17" PowerBook

i tell you what, i stayed up till 4 AM (aussie time) for MW, and up until the powerbooks it was fairly mundane. but now...

Hooray for cool powerbooks! :)
 
Originally posted by cockneygeezer
Dear All,

I made the purchased believing that there wouldn't be any improvements on the PowerBook line in the Expo. It's not a question and why I bought the PowerBook so close to Expo time, it's more of the question "Why did Apple do a speed bump so close to Expo time?" and make people wait almost 6 weeks for them to get it. People are still waiting...!

Would it not be better if Apple announced today the SuperDrive/Speed Bumps in they PowerBook line, instead of just releasing it back in Nov?

All I can say is that I feel short changed and I won't be making this mistake again...

Thanks Apple...
Click to expand...

If you look at the specs closely, you will see that the PowerBook you purchased is just as nice if not better than the 17" PowerBook announced today. The video card on the 15" PowerBook (ATI Radeon Mobility 9000) is a MUCH BETTER video card than the Nvidia Geforce 440 Go! Some of the other features of the 17", such as DDR RAM, doesn't really add much to speed (look at comparisons b/w DDR PowerMacs vs. non-DDR PowerMacs). You are missing out on only a few things - Firewire2 (I am sure 3rd party PC Card is coming soon), Bluetooth integration (buy a dongle), and AirPort Extreme (okay, a miss, but have you already saturated your bandwidth on the network?).

The 17" has a bigger screen, that is indeed nice, but it's not faster than your new TiBook (both at 1GHz), there was no speed-bump, and you scored with a MUCH BETTER video subsystem!

You didn't miss out on anything, so what's the problem?
 
I agree about most of that, but i would like the al u mini um case. At least I got a gig of ram, 0% financing, and the ability to carry it somewhat easily. So maybe all is not lost.



Sorry, but being a yankee everytime i hear it pronounced al u mini um, it brings a smile to my face.
 
Well, folks - count me in as one of the 15-inchers who bought 14 days ago - I just couldn't help myself as my friend at CompUSA shot me a deal for $2749 for the 1Ghz model. I was happy as a pig-in-slop until today - then I started really comparing what I have to what the 17" offered... and I have to say I'm not unhappy anymore. I can't afford to lose even a minute of battery life - and that thing looks huge. Heck - despite it's thin waist, the 15" borders on large for my tastes... Anyone willing to dub the 17" 'The Manta Ray'? The wings on the side of the keyboard look imposing...

Keep the faith...
Stac
 
two days ago, when I was taking a break from wiring some new light switches, i tried to use my powerbook in the dark, since there was no way to get any light in my room... I thought, "hey, it would be cool if my keyboard was backlit, and if that backlight was the same color as the blue led. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!". It was a very weird and startling experience seeing the keyboard in the 17" during the keynote... It was basically exactly what I imagined. Not trying to say I thought of it first, I obviously didnt, but it was VERY VERY strange.
 
Personally I think that the 12 incher is cooler than the 17" :)

And anyways... we all know where the keys go! I could type in the dark, blindfolded, with my hands cut off! Maybe...
 
I think the 17" PowerBook is ideal if you need a desktop solution 90% of the time and a portable solution the other 10% but don't want to invest in two machines.

I still think the 15" PowerBook is awesome and the best buy overall for a powerful portable solution. I would like to see however its case upgraded to Aluminum along with FireWire 800, Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme.

The 12" PowerBook looks strikingly similar to the 12" iBook and really doesn't offer $600 worth of advantages over the iBook 800MHz in my opinion. I think its major selling point is going to be the SuperDrive. I think Apple will scrap the 12" iBook and either release a new 13" iBook or revise the 14" one. I don't see there being three different iBooks for much longer.

I have always been very imperssed with Apple's notebooks and believe its the only computer that Apple has a clear cut advantage over the PC.

I think Apple may have realized switches may not want to buy a Desktop for their first Mac but maybe give their PC a Mac notebook companion! :)
 
I read the GeForce Go cards are better than any Ati mobility. Anyone who can prove me wrong? I would be happy!
And one thing that troubles me about the 17inch pb: can the alu-case handle pressure in the middle on the screen? Imagine you got it closed and your boss comes and puts his hand on top of the apple-logo...
Yewwwhaaaa
and I saw there are no "gummi-distancers" on that 17inch pb! Looks like the whole cover leans on the downpart. If so, does the keyboard f... up the screen than? Little issue about the tibooks...
I also think, that the current tibook is the best choice, if you are not really into fast wireless transfer. and is there any device out there supporting firewire800? I am just wondering why they didn't use USB2.0? That would have been much smarter than firewire800, if you ask me. And the disc couldn't handle 100MB/sec at all, eventhough the ide-cable would...
So? Why firewire800 than?
Just trying to prove you guys, that the tibook is really the best deal for now.

Cheers

Sam
 
and one more thing:

did anyone of you guys ask himself, how weide the angles for the viewing of the 17inch screen would be?

Since the screen is really weide, I think you might see a loss of contrast at the left and right side when you look to the center of the screen.
the older tibooks had this problem which I didn't notice on the current tibook, cause of the incredibly bright screen.
But now the 17inch pb is even weider... well, I doubt they can make it that bright, but we'll see...
 
Originally posted by Zammy-Sam
I read the GeForce Go cards are better than any Ati mobility. Anyone who can prove me wrong? I would be happy!
And one thing that troubles me about the 17inch pb: can the alu-case handle pressure in the middle on the screen? Imagine you got it closed and your boss comes and puts his hand on top of the apple-logo...
Yewwwhaaaa
and I saw there are no "gummi-distancers" on that 17inch pb! Looks like the whole cover leans on the downpart. If so, does the keyboard f... up the screen than? Little issue about the tibooks...
I also think, that the current tibook is the best choice, if you are not really into fast wireless transfer. and is there any device out there supporting firewire800? I am just wondering why they didn't use USB2.0? That would have been much smarter than firewire800, if you ask me. And the disc couldn't handle 100MB/sec at all, eventhough the ide-cable would...
So? Why firewire800 than?
Just trying to prove you guys, that the tibook is really the best deal for now.

Cheers

Sam
Click to expand...

Tom's hardware had a test of the ati 9000, 420 4go, 440 4 go, and 460 4 go and the 9000 thoroughly stomped the 440 4 go in MOST tests but not all. The 460 was the only competition for it.
 
Do you have a link for this test, leadfootedfool?

I kinda doubt it was an apple system. The comparison between those graphiccards on windows systems won't be same as for apple, since most of the tests are based on direct3d. The results might look completly different under OpenGL used on apple systems. If Tom did good job, he also must have compared the OpenGL performance of both.
And in such tests the GeForce Go (even 420) always performs faster than the ati 9000 mobility, as far as I know
 
funny, I had a similar conversation with a co-worker today. (I'm a switcher at heart, and rooling for the day I can actually jump on that wagon and get an apple laptop. )

The 17" alBook has got me so hot! course telling my co worker that they just released this new version, she says, "See, if you keep waiting, you'll get something better."

hmm, the problem there is that I could wait FOREVER, and there will ALWAYS be something bigger/better/faster/etc to look forward to.

I agree, for those who just bought their TiBooks within the last month or so, this is a revolting development. But life happens.
they'll prolly release a killer new version of an AlBook directly following my future purchase of a 15" or 17".

I'll hafta deal I spose, but in the meantime, you all have your snazzy apple laptops, and I am stuck on a pc....

puts things in perspective, eh?
:)
 
Originally posted by leadfootedfool
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20020829/radeon9000-01.html#the_contestants

You're right it wasn't on a mac, but comparing the 440 and 9000, they're almost identical. It's a tossup between the two. Now as far as the 460 thats something else.
Click to expand...

I have just compared the results for Quake3Arena from the graphiccards. The Geforce Go performs better than the ati 9000 even the 440 has higher frames. I am not sure about the other benchmarks, but I think most are direct3d. Still I was very surprised, that the ati performs so much better than the Geforce Go, even that it's direct3d
 
Originally posted by quiksan
funny, I had a similar conversation with a co-worker today. (I'm a switcher at heart, and rooling for the day I can actually jump on that wagon and get an apple laptop. )

The 17" alBook has got me so hot! course telling my co worker that they just released this new version, she says, "See, if you keep waiting, you'll get something better."

hmm, the problem there is that I could wait FOREVER, and there will ALWAYS be something bigger/better/faster/etc to look forward to.

I agree, for those who just bought their TiBooks within the last month or so, this is a revolting development. But life happens.
they'll prolly release a killer new version of an AlBook directly following my future purchase of a 15" or 17".

I'll hafta deal I spose, but in the meantime, you all have your snazzy apple laptops, and I am stuck on a pc....

puts things in perspective, eh?
:)
Click to expand...


I was all stoked about the keynote yesterday.

PB= check.
Airport=check.
First stream on the mac=dud.

I ended up watching the thing on my pc because I couldn't get it to work on my pb. Then they announce the new ones. DOH!! But anyway, I'm not to upset, people have to wait 7-10 weeks for their 17"ers and I get to use mine that entire time. And if I was always worried about them updating I'd never buy one.
 
Leadfootedfool wrote:
"I ended up watching the thing on my pc because I couldn't get it to work on my pb."

I had a problem on my iBook too! So I watched on my peecee, which crashed right before the announcement of the new PowerBooks :(

About the lid: Aluminium is more rigid than titanium if I remember correctly. You would need a whole lot more of info to calculate exactly how much pressure the lid of the 17" can stand, but if they hadn't thought about it thoroughly (the issue being known from the Ti) they woulndn't release it.
 
Originally posted by Cat
Leadfootedfool wrote:
"I ended up watching the thing on my pc because I couldn't get it to work on my pb."

I had a problem on my iBook too! So I watched on my peecee, which crashed right before the announcement of the new PowerBooks :(

About the lid: Aluminium is more rigid than titanium if I remember correctly. You would need a whole lot more of info to calculate exactly how much pressure the lid of the 17" can stand, but if they hadn't thought about it thoroughly (the issue being known from the Ti) they woulndn't release it.
Click to expand...

I doubt that aluminium is more rigid than titanium, but anyway, if Apple gave it a thought than I am really fine with it! :)
It's just one of the first things I would check, if I could hold that Baby in my arms...
 
Originally posted by Zammy-Sam
...is there any device out there supporting firewire800? I am just wondering why they didn't use USB2.0? That would have been much smarter than firewire800, if you ask me. And the disc couldn't handle 100MB/sec at all, eventhough the ide-cable would...
So? Why firewire800 than?
Click to expand...

I can't believe Apple already added Firewire 800 to their lineup! That's awesome! I'm so happy! :)

First off, USB 2.0 is already inferior to Firewire 400, especially for applications requiring guaranteed delivery and total reliability. Check out tomshardware's review of the two standards:

"the main application for FireWire was real-time data transfer, with digital video, for instance. This points us to exactly the advantage that FireWire has to offer, because the data stream must remain uninterrupted with such applications. "
and
"The advantages offered by the FireWire protocol cannot be used by scanners, digicams, DSL modems or joysticks. On the other hand, USB 2.0, in its current form, could never deliver continuous streams of data, which are required for hard disk recording and video applications."
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20020827/index.html

So basically, USB (1 or 2) doesn't deliver in many applications that Apple is focusing their digital hub strategy around. On the other hand, Firewire always delivers but often some of it's coolest features aren't taken advantage of. However, if you've got Firewire already for the applications that do use it, there's absolutely no reason that you need USB 2.0. USB 1 is still essential because of its super low cost to implement in devices, and the PB has USB 1. Firewire can replace USB 2.0, but USB 2.0 can't replace Firewire. Of course, realistically, the PC world will be as slow as ever to jump on the innovation train and there will be lots of peripherals, like cameras, out there that only have USB 2.0, I'm sure. So it would be nice for Apple to add USB 2.0 just to ensure compatibility with the sluggish PC peripheral world. However, USB 2.0 hasn't even really caught on fire (in terms of devices available and people that have it) yet in the PC world, so Apple still has a good amount of time to add this. More important in my mind is that Apple drive innovation and plan for the future and their awesome digital hub strategy, which is what Firewire 800 does. Firewire isn't just faster than USB, it's a far superior technology.

Think big, think this: Your house is wired with Firewire 800 ports everywhere. Every device, every digital toy, communicates with each other. Wireless Firewire arrives and your TV, Tivo, iPod, DVD Player, PDA, Audio system, telephone, everything talks over the same single line (wired or wireless) to your desktop or laptop computer. And with tcp/ip over firewire you don't even need ethernet cables and you maintain compatibility. Cool! There's so many applications for that capability, I won't even start! And even better, firewire, unlike USB, allows devices to talk directly to each other without needing a host (aka a desktop/laptop computer) and enables peer-to-peer networking among devices so your Phillips receiver can tell your iPod what to do, and etc. Finally, you must have guaranteed data delivery, which is the nail in the coffin for USB 2.0 in such applications.

Why do we need firewire 800 instead of 400? Firewire 800 is perfect for the digital hub not only because it is faster, but because of much longer possible cable lengths -- up to 100m per hop (between devices) compared to 4.5m per hop with Firewire 400!!! Try wiring a house or connecting lots of equipment with a maximum cable length of 4.5m! As for speed increase, remember that theoretical maximums are different than actual maximums and that today's hardrives push firewire 400 to its limit today. Hopefully, harddrive speeds will soon eclipse firewire 400 capability completely. And besides having just a single harddrive eating up all the bandwidth, think about multiple devices, like I mentioned above, using the bus at the same time. Talk about the need for speed! Apple will use Firewire 800 to take the digital hub strategy to the next level.

I still hope they include USB 2.0 someday, but I'm much more pleased to see Firewire 800 than I would be to see USB 2.0.
 
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