New Apple PowerBooks

[Commodus]

Consider this, though: if Apple had a 15.4", 1440x900 LCD, it would hit that 110 DPI figure. Of course, the 17" would need to immediately step up in resolution to 1680x1050 or so, which could be a bit much. But I think there are a lot of users who'd agree that Apple's general UI size is much better-suited to high resolutions.

I'm not going to complain if Apple sticks to its existing sizes, but I'd love it if "the year of HD" meant that PowerBooks gained the extra screen resolution for HD video editing.

 

[trikster2]

Originally posted by: Commodus
Consider this, though: if Apple had a 15.4", 1440x900 LCD, it would hit that 110 DPI figure. Of course, the 17" would need to immediately step up in resolution to 1680x1050 or so, which could be a bit much. But I think there are a lot of users who'd agree that Apple's general UI size is much better-suited to high resolutions.

I'm not going to complain if Apple sticks to its existing sizes, but I'd love it if "the year of HD" meant that PowerBooks gained the extra screen resolution for HD video editing.

Exactly

1440 or 1610 would be a much better res for the 15"

I look at the apple 15" PB and the dim fuzzy screen literally hurts my eyes. Maybe I'm just to used to this brite 1900x1200 laptop screen or maybe it is the trashy apple font rendering technology. Whatever the case I'm not switching if it means downgrading my portable computing visual experience.

 

[Wuzup101]

Actually unless the G5 powerbooks come with a higher resolution screan I probably will just keep my powerbook and buy a dual 2.5ghz G5 w/ a 23" cinema screan. That's assuming there is powermac speedbump by the time I'm ready to buy (and their will be) and the 2.5 isn't the "premium" machine anymore. If it sitll is then I'll go with the dual 2.0. I love this powerbook, and I don't think I really need more features/power on the go to be honest. I'd probably be better off getting more bang for my buck w/ a powermac. And yeah, I just want one of those sexy 23" HDD screans even if they do cost a premium!

 

[uOpt]

Originally posted by: Eug

I want the backlit keyboard in the 12". I'd pay extra for it too.

[aol voice] Me too.

 

[frazzled]

Actually unless the G5 powerbooks come with a higher resolution screan I probably will just keep my powerbook and buy a dual 2.5ghz G5 w/ a 23" cinema screan. That's assuming there is powermac speedbump by the time I'm ready to buy (and their will be) and the 2.5 isn't the "premium" machine anymore. If it sitll is then I'll go with the dual 2.0. I love this powerbook, and I don't think I really need more features/power on the go to be honest. I'd probably be better off getting more bang for my buck w/ a powermac. And yeah, I just want one of those sexy 23" HDD screans even if they do cost a premium!

LOL, Wuzup, sounds like you're heading for a serious transition (dare I say "partial switch"?).

Of course, I followed exactly the trajectory you descibe . My son now has my original self-built P4 3.06 GHz machine (not that he's complaining) and I have a tricked out Dual 2.5 + 23" HDD on my desk. The dual is smooth as silk and a joy to use on every level. The interesting thing is that it hasn't diminished my "love" for my 17" 1.5GHz PB at all even though it is much faster. I spent all of last wekend working on just the PB, didn't bug me at all.

Enjoy.

JT

 

[kenan921]

low end g5s are highly overrated. I think based on benchmarks of the 1.25 g4 imac vs the 1.6 g5 imac, that a 1.67 g4 would actually be a little faster than any low end g5 until apple releases a true 64-bit OS.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: kenan921
low end g5s are highly overrated. I think based on benchmarks of the 1.25 g4 imac vs the 1.6 g5 imac, that a 1.67 g4 would actually be a little faster than any low end g5 until apple releases a true 64-bit OS.

From what I've gathered... For a lot of int stuff and Altivec stuff, especially if the code is well-written, the G4 is very good clock-for-clock vs the G5. However, for floating point, the G5 blows away the G4. They're not even in the same league.

Most of the barefeats.com benchmarks aren't really all that useful BTW. A lot of the testing was done with the iMac G5 set on Automatic mode, which slows the CPU down to conserve power. Not a good way to test maximum performance.

Basically, the G4 is an good chip for its power characteristics and its performance in some apps, and it makes for a reasonable portable CPU.

The G5 offers top notch performance, and is a better all around performer than the G4, both because of higher clock rate and because of better FP performance per clock. However, although its power characteristics are better than the Pentium 4's, it has proven problematic to get its power down to acceptable levels for an Apple laptop. Luckily for Intel, they don't have to use the Pentium 4 in laptops. They have Dothan, and the G5 cannot yet compete with Pentium M Dothan when it comes to performance per Watt.

 

[scruffles]

 

[Commodus]

Originally posted by: kenan921
low end g5s are highly overrated. I think based on benchmarks of the 1.25 g4 imac vs the 1.6 g5 imac, that a 1.67 g4 would actually be a little faster than any low end g5 until apple releases a true 64-bit OS.

Actually, for some apps (like games) the difference between a 1.6 GHz G5 and a 1.25 GHz G4 is night and day. A 1.67 GHz G4 is different, obviously, but it's not available in an Apple desktop, is it?

And a 64-bit OS doesn't matter much in terms of speed, by the way. All it really does is increase the amount of memory available to one app, and the precision of math. Most apps are actually better-off running in 32-bit than 64-bit.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: frazzled

Actually unless the G5 powerbooks come with a higher resolution screan I probably will just keep my powerbook and buy a dual 2.5ghz G5 w/ a 23" cinema screan. That's assuming there is powermac speedbump by the time I'm ready to buy (and their will be) and the 2.5 isn't the "premium" machine anymore. If it sitll is then I'll go with the dual 2.0. I love this powerbook, and I don't think I really need more features/power on the go to be honest. I'd probably be better off getting more bang for my buck w/ a powermac. And yeah, I just want one of those sexy 23" HDD screans even if they do cost a premium!

LOL, Wuzup, sounds like you're heading for a serious transition (dare I say "partial switch"?).

Of course, I followed exactly the trajectory you descibe . My son now has my original self-built P4 3.06 GHz machine (not that he's complaining) and I have a tricked out Dual 2.5 + 23" HDD on my desk. The dual is smooth as silk and a joy to use on every level. The interesting thing is that it hasn't diminished my "love" for my 17" 1.5GHz PB at all even though it is much faster. I spent all of last wekend working on just the PB, didn't bug me at all.

Enjoy.

JT

I'd say I'm way past partial switch. I have a fairly nice PC (in my sig) that sitting at home collecting dust. I'd like to bring it up to school, but it needs a fresh install of windows and some other misc (needs to be cleaned and such). I love Mac OSX and now don't really care for windows. Sure I can work in it alright, but when IE crashes on me 4 or 5 times while I'm surfing I get pissed. Sure mac programs do crash, but as far as I've experienced, it doesn't happen nearly enough, and when it does the whole system doesn't freeze for minutes. My PC treated me pretty good though. I may make it into a dual boot linux/XP box for next semester. However, I get so much more work done on this powerbook it's not even funny. Maybe because I can't play any games... lol . I'd love to have a dual 2.0 or 2.5 system and a nice 23" display. I think I'm going to buy the display over the summer as soon as I get the cash. The powerbook can run that then without a problem . And, depending on what scholarships I get next year, I may have enough in grants to swing a powermac, which would be awesome. Don't get me wrong, I like PC hardware, I just don't care for windows all that much. The mac does have it's limitations, but it's rock solid and hasn't failed me yet.

 

[Ecgtheow]

The big advantage of the G5 over the G4 is memory bandwidth. The G5 bus runs at half the processor speed (or a third on the low end models). The G4's bus runs at 167 MHz, which really limits the chip. The G5 is much to hot for a laptop; the upcoming e600 parts (dual core G4 with IMC) from Freescale would be perfect for the PowerBook, although they won't even be sampling until later this year.

 

[purpledemon]

I'm waiting on my local store to get one before I buy a new powerbook.

Do you guys recommend getting applecare on it?

I did not get it for my ipod, but personally I feel its worth it for $3000 investment.

 

[frazzled]

Purpledemon,

I would definitely go with the Applecare. When you break down the price over the length of the warranty, it's pretty reasonable and in by far the majority of cases the support is top-notch. The piece of mind is good, too .

My new 12" PB should arrive tomorrow, from what I hear the new trackpad scrolling is *super*.

Cheers,

JT

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: purpledemon

I'm waiting on my local store to get one before I buy a new powerbook.

Do you guys recommend getting applecare on it?

I did not get it for my ipod, but personally I feel its worth it for $3000 investment.

You can way 364 days before buying AppleCare. That's what I did with my PowerBook, I waited until about the last week of the 1 year hardware warranty before I bought AppleCare. You don't really gain anything by waiting that long, but it can save you $300 if you decide to sell your PowerBook sometime before then.

 

[purpledemon]

hey

im writing this post from my brand new 17 inch powerbook.

This machine looks and feels great ... I hope it lives up to its hype.

grats to me !!!

note : I bought applecare as well. They told me that it was transferrable if i sold the machine.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Awesome! Hope you enjoy it! I am still debating on whether I should purchase a Powerbook or not.

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: purpledemon
hey

im writing this post from my brand new 17 inch powerbook.

This machine looks and feels great ... I hope it lives up to its hype.

grats to me !!

So what are you waiting for? Pull out that credit card again:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/
http://www.nisus.com/Express/
http://www.macsoftgames.com/navpages/games/MacSoft-Game-Page.html
http://www.aspyr.com/games.php/mac/complete/

 

[Wuzup101]

Definitely get applecare, but you don't have to get it right away. I still don't have it for mine, but I plan to buy it over the summer before my year runs out. I have already had my powerbook in for service (needed a new LCD), and apple's service is top notch. Powerbook was only out of my hands for 3 days and came back flawless! You really have to buy a warranty on any notebook that you are going to be taking with you as daily travel beats them up. I'm supprised mine doesn't have a scratch on it anywhere yet... I take it with me every day.

 

[purpledemon]

lol

i'm updating my WoW client as I type ...

I am so broke

ps : I downloaded firefox, but everytime i try to install it, it mounts firefox as a new drive . Whats up with that?

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Copy the FireFox icon from the "new drive" onto your hard disk. Then, unmount the new drive, and double click the FireFox icon that you copied onto your hard drive. FireFox will run without the "new drive"

BTW, those new drives are called disk images.

 

[purpledemon]

thanks ... that did the trick.

I can see that this will take some getting used to

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Hey no problem.

I started using OS X in April of 2004, and I asked the same exact question you did. I posted in the Apple Discussions. After getting the answer, getting used to the OS was actually pretty simple. You will catch on quickly.

 

[purpledemon]

hey guys

any recommendations for travel cases for the 17 incher?

Thanks

 

[DarkAmeba]

I just ordered a 1.67ghz 128mb video 15" incher!!!!!! It is currently in china scheduled to be delivered on the 9th. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too was looking for a bag for my 15 incher. The only bags designed specifically for powerbooks that i liked were from booq. Check em out :http://www.booqbags.com

 

[Commodus]

Booq is pretty good in terms of durability, I hear - and their cases still look good in the process.