“Claims that Apple is updating its 15.2in PowerBook was strengthened today when sources said the company has signed Taiwanese notebook manufacturer Compal to produce just such a machine. The sources, cited by DigiTimes, say Compal will start shipping 15.4in PowerBooks in the second half of the year,” reports The Register.
“Compal is a logical choice for the Mac’s production. It already produces 15.4in wide-screen laptops for Dell and HP, making it the leading manufacturer of notebooks with this screen form-factor. And it already has a relationship with Apple, producing the 17in PowerBook. Taiwanese manufacturers Quanta and Asustek are currently manufacturing the 15in and 12in models, respectively,” The Register reports.
“DigiTimes’ sources don’t specify which processor the computer will use, however, so there’s little here to settle whether it will be powered by IBM’s upcoming 64-bit PowerPC 970, Motorola’s upcoming MPC7457, or even an anticipated G3-class CPU with AltiVec, also from IBM,” reports The Register.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless of this rumor, we think we’ll see the 15.4-inch Aluminum PowerBook sooner rather than later. Of course, in a bit over two weeks from now, it’ll already be the “second half” of 2003.
Guess what, the calendar reads June 2003. It is the second half already.
Maybe the expected shipments info gives a clue to the CPU included. You wouldn’t expect a refresh of the G4 to generate a massive increase in sales, certainly not so for a G3A or whatever Apple would call a G3-class chip. How much of a bump in sales would the guesstimated 30-40K units/month represent?
Terry you dumbass, it’s the last month of the FIRST HALF.
I think Apple would be making a big mistake in releasing any new computers NOT equipped with the 970’s. They would be doing nothing but setting themselves up for lackluster sales until the chip is available in these machines.
Just hold off the launch of these products a bit and do the right thing.
Terry you dolt! if the calendar reads June 2003 it is still the first half….but only just
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yeah…lets hope we won’t be frying eggs on them. This heat situation is absolutely unacceptable. I wouldn’t touch the 12 or 17 inch for fear of the componants melting!
“…yeah…lets hope we won’t be frying eggs on them. This heat situation is absolutely unacceptable. I wouldn’t touch the 12 or 17 inch for fear of the componants melting!…”
Try using one before allowing the free flowing conventional ignorance to become your conventional wisdom. I’m using the 17-inch and the heat is no better or worse than previous models from Apple.