The industry is going a little overboard with the Card Reader integrated into everything. ...
100% agree. For one thing, there are just too many kinds of cards (14 at last count). For another, you can get an external USB reader for just the kinds you have really cheap.
I wasn't clear : I was answering to someone who suggested a card reader. I tend to be against this idea since I don't want 3 or 4 more differently sized slots devastating the otherwise very smooth design of a Powerbook.
I just read the original poster and though: "Oh, he really want's a PC!". The thinga I missed in the description was all the ugly stickers on the top, the cheap plastics with fake metallic pant, the sense that the computer is some kind of Frankenstein's monster, kitbashed from 10 different models, multicolored ports, a 4 pin Firewire-port, blinkenlights for HD, CPU, WLAN and God know what else, a forgotten underside that'd scare Grandma into an early grave and two fan ports that'll howl like crazy.
You may like the pretty nature of the Apple hardware but some of use need to get things done with this hardware. Givne that if Apple doesn't support Compact Flash then I'd rather see a universal solution such as a CardBus slot can take a chip carrier. Plus a cardbus slot can be used for any other type of pheripherial.
Dave
Quote:
Originally posted by stephane36
I wasn't clear : I was answering to someone who suggested a card reader. I tend to be against this idea since I don't want 3 or 4 more differently sized slots devastating the otherwise very smooth design of a Powerbook.
Humph--I never use my cardbus slot as it is, until my PowerBook is long in the tooth and there are missing interfaces needed, like 802.11g on my old TiBook. I know users vary, needs are different, yadda yadda yadda, but I seriously doubt we'll see two cardbus slots on a PowerBook.
I just read the original poster and though: "Oh, he really want's a PC!". The thinga I missed in the description was all the ugly stickers on the top, the cheap plastics with fake metallic pant, the sense that the computer is some kind of Frankenstein's monster, kitbashed from 10 different models, multicolored ports, a 4 pin Firewire-port, blinkenlights for HD, CPU, WLAN and God know what else, a forgotten underside that'd scare Grandma into an early grave and two fan ports that'll howl like crazy.
Oooh.. quite nice. Very light, no fans and good batery. Expensive as hell though, and still the ugly underbelly that comes with every PC laptop, still looks like Frankenstein, still have multicolored ports everywhere, blinkenlights, 4-pin FireWire, expensive (not cheap) palstics with fake metallic paint. I was very close.. my point still stands.
Stronger Case -> gimme magnesium alloy and dump the aluminum (pretty please)
Longer Battery -> at least 5 hours (non-marketing 5 hours that is)
GSM -> ?when god, when will I get to see the sail boat!?
Docking Station -> in the most sneer weazly voice possible, ?wwwweeaa I just plug in a monitor and power cable so why do I need a docking station? shut up, just shut up. It?s very ignorant as shoddy that Apple doesn?t have a docking station (period).
LoopRumors has information that Apple has been developing a stripped down iBook model geared for low-end users. Whether the new machine will have an Intel processor or remain PowerPC is unclear. The price of the laptop is aimed to compete with sub $500 notebooks such as Dell's Inspiron B120.
¨
Sweet if true, but then again, I dont think that there is room for another laptop, except if the iBook goes to 2 machines.
Hi Appleinsiders. I found this feedback link on apple's website and sent them the following letter with my suggestions for my dream powerbook. I don't feel like any of my suggestions are technically that difficult for Apple to use. Everyone else who wants to see a good small powerbook should go to this feedback link and submit their own desires (especially if they are similar to mine http://www.apple.com/feedback/powerbook.html
Quote:
Dear Apple,
Hello, I wish I had found this page earlier. I am currently using a PowerBook G4 Titanium 400Mhz, the first PB G4 model. It is approaching 5 years old now, and about a year ago, I decided that I wanted a smaller powerbook, something in the 12 to 13" widescreen range. I am a college student, so I always want to have my computer with me and the 15" form factor is just getting to be too much for me to lug around, and it doesn't fit on the small fold-up seat desks very well. I saved up my money and for the last year have been waiting for Apple to release a really great update to the 12" line. The following is a list of features that I've been waiting for:
a) FireWire 800- it's been out on the other desktops and larger powerbooks for what? two years now? My almost 5 year old powerbook has FW400 and I want an interface that will give me even faster data transfer to my external FW drives for backup and video storage.
b) an ATI graphics card that supports display rotation - I believe the 15 and 17" support it, but the nVidia in the current 12" does not. I have a beautiful 20" widescreen DVI monitor on my desk that I want to use when I'm at home, and it rotates.
c) PC-card slot - I'm a photographer and it would be great to not have to carry around a USB flash card reader and just use my PC Card->Compact flash sled. Or what if I want to drive a third monitor with a PC Card display-card, or slap in a newer wireless technology (802.11n when it is released, or CDMA/GSM data). The Fujitsu Lifebook P7010 I use at work is noticeably smaller than the PB12" (but the design is not as beautiful) and it has a PC Card slot, a compact flash slot, and memory stick slots, in addition to a combo DVD drive, FW400, etc...
d) higher resolution screen - I'd like something that could show full-res 720p HD footage. How about something along the lines of a 13" widescreen with 1280x800 resolution? 1024x768 just does not cut it in this day and age. And I don't care if the pixels are smaller- this new powerbook will be even better when OSX includes true resolution independence in the future!
e) dual-layer DVD+/-RW - these drives are out there, I don't want to pay a premium for apple's awesome designs and user experience, and be getting last year's technology.
f) miscellaneous niceties - ability to replace the hard drive without having to disassemble the entire computer. Power users on the go can have a drive go bad and they shouldn't have to spent more than 20 minutes to pop in a new backup.
mighty-mouse style trackpad - use the mighty mouse technology to make a single-button trackpad that is software configurable to become 2 or 3 button through system preferences.
optical audio in/out - not exactly the top of my list, but it would nice to have nearly feature parity across the entire powerbook line.
Hopefully some of these suggestions will back up those provided by some of your other loyal fans and I will be able to buy my new PowerBook soon! Thank you for taking the time to read this feedback!
natec. Good points. I'll make a couple of suggestions though.
a) Give us FW800 (with 9pin-6pin adapter) and eSATA ports. Along wih USB 2.0 that'll cover all storage needs adequately.
b) I think this is a great idea as long as it can be a feature of ATI's driver system for certain chipsets.
Oops, I probably should have said something about eSATA. How big is the eSATA connector, and would it fit into the PB form factor?
Display rotation seems to be a feature of ATI's drivers for most of the currently shipping and even a few of the older ones (I have an AGP Rage 9000 Pro in my G4 desktop that is a few years old, and it supports rotation in 10.3 using ATI's newest drivers and control panel). Display rotation became a Displays option in System preferences with 10.4 and the ATI graphics cards.
Quote:
d) High Def just isn't high def on small screens. But I'd take it if I could get it.
Yes, and in reality, I would probably spend VERY little time actually watching HD video on my laptop screen, especially a smaller 13", but it would be nice to have the option. Also, I need enough room to keep the normal web-browser, email, IM, iTunes programs open without total overlap so i can see relevant data!
Perhaps I also should have stressed the importance of the computer being able to play back 720p and 1080i H.264 compressed video to external high resolution monitors without dropping frames? I see the demands on the computer due to HD video becoming even greater in the future, so I don't want to buy a computer today that can't even handle these codecs that have been around for a while. Or how about even the MPEG2 compressed HD streams that the EyeTV 500 captures? If it needs to be hardware accelerated to play, get those new ATI graphics cards that can do it!
Quote:
e)The PB 15 and 17" do indeed have Dual Layer drives. Only the 12"doesn't [/B]
Thanks for clarifying that point as well! My dream powerbook would probably actually have a next-gen optical mechanism and still be compatible for burning/reading CD-RW and DVD-RW, but perhaps that is a little much to expect right now. But make the mounting bracket and mechanism standard, so that in a year when laptop Blu-Ray (or whatever) mechanisms are widely available, I can put one in!
Once again, thanks for providing feedback on the suggestions. I wish Apple would really read these boards to get a feel for the demands of their prosumers and professionals.
Comments
Originally posted by hmurchison
The industry is going a little overboard with the Card Reader integrated into everything. ...
100% agree. For one thing, there are just too many kinds of cards (14 at last count). For another, you can get an external USB reader for just the kinds you have really cheap.
Dave
Originally posted by stephane36
I wasn't clear : I was answering to someone who suggested a card reader. I tend to be against this idea since I don't want 3 or 4 more differently sized slots devastating the otherwise very smooth design of a Powerbook.
Originally posted by Henriok
I just read the original poster and though: "Oh, he really want's a PC!". The thinga I missed in the description was all the ugly stickers on the top, the cheap plastics with fake metallic pant, the sense that the computer is some kind of Frankenstein's monster, kitbashed from 10 different models, multicolored ports, a 4 pin Firewire-port, blinkenlights for HD, CPU, WLAN and God know what else, a forgotten underside that'd scare Grandma into an early grave and two fan ports that'll howl like crazy.
Worst. Post. Ever.
Originally posted by Gene Clean
Worst. Post. Ever.
Oooh.. quite nice. Very light, no fans and good batery. Expensive as hell though, and still the ugly underbelly that comes with every PC laptop, still looks like Frankenstein, still have multicolored ports everywhere, blinkenlights, 4-pin FireWire, expensive (not cheap) palstics with fake metallic paint. I was very close.. my point still stands.
Lighter -> 4.7 lbs for a 12-inch is ridiculous
Stronger Case -> gimme magnesium alloy and dump the aluminum (pretty please)
Longer Battery -> at least 5 hours (non-marketing 5 hours that is)
GSM -> ?when god, when will I get to see the sail boat!?
Docking Station -> in the most sneer weazly voice possible, ?wwwweeaa I just plug in a monitor and power cable so why do I need a docking station? shut up, just shut up. It?s very ignorant as shoddy that Apple doesn?t have a docking station (period).
Originally posted by Henriok
my point still stands.
Sure it does.
LoopRumors has information that Apple has been developing a stripped down iBook model geared for low-end users. Whether the new machine will have an Intel processor or remain PowerPC is unclear. The price of the laptop is aimed to compete with sub $500 notebooks such as Dell's Inspiron B120.
¨
Sweet if true, but then again, I dont think that there is room for another laptop, except if the iBook goes to 2 machines.
Dear Apple,
Hello, I wish I had found this page earlier. I am currently using a PowerBook G4 Titanium 400Mhz, the first PB G4 model. It is approaching 5 years old now, and about a year ago, I decided that I wanted a smaller powerbook, something in the 12 to 13" widescreen range. I am a college student, so I always want to have my computer with me and the 15" form factor is just getting to be too much for me to lug around, and it doesn't fit on the small fold-up seat desks very well. I saved up my money and for the last year have been waiting for Apple to release a really great update to the 12" line. The following is a list of features that I've been waiting for:
a) FireWire 800- it's been out on the other desktops and larger powerbooks for what? two years now? My almost 5 year old powerbook has FW400 and I want an interface that will give me even faster data transfer to my external FW drives for backup and video storage.
b) an ATI graphics card that supports display rotation - I believe the 15 and 17" support it, but the nVidia in the current 12" does not. I have a beautiful 20" widescreen DVI monitor on my desk that I want to use when I'm at home, and it rotates.
c) PC-card slot - I'm a photographer and it would be great to not have to carry around a USB flash card reader and just use my PC Card->Compact flash sled. Or what if I want to drive a third monitor with a PC Card display-card, or slap in a newer wireless technology (802.11n when it is released, or CDMA/GSM data). The Fujitsu Lifebook P7010 I use at work is noticeably smaller than the PB12" (but the design is not as beautiful) and it has a PC Card slot, a compact flash slot, and memory stick slots, in addition to a combo DVD drive, FW400, etc...
d) higher resolution screen - I'd like something that could show full-res 720p HD footage. How about something along the lines of a 13" widescreen with 1280x800 resolution? 1024x768 just does not cut it in this day and age. And I don't care if the pixels are smaller- this new powerbook will be even better when OSX includes true resolution independence in the future!
e) dual-layer DVD+/-RW - these drives are out there, I don't want to pay a premium for apple's awesome designs and user experience, and be getting last year's technology.
f) miscellaneous niceties - ability to replace the hard drive without having to disassemble the entire computer. Power users on the go can have a drive go bad and they shouldn't have to spent more than 20 minutes to pop in a new backup.
mighty-mouse style trackpad - use the mighty mouse technology to make a single-button trackpad that is software configurable to become 2 or 3 button through system preferences.
optical audio in/out - not exactly the top of my list, but it would nice to have nearly feature parity across the entire powerbook line.
Hopefully some of these suggestions will back up those provided by some of your other loyal fans and I will be able to buy my new PowerBook soon! Thank you for taking the time to read this feedback!
Respectfully,
natec
a) Give us FW800 (with 9pin-6pin adapter) and eSATA ports. Along wih USB 2.0 that'll cover all storage needs adequately.
b) I think this is a great idea as long as it can be a feature of ATI's driver system for certain chipsets.
c)I'd like one PCCARD slot and one Expresscard 54 slot. Best of the past and future.
d) High Def just isn't high def on small screens. But I'd take it if I could get it.
e)The PB 15 and 17" do indeed have Dual Layer drives. Only the 12"doesn't
Originally posted by hmurchison
natec. Good points. I'll make a couple of suggestions though.
a) Give us FW800 (with 9pin-6pin adapter) and eSATA ports. Along wih USB 2.0 that'll cover all storage needs adequately.
b) I think this is a great idea as long as it can be a feature of ATI's driver system for certain chipsets.
Oops, I probably should have said something about eSATA. How big is the eSATA connector, and would it fit into the PB form factor?
Display rotation seems to be a feature of ATI's drivers for most of the currently shipping and even a few of the older ones (I have an AGP Rage 9000 Pro in my G4 desktop that is a few years old, and it supports rotation in 10.3 using ATI's newest drivers and control panel). Display rotation became a Displays option in System preferences with 10.4 and the ATI graphics cards.
d) High Def just isn't high def on small screens. But I'd take it if I could get it.
Yes, and in reality, I would probably spend VERY little time actually watching HD video on my laptop screen, especially a smaller 13", but it would be nice to have the option. Also, I need enough room to keep the normal web-browser, email, IM, iTunes programs open without total overlap so i can see relevant data!
Perhaps I also should have stressed the importance of the computer being able to play back 720p and 1080i H.264 compressed video to external high resolution monitors without dropping frames? I see the demands on the computer due to HD video becoming even greater in the future, so I don't want to buy a computer today that can't even handle these codecs that have been around for a while. Or how about even the MPEG2 compressed HD streams that the EyeTV 500 captures? If it needs to be hardware accelerated to play, get those new ATI graphics cards that can do it!
e)The PB 15 and 17" do indeed have Dual Layer drives. Only the 12"doesn't [/B]
Thanks for clarifying that point as well! My dream powerbook would probably actually have a next-gen optical mechanism and still be compatible for burning/reading CD-RW and DVD-RW, but perhaps that is a little much to expect right now. But make the mounting bracket and mechanism standard, so that in a year when laptop Blu-Ray (or whatever) mechanisms are widely available, I can put one in!
Once again, thanks for providing feedback on the suggestions. I wish Apple would really read these boards to get a feel for the demands of their prosumers and professionals.
-natec