Low End Laptop Speculation?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I am a little premature with this, but what are peoples thoughts on the next iBook? When is it likely to be released, and will it finally get G4?



Also, a while back their was rumours of a third laptop line. What are the chances of that?



I am asking because I start University in October, and need a laptop by then. At present the 12.1in iBook with Combo drive looks like the best option, but I am less than impressed with the G3 processor. Thanks for your help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    Buy now. There isn't going to be a laptop revision prior to September, since the Titanium and iBook were just updated.



    The current iBook is VERY nice, I wouldn't be hesitant to buy it at all...and the Titanium totally rocks.



    In a sense there are three laptop lines at Apple now: the Powerbook, the 14" iBook, and the 12" iBook.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Seconded. The 12" with the combo drive is sweet. Take one for a spin if you can, but I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed. Unless you're going to require it to do a lot of heavy lifting, the G3 should do well. It's not the same G3 that appeared in '97, it's IBM's latest and greatest. Besides, it's cool and quiet and comfortable and it has a long battery life and a killer screen, all packed into a convenient size and weight.
  • Reply 3 of 18
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    I doubt there will be a G4 iBook until the second half of 2003 at the earliest. There;s still room for upgrades in other areas. Also until LCD prices start to come down next year there will not be a $1000 (+ or -) laptop from Apple.
  • Reply 4 of 18
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    We might see QE support being added in the mean time though.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    Quartz Extreme support already was added to the iBook in the most recent revision. It now has a Radeon, which is the minimum requirement for QE. Optimally it would have 32 MB, but 16 MB is enough, especially for the smaller display on the iBook that won't run at resolutions higher than 1024x768.



    The time to buy is now, unless you can hold out to MWSF, probably the soonest that they will be updated again.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacsRGood4U:

    <strong>I doubt there will be a G4 iBook until the second half of 2003 at the earliest. There;s still room for upgrades in other areas. Also until LCD prices start to come down next year there will not be a $1000 (+ or -) laptop from Apple.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    how do you make that prediction? it makes no sense.



    the iBook will go G4 as soon as Apple can put a 1Ghz G4 in the Powerbook.



    then the iBook will get a 800Mhz G4
  • Reply 7 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    The iBook had a 66 MHz bus while the iMac had a 100 MHz bus and the Powermac had a 133 MHz bus.



    There is no reason to the iBook will get a G4 anytime soon, although I think it should.



    Also, where do you get this stuff about the iBook going G4 when the Titanium gets a 1 GHz G4? Did you just make that up? No matter what the speed of the Titanium is, the iBook can get a G4 that's a bit slower. Hell Apple could even make the Titanium 800 MHz and 933 MHz, and then offer a 700 MHz G4 in all iBook lines.



    I suspect we will see 3 processors in Macs very soon, the G3, G4, and G5...when this happens, the iBook will get a G4 at it's next revision.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Go for the current 12" iBook. They're really great and the G3 isn't aas bad as you think.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    naepstnnaepstn Posts: 78member
    JYD, why would you say to buy now?



    If he won't be starting university until September, to me it makes very little sense to buy now. No one can be SURE that there will be no minor update (i.e. manufacturing bug fix) or speed bump, or even price cut on them before Sept.



    If you don't need the machine yet, don't get it. That rule should apply to any computer purchase. Besides, you may want to wait until you get to school, since you will then get the higher ed. pricing (you may already if you have your student ID, I suppose).
  • Reply 10 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    Well yes, if he doesn't need it before September, then it would be better to buy in September. At the very least, it may be wise to buy after Jaguar is shipping, so you don't buy an iBook with 10.1 and then get caught with your pants down having to purchase Jaguar.



    However, I said "buy now" because I don't think any new iBook hardware revisions will be out before September. If he's going to buy an iBook, wouldn't it be nicer to have one he can use all summer? I presume that's what he's asking, since if he didn't want to buy it before he needed it, then he would just wait until September and buy then, no need to ask at AI about hardware revisions.



    I sure wouldn't mind having an iBook to use over the summer! The new ones are sweet, even with the crusty old G3 CPU.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]The iBook had a 66 MHz bus while the iMac had a 100 MHz bus and the Powermac had a 133 MHz bus. <hr></blockquote>



    that has nothing to do with the topic at hand



    [quote]

    There is no reason to the iBook will get a G4 anytime soon, although I think it should.<hr></blockquote>



    yes there is. currently the only major complaint and a very popular one is that the iBook still uses a G3. not only by users but of critics/reviewers as well. it doesn't matter if its new G3. it's still a G3 and in the eyes of users it is an aging processor that is being phased out. it doesn't even have altivec which Apple makes such a big deal out of with every piece of software they write.



    [quote]

    Also, where do you get this stuff about the iBook going G4 when the Titanium gets a 1 GHz G4? Did you just make that up? No matter what the speed of the Titanium is, the iBook can get a G4 that's a bit slower. Hell Apple could even make the Titanium 800 MHz and 933 MHz, and then offer a 700 MHz G4 in all iBook lines. <hr></blockquote>



    as with everything is this forum it is speculation and a prediction on my behalf. I don't think Apple would have put a 600 Mhz G4 into the iBook now. I think they and also users would have prefered a 700Mhz G3.



    By using a 1Ghz G4 in the Powerbook that opens up the gap of speed and allows not only the iBook to switch to a G4 but also have a clockspeed increase at the same time.



    [quote]

    I suspect we will see 3 processors in Macs very soon, the G3, G4, and G5...when this happens, the iBook will get a G4 at it's next revision. <hr></blockquote>



    I personally doubt that.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    My point about bus speeds is that Apple has no problem offering a 66 Mhz bus on the iBook when the rest of their computers are all using 100-133 MHz buses. It's analogous to using G3, G4, and G5 processors in all the lineups. There is no reason that Apple couldn't offer all three CPUs at the same time, although I supsect that the iBook will get bumped to the G4 concurrently with the intro of G5s, or a little while after.



    The reason I doubt a G4 in the iBook soon is that It JUST got a major revision. Apple isn't going to redesign it within the next 6 months, yet to add a G4 CPU to the iBook would require a major redesign of the internals and mobo.



    As for MHz, there is no need to wait for the Powerbook to get to 1 GHz. It's at 667, 800 MHz now, so the iBook could have gotten a G4 and been clocked to 600 and 700 MHz no problem, or even 550 and 650.



    Remember that the original G4 powerbook didn't even jump in MHz at all, it simply went from a 500 MHz G3 to a 500 MHz G4. So worst case is that Apple puts a G4 in the ibook without changing MHz (but they don't even have to do that).



    It is also possible that Apple would like to keep the iBook 1 CPU generation behind the Titanium....if so, then we would have to wait for the Ti to get a G5. I personally doubt this, but it is possible.



    In any event, odds are against the iBook getting a G4 before 2003. If it does I'll even suck my own dick!
  • Reply 13 of 18
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ummm its times like these when I wish "dick" was ****ed out...

    JYD I think you will be regretting this come 6 months from now
  • Reply 14 of 18
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    No I won't .



    What's wrong with saying "dick", anyways? Is it too vulgar for your pristine ears?
  • Reply 15 of 18
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>No I won't .



    What's wrong with saying "dick", anyways? Is it too vulgar for your pristine ears?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    ok, we are both entitled to our opinions, but given apple's recent quickness in their updates I think it would be safe to say that the iBook will get updated within the next 6months (it will be tight, but I think it will happen before Xmas) but of course that is both of our OPINIONS.. noone actually knows one way or the other...



    as for the word "dick" i was just pointing out the imagery that you portrayed was kinda disgusting, now im not saying that you should be prevented from saying things like that... I was merely making a tounge in cheeck joke... as you may or may not know I started a thread in the suggestions forum about censorship and how relativly "mild" words are being censored on the boards... I found it amusing that "dick" is NOT being censored in this case and pointed that out.. it was tounge in cheek although it may have been hard to see... oh well its not a big deal. it seems as though we will all go on living... <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />



    P.S. it seems as though people are taking things very seriously today... i wonder why that is <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 16 of 18
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>

    In a sense there are three laptop lines at Apple now: the Powerbook, the 14" iBook, and the 12" iBook.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Unfortunately, it still not spaced out enough to offer a good selection.

    Here in Canada, the top level 14" iBook is $2900, and the low end Powerbook is $4000 (cdn prices).

    That leaves a $1100 gap. I budget about $3K for a laptop. I'd rather have the Powerbook vs. the iBook. Previous Powerbooks were cheaper and gave me hope of picking one up...but not today at these prices.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    Thanks for the help guys. I will probably wait until September to let me save up a little more money anyway. If the PowerBook looks like getting updated soon then I might wait until January, see what happens, and just struggle on with my old crappy iMac until then. Off course, if Apple doesnt seem to be up to much, then I can just buy in September and still get an alright computer . Thanks again.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    warpdwarpd Posts: 204member
    I have to say, I think that for Apple to move to this new IBM 750 chip is very telling. No matter how similar it may be, it is a new CPU. When you combine that with the new GPU, the board had to undergo some profound changes. I can really see Apple sticking with this G3 "Sahara" for a while, by all accounts it will scale nicely, runs cooler, and prevents them from having to deal with the massive heat issues that a G4 in that 12.1" enclosure would cause. Why else would they spend the $$ and redesign the board to accommodate components that they were only planning to use for a short while? I really do not think that Apple are as silly as we all are! :-)



    [ 05-28-2002: Message edited by: warpd ]</p>
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