)
- Supported split-screen
- Audio in
- Better keyboard
All told, these differences are worth the ~400CDN
Re:12" still crippled (Score:3, Informative)
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512MB PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA/100; 5400 rpm
8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) [optional]
built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
GraphicConverter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition
Mini-DVI to DVI adapter
I bolded what I believe are the key advantages of the PowerBook.
Re:12" still crippled (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:12" still crippled (Score:3, Interesting)
The point the original poster was making was not that Apple should include these features because the competition is. The point is that Apple should make small powerful notebooks because their customers want them and are willing to pay for it.
Some people want huge 17" screens and others want small screens and more portability. My 15" PowerBook was $3500 and I would love to have spent that money on a smaller PowerBook with all the features the 1
Re:12" still crippled (Score:4, Insightful)
New trackpad, or just new trackpad driver? (Score:3, Informative)
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 [ragingmenace.com] gives you vertical and horizontal scrolling, corner taps for more buttons, and more.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmm - One Mouse Button (Score:2, Funny)
Right Button is useful ! (Score:3, Interesting)
I just wish there were a second *hardware* button on the machine, bound to the same action, and an OS preference to activate i
Re:Worst Mod EVER (Score:5, Insightful)
Flamebait or troll is certainly the right moderation. Possibly offtopic, as the powerbook doesn't even come with a mouse.
Re:Worst Mod EVER (Score:5, Interesting)
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
I need the 2nd Button! (Score:4, Funny)
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?
Re:Eh (Score:5, Insightful)
64mb geforce vs 32mb radeon
512ram vs 256ram
167bus vs 133 bus
5400rpm 60gb HD vs 30gb HD
DVI out vs mirror VGA
Having the powerplug on the same side as all the other ports vs the way the ibook has it which makes it slighlty uncomfortable to use on its side
motion sensing vs nothing
I dunno, these new 12" powerbooks look like a great deal to me, especially for $1400 with a student discount!
You forget something (Score:2, Informative)
not "insightful" (Score:2)
But... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Too bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
See, you want something like those current Powerbooks which are thoroughly tested.
second generation AlBook (Score:2)
Not Too Bad for me (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not Too Bad for me (Score:4, Interesting)
(Goes back to using antiquated Inspiron 4100)
Re:Too bad... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Too bad... (Score:5, Informative)
Not to flame, but I'm interested in where you're getting your information from (benchmarks, reviews, etc). I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a Dual Core G4 outperform a single core/CPU G5 when it comes to apps that are fully MP-aware (threaded properly). But I would be surprised to see a Dual Core G4 outperform a single core G5 on apps that are not threaded. I'd love to see some real world comparisons.
Remember just because it has 2 cores doesn't mean that it's twice as fast. It only means that there's the potential to do more at once if the software can take advantage of it through threading. Here's a great article [www.gotw.ca] that explains the problems/challenges software developers are going to face with multi-core CPUs.
Now I'd love to have a dual core CPU in my laptop and I'd love to program for it, but I image Apple would face some of the same challenges trying to get the dual core Freescale CPU into a laptop as they would in getting a G5 into a laptop, namely heat. A dual core G4 is going to be hotter and more power hungry than what they've got now. I'd love to see either the dual core G4 or a G5 in a laptop.
It works. [wired.com]
Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free Mini Mac [freeminimacs.com]
Re:Too bad... (Score:3, Interesting)
--
It works. [wired.com]
Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free Mini Mac [freeminimacs.com]
Re:Too bad... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:don't forget the dual link DVI port (Score:5, Funny)
Re:don't forget the dual link DVI port (Score:3, Funny)
Who has arms that long?
E... T... pho-o-o-one... ho-o-o-o-ome...
Re:A sudden motion sensor? (Score:2)
Re:G5 laptop holdup? AMD's been doing it already! (Score:3, Insightful)
And there's your answer, frankly.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Interesting)
Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment.
And just for the record I switched to an Apple two years ago from using pcs since the 286 all my life and I wonder why I waited so long. If your thinking about switching, do it. OS X really is that great. The only thing that I can honestly say PCs have going for them that is better is the game selection, but all the really good ones do come out for the mac (but it takes a few months usually). But that's why I have a ps2 and a Gamecube.
Re:Of course (Score:3, Informative)
To clarify, that is NOT a trade-in policy, it is a price-matching policy. You can't return something unless it is defective without paying a restocking fee.
I
Re:Dockingstation (Score:3, Insightful)
1.) You can afford a desktop machine to have it hooked up to.
2.) Your obviously better off than at least 90% of the slashdot crowd so stop bitching.
Re:Unequal Articles under Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot does cover all the new Intel and AMD announcements, which means that to run a feature when Dell puts it into a system would just really be covering the same story twice (not that Slashdot doesn't routinely cover things twice).
The difference is that Apple actually engineers their own products and OS. Also, they upgrade less often, and then when they do they upgrade a whole family of products simultaneously. That helps make it newsworthy. Yes, the speed improvement is a whopping 167 MHz per config (or only 1x on the multiplier), but when they revved the PowerBooks today they also added features (like dual-DVI support and the funky new scrollpad), changed video cards, and upgraded other stuff like Bluetooth.
Plus, Apple is Apple. Dell is just another PC vendor. If Dell is doing an upgrade, chances are all the other PC vendors are putting the same feature in their equivalent model at the exact same time. Like I said above, the news is when Intel or AMD introduce the upgrade that everybody then puts into their product lines, not when Dell does theirs.
Re:Finally a Superdrive update (Score:3, Insightful)
Check your drive...it might actually be +/-RW. Apple has included these for quite a while--they just didn't officially support it. My PowerBook from around
Re:PRICE drops are what gets me! (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, I'll do my part to help you out. You can knock of about $20, if you buy a 3rd party spare battery [macsales.com]. Slightly greater capacity on the Al batteries. More dramatic increases on the Ti and iBook batteries.