New G4 Powerbook vs. G5 Powerbook

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
First let me state that I had my hopes a little high for today's announcement. Mainly because that's the computer I would buy if I had the chance.



I sold my 867Mhz Powerbook back in June prior to the WWDC in anticipation of buying a "newer" laptop with a better OS.



Today's announcement is a great computer that I'd be willing to buy even if it isn't a G5, but it doesn't have Panther!



15" PowerBook, 1.25GHz PowerPC G4, 512K L2 Cache, 512MB PC2700 Memory, ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (64MB), 80GB HD, Super Drive. Built-in Bluetooth and Airport Extreme. Illuminated Keyboard.





My questions for the Board



1) When do you anticipate Panther being shipped on Powerbooks?



2) When do you anticipate the next Powerbook revision? (ie. the typical 6 month cycle, the next World Conference, etc.)



3) When do you think the G5 0.9nm processer will find it's way into the Powerbook?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dr_Holistic

    1) When do you anticipate Panther being shipped on Powerbooks?



    2) When do you anticipate the next Powerbook revision? (ie. the typical 6 month cycle, the next World Conference, etc.)



    3) When do you think the G5 0.9nm processer will find it's way into the Powerbook?




    1) Not until Panther is out



    2) WWDC 2004



    3) WWDC 2004



    It's too early to be thinking about the next PowerBook rev!
  • Reply 2 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DHagan4755

    It's too early to be thinking about the next PowerBook rev!



    ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?! It's already been... what? 5 hours!?!? I mean... Apple should release new stuff every few minutes!



    Beleaguered!!!!!!
  • Reply 3 of 48
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DHagan4755

    It's too early to be thinking about the next PowerBook rev!



    You dunno wha ya talkin bout! These PowerBooks are already old news! We are in Future Hardware, man. Let's face it. Time moves on. Things age quickly. Nobody is happy about such an upgrade. Wait: was there any upgrade yet? According to MOSR, G4 is dead. We are approaching a revolutionary dual G3 config for notebooks. G5 sucks. We can take a handful of 68030s and cram them into a PowerBook. Imagine: the world's first notebook with 73 CPUs! </evil mode>
  • Reply 4 of 48
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DHagan4755





    It's too early to be thinking about the next PowerBook rev!




    Well it is, but we all know this PB update is a stop gap measure until the G5 PB's.



    But that just means if you want or need a Powerbook, get these or you'll be waiting for I suspect another 9 months.
  • Reply 5 of 48
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    1) December

    2) Announced January shipping March

    3) July 04
  • Reply 6 of 48
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    I'm still waiting for a Powerbook G5 with a 1440x960 15" screen or 1600x1067 17" screen. The screen is more important than the processor, so essentially, I'm waiting for BTO higher resolution screens. Don't understand why Apple doesn't want to do it...
  • Reply 7 of 48
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by THT

    I'm still waiting for a Powerbook G5 with a 1440x960 15" screen or 1600x1067 17" screen. The screen is more important than the processor, so essentially, I'm waiting for BTO higher resolution screens. Don't understand why Apple doesn't want to do it...



    Something tells me you'll be waiting for a very long time.
  • Reply 8 of 48
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by THT

    I'm still waiting for a Powerbook G5 with a 1440x960 15" screen or 1600x1067 17" screen. The screen is more important than the processor, so essentially, I'm waiting for BTO higher resolution screens. Don't understand why Apple doesn't want to do it...



    No disrespect, as we all have our wants and needs. And this is more of a general question to people (including myself) that crave for the latest and greatest specs.



    But lets say that G5 1440x960 15" is due in 9 months...but before then we hear of rumours of a G6 17" with 1600x1067 specs. Do you hold off again and wait? Thankfully there's always going to be new Mac toys around the corner.
  • Reply 9 of 48
    I think there will be one MORE revision of G4 PowerBooks before we see a G5.



    I'm basing this on the assumption that Apple will want to revise the cases for the G5 (both for functional and marketing reasons) and would not have invested in a new motherboard and case for the 15 at this time unless it was going to last more than one cycle (or just two for the 12 and 17).



    So we see G4s at up to 1.6GHz around February, and then G5 PowerBooks announced late in the summer and shipping September with .09 970 chips.
  • Reply 10 of 48
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by satchmo

    No disrespect, as we all have our wants and needs. And this is more of a general question to people (including myself) that crave for the latest and greatest specs.



    And cheapest prices.



    Quote:

    But lets say that G5 1440x960 15" is due in 9 months...but before then we hear of rumours of a G6 17" with 1600x1067 specs. Do you hold off again and wait?



    If I was Apple, I wouldn't put customers in this position. I'd always have the perfromance v price curve linear. But to answer your question, the screen is the most important aspect of the computer to me, so if my upgrade time was up, I'd buy and not worry about the next best thing. If Apple offered a 1 GHz 7457 17" 1440x960 Powerbook for say $2299, I would probably buy even though that is still fairly overpriced considering the price of the 17" iMac. A 1 GHz 7457 15" 1440x960 Powerbook for $2000 would also be tempting.



    What really really needs to happen is for Apple to have a 3 tiered system of notebook products with an ultralight (<3.5 lb) boutique notebook. The current Powerbook G4 would be a midranged product selling between $1400 to $2000 while a hypothetical Powerbook G5 occupies the high end above $2000.
  • Reply 11 of 48
    my sources tell that new Powerbooks with G5 will be available in march 2004 ... :-) that is what i bet will be the time to release the 970 0,09µ .... if you can afford a powerbook now, just buy it now - panther is not the expensive thing - go get the powerbook and work 2 hours to get the cash for panther (though i don't think you'll have to pay the full price for it)...

    *wink* *wank* *wonk*
  • Reply 12 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BrunoBruin

    I think there will be one MORE revision of G4 PowerBooks before we see a G5.



    I'm basing this on the assumption that Apple will want to revise the cases for the G5 (both for functional and marketing reasons) and would not have invested in a new motherboard and case for the 15 at this time unless it was going to last more than one cycle (or just two for the 12 and 17).



    So we see G4s at up to 1.6GHz around February, and then G5 PowerBooks announced late in the summer and shipping September with .09 970 chips.




    I think you're correct, although I'm not sure about the 1.6Ghz G4. G4 7455's were at 1.42Ghz, so a G4 7457 at 1.6Ghz could happen.



    I don't think we'll see a G5 Powerbook until at least July of 2004.
  • Reply 13 of 48
    jamiljamil Posts: 210member
    me thinks it will be sept 04 or jan 05 before you see the g5 in a powerbook.



    how long was the time frame between the powermac g4 and the powerbook g4? anyone remember?
  • Reply 14 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Jamil

    me thinks it will be sept 04 or jan 05 before you see the g5 in a powerbook.



    how long was the time frame between the powermac g4 and the powerbook g4? anyone remember?




    The G4 is a little different. G4 Power Mac announced in Sep 1999 or something...and the G4 Powerbook in Jan 2001. I don't think it will be two years before we see a G5, but it'll be at least 6-8 months.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Jamil

    me thinks it will be sept 04 or jan 05 before you see the g5 in a powerbook.



    how long was the time frame between the powermac g4 and the powerbook g4? anyone remember?




    I also tend to disagree. Motorola's track record plus fabbing facilities are not nearly as advanced as IBM's is. Also, IBM has publically said that they are moving faster than what they had said before.



    So a release in Mar '04 I don't think is out of the question for the 0.9 micron process (I believe otherwise known as 970+).
  • Reply 16 of 48
    PB G5. No earlier than this time next year.



    "In the works" Yes. "Announced" Yes. "Shipping soon" Yes.



    In our hands next summer? No
  • Reply 17 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by filmmaker2002

    The G4 is a little different. G4 Power Mac announced in Sep 1999 or something...and the G4 Powerbook in Jan 2001. I don't think it will be two years before we see a G5, but it'll be at least 6-8 months.



    But that wasn't two years...more like 1.3 years.



    I think Jan. of this year is a good target to see the new 970s in Power Macs, and then, after some months of accumulating the nicer chips for PowerBooks, we'll see them at WWDC the following May or June.
  • Reply 18 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fred_lj

    But that wasn't two years...more like 1.3 years.



    I think Jan. of this year is a good target to see the new 970s in Power Macs, and then, after some months of accumulating the nicer chips for PowerBooks, we'll see them at WWDC the following May or June.




    Uh.....sorry?



    The 970s are in PowerMacs. And Jan of this year is...er...eight months ago.



    Or if I have misunderstood, did you mean speed bumped or process shrunk 970s?
  • Reply 19 of 48
    I didn't know there were actually truly anal people on this board...wow.



    I meant Jan. of this fiscal year -- and I haven't been under a rock. Use your own best judgment and be reasonable.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    1) 1 month after panther is out.



    2) Feb to March 2004. Is there still a MW-Tokyo?



    3) July to Sept 2004
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