no bluetooth is a big step back.... do they want this to become a standard or not?! ApE I can understand because that requires a big redesign... BT is fairly simple to implement...
I hope the owners of the previous 800MHz-iBook will get their old and defect combo-drives exchanged to the new one. I though I bought a 16x CD-RW burner, but all I got was 4x.
I'm calling Apple later today for some quality bitchin'.
Either they give me the new combo-drive or release a firmware patch fast.
I've pretty much made up my mind to buy one of these babies... 24x CD burner, etc or maybe the low spec cos I have a Firewire CDRW already... but no DVD drive Apple are so cheap.....
The most disappointing thing about this update is not the lack of Airport Extreme or the lack of Bluetooth. It is not the relatively lowkey bump of merely 100MHz. It is not the lack of a better video card or the fact that the iBook is still a meager G3.
The most disappointing thing about this "update" is the fact that the price has not dropped.
The most disappointing thing about this update is that both 12" iBooks come standard with only 128MB of RAM. That is moronic. Doesn't Apple understand that this will give many first time users (who don't know well enough to buy extra RAM) the impression that Macs are sloooow?
And is it impossible to get an 800MHz iBook with a combo drive?
You are right 128 mb of Ram is a joke when you are under mac Os X. for the combo, well you can buy the 900 mhz for not so much more money.
The $999 version now has 32 megs on the graphics card instead of 16.
The doubled VRAM makes the $999 iBook an even better value than before. Not only that, all the BTO options from the PowerBooks are now available for the iBooks as well. E.g. you can bump the already nice 30GB (double what it was before bump) in the $999 iBook to 40GB for $25 and to 60GB for $75. BTO prices are finally reasonable.
This iBook bump is about value, not pure performance!
Of course, I will still wait for the Rev.B 12-inch PowerBook (with 1+Ghz processor, 1+GB RAM, and DVI-out) to replace my two year-old iBook/500.
Escher
PS: I agree with tonton that 128MB base RAM is just plain inappropriate in this day and age. But if that's what low prices require...
You are right 128 mb of Ram is a joke when you are under mac Os X. for the combo, well you can buy the 900 mhz for not so much more money.
tonton: You can also buy the 800/Combo from the last revision at a discounted price, assuming you're interested in saving money at the expense of an additional 100Mhz in clock speed.
The $999 version now has 32 megs on the graphics card instead of 16.
Oh, I hadn't noticed that... that makes the entry level a little more interesting... of course with my ibook 500 having gone 'chest up' as we speak I may be looking at the entry level sooner than we speak!
This iBook bump is about value, not pure performance!
Yes, I absolutely agree... I guess I was grumbling earlier about the fact that I had hoped they would become even greater value than they already are. I guess my grumbles may be a little unreasonable now as I am having to stare down the barrel of another Apple purchase
I knew I should have bought AppleCare: let this be a lesson to all you out there with new machines. The Apple rep on the phone just admitted to me that many Apple machines are now just written off because the cost of repairing them without AppleCare is just far too astronomical.
oh, and I agree: 256MB would have made this update feel a little more substantial.
It's a decent step up I think. A 900 MHz G3 is pretty quick, and there's an inexpensive option to take the 12" model to 60 GB now. 24x CD burning is pretty damn sweet in a little laptop. Let's hope it actually burns at that speed, and not 8x or something - I was never able to get above 4x with my last iBook.
If that 800 MHz model only had a DVD-ROM instead of a CD-ROM... that baby would fly off the shelves. But hey, this is Apple we're talking about, it just wouldn't be the same if everything about an update was peachy.
All things considered, it's a perfectly acceptable upgrade without stepping on the 12" PB's toes. I'm nervously eyeing my credit card again....
Well, I'm glad I didn't wait four months for the update. The extra hard drive space would have been really nice though. And hopefully the combo is good now. I will DEFINITELY call Apple about it. Unfortunately, my 90 days of phone support are up, but it's a hardware issue so I think they should respond SOMEHOW instead of just blaming third parties like always. Maybe if they fessed up and fixed the problem, they wouldn't look like such assholes.
Comments
At least the swedish store has the dual 1.42 immediatly aviable while the dual 1.25 and sp 1.0 has 3-5 weeks delivery? What gives?
they were aviable weeks ago, is really the demands outstripping the supply? G4 towers flying of the shelfs, that is hard to imagine.
I'm calling Apple later today for some quality bitchin'.
Either they give me the new combo-drive or release a firmware patch fast.
The most disappointing thing about this "update" is the fact that the price has not dropped.
Originally posted by tonton
The most disappointing thing about this update is that both 12" iBooks come standard with only 128MB of RAM. That is moronic. Doesn't Apple understand that this will give many first time users (who don't know well enough to buy extra RAM) the impression that Macs are sloooow?
And is it impossible to get an 800MHz iBook with a combo drive?
You are right 128 mb of Ram is a joke when you are under mac Os X. for the combo, well you can buy the 900 mhz for not so much more money.
Originally posted by Flounder
The $999 version now has 32 megs on the graphics card instead of 16.
The doubled VRAM makes the $999 iBook an even better value than before. Not only that, all the BTO options from the PowerBooks are now available for the iBooks as well. E.g. you can bump the already nice 30GB (double what it was before bump) in the $999 iBook to 40GB for $25 and to 60GB for $75. BTO prices are finally reasonable.
This iBook bump is about value, not pure performance!
Of course, I will still wait for the Rev.B 12-inch PowerBook (with 1+Ghz processor, 1+GB RAM, and DVI-out) to replace my two year-old iBook/500.
Escher
PS: I agree with tonton that 128MB base RAM is just plain inappropriate in this day and age. But if that's what low prices require...
Originally posted by Powerdoc
You are right 128 mb of Ram is a joke when you are under mac Os X. for the combo, well you can buy the 900 mhz for not so much more money.
tonton: You can also buy the 800/Combo from the last revision at a discounted price, assuming you're interested in saving money at the expense of an additional 100Mhz in clock speed.
Escher
Originally posted by Flounder
The $999 version now has 32 megs on the graphics card instead of 16.
Oh, I hadn't noticed that... that makes the entry level a little more interesting... of course with my ibook 500 having gone 'chest up' as we speak I may be looking at the entry level sooner than we speak!
Originally posted by Escher
This iBook bump is about value, not pure performance!
Yes, I absolutely agree... I guess I was grumbling earlier about the fact that I had hoped they would become even greater value than they already are. I guess my grumbles may be a little unreasonable now as I am having to stare down the barrel of another Apple purchase
I knew I should have bought AppleCare: let this be a lesson to all you out there with new machines. The Apple rep on the phone just admitted to me that many Apple machines are now just written off because the cost of repairing them without AppleCare is just far too astronomical.
oh, and I agree: 256MB would have made this update feel a little more substantial.
If that 800 MHz model only had a DVD-ROM instead of a CD-ROM... that baby would fly off the shelves. But hey, this is Apple we're talking about, it just wouldn't be the same if everything about an update was peachy.
All things considered, it's a perfectly acceptable upgrade without stepping on the 12" PB's toes. I'm nervously eyeing my credit card again....
(Wait for the 15.4 inch PowerBook!)