Interesting photo?...
Just saw this over at MacNN, and thought it was if not *very* interesting, it was at least worthy of comment over here...
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=173362
As the poster at MacNN says, the photo of the 'Powerbook' shows some interesting anomalies...
It is what looks to be a 17" PB form factor and spec (keyboard, speakers, Alu etc), but with a hinge from the current "15 Powerbook...
Peace,
Marc
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=173362
As the poster at MacNN says, the photo of the 'Powerbook' shows some interesting anomalies...
It is what looks to be a 17" PB form factor and spec (keyboard, speakers, Alu etc), but with a hinge from the current "15 Powerbook...
Peace,
Marc
Comments
It looks like a Photoshop job - the angle on the keys are funny.
Why they did that? I don't have a clue.
Mag Photo
17" from QT3D from Apple
Originally posted by COS
No, thats just the image that was scanned... it appears as if it wasn't flat on the scan bed.
I'm not saying that the poster photoshopped it - MacMall did.
The keyboard does not look like one photographed from the side, but one photographed from another angle and then placed onto the original photo.
The trackpad is also very flat looking.
You can also see some of the 17" screen hinge which shouldn't be there if it has a 15" like hinge.
1. Photos come from somewhere. You don't make up photos in a 3D app, so if there is something new in a mail order catalog photo, then the photo is proibably legit. Yes the keys look like they are at a funny angle, but note that the paper itself is creased. Making up photos is a dangerous game. People might think that you are trying to sell something that doesn't exist.
2. Photos come from Apple. Standard promotional material for the VARs. Photos come from Apple in advance of new releases so VARs can put out a new catalog with the new product in it.
3. Photos can get confused. It would be easy to put a 17 inch photo with a caption for a 15 inch laptop. This kind of stuff happens all the time and people try to get the 17 inch for a 15 price (claiming bait and switch, and BTW, they never get what they want).
4. VARs try to stay good with not releaseing new catalogs with new products before said products are announced. Steve would kill a VAR that released a photo of a new product to thousands of people before he announced said product.
5. VAR salesmen (sales people for those who don't know what a salesman is) know about stuff coming in the pipe, usually about a week or so in advance. This is to clear out any old inventory. VARs dislike old inventory.
my two bits: If the photo itself isn'f an intricate forgery then new PB's are on the way. We are talking about MacMall here... not the most trustworthy people.
Here's my advice:
Call up MacMall and find out when their next catalog ships. This would give a good idea for when new PBs might be coming. Let us all know what MacMall said.
P.S. Never buy from MacMall. I could tell you horror stories about knowledgable fraud that would scare you. Sadly, ClubMac was bought out by MacMall, though it is probably run by the same family (yay nepotism).
Yet there are obviously speakers and the power key there.
Can someone explain why, I am not the best detective so maybe I am looking wrong or don't know something
Originally posted by MacUsers
it is from a reseller and resellers always get all thier pictures from www.apple.com/pr (public) or http://sales.apple.com (internal for employees/resellers) I have access to http://sales.apple.com and there isnt this picture any where... and just look at it.. it is totally fake
Did they post G5 pictures on sales.apple.com before the keynote? I think not.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
If you look at my photo's you'll see that that slot is unique to the 15" (least from the photo's that i've come across)
It's not a slot. It's the plastic covering the AirPort antenna - the antennas are in the display on the AlBooks.
Originally posted by JLL
It's not a slot. It's the plastic covering the AirPort antenna - the plastic that isn't needed on an Aluminum PowerBook.
Ahhh, I was wondering. So why would they PS these pictures?
I don't think it's new PB's or anything, just someone that doesn't have a REAL job at MacMall
Originally posted by DHagan4755
It's a Photoshop job in that you can see the double clasp of the hinge below the keyboard; where there is only one clasp mechanism at the top of the screen. That mechanism would never align right. The speakers are too big and the keyboard is too small. I think they are extrapolating a photo from data someone must have given them.
There should be no real reason to do that if it was a new product. Apple would provide the photo (unless Apple has gotten really paranoid with their VARs lately). MacMall might just be making up photos to make sure that people don't start thinkng better of them. I still can't believe that there would be a 15 for less than $1600. That would be too cool.
Originally posted by Yevgeny
I still can't believe that there would be a 15 for less than $1600. That would be too cool.
There won't. It says PowerBook G4! blah blah blah Starting at $1,594.
Originally posted by JLL
There won't. It says PowerBook G4! blah blah blah Starting at $1,594.
Good point. That is definitely MacMall for you. Give out a low price and attach it to a mythical picture.
Originally posted by Yevgeny
Did they post G5 pictures on sales.apple.com before the keynote? I think not.
No, Apple would never do that... but there are much more pictures of the G5 there than the PR site there though
For many, many reasons...but most of all, WHY would Apple stick with a hinge that has been, by all accounts, a tad "problematic", when they have a superior design on the 12" and 17" PowerBooks...not to mention the iBooks!
Come on, people. Use your noggins a LITTLE.
All the silly explanations and justifications aside, that keyboard is the FLATTEST looking thing I've ever seen. I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that someone took the keyboard from that "looking down" shot of the 12" or 17" PowerBook and used the Free Distory/Perspective/Skew thing in Photoshop to "lay it in".
If you can look at those keys and think, in any way, "yeah, those look real!", get thee to a Lenscrafters...you're obviously in need of vision correction.
So yes, fake. Lame hinge with bad keyboard pasted in. 'Nuff said.
But it begs the question: why? As in "why in the hell is that done, and for what reason or gain?"
Oh well.
The fact that they're doing that whole "just uncovered!" shot with the chick removing the sheet makes me think that they - like us - are anticipating an "any day now" announcement and, simply going by rumors and simple logic, kinda attempting a half-ass rendition of what a new aluminum 15" is going to look like. You'd THINK they'd get rid of that hinge at the very least! That's the most obvious structural improvement/detail on the 12" and 17". Who wouldn't assume it'll be present on the new 15"?
Originally posted by pscates
That's NOT a new 15" PowerBook!
But it begs the question: why? As in "why in the hell is that done, and for what reason or gain?"
Oh well.
Especially since MacMall obviously has photos of the current 15 inch powerbook. DTP guys pressed for time do not usually stop to mock up photos of machines that they already have photos of. One possibility is that they know something new is coming and they want to generate buzz but don't have a photo. This might explain why they say that you should call them (or that is just marketing BS).
Not getting a new catalog out right after a big product release from Apple can be really deadly for sales. Perhaps MacMall knows that something is coming, but hasn't gotten the images and so they decided to "make" a new PB?
There is NO gain for making up a photo. It just gets people irritated at you. If there is no new PB, then people will call up asking for the PB on the cover and will become angry when you tell them that the machine on the cover doesn't really exist.
[Click for larger image]
The PowerBook labeled '15.2"' is a shrunk down 17" (two holes in the top of the screen and slot-drive is clearly 17" drive), the one labeled '17"' is the same one as on the front cover, and it clearly is a 15" body with the 17" grilles and keyboard layed on top and mirror-flipped.
I don't think that you're going to find these images anywhere on Apple's site, guys. I don't know why, but it looks to me like MacMall photoshopped them or somehow got bad images. Sure as hell Apple's not going to make up weird pictures like this for resellers to put in their catalogs.
I also wonder what MacMall could be thinking by running these pics. I called them, and they confirmed that there was nothing new, so I don't know what they're doing with this.