Redesigned New PowerBook
Well folks, the current Ti is about to become the longest lasting PowerBook size/form incarnation, and has finally matured to be the closest to the perfect laptop ever, aplicable to replace your desktop forever, aside from the classical "we want faster cpu/bus and better videocard, etc".
Perfect notebook at last? well, if only wasn't for (IMHO in order of importance):
1) Noise (that annoying fan noise)
2) excessive heat (no longer a "laptop")
3) awful-to-useless airport range
4) durability, fragility, scrathes, paint ripping off
The funny thing is that all of the above mentioned problems can be adressed or fixed with one simple move:
-make the next generation PowerBook as thick and of the same Polycarbonate as the current icebook.
Now the tough question: Are Apple, Jobs and Ti customers ready to trade then the magical and very marketable words "1 inch" and "titanium" for having a MUCH better -whole things considered- laptop/computer owning experience?
Perfect notebook at last? well, if only wasn't for (IMHO in order of importance):
1) Noise (that annoying fan noise)
2) excessive heat (no longer a "laptop")
3) awful-to-useless airport range
4) durability, fragility, scrathes, paint ripping off
The funny thing is that all of the above mentioned problems can be adressed or fixed with one simple move:
-make the next generation PowerBook as thick and of the same Polycarbonate as the current icebook.
Now the tough question: Are Apple, Jobs and Ti customers ready to trade then the magical and very marketable words "1 inch" and "titanium" for having a MUCH better -whole things considered- laptop/computer owning experience?
Comments
<strong>
1) Noise (that annoying fan noise)
2) excessive heat (no longer a "laptop")
3) awful-to-useless airport range
4) durability, fragility, scrathes, paint ripping off
</strong><hr></blockquote>
1) It's not that bad on a 667.
2) I think it actually gives off a smell... like burning titanium.
3) Four bars everywhere within a 3000 sq ft home- and reliable reception everywhere along property lines. In fact, it's more reliable at 150 feet than land based cable was before Adelphia had to amplify my signal! From other experiences, it could improve though.
4) Aye! Something must be done.
<strong>
1) It's not that bad on a 667.
2) I think it actually gives off a smell... like burning titanium.
3) Four bars everywhere within a 3000 sq ft home- and reliable reception everywhere along property lines. In fact, it's more reliable at 150 feet than land based cable was before Adelphia had to amplify my signal! From other experiences, it could improve though.
4) Aye! Something must be done.</strong><hr></blockquote>
1) It's awful on a 667! I have the older revision, 667 being the top of the line model; I s'pose you have the newer one, with a better CPU.
2) That smell is the hair on your thighs burning off while you read the morning news sittin' in the bathroom!
3) Sometimes I get no signal from the aforementioned bathroom (maybe 6mt from the BS); again I s'pose you have the new 667, as they said they addressed Airport range problems in the new rev...
4) Can't beat a Pismo! Now, if it only had an upright logo and a white keyboard...
ZoSo
2) i can watch a DVD laying on the sand at night on the beach, with my icebook resting directly on the naked skin of my torso
3) with the icebook i can go to another close island and still have airport range left (well, almost
4) i torture the icebook and trow it to bags without the single trace of a worry
but my icebook can't replace a desktop. If only the next powerbook was like this.
<strong>4) i torture the icebook and trow it to bags without the single trace of a worry
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Really? I try to be really careful with mine and it already has scratches all over it - not that big of a deal since they are not too deep but still annoying.
So, it's hard to imagine that you take yours to the beach...
By-the-way and off topic: How do you all clean your iBooks from fingerprints and fine scratches?
Back on topic: I really believe, the TiBook is almost perfect - thin, lightweight and yet powerful - there is not much too improve. It even has DVI.
But there are still some things I'd like to see:
- anodized case (natural, no fancy colors) instead of paint - what does a paint-stripped TiBook look like?
- Airport with built-in Bluetooth - I wonder that it is still not as widespread as USB was a year or two after its introduction?
- better and more efficient (read: more quiet) cooling - do they use a heat-pipe already?
- trackpad useable as ink(well)pad
- digital sound i/o
- quick adoption of all new relevant connectivity standards
- ISDN-/analog-combo-modem.
Ok, that's it.
I don't really know what Apple has planned, but I'm sure it's something interesting. The heat factor can partly be attributed to the fact that Moto's fab is kind of lousy. A .10 micron G4 would be less hot. Even .13 would be a lot better.
I'd also put in a better cooling system. A larger, flatter fan running at lower rpm with sleeve bearings wouldn't be loud. I have a 60mm sleeve bearing fan in a desktop that is practically inaudible at 5V. 60mm is a bit big, but it was just an example.
The motherboard can obviously be condensed. It could even be consolidated even more-so onto chips. It would take a lot of R&D, but it's certainly possible.
So that's what I'd like to see, but I'm not banking on it happening. What I really want on my next powerbook is a small feature size G4 and integrated 802.11a. Bluetooth would be nice too, but I don't really care about Bluetooth.
I can see how a laptop aimed at students would need to be durable, since youngsters are sometimes a bit rough, and of course the laptop has to survive inside a backpack. But the sort of person who buys a $3500 laptop has enough cash left over to buy a personal carry case for their laptop, and they would most likely not be getting beat up by the neighborhood bully on the way home from the bus stop.
Face it: Titanium is DEAD SEXY! It's sophisticated. It has a aura of coolness to it. Polycarbonate is just...plastic.
I think the next Powerbooks should get the following additions:
Three different models:
1. Sub-notebook Titanium: 12" LCD display, 1024x768.
2. Titanium: 15.2" LCD display. 1280x854.
3. Titanium Cinema: 18" LCD display. 1600x1024.
Yeah, that's right, an 18" LCD Titanium laptop. Because some guys have small dicks.
But seriously, an 18" G5 Powerbook would buttress Apple's rep as a premier DV platform. And of course it would rock. The subnotebook would also be dead sexy for those who value portability over dick size. Finally there's the standard size for the rest of us.
And of course, all of them use G5s supplied by IBM, running at 2 GHz. Yeah, baby!!!
I'd easily take a slightly thicker Powerbook if it solves the heat issue. And a titanium coloured covered in clear plastic would do the trick in terms of scratches and flaking.
Lower noise and increased airport range is welcome but i'd put them below the other two.
<strong>What's this need for an ultra-durable laptop? Of course you don't want the thing to fall apart at the slightest nudge, but really, what do you people do with your Titaniums that is so rough?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, if you have a whole bunch of work in a $3500 device, wouldn't you want it to be able to take the occasional whack? Even if you baby the thing, there is always the possibility that Something Bad Will Happen. Why not have some built-in insurance against that possibility?
O'Grady's PowerPage used to have a page dedicated to PowerBooks that had survived getting run over (twice, in one case, and by an SUV!); dropped down stairs; sitting in a pool of water (while running!) that was dripping from a leak in the ceiling into the keyboard for a week; and in the case of one Wallstreet, used two-handed to brain a man who was caught cheating with the owner's wife. There was a contemporaneous rumor that Apple QA tested the laptops by throwing them out of windows. That page slowed down with Lombard, and went quiet not long after the TiBooks rolled out. Of course, a lot of people either don't need the indestructibility of the Wallstreet or are reluctant to put up with the tradeoffs (2 inch thick, 8 pound steel-encased machines). But it's still nice to know that if something does happen, it's not the end of the machine.
Somehow, the PC notebook makers haven't figured that out yet...
[ 09-12-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
The look is sensational and the weight is fine.
Im in love.
2) Heat? My 800Mhz TiBook sits on my lap for 100 min lectures and it gets WARM but not hot.
3) Airport Range rocks for me!
4) I will agree to a certain extent particularly the area near the power plug! (I am pritty shitty about that!)
1. Sub-notebook Titanium: 12" LCD display, 1024x768.
2. Titanium: 15.2" LCD display. 1280x854.
3. Titanium Cinema: 18" LCD display. 1600x1024.
<hr></blockquote>
Nice idea but I think the iBook range covers the sub-notebook area and an 18" TiBook would ROCK but I dont know if that would really be feasable (Pardon the bad spelling) it goes a little beyond the idea of a laptop. Try picture the iMac 17" screen an 1" wider as a laptop. hmmm
Matthew
<strong>
Nice idea but I think the iBook range covers the sub-notebook area and an 18" TiBook would ROCK but I dont know if that would really be feasable (Pardon the bad spelling) it goes a little beyond the idea of a laptop. Try picture the iMac 17" screen an 1" wider as a laptop. hmmm
It's a lovely idea but would add $500 to the price, if not $1000. Powerbooks are already too expensive really, gorgeous, but too expensive.
i myself dont buy one because of what i consider flaws, because lets not forget, portables were not that way (icebooks can prove it). The actual Ti problems come as the result of trying to fit a fast but very hot circuit/engine into a fashionable and marketable package.
Some were able to trade/accept the NEW FLAWS for the fashion. Some dont (or did it, but havent forget the thing is badly engineered, at least if they compare it to the laptops they were used to).
Anyway apple has taken a direction and wont look back. Or can they?
would it be acceptable going back to 1.3 inches, without increasing weight?
would you accept another material perphaps? (sony and other are actually making titanium laptops)
New CPUs are hotter and hotter everyday. i cant see how this matches with thinner and thinner.
but i know that a silent, cool, airported and durable supercomputer-laptop is just a dream. And dreams just dont come true.
<strong>How about they re-design the frikkin' price? :eek: </strong><hr></blockquote>
they've already done it. in USA the 667DVI costs USA$2500.
in europe is around $1000 more.
think different. <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
Don't know why