tell me your guesses for iBook updates
I'm going to buy an iBook after the next upgrade.
Tell me:
a. what the upgrades/changes will be
b. when it will happen
Get speculatin'.....!
My Guess: 13" Standard & 14" Widescreen, 800 & 1Ghz G3 processors with 1mb L3, Combo drive on all but low end model, bluetooth, 2 USB, 2 FireWire. Similar casing adjusted for size.
Tell me:
a. what the upgrades/changes will be
b. when it will happen
Get speculatin'.....!
My Guess: 13" Standard & 14" Widescreen, 800 & 1Ghz G3 processors with 1mb L3, Combo drive on all but low end model, bluetooth, 2 USB, 2 FireWire. Similar casing adjusted for size.
Comments
The 12.1 inch stays. The 14.1 inch stays.
Low end:
700 MHz PPC 750 with 0.5 MB on-die L2
30 GB disk
maybe 256 MB memory
maybe 32 MB mobile Radeon
High end:
800 MHz PPC 750 with 0.5 MB on-die L2
40 GB disk
256 MB memory
maybe 32 MB mobile Radeon
The 14.1" screen version is just a 12.1 screen version with slightly better specs (larger disk, more memory). The PPC 750fx does not support backside L3 cache. It will not have 1 MB on-die L2 cache due to production costs.
If Motorola can ship a 0.13u G4, Apple can use it in the iBooks at 667 to 800 MHz and bump the Powerbooks to 1+ GHz, but it seems they are having troubles with their 8460/8540 comm processors, let alone a G4.
why? Because aside from the iMac 800. Apple has NEVER (that i know of) gone past the 7.5 mulitplier bus.
133Mhz * 7.5= 1.0Ghz
167Mhz * 7.5= 1.25Ghz
66Mhz *7.5= 500Mhz
and i think it would be a waste of time for Apple to bump it up 50Mhz to 750Mhz. So therefore, i expect 867Mhz on the top end...
just pure speculation...
<strong>High end:
800 MHz PPC 750 with 0.5 MB on-die L2
40 GB disk
256 MB memory
maybe 32 MB mobile Radeon
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hey that's great!
Despite my wildly over optimistic guess this is the kind of feedback i want, this makes me want to wait for the November upfdates if they do arrive.
I'm actually selling my G4 PowerBook to buy the iBook and pocket the rest of the cash.
The PB is too heavy, and too fragile...i'm actually on my second TiBook as the first was ruined beyond repair when I fell down some steps on an escalator, sick of worrying about scratches, paint wear etc...
anyone else?
Powerbook in October, quiet website upgrade.
iBook at MWSF. New form factor with 13.1" screen, 700 & 800 MHz G3 Sahara, 32mb Radeon (not DDR), slightly higher res screen.
Now it doesn't have to be a G4, technically, I don't care what they call it, but it does need an SIMD. IBM originally talked up such a Sahara in it's press releases. This one was supposed to range from 700Mhz to 1Ghz and a revision was supposed to add SIMD and take Sahara from 1Ghz to 2Ghz.
It would be a wise move to jetison the original iMac and move the iBook to a G4. We really don't need a legacy CPU in the line-up right now.
However, since a move to a better CPU may not be possible right now, a move to add a mid-leve 'book could be made.
From 1799 for a top iBook to 2499 for the bottom TiBook there is much too big of a jump. They need something to plug that hole in the 1999-2099 range. A modern Duo or a PowerBook 'lite', something with a G4.
three months ago i would have said differently....
But remember way back before the iMac got a G4? A company or two clearly stated that they would not optimize their code for the G4 until the iMac had a G4 in it. Well, the iMac recieved a G4, and little to nothing has happened. Im not even sure if that company did re-code for the G4. But the point is, is that now that the iMac had a G4 in it, we were suppose to see a flood of applications coded for Altivec. And this did not happen.
I think Apple needs a low cost, low heat, low power CPU option (a celeron, if you will). And the 750Fx G3 is just that...
....and, until Apple can get the eMac down to 899.00, the CRT iMac isn't going to go anywhere....
I think Apple needs a low cost, low heat, low power CPU option (a celeron, if you will). And the 750Fx G3 is just that...</strong>
This is why Apple really really needs a 0.13u G4.
<strong>until Apple can get the eMac down to 899.00, the CRT iMac isn't going to go anywhere....</strong>
I'm not sure if it is really price that is hurting Apple outside of the economic downturn. If they have a machine of equivalent price and performance, I think they still will have trouble due to Wintel groupthink.
Since Microsoft destroyed Netscape, they have successfully extended their monopoly to Internet clients (web browsers), so there really is no chance of any outside company becoming anymore than a niche.
i expect the top to models to go to a 133Mhz bus.</strong>
I was thinking this also, but I don't think Apple will do it unless the Powerbook has a 167 MHz FSB.
<strong>why? Because aside from the iMac 800. Apple has NEVER (that i know of) gone past the 7.5 mulitplier bus.</strong>
Post hoc fallacy, man. I know, it's just speculation, but this has more to due with the lower clock rates of the PPC than any policy for CPU-to-bus clock ratios.
For instance, if there was a 1.5+ GHz G4, they would have to use higher bus multipliers since anything above 167 MHz FSB would be an expensive piece of PCB.
I'd love to see this:
12" G3 600 mHz $1099
12" G4 700 mHz $1499
14" G4 700 mhz $1699
Drop prices but increased performance. That's what Apple needs today. Increase the bus to 133. Sure the top of the line will be faster than the Powerbook 667, but only for a short while.
Hopefully the Powerbooks will then go to a 167 bus and speeds of 800 and 933 or 1GHz.
their monopoly to Internet clients (web browsers), so there really is no
chance of any outside company becoming anymore than a niche.<hr></blockquote>
Apparently, you haven't tried Netscape 7. This IMO could very possibly unseat IE from the #1 position....
I for one use it 98% of the time (AOL the other 2%)
<strong>....and, until Apple can get the eMac down to 899.00, the CRT iMac isn't going to go anywhere....</strong><hr></blockquote>
People I've talked to (IT staff, friends, family) are very impressed with the eMac, mainly the SuperDrive model.
$3000 Australian for a computer that burns DVDs is considered a great computer for a great price.
Apple maintains a minimum feature set. FireWire, USB, G4, GeForce 2 MX/RADEON graphics, 128MB RAM... they don't ship computers which Can't Do Shit?. That's a good thing, it gives the Mac platform more value.
Barto
Apparently, you haven't tried Netscape 7. This IMO could very possibly unseat IE from the #1 position....
I for one use it 98% of the time (AOL the other 2%)</strong>
Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browsers have <a href="http://www.statmarket.com/cgi-bin/sm.cgi?sm&feature&week_stat" target="_blank">96%</a> of the market. With the advent of websites designed specifically around IE's plugins, pecularities and bugs, nothing will unseat it, since everything else will be incompatible.
The price of Apple's computers are but one part of their problems. It's certainly not the primary problem though.
[ 09-19-2002: Message edited by: smithjoel ]</p>
<strong>The defference between a G3 and a G4 isn't that much. A little cache and some multimedia extentions. If they uped the clockspeek signficantly I'd me happy with that.
[ 09-19-2002: Message edited by: smithjoel ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Alot of the buying decision is also based on perception. Just as a PC user may bypass a Celeron in favour of a P4, a Mac user would do the same with a G3 and opt for the G4.
Especially when Apple touted the iMacs and eMacs so much when they went G4.
People believe anything less than a G4 is yesterday's chip.
I guess if Apple (and app devs) would support the SIMD in Sahara processors, the rush for iBooks would be too big and Apple would sell less TiBooks.
Anybody know whether LinuxPPC devs have taken a look at this?
At work I use a HP 6000 + dock with a 19" Viewsonic @1600x1200.
Otherwise I use the 1024x768 LCD, but usually in situations where I don't need the extra rez.
If the iBook had dual monitor support.. or AT LEAST external monitor @ 1920x1200 when closed I would buy!
I know the Apple cripples the iBook on this feature, which is a sad, sad, thing.
It's not that I don't think the powerbook is worth the extra cost, I do, it's just that I feel forced into buying more than I need.
So I don't buy.
Anybody know if the next iBook might have this feature re-enabled (I know there is a hack for OS 9, but OS X is what I want)
The next release of the iBook will not be the iBook as we know it now. Consider the iBook dead.
Let me say this again; BUY NOW before the iBook you desire is gone.