Here's the text of newportnews' post at MacNN (updated as per his later post regarding graphics chip for 12" PB):
"I went to my university tech store today and I was looking on their order list and they had listed some new specs for iBooks and Powerbooks. They wouldn't let me take the paper with me but I copied it down and here is what it said:
I'd be expecting iBooks to go to the G4, but not this soon. I'd also expect a boost in hard drive sizes in the 12" and 15" PowerBooks, rather than seeing the default stay at 40 GB. I'm very skeptical.
Here's the text of newportnews' post at MacNN (updated as per his later post regarding graphics chip for 12" PB):
"I went to my university tech store today and I was looking on their order list and they had listed some new specs for iBooks and Powerbooks. They wouldn't let me take the paper with me but I copied it down and here is what it said:
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
128 MB
30 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB)
CD-ROM
$999
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB RAM)
Combo
$1399
Powerbook G4 12"
1 Ghz G4
256K L2
1 MB L3
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (64 MB)
Combo
USB 2
$1799
(w/ Superdrive $1999)
Powerbook G4 15"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
60 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (64 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Backlit Keyboard
$2799
Powerbook G4 17"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
80 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Airport Extreme
Backlit Keyboard
$3299
Hm...I wonder how they got these. Perhaps Steve sent them a personal fax with the new specs and nobody else. Give me a Break ! How would they know and nobody else?
Wow, I wonder if that is real? Kinda bummed that the 15" jumped back up $200...
Pretty much putting it out of my reach...sigh.
Although, this is just random stuff on a message board. Any dipstick with half an imagination could've wrote up that spec sheet. Again, I'll believe it when I see it on Apple's website.
But that 12" is now looking quite spiffy (1MB L3 cache, 64MB graphics, etc.). But, again, it's jumping back up to the previous higher pricepoints...
I hope SOME of the stuff on this list is true (specs) and the other stuff is way off base (price).
Those specs are bizarre. The 12" PB is orphaned. For $800 over the cost of (what I take to be the 12") iBook G4 you get... what, exactly? 100MHz, L3, a combo drive, and a GPU two notches better? Oh, and USB 2. And, uh, monitor spanning standard.
I can only hope that they've managed to do something with it that isn't going to show up in a spec sheet, like shrink it down to less than an inch thick and shave off half a pound, since it seems to me to be floating in limbo where it is now. It's not like the resolution can go much higher before Apple has to license Squintronic(TM) technology from Dell...
Yeah, you're right on. Something about this just looks off. Not to mention, quite a bummer in the whole "specrice" relationship. Everything's jumped up $200 and I can't really see why.
I hope this is a hoax and someone just pulling our chains a bit...
Fishy. Where's the fishy emoticon? If true, you'd have a 7455B cranked up a bit. <yawn!> Same RAM, HD combos for $200 more?? Sucky. Where's the sucky emoticon?
If it comes with a 15.4" display and all the goodies, it won't be so bad but charging more doesn't make a whole lot of good marketing sense. I sure hope that prices and specs are a bit better than this. If this is what Steve announces in 2 weeks, expect some groans from the audience. What does a French groan sound like?
2 main reasons its fake: 1. the university wouldnt have these specs till product announced. 2. a g4 ibook would not be only 100 MHz below 1GHz pbook and be $800 cheaper. a couple smaller reasons its fake: he talks about the employee getting 'real worried' about him seeing these specs but somehow was able to stand there and copy them down. then has to make up an excuse that he added 15% to his school discount to get the retail prices when someone questions him about that. now he was conservative on the 1.25 GHz G4 15 and 17 and didn't try to pull a G5 out of his butt so give him some credit there.
Just for your information, today macbidouille posts a rumor about the long awaited powerbooks (it warns that it is just a rumor and not fact, but their source is said to be reliable). So, they say that Motorola is still unable to manufacture the PPC 7457 in sufficient volume and the percentage of processors with the required technical qualifications is very low. Furthermore, Apple refuses to use the 7455B since, beyond the 1 GHz, the energy consumption is very high and the heat issue very hard to solve. All that means that there will be no new powerbooks before mid-October.
On the other hand, they report that IBM is on schedule with the G5 in 0.09 microns. Sampling will start at the end of November and the CPU will be finalized in February, as expected. The project PPC 980 goes well too.
Along with the above Mac Scooby-Doo story is our own AI posting:
PowerBook Update in Shambles?
September 2nd- 9:37PM EST
Updates to Apple's professional PowerBook line are nearly three months past due. Retail outlets have long since exhausted their inventory of the current PowerBook models and Apple's two major distributors are fairing no better.
According to continually reliable sources, the computer maker is still scrounging for ample supplies of faster G4 processors and have already been forced to rewrite the enabler code for the forthcoming units in favor of an alternative mobile G4 breed.
"It's increasingly becoming a retail and revenue disaster," one source told AppleInsider. "[Apple's] current plan is to salvage the update as soon as possible while rushing plans to deliver a G5 PowerBook within the first 3 months of the next calendar year."
An unconfirmed report claims that company has been toying with prototype PowerBook G5 enclosures sporting a technique (and appearance) similar to the Power Mac G5's honey-comb ventilation system.
Well buying my 1GHz TiBook the day it came out last November was definitely the right call.
I was going to jump on a new 17" right away, but if they ain't comin' until October I might as well wait for the G5 PBs in early 2004.
if Moto can't get the 7457 out of the door, Apple will have little choice but release one hell of a lackluster update to the Powerbook line. They cannot just lie low and bid the time until the 90nm 970/980 is due, because IBM will likely have to push back the release date of this chip too.
So, I'd predict a 1.0/1.2 Ghz lineup announced in Paris and delivered in mid-october based on the 7455. Those books are going to run hot and suck battery but will be a stopgap release for the next 6 month or so.
Those specs would be real only if they were due to announce an update, like today. But with Paris so close, it doesn't seem like they'd update the PowerBooks at this time, so it calls into question those specs. I think Apple is going to do what it can to push minor updates out the door. It seems they are having trouble even trying to do that.
Guys.....let's just ignore all the crap rumours going on at the moment and just wait and see what happens @ Paris.
I guarantee we'll be seeing more "Scooby-Doo" rumour stories the closer we get to Paris. I can also guarantee Valium inventories will drop dramatically as that day nears.
If these latest rumors are indeed true (and considering Motorola's track-record thus far, I'm inclined to go "yeah, sounds about right...") can I pretty much speak for the entire forum for a moment? Thank you...
"WHAT THE $@#%^#@%^@%^& IS THE DEAL WITH #%#@!#$% MOTOROLA? WHY IN THE $#%&^@ CAN'T THEY EVER $#@%$%@@% COME THROUGH AND DELIVER? HOW MANY $#@^& TIMES HAVE THEY TRIPPED US UP, HELD US BACK, CAUSED DELAYS AND OTHERWISE GUMMED UP THE $@#@%^# WORKS?"
Thank you. I feel better now.
You guys are aware that we'd be knocking on the 2GHz door (possibly higher?) right about now on most every Mac had things gone the way they should've? That initial 50MHz downgrade at the intro of the G4 should've been a huge omen. Then we got to 500MHz...and say there for about a decade it seemed. Then we got minor (and I mean MINOR) bumps and enhancements over the next couple of years. The G4 iMac went a year without an update, the PowerBooks have gone 10 and 8 months it seems (and when updates do arrive, I'm betting they're not going to be worth this wait).
I'm sure others here can speak to reasons of a business, engineering or managment nature as to why things are the way they are.
But honestly, I ask you: how can one company - a company as well-known and "in the game" as Motorola - be this unreliable? Is this G4 chip somehow special or unusual in that it is somehow harder-than-most to manufacture? Seriously...how many time, over the past 3-4 years, have things just petered out and we've sat around in yet another dry spell, waiting for them?
How many "second chances" does a company get? Is there not some sort of "bug off!" clause in the contracts where Apple, after being left in the lurch AGAIN, can implement a back-up plan or go elsewhere? I don't this end of it, so who knows? It seems after about the third Motorola-based debacle, Jobs & Co. would've said "this TOTALLY sucks...we need to look elsewhere, TODAY...".
If this was a one-time (even twice) kinda thing, who cares? That's just life. But we're just now (2003) pooching through the 1GHz barrier (barely). Meanwhile, IBM...
My guess is if Apple (Motorola) can't get the chips ready, the only thing we'll see is a slightly revised 15" at MW Paris to tie them over. The 12" and 17" would be untouched since a larger update would happen in maybe the new year.
The 15" would have the same aluminum enclosure and some of the nicities of the 17", but as far as speed, it 'll remain at 1 GHz.
Comments
"I went to my university tech store today and I was looking on their order list and they had listed some new specs for iBooks and Powerbooks. They wouldn't let me take the paper with me but I copied it down and here is what it said:
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
128 MB
30 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB)
CD-ROM
$999
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB RAM)
Combo
$1399
Powerbook G4 12"
1 Ghz G4
256K L2
1 MB L3
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (64 MB)
Combo
USB 2
$1799
(w/ Superdrive $1999)
Powerbook G4 15"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
60 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (64 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Backlit Keyboard
$2799
Powerbook G4 17"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
80 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Airport Extreme
Backlit Keyboard
$3299
Originally posted by DHagan4755
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=174968
I'd be expecting iBooks to go to the G4, but not this soon. I'd also expect a boost in hard drive sizes in the 12" and 15" PowerBooks, rather than seeing the default stay at 40 GB. I'm very skeptical.
Originally posted by Ensign Pulver
Here's the text of newportnews' post at MacNN (updated as per his later post regarding graphics chip for 12" PB):
"I went to my university tech store today and I was looking on their order list and they had listed some new specs for iBooks and Powerbooks. They wouldn't let me take the paper with me but I copied it down and here is what it said:
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
128 MB
30 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB)
CD-ROM
$999
iBook
900 Mhz G4
(100 Mhz Bus)
256K L2
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB RAM)
Combo
$1399
Powerbook G4 12"
1 Ghz G4
256K L2
1 MB L3
256 MB RAM
40 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (64 MB)
Combo
USB 2
$1799
(w/ Superdrive $1999)
Powerbook G4 15"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
60 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (64 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Backlit Keyboard
$2799
Powerbook G4 17"
1.25 Ghz G4
256 K L2
1 MB L3
512 MB
80 GB Ultra ATA
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (128 MB)
Superdrive
USB 2
FW 800
Airport Extreme
Backlit Keyboard
$3299
Hm...I wonder how they got these. Perhaps Steve sent them a personal fax with the new specs and nobody else. Give me a Break ! How would they know and nobody else?
That doesn't make sense. I'm skeptical.
Also, G4 iBook that's only 100 MHz less than the low end Powerbook
Pretty much putting it out of my reach...sigh.
Although, this is just random stuff on a message board. Any dipstick with half an imagination could've wrote up that spec sheet. Again, I'll believe it when I see it on Apple's website.
But that 12" is now looking quite spiffy (1MB L3 cache, 64MB graphics, etc.). But, again, it's jumping back up to the previous higher pricepoints...
I hope SOME of the stuff on this list is true (specs) and the other stuff is way off base (price).
How's that?
I can only hope that they've managed to do something with it that isn't going to show up in a spec sheet, like shrink it down to less than an inch thick and shave off half a pound, since it seems to me to be floating in limbo where it is now. It's not like the resolution can go much higher before Apple has to license Squintronic(TM) technology from Dell...
I hope this is a hoax and someone just pulling our chains a bit...
Well, the Radeon 9200 isn't bad for the 15".
If it comes with a 15.4" display and all the goodies, it won't be so bad but charging more doesn't make a whole lot of good marketing sense. I sure hope that prices and specs are a bit better than this. If this is what Steve announces in 2 weeks, expect some groans from the audience. What does a French groan sound like?
On the other hand, they report that IBM is on schedule with the G5 in 0.09 microns. Sampling will start at the end of November and the CPU will be finalized in February, as expected. The project PPC 980 goes well too.
Take it FWIW.
PowerBook Update in Shambles?
September 2nd- 9:37PM EST
Updates to Apple's professional PowerBook line are nearly three months past due. Retail outlets have long since exhausted their inventory of the current PowerBook models and Apple's two major distributors are fairing no better.
According to continually reliable sources, the computer maker is still scrounging for ample supplies of faster G4 processors and have already been forced to rewrite the enabler code for the forthcoming units in favor of an alternative mobile G4 breed.
"It's increasingly becoming a retail and revenue disaster," one source told AppleInsider. "[Apple's] current plan is to salvage the update as soon as possible while rushing plans to deliver a G5 PowerBook within the first 3 months of the next calendar year."
An unconfirmed report claims that company has been toying with prototype PowerBook G5 enclosures sporting a technique (and appearance) similar to the Power Mac G5's honey-comb ventilation system.
Well buying my 1GHz TiBook the day it came out last November was definitely the right call.
I was going to jump on a new 17" right away, but if they ain't comin' until October I might as well wait for the G5 PBs in early 2004.
if Moto can't get the 7457 out of the door, Apple will have little choice but release one hell of a lackluster update to the Powerbook line. They cannot just lie low and bid the time until the 90nm 970/980 is due, because IBM will likely have to push back the release date of this chip too.
So, I'd predict a 1.0/1.2 Ghz lineup announced in Paris and delivered in mid-october based on the 7455. Those books are going to run hot and suck battery but will be a stopgap release for the next 6 month or so.
? hmm, maybe Apple & IBM worked simultaneously on a "portable G5" like the centrino is ...
that would be a nice surprise ...
*dream ends*
I guarantee we'll be seeing more "Scooby-Doo" rumour stories the closer we get to Paris. I can also guarantee Valium inventories will drop dramatically as that day nears.
Mmmmmm.....Valium.....arrhhhhhh!
"WHAT THE $@#%^#@%^@%^& IS THE DEAL WITH #%#@!#$% MOTOROLA? WHY IN THE $#%&^@ CAN'T THEY EVER $#@%$%@@% COME THROUGH AND DELIVER? HOW MANY $#@^& TIMES HAVE THEY TRIPPED US UP, HELD US BACK, CAUSED DELAYS AND OTHERWISE GUMMED UP THE $@#@%^# WORKS?"
Thank you. I feel better now.
You guys are aware that we'd be knocking on the 2GHz door (possibly higher?) right about now on most every Mac had things gone the way they should've? That initial 50MHz downgrade at the intro of the G4 should've been a huge omen. Then we got to 500MHz...and say there for about a decade it seemed. Then we got minor (and I mean MINOR) bumps and enhancements over the next couple of years. The G4 iMac went a year without an update, the PowerBooks have gone 10 and 8 months it seems (and when updates do arrive, I'm betting they're not going to be worth this wait).
I'm sure others here can speak to reasons of a business, engineering or managment nature as to why things are the way they are.
But honestly, I ask you: how can one company - a company as well-known and "in the game" as Motorola - be this unreliable? Is this G4 chip somehow special or unusual in that it is somehow harder-than-most to manufacture? Seriously...how many time, over the past 3-4 years, have things just petered out and we've sat around in yet another dry spell, waiting for them?
How many "second chances" does a company get? Is there not some sort of "bug off!" clause in the contracts where Apple, after being left in the lurch AGAIN, can implement a back-up plan or go elsewhere? I don't this end of it, so who knows? It seems after about the third Motorola-based debacle, Jobs & Co. would've said "this TOTALLY sucks...we need to look elsewhere, TODAY...".
If this was a one-time (even twice) kinda thing, who cares? That's just life. But we're just now (2003) pooching through the 1GHz barrier (barely). Meanwhile, IBM...
The 15" would have the same aluminum enclosure and some of the nicities of the 17", but as far as speed, it 'll remain at 1 GHz.