Where does all this flurry leave the iBook...
...and what is in store for our little iChiclet?
Mods, if this seems like a redundant echo of the 1-2 other iBook-oriented posts here, I apologize. Remove, lock or somehow roll in with the other(s) if you need to. The others seemed to be talking specifics and models and specs and I'm just wondering overall "big picture" stuff.
We don't know exactly how IBM is doing, but judging by last night's little leak-fest, I think it's safe to say we're all blown away and pretty amped. Pretend, just a moment, that - in addition to the pro towers - the PowerBook and iMac find themselves sporting G5s by the holidays.
Psychologically - and from the all-important marketing standpoint - how/why would Apple keep the iMac at a G3. Even if it's Gobi. Even if it's Mojave. Even if it's an Altivec-enabled V8 with chrome pipes.
Won't newbies and potential switchers - and perhaps even a fair share of the faithful - look at the iBook, sporting its half-decade-old G3, and go "wow...G3. No G4, then the G5, which is where all the good stuff and action is! Th eiBook must really be one low-end, piss-poor excuse of a laptop...".
Which, we all know, it's anything but. But can they REALLY leave the iBook - cool and pretty and full-featured as it is - sporting a chip that was yesterday's news a year or so ago? As I said, forget what WE here know about how good the G3 is, the cost, the supply, etc. Think marketing. Think of the newcomer or potential switcher looking for an Apple laptop.
So with all that, what is going to come of the iBook in the months ahead? Does it take that risk and stay with a G3, even as the entire line winds up at G5s?
Does the higher-than-expected specs of the G5 for the towers (1.6, 1.8 and 2.0) mean that there are some nice 1.2 and 1.4 970s floating around, allocated for portables?
What if IBM is truly putting the hammer down and cranking these things out like nobody's business?
Is it just completely nuts - in light of last night and all we learned - to imagine Apple putting the 970 into everything, sooner rather than later? Could MWSF 2004 mark the last item to get the 970 (the iBook, perhaps?). Would Apple want to fool with Motorola anymore and outfit the iBook with a G4, OR just skip right to the good stuff and put in a lower-clocked G5, say around 1GHz (which would still blow the doors off, I"m assuming, any 1-1.4GHz G4.
It's just going to look odd for the iBook to be the lone holdout on a G3 chip, while everything else is skootching along on 970s within the next 6-9 months (MAYBE even sooner).
Mods, if this seems like a redundant echo of the 1-2 other iBook-oriented posts here, I apologize. Remove, lock or somehow roll in with the other(s) if you need to. The others seemed to be talking specifics and models and specs and I'm just wondering overall "big picture" stuff.
We don't know exactly how IBM is doing, but judging by last night's little leak-fest, I think it's safe to say we're all blown away and pretty amped. Pretend, just a moment, that - in addition to the pro towers - the PowerBook and iMac find themselves sporting G5s by the holidays.
Psychologically - and from the all-important marketing standpoint - how/why would Apple keep the iMac at a G3. Even if it's Gobi. Even if it's Mojave. Even if it's an Altivec-enabled V8 with chrome pipes.
Won't newbies and potential switchers - and perhaps even a fair share of the faithful - look at the iBook, sporting its half-decade-old G3, and go "wow...G3. No G4, then the G5, which is where all the good stuff and action is! Th eiBook must really be one low-end, piss-poor excuse of a laptop...".
Which, we all know, it's anything but. But can they REALLY leave the iBook - cool and pretty and full-featured as it is - sporting a chip that was yesterday's news a year or so ago? As I said, forget what WE here know about how good the G3 is, the cost, the supply, etc. Think marketing. Think of the newcomer or potential switcher looking for an Apple laptop.
So with all that, what is going to come of the iBook in the months ahead? Does it take that risk and stay with a G3, even as the entire line winds up at G5s?
Does the higher-than-expected specs of the G5 for the towers (1.6, 1.8 and 2.0) mean that there are some nice 1.2 and 1.4 970s floating around, allocated for portables?
What if IBM is truly putting the hammer down and cranking these things out like nobody's business?
Is it just completely nuts - in light of last night and all we learned - to imagine Apple putting the 970 into everything, sooner rather than later? Could MWSF 2004 mark the last item to get the 970 (the iBook, perhaps?). Would Apple want to fool with Motorola anymore and outfit the iBook with a G4, OR just skip right to the good stuff and put in a lower-clocked G5, say around 1GHz (which would still blow the doors off, I"m assuming, any 1-1.4GHz G4.
It's just going to look odd for the iBook to be the lone holdout on a G3 chip, while everything else is skootching along on 970s within the next 6-9 months (MAYBE even sooner).
Comments
Poor little guy. Steve stopped loving him, and no one showed up for the funeral when he died of a broken heart.....
Anyway, I'm thinking that iBook gets semi-retired into education market oblivion (and stays g3), and the Powerbook line gets divvied up into all sorts of interesting things.....for example, Apple has made the largest widescreen portable, why not make the smallest? Say 10" diagonal, or thereabouts?
Anyway, I'm thinking that iBook gets semi-retired into education market oblivion (and stays g3), and the Powerbook line gets divvied up into all sorts of interesting things.....for example, Apple has made the largest widescreen portable, why not make the smallest? Say 10" diagonal, or thereabouts?
I have to respectfully disagree with everything you just said here. The end.
I think it may be premature to completely write off the G4/Motorola relationship. The current top of the line Powerbooks are pretty quick as is (they'll scream when they go G5). But can you imagine how nice it would be to have a 1GHz G4 iBook at today's G3 prices?
"Presenting the all new iBook. Powered by the PowerPC Sahara/Gobi processor"
or something like that...i dunno
Originally posted by satchmo
But can you imagine how nice it would be to have a 1GHz G4 iBook at today's G3 prices?
Why, yes I can.
I know of at least 2 people (possibly 4) who would be PERFECT for this model! Crap, I might even be in the mix there somewhere too!