If we get big Ghz, then what of the laptops?

blackcatblackcat
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Let's assume that in a months time we get a 1.5Ghz DDR 333 based PowerMac. It will have no bottlenecks and will fly, with Athlon XP type performance. All for $2500.



Suddenly, the Powerbook G4 drops from flagship to ugly sister, costing $3500 but being less than half the power of its big brother and totally unable to run Rayz, Shake etc properly.



Would Apple release a totally revamped Powerbook perhaps at MWSF03? With DDR and a new mobile 7470 @ 1.2Ghz? Or will they let it stagnate like the PowerMac?



What do you all think? Moki?



[ 06-14-2002: Message edited by: Blackcat ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    malleusmaleficarummalleusmaleficarum Posts: 15member
    I'll answer for Moki.

    "I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war."
  • Reply 2 of 13
    blackcatblackcat Posts: 697member
    [quote]Originally posted by MalleusMaleficarum:

    <strong>I'll answer for Moki.

    "I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war."</strong><hr></blockquote>



  • Reply 3 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    What can they do? It all depends on what they have available.



    A 1Ghz SOI part could live in the Ti (with all the duct/heatsink in there) but it'd be a bit hotter.



    IF the new PM's are getting .13u SOI G4's, I'd guess they'd migrate over to the powerbook faster than it took them to migrate the G4 (from pismo G3).



    .13u SOI would be a lot smaller/cooler. It's a natural fit for a laptop.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    dr. zoidbergdr. zoidberg Posts: 155member
    whee, it would be great to have the TiBooks bump to GHZ (or +) and DDR-RAM (the other specs seem almost perfect anyway with the current revision... well, maybe have 64mb graphics in the top-end? )



    but knowing apple, i seriously doubt that we´ll see both a PowerMac and PowerBook update at MWNY... still, if they bump the 'books somewhen round the release of Jaguar, it will be a very happy summer!
  • Reply 5 of 13
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    July 2002



    PM with 333 MHz FSB, 333 MHz DDR RAM, 1.332 GHz G4



    Diamond Powerbook with 333 MHz FSB, 333 MHz DDR RAM, 999 MHz (1 GHz) G4
  • Reply 6 of 13
    jeremiah richjeremiah rich Posts: 853member
    Since the iBook has the new Sahara, I could easily see them scaling it to 1ghz this summer... Xlr8yourmac had something about them successfully getting it to boot up @950 with the current chip, so I think it is a given they will reach 1ghz. The Powerbook? IF they move to .13m process, I could see the Powerbooks @1.2 with DDR or something like that. Then again, this is all hopeful wishing, and maybe Apple will do something tiny lol. Time shall tell I s'pose.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    As long as they don't suddenly get insane and make a 2 GHz iBook that is as hot as the usual PC notebook out there, I'm fine... 700 MHz should be enough for me, really.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    blackcatblackcat Posts: 697member
    [quote]Originally posted by cdhostage:

    <strong>July 2002



    PM with 333 MHz FSB, 333 MHz DDR RAM, 1.332 GHz G4



    Diamond Powerbook with 333 MHz FSB, 333 MHz DDR RAM, 999 MHz (1 GHz) G4</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Now we're talking!



    Now that I'd buy without hesitation. Currently, the Ti800 is tempting, but I can't help feeling we'll be getting a lot more in the next major revision.



    Two obvious things we will get are Bluetooth & Superdrive. Superdrives need either a lot of CPU power (a 1Ghz G4 can do 1:1 DVD encoding to burning) or a dedicated hardware MPEG2 encoder.



    I want to see:
    • 1.2Ghz CPU

    • 512Mb DDR333

    • Firewire 2

    • USB 2

    • Superdrive

    • MPEG2 encoder

    • Bluetooth

    • Combo 802.11b/802.11g Airport

    All for the current price. Those specs would lift the Titanium beyond the PC competition and leave room for G4 iBooks.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    You know, if the Ti could get a superdrive then you could pretty much scale the speed of the iBook's Sahara chip and the Ti's G4 without any worry of potential overlap.



    It took a long time for CDrw to make it to the laptop. But maybe DVDrw will make the move over to a bit faster. It's just the kind of thing Apple (especially Stevie) loves, "For the first time DVD authoring, burning, and proofing on the road! No other maker..."
  • Reply 10 of 13
    blackcatblackcat Posts: 697member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>You know, if the Ti could get a superdrive then you could pretty much scale the speed of the iBook's Sahara chip and the Ti's G4 without any worry of potential overlap.



    It took a long time for CDrw to make it to the laptop. But maybe DVDrw will make the move over to a bit faster. It's just the kind of thing Apple (especially Stevie) loves, "For the first time DVD authoring, burning, and proofing on the road! No other maker..."</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Exactly!



    And there's the fact that Apple has become THE laptop manufacturer of choice for features and good looks. Steve would want to retain that image.



    But the sad fact is you can buy an Alienware 2Ghz laptop, so we really need a speed bump to help with the perception gap.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    I don't think laptops would get more than DDR266 for the forseeable future (the next 2 years basically, unless were talking about those 'desktop components in a laptop case' beasts).



    IF we get a .13u SOI G4 it might feature 512KB of on chip L2. At that point Apple might take away the L3 again, but I think it'd be a better proposition to keep the 1MB L3 or even enlarge it to 2MB (just like the towers). It seems to have a very good effect on performance and should be included -- all the more so if the CPU speed bumps are minimal.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    jonathan brisbyjonathan brisby Posts: 318member
    If Apple's history has told us anything I'd say that they upgrade wantonly and don't really stop to think about this until after the fact. They have heat a space requirements for those beloved laptops. Remember how Steve thanked the engineers who made the current iMac? I expect after a PowerMac update he'll call them up with another set of impossible characteristics (1/2 inch thick, 10 hour battery life, dvd burner, 1 gb ddr ram etc) and a year or two later they will produce it. Even if it is 'after the fact'. Remember how long the black and white G3 laptops took to get up to speed? I think we'll see the same thing. We didn't get the G4 Ti until way late in the G4 cycle. I expect a repeat performance... but I don't mind. I love them no matter what they do. Just a thought... hope it helps.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    Hey, guys, if you think you can type on a frying pan, send a special order to Apple.

    There'll be no 1-2GHz PowerBooks/iBooks until they either find a way to cool the CPU in the slickest of notebooks or design a lower-power version of G4.
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