Apple's new Mac PowerBooks out today.

[Eug]

New PowerBooks

My fave is the 1.25 GHz 15" Aluminum PowerBook with backlit keyboard, DVI, 802.11g, 2X CD-RW/DVD-R burner, 80 GB 5400 rpm drive, Radeon 9600, and Firewire 800, all in 5.6 lbs.

However, I also like the 12" which now has a DVI output. The 17" is too big for my tastes.

 

[Lyfer]

Such luxuries I cannot afford.

 

[Excelsior]

This is the update so many were waiting for. Man this is killer.
17-inch TFT Display
1440x900 resolution
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon
9600 (64MB DDR)
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & S-Video out

 

[jpeyton]

I thought G5 Powerbooks was the update.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I thought G5 Powerbooks was the update.

 

[Czar]

I thought this stuff was out months ago

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

w0w

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Czar
I thought this stuff was out months ago

It's a refresher: same machines, newer guts.

 

[Eug]

It's a refresher: same machines, newer guts.

The 15" is brand new. The previous model (ie. mine) was Titanium, with Firewire 400, and 802.11b. The new one is aluminum, includes a backlit keyboard, Firewire 800, and 802.11g.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I thought G5 Powerbooks was the update.

pie in the sky rumors. G5's probably won't be in powerbooks until the Jan/Feb '04 update.


Lethal

 

[Eug]

pie in the sky rumors. G5's probably won't be in powerbooks until the Jan/Feb '04 update.

Somehow I don't think it will be updated until Spring or later, with 90 nm PPC 970 chips at 1.5 GHz (or sped up G4s?). If that happens, I may actually update my TiBook.

 

[DWW]

Looks neat. But at its price, in Canada its THREE times the cost of a Dell 2.2 GHz celery lattitude that will do most of what I can toss at it on a laptop...

Don't get me wrong I love my newer iMac (6 months old). But anyone that wants to tell you that a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 is really x amount faster than an equivalently clocked x86 Athlon or P4 has obviously not used both environments. I find OS X to be soooooo slow with a 1 GHz G4 and Win XP seems so blazingly fast on a 1 GHz Athlon.

But anyhow, it is a sweet notebook. The backlit keyboard and Radeon 9600 just top it off to make it the ultimate...my only question is: how many game titles can you expect for OS X? I don't think HL2 is coming for it but then I could be misinformed. What about BF1942? Counter-strike? (is there a CS for mac? Some reason I had that idea in my head but I could be wrong)

Unfortunately some of my programming is done with Visual Studio .Net so I am prohibited from owning one of these for business-ish and hobby usage unfortunately

Might just end up with the $1200 CAD Dell instead of this $3600 CAD beast.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: Eug

pie in the sky rumors. G5's probably won't be in powerbooks until the Jan/Feb '04 update.

Somehow I don't think it will be updated until Spring or later, with 90 nm PPC 970 chips at 1.5 GHz (or sped up G4s?). If that happens, I may actually update my TiBook.

Hey, I can be optimistic can't I?


Lethal

 

[HomerSapien]

I would bet that G5 laptops are 1.5-2 years from coming out. I think these laptops are using the newer g4 chipset 7457 or somehting close to that. Not to mention that the g5 would probably melt the alumnium case and and your flesh. Just look at the size of the G5's heatsink. Wow.

When they do come out, i will definitely buy one as i should be finishing school by then.


By the way, my ti667 notebook is faster and slower than my athlon 1.33ghz. Slower overall in terms of i cant play games on it and some programs load a few seconds slower, but it doesnt seem to get clogged down the way the athlon does. Kind of runs at the same speed no matter how much is going on. Probably just seems that way to me though.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: HomerSapien
I would bet that G5 laptops are 1.5-2 years from coming out. I think these laptops are using the newer g4 chipset 7457 or somehting close to that. Not to mention that the g5 would probably melt the alumnium case and and your flesh. Just look at the size of the G5's heatsink. Wow.

Actually a G5 will put out about the same if not less heat than a G4 at the same clockspeed. Obviously you aren't going to see a 2.0ghz G5 in a laptop but a "low-end" 1.4 or 1.5ghz G5 isn't out of the question as it would kick out about the same heat as the current G4's.


Lethal

 

[Eug]

Yeah, by next year is when IBM is supposedly going 90 nm. A 1.2 GHz 130 nm chip puts out 19 W, which is OK for a laptop, so a 1.5 GHz 90 nm chip should also be pretty good for power.

 

[addragyn]

A 1GHz MPC7447 puts out less than 10w. Pegasos is running these fanless in their MorphOS systems. I hope to see a dual PowerBook in the future, if Moto can get -RM out the door.

---

Here are the changes.

New 15" case. (Al, better wireless performance) (12" & 17" already Al)

New CPU. (Faster, double L2, 512K)

New GPU. (ATI 9600 in 15" and 17") (GF FX 5200 in 12")

12" gets DVI out. (15" & 17" already do this)

Lower prices.

Illuminated keyboard new to top 15" model. (BTO on lower 15")

Increased max RAM. (2GB on 15" & 17", 1.25GB on 12")

AirPort Extreme (802.11G) across the board.

12" & 17" already had Bluetooth. Now 15" does too.

USB2.0 across the line.

15" gets FireWire800. (17" already had it)

12" & 15" get "third midrange-enhancing third speaker".

http://www.apple.com/powerbook/

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: addragyn
A 1GHz MPC7447 puts out less than 10w. Pegasos is running these fanless in their MorphOS systems. I hope to see a dual PowerBook in the future, if Moto can get -RM out the door.

Not quite. You're thinking about the low power version, which only runs up to 1 GHz, with a 133 MHz bus.

The ones Apple is using in the 15" PowerBook puts out 15.8 W at 1 GHz, and 18.7 W at 1.3 GHz.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

Wow, those are nice Powerbooks. They are indeed the Aston Martin's of the notebook world

 

[Draco]

Well I finally jumped in. I've been following Apple pretty closely since I saw the first Titanium PB in 2001. I was waiting patiently for these updates. I ordered the 12" model yesterday. Can't wait to get it. It was $1700 shipped after the EDU discount and then sales tax (bleh).

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Draco
Well I finally jumped in. I've been following Apple pretty closely since I saw the first Titanium PB in 2001. I was waiting patiently for these updates. I ordered the 12" model yesterday. Can't wait to get it. It was $1700 shipped after the EDU discount and then sales tax (bleh).

Yeah, the new 12" is sweet. Not a gaming machine, but the DVI will be great for an external TFT.

I wouldn't have bought the previous 12". VGA only.

 

[Erasmus-X]

This makes me SOOO mad. I bought my TiBook about two months ago. For the EXACT same price I paid for this one (which I really love, BTW), I could have waited and gotten the new Aluminum 15 incher. Tons of little upgrades:

1. 1 GHz to 1.25 GHz
2. 1 GB max RAM to 2 GB max RAM
3. SDR to DDR memory
4. Spongy TiBook keyboard to the awesome 17" keyboard w/backlight
5. 802.11b to 802.11g
6. No Bluetooth to built-in Bluetooth
7. FireWire 400 to FireWire 400/800
8. USB 1.1 to USB 2.0
9. Radeon 9000 to Radeon 9600
10. 1x DVD-R to 2x DVD-R (but that's ehem, fixable in the TiBook)

It's just not fair....

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Erasmus-X
This makes me SOOO mad. I bought my TiBook about two months ago. For the EXACT same price I paid for this one (which I really love, BTW), I could have waited and gotten the new Aluminum 15 incher. Tons of little upgrades:

1. 1 GHz to 1.25 GHz
2. 1 GB max RAM to 2 GB max RAM
3. SDR to DDR memory
4. Spongy TiBook keyboard to the awesome 17" keyboard w/backlight
5. 802.11b to 802.11g
6. No Bluetooth to built-in Bluetooth
7. FireWire 400 to FireWire 400/800
8. USB 1.1 to USB 2.0
9. Radeon 9000 to Radeon 9600
10. 1x DVD-R to 2x DVD-R (but that's ehem, fixable in the TiBook)

It's just not fair....

I feel your pain, but we all knew it was coming... eventually.

Luckily I bought mine Dec. 2002. Note I paid a LOT more though.

Oh, and there is a 2X firmware flash for your TiBook, which also gives you 16X CD-R and 1X DVD-RW.

http://superdrive.cynikal.net/

 

[Erasmus-X]

Eug:

Yeah, I'm aware of the firmware update, as I have applied it myself. Quite an improvement. I was pretty reluctant to do it for warranty reasons, but that Cynikal dude made a utility to flash it back to the original firmware in case I ever have to send my TiBook to Apple. I guess I just wasn't a) Expecting Apple to release the new Aluminum model so soon (otherwise I would have waited) or b) wasn't expecting the aluminum model to be THIS much better at the same exact price. Oh well......

 

[Eug]

Erasmus, don't complain... I paid a LOT more for my TiBook 1 GHz (in 2002).

P.S. Here are some pictures of the 15" AluBook innards.