No PowerBook G5 until next year, but refreshed G4 sometime soon?
posted Oct 8th 2004 12:00PM
Now that the iMac has gone all G5 on us the Apple faithful (and, well, the not so Apple faithful, too) have been asking: When the freak is the PowerBook G5 going to arrive? Plenty of people at Apple have been trying to dampen expectations that one will be out anytime soon, but PowerPage reports that while they're definitely hard at work trying to get the cooling system down (the G5 processor runs so hot that putting it in a PowerBook could literally be dangerous), that Apple is probably going to refresh the G4 PowerBook with faster processors (1.8GHz and 2.0GHz) and a new fan system before they take things to the next level. So basically that means no PowerBook G5 until probably March of next year (though a January surprise timed for the release of Tiger—aka Mac OS 10.4—is possible) but refreshed G4s should be out sometime within the next few months.
March is about when I was going to buy me next powerbook. Sweet.
Instead of obsessing over faster Powerbooks, how about /better/ Powerbooks? The dpi on those screens is pitiful compared to what Sony and Dell have been shipping for years. Down with 70dpi! 12" @ 1280x960! 15" w/ numeric keypad!
Apple told developers at WWDC in June that a) they were slowing down the pace of upgrades and b) expect Tiger in the first half of the year. Where the hell does "a January suprise timed for the release of Tiger" come from? Pure bad speculation, but this isn't the first time I've heard that timeframe. Developers haven't even received a 2nd seed to the one we got in January yet, and it's going to be out in January? No frickin' way.
MikeD, from what I've been reading, Tiger is ahead of schedule. So, a total unveiling in January, and then a ship date in March seems entirely likely to me.
And by the way, they promised it in the first half of 2005. Guess when January is? The first half of 2005.
I hope they go retro back to the days of pismo black. The screen pops out much better with a black frame around it. Also, please make a high speed pc card/cf card internal reader standard on all notebooks!
using the term "refreshed" for an apple computer may be confusing. refreshed models are formally what apple calls refurbished used or floor model computers sold in apple stores.
thanks. ---f
Perhaps with the "enhanced" Powerbooks, Apple could upgrade the speed of the bus and hard drive. The new iMac has a 533/600 MHz bus and 7200 rpm hard drive. I could be placated with the boost a 2.0GHz processor on a 333/400 MHz bus with a 7200 rpm drive would provide...
The dual core G4 would be a welcome improvement. I'd rather have the processing power and speed, not the marketing fluff about having a G5 processor. With a suspected 15W power consumption on the dual core G4, this would be an awesome machine, with long battery life and low heat - probably blow the doors of a G5 at the same clock rate. (as if clock rate ever had anything to do with processing speed comparisons - but Intel did a good job of selling that line of bull____.
Still, the greatest productivity improvements would be in more sreeen resolution, more memory (size and bandwidth), and faster disk technology - processor performance is way down the curve on giving users more productivity.
i am about to order my new powerbook g4 today. I do notthink apples comin out with a new g5 soon. anyway who needs the power in a notebook