When do you think that a G4 ibook will ship
So, this weekend one of my roommates had the unfortunate luck to have both his PC laptop and his PC desktop die on him (for hardware and software reasons). This roommate is a big *NIX fan and has been looking into getting into OS X because of its BSD underpinnings. I finally him that his next machine should be a mac because they are generally more reliable (a powerful argument when his brand X Taiwanese PC laptop is having BIOS issues).
Because he is a college student, he wants to get an ibook, and I have advised him to wait until the beginning of the next school year for a new laptop (his desktop with Linux will get him through this semester).
So, my question to all of the intelligent folk who spend their work hours reading this site is this: Will Apple move the iBook to G4's by the end of summer?
My thoughts on this are that the iBook will go to G4's when the Powerbooks go to 970's. Unfortunately, this is not a very clear answer (kind of like figuring out what you should eat for dinner by determining the meaning of life). Also, the G4 should undergo a die shrink from its current size so that it consumes less power (although I think that this is likely to come before any 970's).
[Mods, please move to current hardware if you think this topic fits better there]
Because he is a college student, he wants to get an ibook, and I have advised him to wait until the beginning of the next school year for a new laptop (his desktop with Linux will get him through this semester).
So, my question to all of the intelligent folk who spend their work hours reading this site is this: Will Apple move the iBook to G4's by the end of summer?
My thoughts on this are that the iBook will go to G4's when the Powerbooks go to 970's. Unfortunately, this is not a very clear answer (kind of like figuring out what you should eat for dinner by determining the meaning of life). Also, the G4 should undergo a die shrink from its current size so that it consumes less power (although I think that this is likely to come before any 970's).
[Mods, please move to current hardware if you think this topic fits better there]
Comments
<strong>With the introduction of the new Minibook, I don't see the iBook having a future.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I would agree, but I don't see the small ALBook getting down to the 999 price point anytime soon. Apple isn't going to force everyone to potentially pay twice as much for a notebook, and such a strategy would break their product matrix, so in the end I don't agree. There is a huge market for a cheap OS X notebook.
I doubt the current iBook would disappoint him at all, especially coming from a brand X PC notebook. It doesn't take all that much horsepower to run a UNIX command line, you know. iBooks are sweet little machines.
[ 01-13-2003: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
The G3 iBook is not only fine, it is great.
<strong>Can someone explain the point of a G4 iBook to me? As far as I know, the 750fx does 3.5 Watts at 800 MHz, whereas the 75x0 (whatever the right laptop model is) probably uses up over 10 Watts.
The G3 iBook is not only fine, it is great.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you are doing any altivec enhanced "stuff" then a G4 matters. The G3 WAS a GREAT chip, but guys, it is getting old. Maybe IBM has some super G3 in the wings that will scale well for the next two years. I certainly wouldn't be against that. It seems that a G4 would be the logical successor to the G3 in a notebook.
<strong>Can someone explain the point of a G4 iBook to me? As far as I know, the 750fx does 3.5 Watts at 800 MHz, whereas the 75x0 (whatever the right laptop model is) probably uses up over 10 Watts.
The G3 iBook is not only fine, it is great.</strong><hr></blockquote>
For AltiVec. But you're right, the G3 iBook is great.
<strong>probably never. looks we might get a G3+altivec iBook instead
Such a chip is practically the G4.
G3 + altivec (+ MERSI) == G4.
I think that it would be great if IBM developed a good low power PPC chip for use with notebooks, but I don't think that the market share merits such an investment.
A better wish would be for Transmeta to make a 1 GHz Crusoe chip that could run PPC code. THAT would make for a nice chip for an iBook! :eek:
<strong>As far as I know, the 750fx does 3.5 Watts at 800 MHz, whereas the 75x0 (whatever the right laptop model is) probably uses up over 10 Watts.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's what I thought too. But the iBook and new 12" PowerBook use the same 47Wh battery and get the same 5 hour battery life. So I have to assume that the power draw from the G3 and G4 chips used in these two notebooks is virtually the same.
As for the topic of this thread, I don't think we'll see a G4 iBook before 2004. Certainly not by the end of the summer. IMO, it is much more likely that we will see 1+Ghz G3s in the iBook in the next 12 months.
Yevgeny: If your friend needs a G4, it is likely that he will have to buy a PowerBook, even if he has to finance it. However, as others have pointed out above, a G3 should be perfectly fine for his purposes.
Escher
Can you think of what would be the difference between the G4 12 PowerBook and a G4 12" iBook? Just the case.
Doesn't seem like much product differential to make it worthwhile to me.
<strong>
If you are doing any altivec enhanced "stuff" then a G4 matters.</strong><hr></blockquote>
A UNIX hacker probably isn't.
[quote]<strong>The G3 WAS a GREAT chip, but guys, it is getting old.</strong><hr></blockquote>
On the other hand, age notwithstanding, it does a great job in the iBook. It's not a fire-breathing monster anymore, but nobody buys an iBook - or any comparable laptop - expecting one.
I could see the iBook going G4 when the PowerBook goes 970, but Apple might keep the all-white model a G3 just to anchor the low end and the educational market.
[ 01-13-2003: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
<strong>probably never. looks we might get a G3+altivec iBook instead
lol
Just a hunch. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
<strong>It almost seems like the iBook will stay G3 until if and when the PB's get a 970 processor.
Just a hunch. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
Absolutely right, it's just a marketing segmentation thing.
I reckon 2004 will see Apple fast-track the whole 970 experience to their professional community.
Power Macs at MWSF 04
Lapzilla and 15" PowerBooks at the nearest Apple event to the summer, which will hopefully still be an East Coast Macworld, as - being British - I would resent it if the first people to see it were French.
970 iMac in time for the Xmas 04 buying season.
G4 iBooks announced sometime in Springtime 05, synchronised with the release of LittleAl as a 970-system (around 1.2 - 1.4 GHz), and the release of a speed-bumped Lapzilla/15" (now at 1.6 - 1.8).
PowerMacs now run at 2.2 and 2.4, having been bumped in the summer to 1.6 and 1.8 from their original 1.2 and 1.4 speeds.
BTW, if one person complains that the 970 can't be released at 1.4 "cos that's too slow", I will personally track you down and recreate my favourite Joe Pesci scenes (not the ones in Home Alone) whilst simultaneously explaining the benefits of 64-bit technology and an 800 MHz bus.
G3 Evolution chips go into a Mac tablet, in time for trickledown introduction for the Xmas 04 buying season, and then go into steady-state production when the iBook shakes off its G3 roots. Let's face it, a Mac tablet probably wouldn't need the same content creation power as a "real" Altivec-based system and my recollection is that the G3 has relatively good power management inherited from the 603e (?), although that could just be my wishful thinking.
If your holding out for a G4 iBook, you are going to be waiting a VERY long time
<strong>Can you think of what would be the difference between the G4 12 PowerBook and a G4 12" iBook?</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's what I'm getting tired of saying. The only reason to keep the G3 iBook line is to have the cheapest laptops. By the way G3 is not dead. As far as I know, it can be scaled further to 1GHz.
So, given the price, I'd call a $1000 iBook the ideal laptop for a UNIX geek.
The 12" iBook and 12" PB are fairly similar, though the PB is faster/lighter/smaller. It's nice how the PPC still stacks up rather well against "mobile" x86 (either in G3 or G4 form). Personally I think Apple will see this similarity and kill it dead by dropping the 12" iBook. Its wonderful compactness was a fluke of component costs, but 12" TFT's aren't really cheaper than 14". Remember the iBook is aimed primarily at the value conscious buyer, and that buyer tends to favor screen size over compactness. Having tried out the 14" I don't think it's too big at all, and there's nothing in it that should make it cost 300 more than the 12". Apple will give the 14" a slight redesign to slim it a bit (under 6 lbs, slightly thinner, and a smaller footprint) and then drop it into all the same iBook price points (999-1299-1499). It's probably a better move. A switcher sees 14-15" screens on the PC side and 12" on the iBook. While seasoned road-warriors know the advantages of a smaller machine, that isn't the target of the iBook, the 12" has to go. You'll end up paying a slight premium for compactness in the PB12.
It sounds weird, but ulimately it's the right move for catching more entry/switch buyers.
[ 01-14-2003: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
[quote]Originally posted by Matsu:
<strong>[The 12" iBook's] wonderful compactness was a fluke of component costs, but 12" TFT's aren't really cheaper than 14". Remember the iBook is aimed primarily at the value conscious buyer, and that buyer tends to favor screen size over compactness. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Just remember that beside being targeted at value-conscious consumers, the iBook is aimed straight at education customers. In an educational context, where each student gets his own iBook in a carry case like in Maine, portability, i.e. relatively small size and weight, is still paramount. The combination of affordable cost with high portability is the key to the iBook's success.
[quote]<strong>Having tried out the 14" I don't think it's too big at all, and there's nothing in it that should make it cost 300 more than the 12"...
It sounds weird, but ulimately it's the right move for catching more entry/switch buyers.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Nonetheless, your scenario of a 14"-only iBook lineup is not improbable. I could see how a 14" iBook would actually be cheaper to manufacture than the 12" model, simply because it requires less (expensive) space-saving measures. In addition, the 14" iBook's increased battery life is an undeniable advantage in education.
I don't care whether Apple keeps or drops the 12" iBook, as long as a small and light 'Book (Power or "i") remains in the lineup.
Escher