“Apple Computer Inc.’s PowerBooks have long been considered the Rolls-Royce of laptops with their stylish looks, powerful engines and hefty price tags. But with two years passing since its last major update, the line was at risk of being eclipsed by upstarts running on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows platform,” Matthew Fordahl reports for The Associated Press.
“Any fears that Powerbooks’ reputation as the best in the business might have been eclipsed were put to rest after the revamped lineup appeared on Jan. 31. The company even cut prices on most models a bit,” Fordahl reports. “The machines haven’t undergone a total transformation. They’re still powered by PowerPC G4 processors, not the newer G5 found in most of Apple’s desktops. The bump-up in speed isn’t tremendous either, though the latest PowerBooks are anything but laggards… Apple has focused on evolutionary improvements, but sometimes the little touches can add up to something big.”
Full article here.
Apple unveils faster PowerBooks starting at $1499 with ‘scrolling TrackPad, Sudden Motion Sensor’ – January 31, 2005
As nice as they are….I’m going to wait for something with another processor…G5..dual core…whatever…just not the current incarnation of the G4.
My 12inch suits my just fine for now.
I got the 17″ powerbook nearly two years ago and it is running just fine. I upped the memory to 1 GB so that I can hop from app to app without any lag. Sure USB 2.0 would be nice, and the drive protection system in the newer ones comes in handy – but these are just a bit more icing on the cake. God forbid I ever drop the thing – hard drive park or not. The G4 runs hot enough with photoshop I can’t imagine the fan needed to keep a G5 chip cool…
MW is ‘else’ – as in there is nothing else out there I would rather have
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
BRING ME G5 Powerbook with a HD 19″ screen!!
The world’s lightest and largest portable HD machine.
I would say that their current offering on the hardware side of things is a little dated. But its really the software that made it such a good buy for me. I still think my G4 17 is quite unreasonably sluggish. Ofcourse, when you use a 2.5 Liquid G5 all day, pretty much everything feels sluggish.
Not the Rolls of laptops! Rolls-Royces are driven by chauffeurs… no need for a chauffeur when driving a powerbook… it is so fun to drive, you want to drive it yourself. You may want someone else to drive a PC for you, but not a Mac.
The magic word is “all”, as in, “All I wanna do is a zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom (from a PB G5).”
Perception is everything – Apple is still perceived as too tony for the typical consumer (however misguided that is). Yes, the PowerBooks are way overdue for a real, significant improvement in processing power. But as a total package, it is still tops.
I overheard a conversation about a particular car – a ’99 BMW M3 – as being very underpowered (240HP) compared to typical sedans being offered. However, it still romps over most everything and out-handles most everything. The total package is still top-rate.
This pretty much sums up the PowerBook.
G5 with a 19″ Screen isn’t that an Imac. get real other then us technology fetishists a G4 is fast enough for everything that an aveage user would want to do. I can’t complain about the performance of my G4 iBook. I have an Athlon64 3200+ for work where I need max CPU power. But for normal desktop tasks the G4 is pleanty fast.
but I think the point is why should iBook and PB users have to settle with “fast enough.” Its a testament to a severe lack of cpu power when you are forced to use an A64 for “max power.” There shouldn’t be a need for a tradeoff…and if there is then why do I have to pay $1500(PB) for an only adequate solution.
Its time for me to get a new laptop. I ‘d love a powerbook but for $3K I really want a G5 or freescale cpu. I think I will buy an iBook for now, and upgrade in about 2 years. My wife can continue to use the iBook ( email, web surfing) and I can upgrade to a powerbook then.
I can’t justify ANOTHER $2,000 to replace a machine that I bought 8 months ago, though if I were in the market now it would be pretty sweet. I think I should wait at least a year to replace it.
And my 94 Caprice with 260hp can outperform some BMW’s still, my dad is still pushing Quark with a 95 Performa 6200CD, so well built machines can still be used a lot later than they’re planned for.
Here here! My old PB G3 is still kicking wiht 10.3.8! Damn near 6+ years old, and it still get’s the job done. Just goes to show the longevity of a Mac!
Bring on the Freescale 8641D PBs and we’ll talk. Until then, I’m happy with my 867MHz PB12.
Hey Ford, same here. But I definitely prefer my 15″ G4 Aluminum PB with 1gb of RAM.
Can I borrow your towel?
I want my 12″ PB 867MHz to be “good Enough” but it pales in comparison to my 1.4GHz mini in terms of speed. Something to consider, those with older machines like me: doubling your clock rate makes a profound difference.
Sell your older system on eBay and put it toward the purchase of a new system. You don’t want to buy a first model of a completely new computer, you’ll have heat problems and the feet fall off (or worse). Just ask any Rev.a 12″ PB 867MHz owner.
When the price drops on tried and true models you can get yours. Besides, it’s really the price that’s kept you waiting so long, isn’t it? Rolls Royces cost alot.
I am on a 667 Tibook and have been waiting FOREVER for a G5 Powerbook. I think my wait function has maxed out and I am thinking of getting a Power Mac even tho I have traditionally been mainly a laptop guy. I could use the desktop mostly and sync it with my Tibook for when i go out. I dunno tho, I have been really torn. It is SO nice to be able to just unconnect and go. The syncing will be a pain but I hope that the speed of the Powermac makes up for it. If I spend now for the Powermac, I will have to wait a bit even if the G5 laptops come out (unless it is like 2 years later). At any rate, I will be waiting til Tiger comes out because I want to have that pre-installed. The Power Macs are due for an upgrade too so hopefully they will come together at the WWDC.
compared to the POS $1000 machines dell offers up as laptops, the macs ARE RRs. however, i think that’s a bit much of an overstatement across the board…
the Dells are really used Yugos at that price, while the iBooks are Accords at that price.
When people see the 15″ Powerbook i have at work (the only mac on the site), they assume it cost $2500 because its refined, has no borked doors or missing latches, isn’t made of PlaySkool plastic, uses a slot drive, and has a keyboard that lights up.
When i tell them we bought it refurb for $1600 with a gig of ram, they don’t believe me.
besides, the dells we have are constantly NOT handling the rigor of field work, are breaking, and we have a stack of 4 of them (for 15 field people) lying dead. My powerbook is mine and mine alone – its got scratches all over it, even a dent in the body – but its still 100% fine.
With todays news that AMD will release their dual-core A64 mobile chips later this year, Apple really needs to get their act together. I’m in the market for a new PB, but its hard to justify spending $2000 on a laptop that gets its A** handed to it in Pshop rendering by a AMD machine costing half as much.
http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050303_023118.html
Yahoo:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&ncid=738&e=12&u=/ap/20050304/ap_on_hi_te/tech_test_revamped_powerbooks