PowerBook G5: No time soon.
I thought it was time for a little reality check. As a member here since speculation about Pismo was running rampant, I think it's time to chime in.
The G5 Powerbook is not even close to being imminent. Do I have inside info? Nope. But, there is absolutely no reason to think that a G5 PowerBook is coming anytime before next January. I'm actually thinking next spring.
Why?
1. The G5 is extremely hot. Shoving it into a laptop is not going to be easy, and is probably going to require liquid cooling. My Albook gets very warm, and it only has a 1.25GHZ G4 in it.
2. The G5 is a power hog. Battery life is going to be an issue. Even with the current PB, battery life could be better.
3. The current PB's are still selling well. They're also quite fast. I'd look for a speed bump with updated graphics cards sometime in late spring/early summer.
4. Historical precendent shows it took over a year to get the G4 Powerbook to market after the G4 Desktop came to market. G5's didn't even really ship until what? September?
I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised if a G5 PB came out before next January. I'm all but certain it will not happen before the fall. With all the rumors circulating, you'd think the G5 PowerBook was ready to go. No way.
The G5 Powerbook is not even close to being imminent. Do I have inside info? Nope. But, there is absolutely no reason to think that a G5 PowerBook is coming anytime before next January. I'm actually thinking next spring.
Why?
1. The G5 is extremely hot. Shoving it into a laptop is not going to be easy, and is probably going to require liquid cooling. My Albook gets very warm, and it only has a 1.25GHZ G4 in it.
2. The G5 is a power hog. Battery life is going to be an issue. Even with the current PB, battery life could be better.
3. The current PB's are still selling well. They're also quite fast. I'd look for a speed bump with updated graphics cards sometime in late spring/early summer.
4. Historical precendent shows it took over a year to get the G4 Powerbook to market after the G4 Desktop came to market. G5's didn't even really ship until what? September?
I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised if a G5 PB came out before next January. I'm all but certain it will not happen before the fall. With all the rumors circulating, you'd think the G5 PowerBook was ready to go. No way.
Comments
Originally posted by SDW2001
[sniperdesnip]
Why?
1. The G5 is extremely hot. Shoving it into a laptop is not going to be easy, and is probably going to require liquid cooling. My Albook gets very warm, and it only has a 1.25GHZ G4 in it.
2. The G5 is a power hog. Battery life is going to be an issue. Even with the current PB, battery life could be better.
as mentioned above: 970fx is the answer, amen.
3. The current PB's are still selling well. They're also quite fast. I'd look for a speed bump with updated graphics cards sometime in late spring/early summer.
if an G4 update occurs, it probally will be somewhere in the april/may timeframe. so the ibook can be updated in april/may, as it always has since the dual usb.
4. Historical precendent shows it took over a year to get the G4 Powerbook to market after the G4 Desktop came to market. G5's didn't even really ship until what? September?
it took no time to introduce the powerbook G3 (kanga) after the G3 minitower. The G4 had 2 problems: powerconsumption and motorola; it took ages before they got the 7410 in production.
I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised if a G5 PB came out before next January. I'm all but certain it will not happen before the fall. With all the rumors circulating, you'd think the G5 PowerBook was ready to go. No way.
that's easy to say, i don't think there are a lot of people left who expect the G5pb before fall 2004. (do they?) albeit announcements at wwdc. in a whopping 3 months a lot can happen. or not... apple is a little slow these days.
Originally posted by Performa636CD
personally, i see the G5 powerbook anounced in january of 2005, powerbook G5s being shipped around march, and all the kinks worked out around summer 2005
I hope you're wrong, I really really hope you're wrong.
And 2004 will be a great year, remember ya'll, it's only March, there's a lot of time left! Things will get exciting real soon, just because Apple has been a bit stagnant on their updates doesn't mean we should all lose faith in them yet. I'm still real excited for the upcoming weeks and months.
Originally posted by DMBand0026
I hope you're wrong, I really really hope you're wrong.
me too
Originally posted by DMBand0026
I hope you're wrong, I really really hope you're wrong.
And 2004 will be a great year, remember ya'll, it's only March, there's a lot of time left! Things will get exciting real soon, just because Apple has been a bit stagnant on their updates doesn't mean we should all lose faith in them yet. I'm still real excited for the upcoming weeks and months.
You're optimism is commendable, and I agree with you.
I thought it was time for a little reality check. As a member here since speculation about Pismo was running rampant, I think it's time to chime in.
Awww, comeon. Why crush hopes? That's all this forum is based on! I was here during Pismo too, and while a lot of people were pissed when Pismo didn't have a G4, all the speculation and debate about technology that occurred as a result made FH a better place to be. I don't think anyone really takes the Powerbook G5 that seriously, but the debate about the G5/fx has informed many of us of the potential the G5 fx holds for the future. As a result we are more informed, and can better speculate on Future Hardware products. So anywho, it's all in good fun and I do believe that everyone realistically believes that PB G5's won't be here for at least 6 months. But wouldn't it be cool if they came out Tuesday?
BTW: Performa 636CD, nice name, is that your first mac or what? Look at my name and what it was a Apple codename for
Oh well, i guess you havent read the 970FX QRG off ibm's web site.
Typical Power 12.3W @ 1.4G, the 7447 is 19W @ 1.42G - which is hotter than the G5!. The low power version of the 7447 is cooler at just 9.3W @ 1.167G, the problem is that its max clock is 1.2G for the low power and 1.5G for the standard 7447. Max clock on the G5 2.0G+.
So please explain to me that G5 CANNOT go into a PB?. Also, Intel Pentium M is up to 1.7G, which I believe is the clock speed Apple should be competitive with either the G4 or the G5. Since, the G4's max clock is 1.5G, I think its reasonable to expect Apple to migrate from G4's for most of its products sooner rather than later.
Granted, your still could be right, I just hope your not.
The bigger issue is that a laptop is not just a PPC chip, it is the sum of individual parts that all have to work together in a pwoer constrained environment. A G5 powerbook will be out the minute Apple thinks it has the chipsets debugged to the point required and operating at an acceptable power disapation point. At this point we have no evidence that Apple is finished with such a chip set. It is pretty obvious that they are working on either a chipset or a high integration 970 derivattive.
The PowerBook is the least of our worries though, the bigger issue is the delay with the G5 revs and the hold up with respect to a new iMac repalcement. Something is obviously wrong here, the sooner it is corrected the sooner we can experience new machines.
Dave
Originally posted by hasapi
I came here because I might have been enlightened with some hard realities "facts".
Oh well, i guess you havent read the 970FX QRG off ibm's web site.
Typical Power 12.3W @ 1.4G, the 7447 is 19W @ 1.42G - which is hotter than the G5!. The low power version of the 7447 is cooler at just 9.3W @ 1.167G, the problem is that its max clock is 1.2G for the low power and 1.5G for the standard 7447. Max clock on the G5 2.0G+.
So please explain to me that G5 CANNOT go into a PB?. Also, Intel Pentium M is up to 1.7G, which I believe is the clock speed Apple should be competitive with either the G4 or the G5. Since, the G4's max clock is 1.5G, I think its reasonable to expect Apple to migrate from G4's for most of its products sooner rather than later.
Granted, your still could be right, I just hope your not.
Two teams, 6 months. I bet Apple has some prototypes that are pretty solid right now, and they are evaluating the industrial/mechanical stuff as we speak. 6 more months to market is not unrealistic.
__The misfits.
____The rebels.
______The troublemakers.
________The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They?re not fond of rules.
____ And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
____ disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can?t do is ignore them.
______Because they change things.
_
They invent.____They imagine.____They heal.
__They explore.____They create.____They inspire.
____They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that?s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
_
While some see them as the crazy ones,
___we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.
I just hope something can be done about the battery situation, new tech, new materials...whatever, the current situation is pretty weak, I get 2 hours tops these days
ah well, my 1.25 isn't going anywhere anytime soon I know that much. it will serve me well for long to come.
And this is two hours with the screen set to barely visible, etc.? Wow...not good.
Yeah, I find myself yearning for the G5 PowerBook everytime I open Photoshop, import and batch modify a couple hundred pictures at time...which isn't really often, though. All it takes for me to fall back in love with my little 867 TiBook is a brief usage of either a) my parents' 266 beige G3 desktop, b) the 400 MHz Pismo (which actually still manages pretty well), or (especially) c) our cruddy Dell Optiplex.
The G4 is darn nice compared to any of these machines. And like I said; just don't do enough big-time stuff to justify. Although the thought of "I *could*" with the G5 is intoxicating!
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
Here?s to the crazy ones. snip.
And then?
Originally posted by fred_lj
2 hours TOPS? That really blows! What in the heck happened between Ti/Aluminum, besides the different CPU? Surely that couldn't tie up that much more energy!!
Faster System bus, Faster Ram, Faster Graphics Card, Backlit keyboard, 3 speakers.
Maybe some other stuff too.