SCI/TECH: Apple Releases Next Wave of Powerbooks

Apple computer today released three new Powerbooks enhanced with an upgraded G4 processor. The new notebooks, starting at around $1500, now attain speeds peaking at 1.67 gigahertz, along with a slew of new standards including faster hard drives and collision detection and bracing.



Lacking, in the eyes of a Mac maven, is the long-awaited G5 processor, already present in higher-end Mac desktop models. Apple has been unfailing in protruding an aura of mystery towards the release date of G5-enabled notebooks for months, and don't expect an arrival until summer 2005 at the earliest.

I couldn't be more ecstatic from the new release! I was planning on buying a Powerbook within the next few months, and this makes it a whole lot easier. Still hoping for the G5 though...


[edit on 31-1-2005 by Banshee]

I still don't understand why people pay twice as much, for half the speed...
Seems an exspensive way to look cool in a coffee shop.
And trying to look cool in a coffee shop is pretty silly, anyways.

I still don't understand why people pay twice as much, for half the speed...

I though misconceptions about the whole PowerPC VS PC clock speed gap were dead, but there's still people who are misinformed... G4s and G5s are at least twice faster than Pentiums, and a little bit faster than the 64 bites AMDs. Why? First because the chips have a different architectures, and because they arebased on a 64 bites architecture instead of the crappy 32 bites of the Pentiums. It has always been the same story between Power PC and PC processors, Macs have always been proportionally faster than PCs. Which means that at the time when there was the 500 Mhz G3s, you ought had a Pentium III 900 to be able to catch it in performance. And memory allocation has always been crappy on PCs.

And no, it's not silly to try to look cool in a coffee shop. Actually looking cool is one of the very few basic things that gets you all the girls in these places.

I have both an '04 model PC desktop and an '04 model Powerbook, and the Powerbook absolutely crushes the PC every time, running on the same exact network.

Then there's the whole issue of a more stable operating system.

so Mac is trying to re-invent how fast 1 ghz is? why not put down its true processing capability? i was more then annoyed when amd kept coming out with their chips and naming them 2200,2400 etc when they were actually processing less then what the consumer was thinking. i'm partial to PC's because i can design my own right in the computer store, then put it together on my own. Laptops are a different story though Im pretty sure that Mac's rivals will be unveiling something new again soon. Cheers to Mac though! have they always been one step ahead of the market ? I would like to do a test though (for a person that has a Mac). I want to know how fast your computer boots up to desktop. we will compare. i am running at 2ghz with 1 gig ddr ram. i will stop off today at future shop to see how fast these babies load to see who is lying. mine boots up to desktop in 19 seconds (just timed it).

Tahlen


[edit on 1-2-2005 by Tahlen]

Originally posted by Tahlen I would like to do a test though (for a person that has a Mac). I want to know how fast your computer boots up to desktop.

I honestly don't know... it's been months since I had to reboot my PB17... I just close the lid, put it to sleep... and instant on when I open the lid again. My uptime reports that it's been 137 days since last boot... next time I need to reboot (probably for a software install or update), I'll let you know.

yes the battle has begun! gotta go buy more ram now cya! haha just kiddin!

Tahlen

Tahlen, i'll restart...stay tuned.

Sanc'.

OK. I shut down and rebooted my G4 Powerbook, 1.25cpu, 1.25g DDR SDRAM.
The reboot from the button to desktop was 36 seconds. Not too bad.