for god's sake, go do something productive....OH wait a minute I'm writing a post too
guilty as charged! but seriously, we're all hoping for powerbooks with more power, and we all know that if you can afford one, the current powerbooks are pretty cool (though not in the same class as the desktops, which is wrong).
my canadian .02
john
Now if anyone has some constructive info... I'll be lurking!
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more. That's extremely competitive and a small premium to pay
(In regards to iBooks)
Not so sure about that. At least here in Canada, you can get a Dell Centrino based laptop, 15.4" widescreen w/80gb HD for about $1200.
The 14" iBook equivalent is $1650. (all prices in CDN$)
Now, I'm not going out to buy one of these Dells, but Apple is still quite a bit more pricey.
Can I do my computational biology research with anything more efficient than my 15" powerbook right now? No.
Your kidding, right?
Quote:
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more.
With the exception of the wondrous OS X, Apple's hardware is two years or more behind simularly priced "premium" PC laptops.
I'm no fanboi of either Apple or the WinTel/AMD hegemony. Neither Gates or Jobs, et al., have ever invited me over for dinner despite the THOUSANDSx of dollars I've spent over the years. I'm a middle-aged non-techie guy who can offord to buy whatever kind of computer I want. That doesn't mean I don't want the most bang-for-my-buck...
As soon as Apple can provide someone like me with the option to buy a true state-of-the-art laptop, even at a premium price, I'll gladly buy one. They don't have one now. They'll never have one powered by a G5 or G4 for that matter.
The secret to dell is this, on their site the prices seem the same as comparable macs. However Dell takes a huge cut on most things with coupons, which are only posted on sites like techbargins.com and other places.
For example. RIGHT NOW on the site there is a $400 OFF COUPON GOOD TOWARDS ANY $1000 dell purchase. Dell is very popular with geeks because of the instant coupons.
Look at dells website, then subtract 30-40% because that's the price you should pay, they put new coupons out everyday.
My last purchase was an $1,900 listed laptop (like a brick hah) but when i paid the total it was about 1250.
Quote:
Originally posted by Bronxite
That is incorrect.
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more. That's extremely competitive and a small premium to pay
It's hard to say what Apple's gonna do with PowerBooks between now and the move to Intel. ... The current aluminum enclosure is dated and is due for a change.
You can bet that the aluminum enclosure will be gone in a year or two. With the Intel transition, all the specialty stuff will disappear. Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
You can bet that the aluminum enclosure will be gone in a year or two. With the Intel transition, all the specialty stuff will disappear. Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
I don't think so! Better, with R&D money going to Mac OS X and the enclosures instead of CPU/Chip sets, I bet the differences between Macs and other manufacturer's computers will be huge. I like the current enclosures of most Apple products, re-designing a motherboard for Intel CPUs that will fit in those enclosures will be really easy. But I also expect to see new form-factors that the G5 architecture did not permit so far.
Christian, just hold off if you can. If you must buy a Powerbook soon, get a used one... All any of us can do is speculate on the price structure of the Intel powered Macs. I think they'll remain in the same ballpark. Wait for the TRUE Bad-Ass Powerbook...
You didn't mention which size so I'll assume the BIG boy.
Quote:
Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
Again, this is just kind of silly. Yes, Dell's budget models, like most budget PC laptops, are very flimsy.
On the other hand, top of the line PC laptops, whether the case is mainly made of metal or plastic, are made just as well, and in some cases (like my Overam) to tighter tolerances and seemingly better QC than Powerbooks. I went round and round before I decided on the Overam. I was fortunate enough to be able to compare the two beauties side by side. The Overam bitch-slapped the Powerbook. Both top of the line 17" models.
Just a quick re-cap: The Overam ran XP Pro at "instantaneous" speeds. The Powerbook ran Panther at "pretty good" speeds. Yeah, I know that's not very scientific. Perception is everything... The Overam is also physically better built. A little bit heavier, yes. 17" laptops are more "desktop replacements" than something you are going to take on the train ride with you.
That was a year ago. Powerbooks have fallen behind even more in the meanwhile. Now, I am talking about comparing the big boys to each other.
I've owned five Powerbooks starting with a 500MHz Pismo. ALL had QC issues. All were the top of the line model. The Pismo was the best built of the bunch. ALL four of the G4 powered PB's had stupid QC problems. From the attrocious paint job on the Ti on through badly fitting LCD/top lid fit, bad LCD's, dead HDD's, bad batteries, on and on.
Again, I'm not saying Powerbooks are a rip-off or junk. They are beautiful machines. They run OS X.
"The Sony T will go on sale in Japan from September 10th onwards. this laptop is 21mm thick (272.4x195.1x21mm) and weighs only 1.25kg. Just like the Fujitsu T70, it will have a screen with a Backlight LED that should result in a screen that is 30% brighter than Sony's current laptops. the screen will also have a 1366x768 resolution. It will also be full Sonoma with a 915GMS chipset for the graphics card, 512Mb of RAM (max 1.5Gb), a Celeron 1Ghz or a Pentium M 753 at 1.2Ghz CPU, 40 to 60Gb HDD space (this could be a 1.8" HDD, but not confirmed yet), a DL DVD burner and Wireless LAN and Bluetooth. It will also have a MS/SD/MMC port."
Sony's Vaio beat the Powerbook all ends up in performance and value for money. 1 gig of ram with a Pentium M and more GPU memory... 17 inches. For about £1300 inc VAT. The Apple 17 inch is way more.
Vaio Screen is heaps better. Powerbook screen is dull by comparison.
Powerbook looks sexier. Vaio teh bit more chunky.
Powerbooks costs way more for your money. Vaio way less for your money. It's quality too.
Several hundred pounds. Cheaper.
The G4 is outdated. The Powerbook is a year behind the Vaio as a 'deal'.
We KNOW why Apple did the Intel switch. They've been waiting on IBM and they sucked. Hard. So..that's why the Powerbook is in comparative stasis. Yeesh, at least with Intel we should get more frequent updates
I dunno, now Apple will be making machines that are fundamentally identical to all the PC laptops, it will be even harder for them to compete. BJNY's Sony sounds like a terrific laptop. Hard to imagine that Apple will be able to top that, plus every other PC laptop (IBM, Overam, Toshiba, Fujitsu...).
Oh right, they won't have to. Mac users will still have crappier but more expensive hardware, just with Intel CPUs. Mac OS X. Keep saying that to yourself.
Emin, about two months after buying the Pismo, the battery would no longer hold a charge, Apple replaced it pronto. Same thing happened to the second battery. Again Apple took care of it quickly. The rubber feet all fell off. Minor annoyance.
All the G4 powered PB's had problems. Yet, I continued to buy top of the line Powerbooks and believe, "Windblows/PEE CEEs are junk, blah, blah, blah...". I have spent WAY more money on Apple's products than I have on Microsoft/Intel/AMD/PC manufactures combined.
I think OS X Tiger is the "cat's" pajamas. Apple's OS is the ONLY reason I haven't abandoned the platform alltogether.
SummerChris, WE want to know what you think about all this...
Do you people realize that if a slightly slimmer, but in the very same form factor (with the logo right side up...) plastic-bodied Powerbook were JUST released, it would STILL be among the most aesthetically pleasing laptops available.
Do you people realize that if a slightly slimmer, but in the very same form factor (with the logo right side up...) plastic-bodied Powerbook were JUST released, it would STILL be among the most aesthetically pleasing laptops available.
Yeah, I just wonder what they can do to make it even more beautiful. What I dream of would be a version done in black metal and without letters on the keys (a la Das Keyboard) but with blue illumination. You know, a PowerPro edition.
Comments
for god's sake, go do something productive....OH wait a minute I'm writing a post too
guilty as charged! but seriously, we're all hoping for powerbooks with more power, and we all know that if you can afford one, the current powerbooks are pretty cool (though not in the same class as the desktops, which is wrong).
my canadian .02
john
Now if anyone has some constructive info... I'll be lurking!
Originally posted by Bronxite
That is incorrect.
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more. That's extremely competitive and a small premium to pay
(In regards to iBooks)
Not so sure about that. At least here in Canada, you can get a Dell Centrino based laptop, 15.4" widescreen w/80gb HD for about $1200.
The 14" iBook equivalent is $1650. (all prices in CDN$)
Now, I'm not going out to buy one of these Dells, but Apple is still quite a bit more pricey.
Can I do my computational biology research with anything more efficient than my 15" powerbook right now? No.
Your kidding, right?
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more.
With the exception of the wondrous OS X, Apple's hardware is two years or more behind simularly priced "premium" PC laptops.
I'm no fanboi of either Apple or the WinTel/AMD hegemony. Neither Gates or Jobs, et al., have ever invited me over for dinner despite the THOUSANDSx of dollars I've spent over the years. I'm a middle-aged non-techie guy who can offord to buy whatever kind of computer I want. That doesn't mean I don't want the most bang-for-my-buck...
As soon as Apple can provide someone like me with the option to buy a true state-of-the-art laptop, even at a premium price, I'll gladly buy one. They don't have one now. They'll never have one powered by a G5 or G4 for that matter.
stay in the corner and be quiet.
Fanboi...
For example. RIGHT NOW on the site there is a $400 OFF COUPON GOOD TOWARDS ANY $1000 dell purchase. Dell is very popular with geeks because of the instant coupons.
Look at dells website, then subtract 30-40% because that's the price you should pay, they put new coupons out everyday.
My last purchase was an $1,900 listed laptop (like a brick hah) but when i paid the total it was about 1250.
Originally posted by Bronxite
That is incorrect.
Compare Dell to Apple with similar laptop offerings and Apple comes out even or about 100 dollars more. That's extremely competitive and a small premium to pay
(In regards to iBooks)
Originally posted by DHagan4755
It's hard to say what Apple's gonna do with PowerBooks between now and the move to Intel. ... The current aluminum enclosure is dated and is due for a change.
You can bet that the aluminum enclosure will be gone in a year or two. With the Intel transition, all the specialty stuff will disappear. Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
Originally posted by cubist
You can bet that the aluminum enclosure will be gone in a year or two. With the Intel transition, all the specialty stuff will disappear. Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
I don't think so! Better, with R&D money going to Mac OS X and the enclosures instead of CPU/Chip sets, I bet the differences between Macs and other manufacturer's computers will be huge. I like the current enclosures of most Apple products, re-designing a motherboard for Intel CPUs that will fit in those enclosures will be really easy. But I also expect to see new form-factors that the G5 architecture did not permit so far.
Originally posted by ngmapple
I wonder if Apple will change the name to ProBook from PowerBook when they go to Intel? Hmmm.
Why would they do that?
You didn't mention which size so I'll assume the BIG boy.
Apples will be just like Dells; the laptops will be flimsy plastic with foil appliques.
Again, this is just kind of silly. Yes, Dell's budget models, like most budget PC laptops, are very flimsy.
On the other hand, top of the line PC laptops, whether the case is mainly made of metal or plastic, are made just as well, and in some cases (like my Overam) to tighter tolerances and seemingly better QC than Powerbooks. I went round and round before I decided on the Overam. I was fortunate enough to be able to compare the two beauties side by side. The Overam bitch-slapped the Powerbook. Both top of the line 17" models.
Just a quick re-cap: The Overam ran XP Pro at "instantaneous" speeds. The Powerbook ran Panther at "pretty good" speeds. Yeah, I know that's not very scientific. Perception is everything... The Overam is also physically better built. A little bit heavier, yes. 17" laptops are more "desktop replacements" than something you are going to take on the train ride with you.
That was a year ago. Powerbooks have fallen behind even more in the meanwhile. Now, I am talking about comparing the big boys to each other.
I've owned five Powerbooks starting with a 500MHz Pismo. ALL had QC issues. All were the top of the line model. The Pismo was the best built of the bunch. ALL four of the G4 powered PB's had stupid QC problems. From the attrocious paint job on the Ti on through badly fitting LCD/top lid fit, bad LCD's, dead HDD's, bad batteries, on and on.
Again, I'm not saying Powerbooks are a rip-off or junk. They are beautiful machines. They run OS X.
"The Sony T will go on sale in Japan from September 10th onwards. this laptop is 21mm thick (272.4x195.1x21mm) and weighs only 1.25kg. Just like the Fujitsu T70, it will have a screen with a Backlight LED that should result in a screen that is 30% brighter than Sony's current laptops. the screen will also have a 1366x768 resolution. It will also be full Sonoma with a 915GMS chipset for the graphics card, 512Mb of RAM (max 1.5Gb), a Celeron 1Ghz or a Pentium M 753 at 1.2Ghz CPU, 40 to 60Gb HDD space (this could be a 1.8" HDD, but not confirmed yet), a DL DVD burner and Wireless LAN and Bluetooth. It will also have a MS/SD/MMC port."
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news_pics/10128/1.jpg
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news_pics/10128/2.jpg
http://www.akihabaranews.com/news_pics/10128/4.jpg
I hope that an upcoming Powerbook will have a display backlit by LED
Dual core CPU, of course, with 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM...
17" 1920x1200 XBRITE screen would be extra sweet...
As would a nVidia Quadro FX Go GPU w/256MB RAM...
Originally posted by hardhead
Again, I'm not saying Powerbooks are a rip-off or junk. They are beautiful machines. They run OS X.
Yeah, the truth is it's OS X laptop everyone wants (at least that's what I want). A neat durable enclosure is just a nice extra.
I must say, BTW, that I'm a bit surprised with the poor quality experience you had with PBs.
Vaio Screen is heaps better. Powerbook screen is dull by comparison.
Powerbook looks sexier. Vaio teh bit more chunky.
Powerbooks costs way more for your money. Vaio way less for your money. It's quality too.
Several hundred pounds. Cheaper.
The G4 is outdated. The Powerbook is a year behind the Vaio as a 'deal'.
We KNOW why Apple did the Intel switch. They've been waiting on IBM and they sucked. Hard. So..that's why the Powerbook is in comparative stasis. Yeesh, at least with Intel we should get more frequent updates
Lemon Bon Bon
Oh right, they won't have to. Mac users will still have crappier but more expensive hardware, just with Intel CPUs. Mac OS X. Keep saying that to yourself.
All the G4 powered PB's had problems. Yet, I continued to buy top of the line Powerbooks and believe, "Windblows/PEE CEEs are junk, blah, blah, blah...". I have spent WAY more money on Apple's products than I have on Microsoft/Intel/AMD/PC manufactures combined.
I think OS X Tiger is the "cat's" pajamas
cubist, Mac OS X. Mac OS X. Mac OS X...
Originally posted by hardhead
The rubber feet all fell off.
<checks underside of Pismo.>
What rubber feet?
Originally posted by Clem Dickey
<checks underside of Pismo.>
What rubber feet?
I've still got mine! But then my Rubber Ducky still squeeks and my Squeeze-a-Martian's eyes still bug out on command!
Do you people realize that if a slightly slimmer, but in the very same form factor (with the logo right side up...) plastic-bodied Powerbook were JUST released, it would STILL be among the most aesthetically pleasing laptops available.
Originally posted by hardhead
Do you people realize that if a slightly slimmer, but in the very same form factor (with the logo right side up...) plastic-bodied Powerbook were JUST released, it would STILL be among the most aesthetically pleasing laptops available.
Yeah, I just wonder what they can do to make it even more beautiful. What I dream of would be a version done in black metal and without letters on the keys (a la Das Keyboard) but with blue illumination. You know, a PowerPro edition.
Emin, yeah...