New PowerBooks (April 19 intro)

1234579

Comments

  • Reply 121 of 176
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I read something at Ars about this a while ago, can't find it now though. Really, it's probably not that much of a battery life decrease. With application loading times, file opening times, and paging out to disk (if you do any real work, you WILL page out), the 5400 rpm drive would be a nice little upgrade.



    I'm sure I'll do it if I end up with a new PowerBook. (ok, ok, WHEN I get one)



  • Reply 122 of 176
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    It's kind of disappointing Apple doesn't offer the 7K60 as a HD upgrade, but that's not a deal breaker. I'll throw that in on my own and have a nice little 80GB portable FW400 drive on the side. The 128MB of ATI graphics sold me.



    17" of pure lovely, here I come.
  • Reply 123 of 176
    Sorry to be a little off topic, but I felt the need to tell someone...



    I am sitting here with my new 1.33ghz 12" powerbook, and my 17" Apple display--all of which I got for less than $2000!!! I was going to go for the 15", but the 12" with the big display seemed to make more sense--best of both worlds.



    I love it...all I need to get now is more RAM (Apple's prices were outrageous!).



    Compared to my 800mhz emac, this thing feels pretty darn peppy, even without the extra RAM.



  • Reply 124 of 176
    mordakmordak Posts: 168member
    I wouldnt call that 17" a big display....
  • Reply 125 of 176
    Bloody show-off!!



    It is a REALLY big display--my debit card will testify to that!
  • Reply 126 of 176
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by maninmac

    I am sitting here with my new 1.33ghz 12" powerbook, and my 17" Apple display--all of which I got for less than $2000!



    maninmac, you lucky bastard! You absolutely have to post pictures!



    Did you just walk into an Apple Store and pick up this gear? I assume you got the Combo model and benefitted from the edu discount if you got the 12-incher, 17" ASD, and DVI-to-ADC converter box for less than $2000.



    Escher
  • Reply 127 of 176
    algolalgol Posts: 833member
    Okay, I do not have time to read the last 4 pages, so I apologize if someone else has brought this up.



    Currently the G4's top speed is 1.5Ghz with 167mhz bus. If apple really plans on keeping the G4 in the PowerBook for another revision, what in the world are they going to use to update them. A 1.5Ghz chip on a 167mhz bus is already a joke. Lets say Moto can push the G4 to 1.7Ghz or something within 8 months... will it really matter? There has to be a point where increasing the clock speed while still using a 167mhz bus will make no difference. The Bus speed should at least be 1:10 ratio, which it is currently, but if moto can not create a faster bus, making the CPU much faster is not going to see much improvement. Now if Moto can make that 167mhz bus DDR, well then I can see the Powerbook G4 staying around for awhile, and the G4 chip being usable is other models for at least 2+ years. Otherwise, I say the G4 won't last another year in any model other than the iBook and perhaps eMac.



    Also, The iMacs update to the G5 will be a signal of an upcoming G5 PowerBook announcement. After all it does make sense for the iMac to get the G5 first in this case.
  • Reply 128 of 176
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by maninmac

    I am sitting here with my new 1.33ghz 12" powerbook...



    Can you comment on the quality of the 12" LCD display? I'm hoping these have improved from the previous model.
  • Reply 129 of 176
    I walked into the Cambridgeside store in Boston, and they had both the combo and superdrive models in stock.



    As for the photo's--sorry to say, I have no camera!



    The screen would really rock, if I was not comparing it to my 17" external, but it is still really good. To be honest, It looks exactly the same to me as the old 12" which is good enough for me.



    I got the combo model for $1399 (edu) and the store had 2 brand new but returned 17" LCD's for $499, so with the adapter I was out the door for $2000--um, well, of course I had to add Medal of Honor, just to have something new to load onto it--it plays perfectly by the way, even with just 256mb RAM.



    The one change that I notice between this and my friends 867 12" is that it runs MUCH cooler; but I am not sure whether this change took place with the intro of the 1ghz.



    Overall, I am totally happy; sunny skies today and not a bad pixel in sight!



  • Reply 130 of 176
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by murbot



    I'm sure I'll do it if I end up with a new PowerBook. (ok, ok, WHEN I get one)







    Do we need to start a pool on when you're going to get it?
  • Reply 131 of 176
    bytemebyteme Posts: 45member
    I am at the apple store, as I type, waiting to raise my buying limit on my debit card to purchase the 12"PB with Superdrive. I'll post some impressions after i get some time with it.



    BTW this is my first Mac...YeaH...
  • Reply 132 of 176
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ByteMe

    I'll post some impressions after i get some time with it.



    Can't wait for your feedback, ByteMe! Congratulations on switching!



    Escher
  • Reply 133 of 176
    bytemebyteme Posts: 45member
    My payment finally cleared at the Apple Store and I sped home. I have already located and connected to my wireless network and I am in LoVe!!!

    No DeaD Pixels as far as I can tell...maybe I cant tell....idk...how do u tell???

    Well...I am going to get familiar with My MaC and I will probably start a new thread with My impressions, My pics and Questions???...



    BTW...I bought an iPod mini and I became addicted...The Apple iPod is a gateway drug leading to stronger Mac products!!!



    BBS...feeding my addiction
  • Reply 134 of 176
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Algol

    Okay, I do not have time to read the last 4 pages, so I apologize if someone else has brought this up.



    Currently the G4's top speed is 1.5Ghz with 167mhz bus. If apple really plans on keeping the G4 in the PowerBook for another revision, what in the world are they going to use to update them. A 1.5Ghz chip on a 167mhz bus is already a joke. Lets say Moto can push the G4 to 1.7Ghz or something within 8 months... will it really matter? There has to be a point where increasing the clock speed while still using a 167mhz bus will make no difference. The Bus speed should at least be 1:10 ratio, which it is currently, but if moto can not create a faster bus, making the CPU much faster is not going to see much improvement. Now if Moto can make that 167mhz bus DDR, well then I can see the Powerbook G4 staying around for awhile, and the G4 chip being usable is other models for at least 2+ years. Otherwise, I say the G4 won't last another year in any model other than the iBook and perhaps eMac.



    Also, The iMacs update to the G5 will be a signal of an upcoming G5 PowerBook announcement. After all it does make sense for the iMac to get the G5 first in this case.




    Actually, it doesn't make sense unless there is a suitable supply of G5's, and quite likely there still isn't such a supply. I love to say I told you so, and I did, but the G5 is going to take some time reaching beyond the pro desktop.



    The only real question for Apple and the G4 in mobile applications is: How does it compare to Centrino machines?



    I'd say rather well. 1.33-1.5Ghz PB's will compare favorably against any Centrino machine. Centrinos will be faster in some areas, and the G4 will be faster in others. Anything written by Apple, or for Apple's core markets (creative content) should perform well on the PB's.



    Remember that the MPX bus is fabulously efficient, and there is the possibility of supporting up to 2MB of level 3 cache. The bus itself could probably be bumped to 200Mhz, if suitable RAM were sourced. Are there DDR400 So-dimms yet?



    But look at what they've done and give some credit. The G4, while largely what it's always been, is quite a decent/competitive mobile chip. Power saving features are more advanced, and it's faster and cooler, and going into ever cheaper machines (iBooks) which means that manufacturing costs must also be down. At 1.5Ghz, apart from the FSB, it isn't really behind the times at all when it comes to truly mobile performance.



    This is rather interesting news actually, it shows signs of life at Moto and gives legitimate hope that they're new partnership will actually produce the 7457RM (with DDR FSB).



    Who knows what a process shrink or move to 64 bits would produce?
  • Reply 135 of 176
    algolalgol Posts: 833member
    look no matter what you say the G4 is highly bottlenecked by the FSB. My point is without the 7457RM the G4 really can't go any higher than 1.5ghz on a 167mhz bus. If the bus has less than a 1:10 ratio its going to be pretty worthless. I suppose if they bump it to 200mhz they could go up the 2Ghz, but even then you are not going to see nearly the performance you would like form that 2Ghz G4. However if apple tries to release a 1.8Ghz G4 or something for the next update on the same 167mhz bus its going to be pretty pathetic... I would go as far to say that it is just a waste of battery power.
  • Reply 136 of 176
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Algol

    look no matter what you say the G4 is highly bottlenecked by the FSB. My point is without the 7457RM the G4 really can't go any higher than 1.5ghz on a 167mhz bus. If the bus has less than a 1:10 ratio its going to be pretty worthless.



    Similar topics are under discussion in Future Hardware:



    Apple Confirms NO G5 PowerBooks anytime soon

    Motorola is back.



    A quick, two-word answer: system integration. I really hope they do it this year.
  • Reply 137 of 176
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    As for the 7200 rpm hard drives, I think they are not an option for the new Powerbooks since they are not yet available at 80 GB. It is a matter of perception: 80 GB @ 5400 rpm or 60 GB @ 7200 rpm? I know each of you have the answer that suits best your needs, but Apple thinks different .
  • Reply 138 of 176
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Escher

    The second (even more important) consideration is that the internal 12" LCD looks so pathetically washed out next to a high-quality 17" desktop LCD, that I would rather not use the internal LCD at all.



    Did you tweak the Display Profile? It can do wonders. Of course, nothing can make a Powerbook be as bright as a Cinema display lumens-wise.
  • Reply 139 of 176
    Quote:

    Did you tweak the Display Profile? It can do wonders. Of course, nothing can make a Powerbook be as bright as a Cinema display lumens-wise



    I actually had a question about that...I went from an 800 eMac to this 12" with 17" LCD, and at first, viewing them side by side, the eMac display blew away the LCD. All the whites on the LCD were yellow in comparison with the eMac. I was able to tweak the profile, but to get the 'whites' to be white I basically had to put the gamma on 'PC'.



    Is there a way that I can download profiles for these screens, or if not, could someone give me some pointers as to how best to calibrate this thing...



    Thanks!!



  • Reply 140 of 176
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by maninmac

    Is there a way that I can download profiles for these screens, or if not, could someone give me some pointers as to how best to calibrate this thing...



    Profiles for download can be found on the net. However, they probably won't be of much use.



    The types of ambient lighting and even the color of your walls will completely change the 'optimal' calibration. Just opening the blinds to let in natural light will completely throw things off. Also, color perception differs drastically between people, even those not considered to be color blind.



    I would suggest calibrating your screen, to your eyes, in at least one of your typical computing environments. This will produce an image which you'll find much more pleasing than any allegedly "stock" profile.
Sign In or Register to comment.