A few questions about the 12" TiBook...

pscatespscates
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
1. Where, exactly, are the speakers? :confused:



2. Where is this third speaker I hear about?



3. Does the aluminum case affect how hot this thing will get? Will aluminum be better than Titanium for not burning your lap or whatever? We've all heard the reviews and humorous "horror stories" about how hot those things get! Is this now solved as well?



4. Apple's studio "beauty shots" never do the real product justice. For those of you in Frisco or whatever (who've actually SEEN one), is this a shinier, glossier finish than the 15" Titanium PowerBook?



5. Is the hinge design the same as on the iBook? Hard to tell from photos, but looks close...



6. The RAM design/layout...your thoughts on this? Kinda sucky to saddle a "pro" level G4 laptop (regardless of size) with a soldered 128MB chip, thereby limiting the max RAM to only 640? That, so far, would be my only gripe. Either have two user accessible slots (up to 1GB) or, if you're going to permanently solder a DIMM to the motherboard, humor us and make it a 256MB.







7. I keep hearing "12 inches". Is the screen, then, actually a tiny tad smaller than the 12" iBook (12.1", all the specs say). No big deal, of course...just curious.



8. Anyone kinda miffed that the cool new illuminated keyboard idea didn't make it to this model?



9. How long will (or should) it take for all these great enhancements/tweaks (improved AirPort reception, non-scratch case, Bluetooth, AirPort Extreme, side-accessible ports, etc.) make it to the 15" PowerBook?



[ 01-08-2003: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I can answer some of your questions...



    3. I heard that aluminium is about 10 times better at dispersing heat than titanium. I also heard that Titanium is about the worst possible case material except for its light weight and slightly better flexibility/durability than aluminium.



    5. It sure looks like the hinge is the same type as on the iBook. You get a good look at it from the side during the promotional video that had Phil Schiller. It looks just like my iBook? even the ports are in the same place, but with the Kensington lock slot near the front instead of near the back, and with an audio-in port as well as an audio-out port.



    6. I agree that putting a limit of 640 MB on this is a big mistake. Apple can argue for soldering 128 MB on the motherboard of a consumer machine by saying that the average consumer won't need more than 640 MB during the life of the machine, but a pro machine? It really looks like they just strapped a G4 to an iBook motherboard because of that? it's still a great, promising product, but that low RAM limit is frustrating.



    7. I haven't seen one in person but I strongly believe that the screen is the exact same one as on the iBook. It would cost more to put a smaller screen in it because it would require new manufacturing processes. The iBook has about 3/4 of an inch on all sides of the screen, so I have no problem believing that they could make the enclosure slightly smaller and still have the same size screen in it.



    8. Yeah, it would be cool. I think they don't want to put so much stuff in the 12" that isn't in the 15", lest they make the 15" seem even worse than it already is compared to the new models. The 12" already has DDR, Bluetooth, a 24x burning combo drive, optional Airport Extreme, and much better Airport range going for it over the 15" version. Putting much more in it would totally kill 15" PowerBook sales.



    9. I'm guessing the TiBook will get the various enhancements between April and June. That allows 5-7 months for an update, which seems reasonable. At the same time, the iBook will get updates too, with Airport Extreme, possibly bluetooth (maybe just as an option), a GHz processor (or at least 900 MHz, possibly 933 MHz if the iMac gets a 133 or faster bus as well), and the same bottom-loading doors for RAM and Airport like on the new PowerBooks.



    I have a feeling that the various limitations of the 12" model, specifically the low RAM limit and lack of certain features like L3 cache, gigabit ethernet, and FireWire 800, will be addressed within the next few revisions. It's a thrown-together rev. A product and it sure looks like one - a bit too much like the iBook to be a professional-level product in my opinion. More of a prosumer iBook. I still want one
  • Reply 2 of 37
    t'hain esh kelcht'hain esh kelch Posts: 1,274member
    1 + 2. Two on the back of the AluBook, and one under the keyboard for the middletones. Pretty smart!



    4. Havent seen it yet, but I think its a bit whiter.
  • Reply 3 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah. That's why, in another thread, I commented that I was kinda surprised that - in addition to unveiling the new 12" and 17" PowerBooks - Apple didn't also simply rev its existing (and POPULAR) 15" model with the new body, improved AirPort, etc.



    In other words, made the entire PowerBook line killer and unified. Instead of making the 15" look a little weak and suddenly much less cool than it was two days ago.







    The 12", 15" and 17" PowerBooks should all share the same appearance, materials, port layout, good AirPort reception, Bluetooth, DDR, illuminated keyboard, etc. All that stuff (along with the G4, of course) would nicely set them all off from the iBook line, BUT give enough price/size variations within the PowerBook line to meet most everyone's wishes.



    I wouldn't buy a 15" PowerBook (knowing what we know now about how much better the new ones are in many areas) for all the tea in China!



    I'd simply wait until they applied all those "fixes" and tweaks to it as well.



    Again, I was just kinda surprised they didn't whip out all three sizes yesterday. Left the 15" model in the lurch, looking a bit "uh, hello...what about me?"



  • Reply 4 of 37
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    Aluminum is great for putting on your lap, if you've cooked something in the oven with aluminum foil, you'll notice that you can easily touch the foil even though the food is blazing hot.



    More technically:

    It takes 0.52 Joules to raise 1 gram of titanium by 1?K

    It takes 0.90 Joules to raise 1 gram of Aluminum by 1?K

    So Al is about 2x better in terms of getting hotter



    and the thermal conductivity:

    Al: 237 Joules/(m*s*?K)

    Ti: 21.9 Joules/(m*s*?K)



    so Al dissapates heat about 10x faster

    I wonder if the laptop will be cool to the touch all the time... that would indeed be cool :cool:
  • Reply 5 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Holy cow...a scientist!







    Now THAT'S the kind of informed, no-bullcrap (and backed up with facts, formulas, etc.) answers I like from around here!







    Cool. Then they'll HAVE to move the 15" model to aluminum at some point, right?
  • Reply 6 of 37
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Just buy the 12" and forget about it. You know you want to. It has everything you have always wanted, and will ever want. It will make your life 10 times better.



    DO IT PAUL.







    BTW, you used your iMac for a year with 256 MB of RAM, and now you're upset at a 640 MB ceiling?



    [ 01-08-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 37
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    murbot's right about the RAM thing, Paul
  • Reply 8 of 37
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    [quote]Originally posted by chych:

    <strong>Aluminum is great for putting on your lap, if you've cooked something in the oven with aluminum foil, you'll notice that you can easily touch the foil even though the food is blazing hot. ...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That has to do with how thin the foil is. Foil that thin doesn't carry a lot of heat in the square inch of it that you touch. Stick a block of Al in the oven and pick it up ... I dare ya.



    My boss tells me that Ti cannot be anodized. So when they moved to Al it made the anodized color possible.
  • Reply 9 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>murbot's right about the RAM thing, Paul </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I FINALLY installed some RAM and now have 512MB. Leave me alone!



    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 10 of 37
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    [quote]Originally posted by Scott:

    <strong>My boss tells me that Ti cannot be anodized. So when they moved to Al it made the anodized color possible.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Is your wife a metallurgist?
  • Reply 11 of 37
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>



    Is your wife a metallurgist? </strong><hr></blockquote>



    No my boss at work. He knows almost everything.
  • Reply 12 of 37
    robocon^^robocon^^ Posts: 3member
    anodized titanium? I've seen it on bicycle parts and jewelry before.



    <a href="http://www.danklarmann.com/art4sale.html"; target="_blank">http://www.danklarmann.com/art4sale.html</a>;
  • Reply 13 of 37
    neovirusnineneovirusnine Posts: 65member
    7. yeah the screen is the same 12.1" as the ibook... it even says it in the apple spec... by the way the new apple specs have since recently been provided as pdf documents so look for those on the spec page because the one on the website isn't as detailed.



    by the way does anyone know what the resolution of the audio out port is... I really really wish apple would bump them to 24bit or put a PC card slot in the 12" but i'd prefer the former.



    [ 01-08-2003: Message edited by: neovirusnine ]</p>
  • Reply 14 of 37
    soulcrushersoulcrusher Posts: 587member
    ALUMINIUM. I insist.
  • Reply 15 of 37
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    [quote]Originally posted by Scott:

    <strong>



    No my boss at work. He knows almost everything.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Wow.



    It has all became...so clear...



    Now we know who crams all of that false info into your head...poor thing.
  • Reply 16 of 37
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    [quote]Originally posted by neovirusnine:

    <strong>by the way does anyone know what the resolution of the audio out port is... I really really wish apple would bump them to 24bit or put a PC card slot in the 12" but i'd prefer the former.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Do you mean 24-bit per channel sampling resolution? If not, what do you mean?



    You'd be lucky to get a true 16-bits worth of resolution from an A-to-D converter crammed into as noisy an electromagnetic environment as the innards of a laptop.
  • Reply 17 of 37
    icruiseicruise Posts: 127member
    [quote]Originally posted by soulcrusher:

    <strong>ALUMINIUM. I insist.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    <a href="http://www.word-detective.com/042702.html#aluminium"; target="_blank">http://www.word-detective.com/042702.html#aluminium</a>;



    Long story short, both are correct, in a way.
  • Reply 18 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Ooh, just remembered another question:



    10. I take it (kinda assuming, but also thought I saw it mentioned here) that this 12" PowerBook can't drive an Apple Studio (or Cinema) Display? Is that because of no DVI jack?



    So if I got this thing, for home use, I'd just simply have to buy a non-Apple (non-ADC, in other words) display?



    Am I right or wrong on this?



    I'd LOVE to have this 12" PowerBook hooked to a 15" or 17" Studio Display while at home.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    VGA out. You can hook it up to a max output of 1600x1200, so with the appropriate adaptor it could drive a 22" cinema display, but why bother? There are some good analogue/digital panels out there to serve your needs, so you can hook up through VGA (not ideal) and later on through DVI, if you get another machine.



    For now, I'll use my very nice CRT, and if I happen across a good deal on a VGA/DVI panel, I'll snap one up.
  • Reply 20 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Do they make a VGA to ADC connector? Is that possible? I'm not being dense, I just didn't think, for some reason, the little 12" PowerBook could run an actual Apple flat panel (which, of course, is the height of idiocy on Apple's part).



    I know the 15" and 17" models can.



    This is from the spec section at Apple's site:



    [quote]- ADC output using optional Apple DVI to ADC Adapter (15-inch and 17-inch models) (6)



    - DVI output port (15-inch and 17-inch models)



    - VGA output using included Apple VGA Display Adapter (12-inch model)



    - VGA output using included Apple DVI to VGA Adapter (15-inch and 17-inch models)<hr></blockquote>



    Wouldn't the 12" PowerBook have to sport a DVI output port to do the ADC (Apple flat panel) thing? Unless there is indeed some sort of VGA to ADC solution?



    Forgive me...I'm a tad ignorant on some of these more "techie" issues. I'm not 100% up on the whole VGA/DVI/ADC thing.



    [ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>
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