Apple killing 15-inch G4 PowerBook?
By Marc Perton 
posted February 17th 2006 4:55PM
posted February 17th 2006 4:55PM
posted February 17th 2006 4:55PM
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FYI, I'm a college student and ordered a MacBook last night from the Apple education store. I had some regret when I began thinking about Photoshop use and saw the estimated ship date of March 17. I changed it today to a Powerbook 15, and should have it next week.
So, they're not done with them yet, but I'm sure it's a matter of time.
It looks like an easy photoshop
wow you really blew that one by changing from the macbook pro to the joke of a powerbook 15
2 - This is NOT a photoshop
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/
Whoops! Misread.
Thought they were killing the 15" iBook, not the powerbook >.>
My bad = )
New MacBook pro will make a lot of their models obsolete.
Question is, what are they going to do with all of the left over powerbooks? Will they be sold at a discount?
What does the company do with all the extra models after they decide not to sell it any more? I mean, do they clear out every one of them, or do they give some to employees, or do they sell some ultra cheepo on eBay afterward? I've always wondered about that.
To #7. After they cease production of the units, and remove it from the online store, they ship the remaining units to their 3rd party retail channels and have them clear it for them in whatever way they can (sales)
Its actually somewhat true. I do some ordering for department that uses Macs heavily and we were looking at our options earlier today with a business call with Apple. Well, come to find out our usual order of 1000 15" Powerbooks could not be met this year, and they urged us to order a quantity lower if we wanted an order that big and mix them with Macbook Pros. So, the order was essentially cut in 1/2 from 1000 to 500, with a mix order of 12" powerbooks, because nobody wanted to get the support call on the intel chip problems when .. not if... they arise. Either way, this seems to have some footing.
I run an Apple Campus Store at a midwestern university. As of today, we can no longer order 15" PowerBooks. The picture in this post is exactly what we see when we log into our site. I'm guessing the reason they are still available on the regular apple store online is that they want to clear out inventory at the regular price, not the discounted one.
Does Apple really keep that much excess inventory? For me buying a PPC Mac now would be a bad investment. Usually I keep my Macs until Applecare runs out, which is 3 years.
At UC Berkeley both the 12" and 15" PowerBooks are listed "While supplies last."
https://www.tsw.berkeley.edu/eStore/default.tpl?cart=1140224205634793&--eqskudatarq=ZZ.P.B.03
Interestingly, so are the 12" and 14" iBooks:
https://www.tsw.berkeley.edu/eStore/default.tpl?cart=1140224205634793&--eqskudatarq=ZZ.I.B.O.O.K.1
#12 - did you find yourself having to utilize Applecare enough for you to get it each time you buy a product?
They need to come out with a sub $1,000.00 notebook. They're laptops are nice but too pricey.
Some first hand experience as an Apple computer user (mostly PowerBooks) and as a product manager in the tech industry:
AppleCare is great value on the PowerBook (I had the first Ti and it needed three trips to Apple for warranty work) and it contributes to resale value.
Keeping Apple technology for three years doesn't mean you're too far off the technology curve most of the time.
A corporate customer will be "steered" (by the nose) to buy the newer model rather than cause on-going support burden as the vendor gears to sell and service the newer model.
The switch to delivering a new version to market can be mitigated by channels, but that can undermine new product adoption by making the out-going product more appealing, so it's not a common approach. More common is to work with the OEMs to slow down production and extend lead times at the same time as stocking spares and ensuring contracts for on-going service parts availability will cover the warranty of the last year of product sales with an adjusted margin of error. Better to run lean and maybe offer "special" aid to customers that happen to come in with legit service needs when parts are depleted in three years.
And the iBook G4 is $999 or go get a one year-old model (with AppleCare) off Ebay for a couple of bucks less and maybe score a nice back-pack or a bluetooth mouse or whatever. That said, Apple really does have a price premium on their PowerBooks but the new MacBook could turn out to be a real ball-tearer of an Intel laptop for the money regardless of the OS.
The sad thing is, the first 6-12 months for apple is going to suck ass. No software. Buggy hardware.
I'll my work's 15" Powerbook as long as I can. Then hopefully I'll get to take it home and keep it. I love this friggin' heat box.
I opted for the PowerBook 17" G4 instead of a MacBook Pro for many reasons. First of all, current available software: No Final Cut Pro, Avid, etc for the MacBooks. Second, smart consumers NEVER purchase the first run of an electronic, or vehicle because problems are rampant. This is something I've learned since childhood, especially with the way my parents make their purchases - always avoid the first model year of a vehicle. Third, I am proud to own the last Mac built with the top-quality PowerPC chip.
There are no 17" MacBooks out right now, and I'm now addicted to large wide-screen laptops, so on top of waiting for the first 17" to appear, I'd then wait longer for the components, design, etc, to be perfected to purchase it - and I couldn't do that because of my need to use industry-standard software NOW.
Have fun with your new MacBooks, but I'm still not sure how I feel about Apple's closer step toward the edge [again] - I'll stick with the PowerBook.
From my understanding, Photoshop (and lot's of other software) won't be running on the Intel Macs for a long time... So Ben Lessin's knee-jerk criticism of the guy who passed on the MacBook Pro wasn't very fair... I was about to jump on the new MacBook Pro until I heard how long it would take Adobe to update their graphics software... I ended up buying a new battery for my 15" Titanium to keep me going on the road.
Just a couple of observations:
#1, you took a huge step down when you ordered the 15" Powerbook. Even though the MBP won't run PS at G5 speeds, the G4 processor is so much slower that even in emulation PS would likely run as fast as the Powerbook, if not faster.
#16 The idea that keeping Apple products for three years because you won't be too far off from new machines just flew out the window when they switched to Intel. We won't have multi year down periods where there are 150 and 200mhz bumps here and there. In effect, a 3 year old intel Mac will be as outdated as a 3 year old Windows machine.
I don't see how it would surprise anyone that the PowerPC lines would be fazed out ASAP. In fact, I would love to buy a g5 right now but I think they are soon-to-be history as well. Apple can say whatever it wants about not abandoning PowerPC users, but I'm sure the sentiment internally is that all G4 and G5 owners are Legacy customers for all intents and purposes going forward.
Agreed with all the other posts above - the real issue is - what's gonna be Apple's future smallest offering for the new Apple MacBook Pro's?
" FYI, I'm a college student and ordered a MacBook last night from the Apple education store. I had some regret when I began thinking about Photoshop use and saw the estimated ship date of March 17. I changed it today to a Powerbook 15, and should have it next week."
Wow!! why whould anybody in their right state of mind by a powerbook over a Macbook pro, just because it would take 2 more weeks to get it? Wow
To anyone who says emulation of Photoshop would be faster on the Macbook, check out the benchmarks at http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=104
---------------
Test 1- Kaleidoscope
PBG4 1.5GHz -> 0:29:59 (0 min, 29 sec)
MBP 2.0GHz -> 0:42:87
TiBook 1GHz -> 1:08:00
Test 2 - Bali Girl
PBG4 1.5GHz -> 2:16:00 (2 min, 16 sec)
MBP 2.0GHz -> 4:03:00
TiBook 1GHz -> 6:45:00
There's a pretty big performance hit in Photoshop CS2 with the MacBook Pro when compared to the Aluminum PowerBook G4 due to the Rosetta emulation. MacBook Photoshop performance falls somewhere between the TiBook 1GHz and PowerBook G4 1.5GHz.
--------------
The Powerbook is the better choice for graphics pros until Adobe goes universal.
Mr. EE: If that person *needs* a working computer *right now* then s/he would get it. For me, If it's really a difference between 2 weeks (14 days), I would go buy a working PB and a MBP at the same time (or buy the MBP first and then the PB), then return the PB (although you'll have to pay the restocking fee) as soon as the MBP comes in. Hell, you can also ebay the PB.. I'm pretty sure someone will take it for a reasonable price.
Does anyone have any idea when apple will be releasing a 17 inch mac pro (new powerbook/duo intel) ???
Thank you.
I agree with Uninvisible wholly on the point that the first generation of a new product is bound to suffer from bugs and other teething problems. Like some of the readers, I bought a Powerbook 15" mainly because I needed a computer right away and also I was slightly sceptical about the MacBook Pro.
Being a purist, I am delighted to be a proud owner of the last generation PowerBook G4 15" and to all those readers who consistently think that new is always better, I don't necessarily disagree with you. But I do believe the PowerBook 15" is still a brilliant machine, and I am not so ready to write it off just because there's a new kid on the block.
I was one of the first people to have a MacBook. It is a beautiful notebook, very slick. Only problem is, I am a web designer and none of the programs I have spent $$$$ on are compatible. Photoshop was slooooowwwwer than the 1 GHZ iBook G4 my wife has...considerably slower. Dreamweaver was also sluggish.
This is because these programs are not universal versions, they were not created for binary intel processors. So they have to be translated through Rosetta. My audio program, ProTools, wasn't even compatible.
I would have to repurchase the creative suites and macromedia studio when they come out with universal versions, which isn't for a while anyway.
So if you are a casual user, the macbook is incredible. For pro users, might want to wait until universal versions come out, and you have some $$$ to drop on new programs.
I'm gonna get a powerbook.
Im in a bit of a different position. I recently had an accident with my titanium 15inch powerbook and am having it replaced on my home contents insurance.
The insurance company cant give me a lesser model than my old mac and if the 15 inch has been discontinued then im worried anout recieving a macbook pro if the software issues are true.
I too am a web developer and use my mac professionaly not for home use, but i cannot and dont want to have to replace all my software to have it run on a new machine.