Future iBooks

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I know that the interest lies in the professional lines, but surely the iBook is overdue for a G4 ? it has usually lagged behind the iMac by a few months, but G3s are getting awfully long in the tooth, and OSX is altivec optimised. Any thoughts?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Because it's a fellow Canberran, I'll reply



    It could be that Apple is keeping the iBook a G3 (750FX in this case) is to keep a working relationship with IBM going.



    Also, Apple likes to have a high-margin product in it's product line, an the iBook (I'm guessing) is one of them.



    Of course, the iMac went high-margin to low-margin, so the iBook will be get a CPU change eventually.



    Because of all this I'm guess that if and when IBM releases a G3 with VMX (aka AltiVec aka Velocity Engine), lets call it a 750+, Apple will call it a G4 and slap it in the iBook. And perhaps other products, if it gets higher-clocks that the 74xx



    Barto
  • Reply 2 of 22
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    The 750FX is a good low wattage processor: if it had Altivec and higher bus/core clocks, it could stay around for a while.



    Alternatively, the iBook could get a low power G4. I reckon that the iBook will only get Altivec once the desktop/Powerbook CPUs have 1)risen in clock speed and/or 2)acquired a "G5" processor (whatever that is ).
  • Reply 3 of 22
    warpdwarpd Posts: 204member
    [quote]Because it's a fellow Canberran, I'll reply

    It could be that Apple is keeping the iBook a G3 (750FX in this case) is to keep a working relationship with IBM going.



    Also, Apple likes to have a high-margin product in it's product line, an the iBook (I'm guessing) is one of them.



    Of course, the iMac went high-margin to low-margin, so the iBook will be get a CPU change eventually.



    Because of all this I'm guess that if and when IBM releases a G3 with VMX (aka AltiVec aka Velocity Engine), lets call it a 750+, Apple will call it a G4 and slap it in the iBook. And perhaps other products, if it gets higher-clocks that the 74xx



    Barto

    <hr></blockquote>



    I think that this is incorrect, typicaly the imac and ibook have always been the lowest margin items that Apple has sold. Most dealers, make no more than 3-5 points on the sale of this equipment. The "high margin" Apple product, if there is such a thing these days, is the "power" line. It is not unheard of, to be able to pull in 15-20 points on sales of these systems. Also, I suspect that the ipod carries a healthy margin, but can't verify that.
  • Reply 4 of 22
    jasonppjasonpp Posts: 308member
    My brother works at a computer/electronics retailer in Canada, and the typical margin on computers ranges from a high of around 3% to a low of NEGATIVE 10%. Computers are an inventory business, which works like this:



    you buy 100 computers and have to pay in 90-120 days. You sell all the computers in 5 days and use the money again to buy more computers. You keep doing this until you are due for a payment. The result is even if your product has %1 margin, since you're selling the same investment 5 or 6 times, it's doable.



    Also, retail GM is not the same as Apple's GM. I've read here reports from Apple anual reports that their margin is closer to 25% on consumer level hardware.



    Also, there's huge poop in printers, cables, scanners mice, etc.. plus those dam extended warrenties..



    [ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: JasonPP ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 22
    [quote]Originally posted by Stoo:

    <strong>The 750FX is a good low wattage processor: if it had Altivec and higher bus/core clocks, it could stay around for a while.



    Alternatively, the iBook could get a low power G4. I reckon that the iBook will only get Altivec once the desktop/Powerbook CPUs have 1)risen in clock speed and/or 2)acquired a "G5" processor (whatever that is ).</strong><hr></blockquote>





    Isnt the G4 essentially a G3 with Altivec? I know back in the day this was mostly true... have the G3 and G4 diverged so much?



    please clarify if you know, thanks!
  • Reply 6 of 22
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by I-bent-my-wookie:

    <strong>Isnt the G4 essentially a G3 with Altivec?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    The original 7400 G4 was a G3 with AltiVec, a better FPU, a few extra tweaks, and a flaw or two. Oh, and support for MaxBus, not (just) 60x.



    With the 7450, it began diverging pretty rapidly from the G3. At this point, the ISA (the instruction set the chips understand) is compatible (obviously, since they're both PPCs), and that's about it.
  • Reply 7 of 22
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    It has been widely published that Apple will keep the iBook with a G3 for the foreseeable future. This comment came from an Apple exec. Nevertheless I believe tthere will be another speed bump and a slight design change incorporating better speakers, a brighter screen and a slightly larger touch pad.
  • Reply 7 of 22
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    An Apple official said a few months ago that the iBook would stay G3 for quite a while still. Maybe someone else will find the link.



    The 750fx is slated to go to 1Ghz within the next few months, so I'd guess the iBook would go at least that far with it.



    Maybe when a G5 gets into the PowerBook? 2006?
  • Reply 9 of 22
    [quote]Originally posted by ElBaroni:

    <strong>I know that the interest lies in the professional lines, but surely the iBook is overdue for a G4 ? it has usually lagged behind the iMac by a few months, but G3s are getting awfully long in the tooth, and OSX is altivec optimised. Any thoughts?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    The iBook is an awesome machine, and fits perfectly into the price/performance slot that Apple wants it to. Putting a G4, even at the same clock speed in it, would kill powerbook sales, or raise the price of the ibook too much.



    My ibook 500 really performs about exactly lik emy G4/400 tower. At the current 700mhz, it is very competitive with most anything out there in it's price range.



    I guess, of all the things I long for, a G4 ibook is the least. Both in desirability, and feasability.



    Fortunately or unfortunately until G4 speeds are increased, and the powerbook given a substantial boost, the iBook will remain a G3, in fact, the speed of the iBooks is crippled by the G4's current speed cap.
  • Reply 10 of 22
    I doubt if the Ibook will get a g4 for a long time, right now they are 600mhz g3 processors, the powerbook is a 800mhz g4 processor and costs twice as much. Pop a g4 in an ibook and there really isn't that much of a difference between the two lines, just a couple mhz.



    My bet is that the ibook will scale as a g3 until the powerbooks get a new processor, mainly for marketing reasons (i'm guessing). G3 really isn't that bad for the ibook either, it's not like your going to be doing anything really heavy on an ibook other than running os X surfing the net, and typing.



    Keep the g3 in it, and keep its costs down. I think the cost of the ibook is really nice for what it is.
  • Reply 11 of 22
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    [quote]Originally posted by JasonPP:

    <strong>I've read here reports from Apple anual reports that their margin is closer to 25% on consumer level hardware.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    This is a HUGE misconception. Apple earned roughly $32M on on $1.4B last quarter. That obviously does not translate to the 25-30% margins we've been hearing about. So what does Apple mean when they say their margins were 27.5% up from 27.2%? Probably that ram prices fell a little. When companies like Apple talk about profit margins, what they really mean is the cost of the physical tangible product. It neglects a few things such as employee pay, electric bills, rent, taxes, research, you know. Apple will always need a signifigantly larger margin than other computer companies to attain the same level of profitability because it has stuff other companies (dell) don't such as R&D. Software also distorts (inflates) Apple's margins since you're essentially counting the cost of the box and cds.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    A G4 would make it hot, and less battery life.



    Morbo Wants G3 to keep my lap cool and my data on the screen longer <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 13 of 22
    zoranszorans Posts: 187member
    Sorry, Off-topic here



    OMG! That would be 3 Canberrans total on this post. Knew Barto was an Aussie, didn't know you came from the good old ACT (you know, the place all the other peeps in Oz seem to think politicians come from when in reality they are all imported from ALL the other states).



    You know whats really funny?



    For the last 2 Macworlds I was asking at all the Apple resellers whether any of their customers or they were having any "viewing events". You know, beer, food and a broadband stream of the show going to a big-screen TV. You should have seen the looks I got <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> :confused: <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    [ 08-08-2002: Message edited by: ZoranS ]</p>
  • Reply 14 of 22
    IBM's G3 has a full speed L2 cache. Pretty damn peppy.



    Jet
  • Reply 15 of 22
    robbyrobby Posts: 108member
    maybe it will remain a g3 with a few minor tweaks
  • Reply 16 of 22
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    It will transition to G4 when the Power Mac moves the new IBM Power 4 chip
  • Reply 17 of 22
    rogue27rogue27 Posts: 607member
    We will probably see 1Ghz iBooks with a 200Mhz bus by May next year at the latest.
  • Reply 18 of 22
    cyko95cyko95 Posts: 391member
    [quote]Originally posted by MicrosoftOsXp:

    <strong>...I doubt if the Ibook will get a g4 for a long time, right now they are 600mhz g3 processors,...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Uhhh...their up to 700 since May.
  • Reply 19 of 22
    [quote]Originally posted by JasonPP:

    <strong>

    you buy 100 computers and have to pay in 90-120 days. You sell all the computers in 5 days and use the money again to buy more computers. You keep doing this until you are due for a payment. The result is even if your product has %1 margin, since you're selling the same investment 5 or 6 times, it's doable.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Sounds like a Ponzi Scheme



    Which meshes with my experience with computer retail. The retailer makes ca-ca, they make a profit on warranties, printer cables and service contracts. The only person who makes money selling computers is the Manufacturer. And, for the most part, that business model seems to be working.
  • Reply 20 of 22
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    [quote]Originally posted by rogue27:

    <strong>We will probably see 1Ghz iBooks with a 200Mhz bus by May next year at the latest.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Wouldn't that be nice? I'd be perfectly happy with an iBook that broke the GHz barrier and tripled the 66Mhz bus of the original iMac (or 3 years younger iBook 500 w/ 66Mhz bus).



    Escher
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