Think Secret Posts New iBook Specs
Here they are. Processor bump only. No AirPort Extreme or internal bluetooth.
$999.00
12.1" w/ CD-ROM
800MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @800MHz
128MB SDRAM memory
20GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
16MB dedicated video memory
CD-ROM
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
$1,299.00
12.1" w/ Combo Drive
900MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @900MHz
128MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
32MB dedicated video memory
Combo Drive
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
$1,499.00
14.1" w/ Combo Drive
900MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @900MHz
256MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
32MB dedicated video memory
Combo Drive
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
$999.00
12.1" w/ CD-ROM
800MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @800MHz
128MB SDRAM memory
20GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
16MB dedicated video memory
CD-ROM
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
$1,299.00
12.1" w/ Combo Drive
900MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @900MHz
128MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
32MB dedicated video memory
Combo Drive
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
$1,499.00
14.1" w/ Combo Drive
900MHz PowerPC G3
512K L2 cache @900MHz
256MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
32MB dedicated video memory
Combo Drive
Built-in 56K v.92 modem
Comments
The iBook probably won't get, say, the 12" PowerBook's motherboard until the '57 can be dropped into it. It sure as heck isn't getting a 7445 or a 970!
Rumor has it IBM is sampling the 750FX at 1.2ghz these days
I suspect this may be a sign of PowerBooks' updates also coming. If ThinkSecret is right about confusion among customers who don't know the difference between G3 and G4, Apple is aware of that too. To better differentiate Power- from iBooks they can either bump CPU speeds in PB (not easily done with current G4s), change G4 in PB to some sort of G5 (be it PPC970, 7457 or whatever) or improve the feature set.
Where does it get us? I don't know. I may even be completely wrong.
Originally posted by rok
one thing that gets me confused is the video. i have heard nothing but bad about the nvidia 420 go int he 12" powerbook. is it any "worse" (of course, being a subjective evaluation), than the radeon mobility 7500 in the ibook?
well i sold my ibook 800 for the 12" pb and I have had nothing but good things from the graphics performance in the 12". Games are quicker, DVD's less prone to errors...
1. DVDs lag in full screen. Check it out robster I've seen this on every PB 12" I've seen. When the whole screen moves as the camera pans the framerate drops pathetically unless CPU Monitor has a floating window over it for some reason.
2. "Lines" in games, even on external monitors. I have a thread about this and though everyone else SAYS they can't see them, they are there. They just don't notice them, but once they will they'll hate it too, since I also saw this on the store model.
3. For the extra battery power etc, the 7500 gets at least as much performance as the 420. ATi is better especially in laptops.
However the PBG4 12" rocks and both these problems can be fixed with driver updates. I was hoping the driver updates would be out like last month though.
This IBM PowerPC Quick Reference Guide lists, and I quote,"Products from 600MHz to 1 GHz for computing, networking, storage, imaging, and consumer systems."
This brocgure was revised 7/11/02, so Apple has had 1GHz G3's with a 200MHz FSB available from IBM since @ least July of last year and most probably longer.
I think it is somewhat frustrating that Apple would not use the fastest G3 available just so as not to bump up against the low end tower and powerbook cpu's rated MHz. Granted a 1GHz G3 may be faster in some operations than a 1GHz G4(pipelines and all that crud), but really the iBook is a good machine and should be using the best.
Originally posted by rickag
Wonder why Apple isn't using a 1GHz G3????
This IBM PowerPC Quick Reference Guide lists, and I quote,"Products from 600MHz to 1 GHz for computing, networking, storage, imaging, and consumer systems."
This brocgure was revised 7/11/02, so Apple has had 1GHz G3's with a 200MHz FSB available from IBM since @ least July of last year and most probably longer.
I think it is somewhat frustrating that Apple would not use the fastest G3 available just so as not to bump up against the low end tower and powerbook cpu's rated MHz. Granted a 1GHz G3 may be faster in some operations than a 1GHz G4(pipelines and all that crud), but really the iBook is a good machine and should be using the best.
You are probably correct to state that the G3 would be faster than the G4 and Apple simply won't let a lower-priced system outperform it's higher-priced bretheren. At anything.
- It performs worse (rendering speed) than the Radeon 9000 that the 4 Go series replaces.
- It doesn't have pixel shaders (Radeon 9x00s and GeForce 4x00s do) and is essentially a GeForce 2 GTS with a more efficient memory architecture. The same complaint applies to the GeForce 4 MX.
- The 420 has half of the memory bandwidth of the 440, (3.2GB/s compared to 6.4GB/s) which has to support an only slightly lower fill rate (780MTexels/s for the 420, compared to 880MT/s for the 440).
However it will play current games fine.There is a GeForce 4 Go 4200, which is laptop version of the GeForce 4 4200 Ti and therefore has pixels shaders, higher fillrate and a better memory bandwidth. It isn't in PowerBooks yet.
Edit: firing up the PowerBook now to look for the external monitor lines. Haven't seen them before: maybe Aquatic's area got a bad batch?
Edit 2: still can't see 'em: any particular examples?
I wasn't necessarily expecting a 1GHz G4 or a new screen, but a 1GHz G3, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth and hard drive bump would've been all I needed to sell this SuperDrive iMac and "go mobile".
This is a bit of a letdown, because I was hoping to go into this summer with a spiffy little iBook sporting some of Apple's newest technologies/features.
I guess I'll wait until fall or so...
Also... if those specs are real then they are EXTREMELY disappointing and I'd be pissed at Apple for slacking off so much. At the very least they should give the low end a 30 GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM drive, and a 32 MB graphics card. I have a friend who wants to get an iBook as soon as they're updated (he's coming to Macs from a PC for the fifth time... weirdo) and he doesn't want to repeat what happened last time - he bought a 700 MHz/Combo iBook about two weeks before the 800 MHz ones came out. Luckily he bought a refurb so he ended up paying only $1250 for it instead of the full $1500. If Apple just bumps the processor speed by 100 MHz and does nothing else, he'll be disappointed and he may not buy one.
I also think Apple really needs to start including 256 MB of RAM as standard equipment on all their computers now that their computers are OS X-only. Someone who's just starting out with a Mac will use their 128 MB machine, see how incredibly slow it is, and assume that Macs are just slow crap computers when in fact it's just because Apple was stingy with their RAM. I'm 100% sure that Apple will make more money from the increased user satisfaction than they'll lose by adding more RAM at the same price. Besides, the low end has been stuck at 128 MB for about two years now, it's time for an increase. 256 MB on all consumer machines, 512 MB on all pro machines.
EDIT: I see that putting a 30 GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM and a 32 MB graphics card on the low end iBook would probably make everyone buy that instead of the higher end one... but they need to do it anyway. Meanwhile, give the high end iBooks a 40 GB hard drive, Combo drive, and the same 32 MB graphics card... but maybe also include an AirPort card. Or make 'em bluetooth/Airport Extreme compatible. I don't know HOW Apple's going to get these standards in place if they're so afraid of allowing people to use them.
Originally posted by rickag
[B]Wonder why Apple isn't using a 1GHz G3????
I've never understood this mentality either. The armchair marketing genius' in this forum always conclude that you can't have processor speeds conflicting between consumer and prosumer models and that makes little to no sense.
If a switcher really doesn't know the difference (and they probably won't notice the difference) then why not let them think they are getting one over on Apple by buying a cheap 1gig iBook? They can tell their friends that they got a great deal and that there is no reason to go for the PowerBook and Apple sells alot of iBooks. That's the way it should be.
Then everyone who does know the difference can relish the Altivec and watch DVD's on airplanes or play Warcraft all they want.
The average consumer just doesn't see the product line grids that we see. They look at products side-by-side and get the most that they can afford at the time. Why make the choice of an iBook harder for them?