Any suggestions for the Powerbook to be THE laptop computer to have, an evolution, not merely an upgrade?
My suggestions for the BIG VISION, but feasable technologies to include. Caution, I'm not saying they should or could all be done at once for an ammount anywhere near affordable to buy ot profitable to make...yet. But remember Airport was WAY too expensive and forwrd thinking when Apple introduced it. Apple made USB a household name and requirement when everything was Parallel, SCSI and ADB ports.
My suggestions:
? Carbon Fiber Powerbook frames (lighter than steel and 10 times stronger) or at least laminates for increased durabiity at lighter weights, carbon fiber is also more resistant to high heat and is conductive to electricity.
? OLED (Organic Light Emmitting Diodes) Screens, in use now in cell phones and digital cameras, uses far less power than LCDs and are brighter.
? Airport antenna port, allowing users to boost their Airport signal with any number or commercially sold or homemade booster antennas, a big bragging right, increased functionality with low support cost, easy tio implement.
? Independent ability to play CDs and DVDs, WITHOUT having to boot up.
? New battery chemistry, more power/more PB life...move away from current PB batteries. Wil be more specific in later post on this thread.
? Faster Front Side Bus, memory controller and motherboard
? Sealed keyboard etc to prevent spills from causing damage, easy to clean.
? A Flash Drive or Magnetic Ram for Mac OS X anddiagnostics only to allow for instant on capeabiltiy and the abiltiy to run full diagnostics and repairsof the hard drive without external hardware.
Any other ideas or technology that could or should be included? Notice none of mine relied on huge increases in Processor speeds. Because generally, that is out of Apple's hands.
Which of my suggestions, above, seems most possible/likely? Which are most worth buying?
We've heard mention of HD PowerBooks... perhaps its coming sooner rather than later. If a G5 really is required for the latest Pro apps then the next PowerBook, or at least the HD PowerBook, is gonna have a G5 in it.
To be honest, I am not really waiting for a G5 PowerBook. This is not only because I bought a G4 PowerBook (15"), Greetz!
I'm with you. We are never happy with what is here. We always want the next one that is coming out. Talk about pointless. Newton did all his computations with a quill pen. Here we are with super computers running on batteries and we still want more. Can you imagine the coversations a hudred years from now? When is the new pre-emptive telepathy interface coming out? I am not buying until the fusion screens reach 10000000000 dpi. I wont get mine until the quatum storage units get to 100 petabytes. Okay who am I kidding, I want G5 too!
? Independent ability to play CDs and DVDs, WITHOUT having to boot up.
? New battery chemistry, more power/more PB life...
? Faster Front Side Bus, memory controller and motherboard
? Sealed keyboard etc to prevent spills from causing damage, easy to clean.
? A Flash Drive or Magnetic Ram for Mac OS X . . .
I am going to build on your ideas.
1. Carbon Fiber is brittle, and shatters into sharp pieces. bad. It's also not stronger than steel in most regards. I say build it out of Torlon composite, which is way more exotic and is more flexible. It's used a lot in aerospace to replace metal.
2. OLED still has a long way to go before it will be in a large size screen with accurate color representation.
3. If Apple makes a really killer internal antenna, there's no need for an external one.
4. There's no much out there beyond LiIon. LiPoly is not actually any better, it's just a new substrate technology that allows some more exotic form factors (thin). As I have suggested many times, the new powerbooks should have non-removable batteries, and lots of them. That way the cells can be crammed wherever there's space.
5. Thinkpads used to have the stand alone CD player. No one ever used it. Apple wants you to get an iPod to listen to music.
Provision for an external antenna would be nice. True, a better internal antenna would help, but a really nice antenna is a little large to fit in the laptop and could be extremely helpful in some offices or other situations.
Longer battery life would be great.
Provision for optical audio out for getting surround sound for DVDs would be cool.
Hardware acceleration for viewing HD video would be really nice. We can now get HD content with Eye TV's digital tuner but we can't view it except with a dual G5.
Position the microphone up at the top of the screen for better voice reception (only if Tiger will make use of voice input).
As to the CPU, I'd rather have dual G4s than a single G5. I imagine that a G5 going into a laptop would run about 1.6 to 2.0GHz. G4s are already in that range. A single G4 would perform almost as well as a single G5. Dual G4s would blow it away and have better battery life with the option to shut down one processor when not needed.
I rather like the aluminum case. Mine has held up well for nearly a year and a half. It is easy to keep clean. The brightness of Al sets it off well against the dark plastics of other laptops.
A little more screen resolution would be good. The 15" could go to maybe 1350 or 1400 horizontal.
1. Carbon Fiber is brittle, and shatters into sharp pieces. bad. It's also not stronger than steel in most regards. I say build it out of Torlon composite, which is way more exotic and is more flexible. It's used a lot in aerospace to replace metal.
Stem-cell derived human bone. I'm telling you, it's the material of the future. Grow it into any shape you need.
I want to replace my G5 desktop with a PowerBook, as I don't do any video work and as such don't need the power, and would benifit from a device that is quieter and sucks up less energy (= lower electricity bills).
At the same time, I don't want to step back to a 167 MHz system bus, so I guess I will have to wait for either a dual core G4 or G5 powerbook. WHEN!??
are you joking! the powerbooks would need a way better cooling system to support a G5! It gets burnung hot on my lap with a 1GHz G4! 139 degrees! Man it would be a saftey issue!
Well, I would be fine with a faster or dual core G4 processor. As far as the G5, owning a PowerMac G5, I do understand the issues, and I know that a PowerBook G5 will only be possible once IBM makes a low power "mobile" version available to Apple.
I am definitley not expecting Apple to simply take the current G5 and put it in a PowerBook, but at the same time I am growing very impatient.
I currently have the 1.5ghz 15" G4 Powerbook. I love it, and since i have a G5 at work, i feel satisfied. However I do notice that my powerbook can get slow at times (especially in iPhoto grrr). When I purchased my Powerbook, i intended it to last at least 2 years... well one year is down... and I have already caught myself looking at the newer models., like the 17" with 100GB drive... mmm tasty..
Yeah the powerbooks are just "ok" they sure as hell don't feel fast. I want something that makes me go "woah".
Not something that has me taking prescriptions from pent up rage and frustration. I seriously tense up the minute I see the rainbow beachball.
Quote:
Originally posted by fudgebrown
I currently have the 1.5ghz 15" G4 Powerbook. I love it, and since i have a G5 at work, i feel satisfied. However I do notice that my powerbook can get slow at times (especially in iPhoto grrr). When I purchased my Powerbook, i intended it to last at least 2 years... well one year is down... and I have already caught myself looking at the newer models., like the 17" with 100GB drive... mmm tasty..
I'd really like to see a little WiFi finder meter on the side of the case (presumably just a strip of LEDs) that can run while the case is closed. That way I can find a hotspot without having to open up my PB....
Comments
My suggestions for the BIG VISION, but feasable technologies to include. Caution, I'm not saying they should or could all be done at once for an ammount anywhere near affordable to buy ot profitable to make...yet. But remember Airport was WAY too expensive and forwrd thinking when Apple introduced it. Apple made USB a household name and requirement when everything was Parallel, SCSI and ADB ports.
My suggestions:
? Carbon Fiber Powerbook frames (lighter than steel and 10 times stronger) or at least laminates for increased durabiity at lighter weights, carbon fiber is also more resistant to high heat and is conductive to electricity.
? OLED (Organic Light Emmitting Diodes) Screens, in use now in cell phones and digital cameras, uses far less power than LCDs and are brighter.
? Airport antenna port, allowing users to boost their Airport signal with any number or commercially sold or homemade booster antennas, a big bragging right, increased functionality with low support cost, easy tio implement.
? Independent ability to play CDs and DVDs, WITHOUT having to boot up.
? New battery chemistry, more power/more PB life...move away from current PB batteries. Wil be more specific in later post on this thread.
? Faster Front Side Bus, memory controller and motherboard
? Sealed keyboard etc to prevent spills from causing damage, easy to clean.
? A Flash Drive or Magnetic Ram for Mac OS X anddiagnostics only to allow for instant on capeabiltiy and the abiltiy to run full diagnostics and repairsof the hard drive without external hardware.
Any other ideas or technology that could or should be included? Notice none of mine relied on huge increases in Processor speeds. Because generally, that is out of Apple's hands.
Which of my suggestions, above, seems most possible/likely? Which are most worth buying?
Thanks for your input, guys!
Playback of HD DVDs authored in DVD Studio Pro 4 requires a PowerPC G5 processor
(from http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/).
Originally posted by philby
Looks like the PowerBook will in fact need a G5 sooner or later.
(from http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/).
Native HD support in software will require HD monitor in PowerBook. It might mean a better graphics card. Does it really mean a better CPU?
Originally posted by bazad
Does it really mean a better CPU?
I think it means what it says, that is a G5 processor. Which could mean that you will not be able to do that in a Powerbook anytime soon
Originally posted by PB
I think it means what it says, that is a G5 processor.
Maybe H.264 really needs the G5s much superior I/O throughput?
Anyway... Apple, get on with it, I want a HD-capable PowerBook. 8)
Originally posted by philby
Maybe H.264 really needs the G5s much superior I/O throughput?
Something like that, I guess.
Anyway... Apple, get on with it, I want a HD-capable PowerBook. 8)
Originally posted by pilgrim73
To be honest, I am not really waiting for a G5 PowerBook. This is not only because I bought a G4 PowerBook (15"), Greetz!
I'm with you. We are never happy with what is here. We always want the next one that is coming out. Talk about pointless. Newton did all his computations with a quill pen. Here we are with super computers running on batteries and we still want more. Can you imagine the coversations a hudred years from now? When is the new pre-emptive telepathy interface coming out? I am not buying until the fusion screens reach 10000000000 dpi. I wont get mine until the quatum storage units get to 100 petabytes. Okay who am I kidding, I want G5 too!
This thing is a long time coming. Only because ever since the announcement of the G5, Powerbook owners have been waiting.
What I would really like to see even more on Powerbooks are upgradeable GPUs and better battery technology.
Originally posted by ChillMac
My suggestions:
? Carbon Fiber Powerbook frames
? OLED (Organic Light Emmitting Diodes) Screens
? Airport antenna port
? Independent ability to play CDs and DVDs, WITHOUT having to boot up.
? New battery chemistry, more power/more PB life...
? Faster Front Side Bus, memory controller and motherboard
? Sealed keyboard etc to prevent spills from causing damage, easy to clean.
? A Flash Drive or Magnetic Ram for Mac OS X . . .
I am going to build on your ideas.
1. Carbon Fiber is brittle, and shatters into sharp pieces. bad. It's also not stronger than steel in most regards. I say build it out of Torlon composite, which is way more exotic
2. OLED still has a long way to go before it will be in a large size screen with accurate color representation.
3. If Apple makes a really killer internal antenna, there's no need for an external one.
4. There's no much out there beyond LiIon. LiPoly is not actually any better, it's just a new substrate technology that allows some more exotic form factors (thin). As I have suggested many times, the new powerbooks should have non-removable batteries, and lots of them. That way the cells can be crammed wherever there's space.
5. Thinkpads used to have the stand alone CD player. No one ever used it. Apple wants you to get an iPod to listen to music.
Longer battery life would be great.
Provision for optical audio out for getting surround sound for DVDs would be cool.
Hardware acceleration for viewing HD video would be really nice. We can now get HD content with Eye TV's digital tuner but we can't view it except with a dual G5.
Position the microphone up at the top of the screen for better voice reception (only if Tiger will make use of voice input).
As to the CPU, I'd rather have dual G4s than a single G5. I imagine that a G5 going into a laptop would run about 1.6 to 2.0GHz. G4s are already in that range. A single G4 would perform almost as well as a single G5. Dual G4s would blow it away and have better battery life with the option to shut down one processor when not needed.
I rather like the aluminum case. Mine has held up well for nearly a year and a half. It is easy to keep clean. The brightness of Al sets it off well against the dark plastics of other laptops.
A little more screen resolution would be good. The 15" could go to maybe 1350 or 1400 horizontal.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
I am going to build on your ideas.
1. Carbon Fiber is brittle, and shatters into sharp pieces. bad. It's also not stronger than steel in most regards. I say build it out of Torlon composite, which is way more exotic
Stem-cell derived human bone. I'm telling you, it's the material of the future. Grow it into any shape you need.
At the same time, I don't want to step back to a 167 MHz system bus, so I guess I will have to wait for either a dual core G4 or G5 powerbook. WHEN!??
I am definitley not expecting Apple to simply take the current G5 and put it in a PowerBook, but at the same time I am growing very impatient.
Not something that has me taking prescriptions from pent up rage and frustration. I seriously tense up the minute I see the rainbow beachball.
Originally posted by fudgebrown
I currently have the 1.5ghz 15" G4 Powerbook. I love it, and since i have a G5 at work, i feel satisfied. However I do notice that my powerbook can get slow at times (especially in iPhoto grrr). When I purchased my Powerbook, i intended it to last at least 2 years... well one year is down... and I have already caught myself looking at the newer models., like the 17" with 100GB drive... mmm tasty..