G5 Powerbook?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I currently own a dual 867Mhz processor G4 PowerMac which has performed flawlessly for me in the past year.



However, I'm looking to go more mobile and possibly buy the 1.3Ghz 15" Powerbook.



My question(s) are:



- Would this be considered an upgrade?

- Is the Powerbook faster/slower/comparable?

- Is now a good time to buy the G4 Powerbook or will a G5 be coming out?

- Will I notice significant speed differences using Photoshop or Illustrator?

- How many years could I expect out of this new model?



Thanks for any input!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    Anytime you have the money in the pocket is a great time to buy. lol



    I doubt there will be a G5 notebook anytime soon... Many reasons for this, which are posted elsewhere here in this forum. (I'm sure we may hear more on the subject, by the end of June)



    I have both a G4, and a G5 power mac, and love them both. My only caution and that is a small one, would have more to do with the OS. There may be a new OS coming down the pike, and even then Apple will usually give you a slight break on the OS upgrade price. (if the new product was bought within a short time prior to the new OS release)
  • Reply 2 of 9
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Here's a wild guess: there will never be a PPC97x in a powerbook.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    prediction: the next update will see lightning fast powerbooks that blow our minds untill a week after release when everyone starts byching about the lack of speed or low model number of the cpu.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Prediction: if there are many more threads that have "G5 Powerbook" in the title, I'm leaving this place.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    chris cuillachris cuilla Posts: 4,825member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    Here's a wild guess: there will never be a PPC97x in a powerbook.



    There is a good possibility that might be true.



    Did you see that radiator on the PMG5? And that was on the 90nm chips (which are supposed to have the smaller die size, lower power consumption and lower heat dissipation suitable for a laptop)! Wow!
  • Reply 6 of 9
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    Here's a wild guess: there will never be a PPC97x in a powerbook.



    Why not ?

    It's technically possible to make a low voltage version of this chip especially for powerbooks, like the mobile X86 chips.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    Why not ?

    It's technically possible to make a low voltage version of this chip especially for powerbooks, like the mobile X86 chips.




    low voltage isnt the issue--it's heat.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    Prediction: if there are many more threads that have "G5 Powerbook" in the title, I'm leaving this place.



    agreed
  • Reply 9 of 9
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    low voltage isnt the issue--it's heat.



    Well, it sort of is the issue. But CPUs require voltage and current, and they dissipate heat. lower voltage lowers the heat for sure, but by increasing clock speed you're increasing the power requirements (don't want to go into the basics of semiconductor physics to explain why).



    So even if you counter the fact that you have more transistors with the fact that you're using 90nm, SSOI, and copper interconnect, you still are going to get hurt from the higher clock speed.



    Regardless, it's clear to me (and most people) that large, superscalar CPU's are not "the future" of computing. We're seeing a return of the ASIC in a big way, and it's just going to get taken further: multiple, specialized small cores on a single die.



    Powerdoc brought up the x86. Not really a good argument. First of all, modern x86's are in many ways RISC chips. So the whole legacy of the x86 as an inefficient design isn't as important now as it was. Second of all, the Pentium-M is something special. It has all sort of power conservation modes that are transparent to the user. In fact, I think they are actually transparent to almost anything/anyone. If IBM develops a G5 with tech similar to that of the Pentium-M, it will be unique enough to be outside of the 97x family.
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