I'm still debating whether to switch to a power mac g5 3 ghz in july or switch to the powerbook now. (I don't have a mac yet!) I'm probably going to wait.
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
I'm still debating whether to switch to a power mac g5 3 ghz in july or switch to the powerbook now. (I don't have a mac yet!) I'm probably going to wait.
I'd recommend the opposite - get yourself a PowerBook. The value you will get from getting started on the Mac NOW instead of later (the learning AND the fun) makes it the smarter investment. Plus, it will be a portable, and therefore much more useful (always with you) than the desktop. And finally - unless I am wrong and you have hours per day of Final Cut Pro rendering, or major 3D work to do, the G4 will be plenty of power for you. If you discover a need for more power down the road, then feel free to be tempted to upgrade when the killer G5s come out. You'll have quite nice resale value on the PowerBook since you bought it at the TOP of its upgrade cycle, and who knows - you could be the next Murbot!
Quote:
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
Hmm, that is very interesting. It would seem that this is how they were able to reduce the price on the PowerBooks. Remember the conference call saying how strong portable sales were in EDU? They more or less kept the EDU prices the same but lowered the discount amount and the retail price.
I'm still debating whether to switch to a power mac g5 3 ghz in july or switch to the powerbook now. (I don't have a mac yet!) I'm probably going to wait.
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
No one knows when the powermac's will be updated. Or rather what speeds will come out. if you need a machine now, purchase one now. A desktop and portable are 2 very different machines. So you have to weigh your needs in that category.
A word of advice. Don't max out RAM at the Apple store. Go skimpy on RAM when buying new machines from Apple and buy the RAM online for much cheaper. You will save quite a few bucks there.
The majority of what I'm going to be doing is web design, flash design, etc.
Occasionally, I'll do some movie editing, but not often.
You guys brought up very good points (the two people who responded to me) and I'm pretty sick of waiting for new G5's. Plus, I don't think I'll really need that extra power. Heck, my current 1.1 ghz PC with 384 MB RAM is suiting me fine with web design (I haven't attempted video editing with it yet).
I'll probably get the powerbook in may then! Thanks for the good advice.
So do you think the additional weight and $110 and size will make the 17" more worth my money than the 15"?
theres no mystery about the 15" or its prices or anything
it is simply that those r the ones that sell the most or, sold the most, and apple is trying to squeeze every penny out of it... not changing the edu price was very dissapointing
As soon as someone has seen one of the new 12" PBs in person, I'd love to hear a reaction to the quality of the LCD display.
I went to my local Apple Store, but they didn't have any of the new PowerBooks out on display yet. They did have 12-inchers in stock, but nothing they could/would show me.
I really like my current 12" PB, but I'm slightly disappointed with the display quality. It's just not as bright, and doesn't have as good a level of contrast, as my previous 15" PB. Even side by side with a friend's 12" iBook, the iBook's display looked better than my PB.
I was hoping to see one of the new 12" PBs to see if the display quality is any better than mine. I wouldn't upgrade just to go from 1 GHZ to 1.33, but if I'd also get a better display out of the deal, it might be worth it. I can probably get at least $1000 on eBay for my old PB, which has Airport Extreme, an 80 GB drive, and an extra 512 MB RAM added in.
BTW, expecting and getting an answer of "no", I asked if the people at the Apple Store would swap the 60 GB drive in a new 12" PB with the 80 GB drive I have in my old one. It would have been nice to be able to simply buy an in-stock 12" and not have to pay extra for a larger drive again.
They also said "yes", as I also expected, that I'd void my warranty if I did a drive swap myself.
B/c I'm on good terms with my former dept, I can finagle an institutional edu price out of them, not a real institutional price, but 100 or so lower than normal edu. Almost made me think about upgrading, hahaha...
All in all, it's a pretty impressive update.
I don't think they'll be too much to seperate these new models from 1.3-1.7 Ghz Centrinos. Yes, the Centrino will be faster at the sort of stuff that PC's have been faster at, but I'm pretty certain that the PB's will chug along nicely in all sorts of pro apps, and probably surprise a lot of people when they do anything with iApps, DVD SP, Motion, FCP, PS, etc etc... Most likely being the better (faster) platform for 'mobile' digital arts.
I say, get the 12" and save the money for RAM and/or a second display.
Good things.
As for the faster HDD?
I think it's not worth it in a laptop, not unless it comes at a minimal price increase, and a minimal battery life decrease. You're much better off with more RAM than a faster internal HDD.
You can always plug in a big fast drive for intensive projects.
I really like my current 12" PB, but I'm slightly disappointed with the display quality. It's just not as bright, and doesn't have as good a level of contrast, as my previous 15" PB. Even side by side with a friend's 12" iBook, the iBook's display looked better than my PB.
I assume you've calibrated it. This is surprising because I've read elsewhere that the 12" PowerBook display looked better than the iBook.
Well guys, I guess I got a little too excited . My parents, who will be paying the majority of my computer costs, persuaded me to wait the 5 months (until september) when apple updates the powermacs.
I somewhat acquiesced; I only will wait if my sister let's me borrow her g4 emac in the meantime.
Luckily for me, my sister WILL let me borrow her emac (just called her) for 5 months if I let her borrow the PC for those same 5 months.
Now, I can learn the ways of apple, plus wait for the new updates!
I guess we are talking about the new iBooks here as well?
It appears that the 7447A is being used but it is not what we expected. It does not scale the processor speed down in 50 Mhz increments or anything like that but rather cuts it in half.
Taking the 1 Ghz iBook as an example:
Old (7447):
Processor speed cut down from 1 Ghz to 765 Mhz.
Processor and memory bus speed cut down from 133 Mhz to 102 Mhz.
That front page stuff rotates. Go check it again...it'll probably be PowerBooks. Sit there and hit "refresh" a few times to see.
Also, did anyone else notice this: the illustrations of the PowerBooks - particularly the 15" - used on Apple's site look really good now. They look lighter, sleeker and more clean than before.
Just something that caught my eye this morning, but I attributed it to early morning surprise syndrome. But even now, over 12 hours later, I could swear they look better. The 15" just looks more "metal-y" and a lighter, nicer shade of gray.
Yeehaa!, Im getting the 1.5G 15", my wife gets my Ti 400, to replace her clamshell ibook!.
Im stoked, this Ti400 has been amazing - first time ive had a PB for 2.5 years!.
A PB G5 would have blown me away, but it also appears as though the G5 is not that much faster than the G4 clock for clock, but with the price reduction did it for me!.
I think Apple knew it had to reduce its prices to get people to buy now, and not wait for the G5.
Comments
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
Originally posted by SwitchingSoon
I'm still debating whether to switch to a power mac g5 3 ghz in july or switch to the powerbook now. (I don't have a mac yet!) I'm probably going to wait.
I'd recommend the opposite - get yourself a PowerBook. The value you will get from getting started on the Mac NOW instead of later (the learning AND the fun) makes it the smarter investment. Plus, it will be a portable, and therefore much more useful (always with you) than the desktop. And finally - unless I am wrong and you have hours per day of Final Cut Pro rendering, or major 3D work to do, the G4 will be plenty of power for you. If you discover a need for more power down the road, then feel free to be tempted to upgrade when the killer G5s come out. You'll have quite nice resale value on the PowerBook since you bought it at the TOP of its upgrade cycle, and who knows - you could be the next Murbot!
Quote:
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
Hmm, that is very interesting. It would seem that this is how they were able to reduce the price on the PowerBooks. Remember the conference call saying how strong portable sales were in EDU? They more or less kept the EDU prices the same but lowered the discount amount and the retail price.
Originally posted by SwitchingSoon
I'm still debating whether to switch to a power mac g5 3 ghz in july or switch to the powerbook now. (I don't have a mac yet!) I'm probably going to wait.
Here's something interesting: The powerbook 15" and 17" with all the specs at the highest are only $110 off in educational pricing.
No one knows when the powermac's will be updated. Or rather what speeds will come out. if you need a machine now, purchase one now. A desktop and portable are 2 very different machines. So you have to weigh your needs in that category.
A word of advice. Don't max out RAM at the Apple store. Go skimpy on RAM when buying new machines from Apple and buy the RAM online for much cheaper. You will save quite a few bucks there.
Occasionally, I'll do some movie editing, but not often.
You guys brought up very good points (the two people who responded to me) and I'm pretty sick of waiting for new G5's. Plus, I don't think I'll really need that extra power. Heck, my current 1.1 ghz PC with 384 MB RAM is suiting me fine with web design (I haven't attempted video editing with it yet).
I'll probably get the powerbook in may then! Thanks for the good advice.
So do you think the additional weight and $110 and size will make the 17" more worth my money than the 15"?
it is simply that those r the ones that sell the most or, sold the most, and apple is trying to squeeze every penny out of it... not changing the edu price was very dissapointing
i hope at least the education discount was a mistake..
Originally posted by SwitchingSoon
I'll probably get the powerbook in may then! Thanks for the good advice.
So do you think the additional weight and $110 and size will make the 17" more worth my money than the 15"?
You're welcome!
I'm guessing the 17" will hold its value a little more strongly than the 15"
I went to my local Apple Store, but they didn't have any of the new PowerBooks out on display yet. They did have 12-inchers in stock, but nothing they could/would show me.
I really like my current 12" PB, but I'm slightly disappointed with the display quality. It's just not as bright, and doesn't have as good a level of contrast, as my previous 15" PB. Even side by side with a friend's 12" iBook, the iBook's display looked better than my PB.
I was hoping to see one of the new 12" PBs to see if the display quality is any better than mine. I wouldn't upgrade just to go from 1 GHZ to 1.33, but if I'd also get a better display out of the deal, it might be worth it. I can probably get at least $1000 on eBay for my old PB, which has Airport Extreme, an 80 GB drive, and an extra 512 MB RAM added in.
BTW, expecting and getting an answer of "no", I asked if the people at the Apple Store would swap the 60 GB drive in a new 12" PB with the 80 GB drive I have in my old one. It would have been nice to be able to simply buy an in-stock 12" and not have to pay extra for a larger drive again.
They also said "yes", as I also expected, that I'd void my warranty if I did a drive swap myself.
All in all, it's a pretty impressive update.
I don't think they'll be too much to seperate these new models from 1.3-1.7 Ghz Centrinos. Yes, the Centrino will be faster at the sort of stuff that PC's have been faster at, but I'm pretty certain that the PB's will chug along nicely in all sorts of pro apps, and probably surprise a lot of people when they do anything with iApps, DVD SP, Motion, FCP, PS, etc etc... Most likely being the better (faster) platform for 'mobile' digital arts.
I say, get the 12" and save the money for RAM and/or a second display.
Good things.
As for the faster HDD?
I think it's not worth it in a laptop, not unless it comes at a minimal price increase, and a minimal battery life decrease. You're much better off with more RAM than a faster internal HDD.
You can always plug in a big fast drive for intensive projects.
http://developer.apple.com/documenta...-rev-date.html
They do not say what G4 processor is used so the 7447A mystery continues.
Originally posted by shetline
I really like my current 12" PB, but I'm slightly disappointed with the display quality. It's just not as bright, and doesn't have as good a level of contrast, as my previous 15" PB. Even side by side with a friend's 12" iBook, the iBook's display looked better than my PB.
I assume you've calibrated it. This is surprising because I've read elsewhere that the 12" PowerBook display looked better than the iBook.
I somewhat acquiesced; I only will wait if my sister let's me borrow her g4 emac in the meantime.
Luckily for me, my sister WILL let me borrow her emac (just called her) for 5 months if I let her borrow the PC for those same 5 months.
Now, I can learn the ways of apple, plus wait for the new updates!
Yippee!
It appears that the 7447A is being used but it is not what we expected. It does not scale the processor speed down in 50 Mhz increments or anything like that but rather cuts it in half.
Taking the 1 Ghz iBook as an example:
Old (7447):
Processor speed cut down from 1 Ghz to 765 Mhz.
Processor and memory bus speed cut down from 133 Mhz to 102 Mhz.
New (7447A):
Processor speed cut down from 1 Ghz to 500 Mhz.
Processor and memory bus speeds are left alone.
also, there are iron and plastic powerbooks??
Also, did anyone else notice this: the illustrations of the PowerBooks - particularly the 15" - used on Apple's site look really good now. They look lighter, sleeker and more clean than before.
Just something that caught my eye this morning, but I attributed it to early morning surprise syndrome. But even now, over 12 hours later, I could swear they look better. The 15" just looks more "metal-y" and a lighter, nicer shade of gray.
Oh well...
Originally posted by Mordak
are the 15" superdrives more expensive than before?
No. They're actually cheaper by $100.
Im stoked, this Ti400 has been amazing - first time ive had a PB for 2.5 years!.
A PB G5 would have blown me away, but it also appears as though the G5 is not that much faster than the G4 clock for clock, but with the price reduction did it for me!.
I think Apple knew it had to reduce its prices to get people to buy now, and not wait for the G5.
IMO this is a pretty good upgrade.