The one thing the iBook needs as importantly as everything else is a better display. I would think a widescreen display would be great! I don't know if that's considered "fashionably hip," but I do think it's the one Achille's heel right now with the iBook. I was in the Apple Store yesterday and noticed that the iBook's display (and by extension the 12-in PB too) was wickedly blue biased and had a very narrow field of view.
The one thing the iBook needs as importantly as everything else is a better display. I would think a widescreen display would be great! I don't know if that's considered "fashionably hip," but I do think it's the one Achille's heel right now with the iBook. I was in the Apple Store yesterday and noticed that the iBook's display (and by extension the 12-in PB too) was wickedly blue biased and had a very narrow field of view.
Most LCDs have a narrow field of view ... and an even narrower field of view in terms of color accuracy. Move a little left, right, up or down and all of a sudden you'll see color shifts. The color shift isn't horrible, but it's enough that you'll notice ... particularly if you care about color.
That's why so many graphic artists, designers and photographers are still using CRTs ... better color management.
Wow! The prospect of a Cinema Edition iBook sounds amazing! It would be like an iBook Special Edition (you know, the blue grey + white iBook in the old clamshell form factor). The only problem is I don't think we'd see something like that until the Powerbooks are updated again. Think about it. 13 inch widescreen, slightly bigger than the powerbooks but still very compact. 1.1 Ghz G3 with 1MB L2 cache at full processor speed plus a 200Mhz DDR frontside bus, I think that would trounce the 12-inch Powerbook! Not to mention the 64MB of vram on a 9000 pro mobility which would be amazing! Think of the price though. If the most expensive iBook in production today is $1499.00 and does not include any significant enhancements like the ones you've pointed out, the performance vs. price ratio would go up (price down of course) and the lower-end models would have to have some of the more higher-end features. At $1599.00 the 12-inch Powerbook comes in and no iBook should cost more than a Powerbook. So I propose:
All new 13-inch widescreen enclosure with no 12 or 14-inch models.
900 Mhz on the lowend 1.1Ghz on the high end just like you said. Starting at 999 or lower. 200Mhz DDR FSB standard. Could keep 512KB of L2 cache on low-end 1MB on high end. Lower end-models include either dvd-rom, higher-end include faster cd-rw/dvd-rom. Lower end includes Radeon 9000 pro with 32MB vram, higher end includes 64MB. Low-end keeps tinny speakers, higher end includes more robust speakers with virtual surround sound a la Harmon Kardon for example. Higher end comes with default monitor spanning as well as built in Bluetooth and Airport Extreme, lower-end no spanning (only mirroring) and Bluetooth plus Airport Extreme optional. Base model starts with 256MB DDR SDRAM, high end, 512MB. Lower end keep 640MB ram ceiling, high-end 1GB ram ceiling. 40GB on lowend, 60 on high end with 80GB optional at AppleStore. Also, customizable enclosure that allows special snap-on kits to be purchased though the AppleStore or through retailers for cheap. High-end with all of the goodies = $1499.00.
What do you people think? Have I over-killed it again? I would buy this iBook in a sec''''
While the new PB have just about everything I could want in a laptop, fianaces will most like force me to postpone a portable purchase until after the ibook is released. Thus time to ponder
In order for a iBook to be considered over a powerbook the following would have to be true of any new model released:
1.
Considerablly longer "on battery time". That is if the iBook outperforms the PB by a substantial margine than it places itself in serious contention.
2.
Vastly improved video performance, this includes color quality, chip performance and mpeg acceleration. It is pretty much a given that video will improve from one major release to another, what I would like Apple to avoid is third string performance. I would fully expect the PB to retain the highest perfroming video systems, it would be nice is the iBook was only one step behind. The video subsystem should have enough memory to fully support Quartz extreme.
3.
The base machine really needs 512 MB of ram as a standard. OS/X requires it so what is the problem with adding that much to the built in quanities.
4.
Ports of course. Modern ports are absolutely required, which simply means an update to the latest USB and Firewire standards.
5.
A large HD option
6.
While sixth thi item could very well move up to 2 or 3. What I'd love to see is a very high quality analog microphone input. Though I imagine that there are or will be USB options available what I'm talking about is a port that supports of the shelf micrphones. The idea being to use the microphone to record lecture and such that many of the cheapy microphone fail at. The reality is though that such an input would have a multitude of uses.
Comments
Originally posted by DHagan4755
The one thing the iBook needs as importantly as everything else is a better display. I would think a widescreen display would be great! I don't know if that's considered "fashionably hip," but I do think it's the one Achille's heel right now with the iBook. I was in the Apple Store yesterday and noticed that the iBook's display (and by extension the 12-in PB too) was wickedly blue biased and had a very narrow field of view.
Most LCDs have a narrow field of view ... and an even narrower field of view in terms of color accuracy. Move a little left, right, up or down and all of a sudden you'll see color shifts. The color shift isn't horrible, but it's enough that you'll notice ... particularly if you care about color.
That's why so many graphic artists, designers and photographers are still using CRTs ... better color management.
but i would like the iBook to be class leading battery life
what size cinema display 12, 13 or ? would pb12 share lcd with ibook?
but that would put it awful close to the pb12$$$
when to expect update, before nov?? or closer to thanksgiving / christmas?
All new 13-inch widescreen enclosure with no 12 or 14-inch models.
900 Mhz on the lowend 1.1Ghz on the high end just like you said. Starting at 999 or lower. 200Mhz DDR FSB standard. Could keep 512KB of L2 cache on low-end 1MB on high end. Lower end-models include either dvd-rom, higher-end include faster cd-rw/dvd-rom. Lower end includes Radeon 9000 pro with 32MB vram, higher end includes 64MB. Low-end keeps tinny speakers, higher end includes more robust speakers with virtual surround sound a la Harmon Kardon for example. Higher end comes with default monitor spanning as well as built in Bluetooth and Airport Extreme, lower-end no spanning (only mirroring) and Bluetooth plus Airport Extreme optional. Base model starts with 256MB DDR SDRAM, high end, 512MB. Lower end keep 640MB ram ceiling, high-end 1GB ram ceiling. 40GB on lowend, 60 on high end with 80GB optional at AppleStore. Also, customizable enclosure that allows special snap-on kits to be purchased though the AppleStore or through retailers for cheap. High-end with all of the goodies = $1499.00.
What do you people think? Have I over-killed it again? I would buy this iBook in a sec'
While the new PB have just about everything I could want in a laptop, fianaces will most like force me to postpone a portable purchase until after the ibook is released. Thus time to ponder
In order for a iBook to be considered over a powerbook the following would have to be true of any new model released:
1.
Considerablly longer "on battery time". That is if the iBook outperforms the PB by a substantial margine than it places itself in serious contention.
2.
Vastly improved video performance, this includes color quality, chip performance and mpeg acceleration. It is pretty much a given that video will improve from one major release to another, what I would like Apple to avoid is third string performance. I would fully expect the PB to retain the highest perfroming video systems, it would be nice is the iBook was only one step behind. The video subsystem should have enough memory to fully support Quartz extreme.
3.
The base machine really needs 512 MB of ram as a standard. OS/X requires it so what is the problem with adding that much to the built in quanities.
4.
Ports of course. Modern ports are absolutely required, which simply means an update to the latest USB and Firewire standards.
5.
A large HD option
6.
While sixth thi item could very well move up to 2 or 3. What I'd love to see is a very high quality analog microphone input. Though I imagine that there are or will be USB options available what I'm talking about is a port that supports of the shelf micrphones. The idea being to use the microphone to record lecture and such that many of the cheapy microphone fail at. The reality is though that such an input would have a multitude of uses.
Thanks
Dave