New PowerBooks Announced - no G5
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 31, 2005 10:44 AM EST- Posted in
- Anand
It looks like Apple has updated their PowerBook line and there's no mention of a mobile G5. Regardless, from a performance standpoint the improvements are pretty decent - the slowest processor offered is a 1.5GHz G4, the same CPU I used in my PowerBook review; replacing the 1.5GHz G4 on the higher end models is a 1.67GHz G4.
All of the PowerBooks now come with 512MB of memory standard - so their out of box performance should be much more acceptable than before. Apple has also dropped the price on their PowerBooks, with the 12" starting at $1499, the 15" starting at $1999 and the 17" starting at $2699. With a student/teacher discount that kicks the prices down to $1399, $1799 and $2399 respectively.
Available as an option (and standard on the 17" PB) is a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. The added video memory is useful for Exposé but what's even more interesting is the fact that the 128MB model has a dual-link DVI output, meaning it can drive the new 30" Cinema Display.
The new PowerBooks also add a 8X SuperDrive (DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW/CD-RW burner) and Bluetooth 2.0 support. Other features include a new trackpad that has built-in scrolling support as well as Apple's "Sudden Motion Sensor" which will automatically park the hard disk's heads in the event of a fall (IBM introduced a similar technology a year or so ago).
The performance of the new PowerBooks should be much improved over the older ones thanks to more memory, faster processors as well as their new 5400RPM hard drives. I'd guess that the sweet spot for the new PowerBooks would be the default 1.5GHz/512MB configuration. Remember that the 1.67GHz models offer only an 11% increase in clock speed and in a best case scenario you'll get 50% scaling, meaning a 5 - 6% increase in performance due to the CPU. More than anything the new PowerBook line offers an improvement in value over the previous generation which was in need of an update.
Hopefully the fact that all of the new PowerBooks come with 512MB standard means that the next revisions of all of Apple's computers will use at least 512MB of memory. The problem is that I don't see the iMac, Power Mac or mini getting updated at least until Tiger's release (and even then, not all at the same time).
It looks like the new PowerBooks are ready to go as Apple lists ship dates of between 1 and 3 days for all of the models.
All of the PowerBooks now come with 512MB of memory standard - so their out of box performance should be much more acceptable than before. Apple has also dropped the price on their PowerBooks, with the 12" starting at $1499, the 15" starting at $1999 and the 17" starting at $2699. With a student/teacher discount that kicks the prices down to $1399, $1799 and $2399 respectively.
Available as an option (and standard on the 17" PB) is a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. The added video memory is useful for Exposé but what's even more interesting is the fact that the 128MB model has a dual-link DVI output, meaning it can drive the new 30" Cinema Display.
The new PowerBooks also add a 8X SuperDrive (DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW/CD-RW burner) and Bluetooth 2.0 support. Other features include a new trackpad that has built-in scrolling support as well as Apple's "Sudden Motion Sensor" which will automatically park the hard disk's heads in the event of a fall (IBM introduced a similar technology a year or so ago).
The performance of the new PowerBooks should be much improved over the older ones thanks to more memory, faster processors as well as their new 5400RPM hard drives. I'd guess that the sweet spot for the new PowerBooks would be the default 1.5GHz/512MB configuration. Remember that the 1.67GHz models offer only an 11% increase in clock speed and in a best case scenario you'll get 50% scaling, meaning a 5 - 6% increase in performance due to the CPU. More than anything the new PowerBook line offers an improvement in value over the previous generation which was in need of an update.
Hopefully the fact that all of the new PowerBooks come with 512MB standard means that the next revisions of all of Apple's computers will use at least 512MB of memory. The problem is that I don't see the iMac, Power Mac or mini getting updated at least until Tiger's release (and even then, not all at the same time).
It looks like the new PowerBooks are ready to go as Apple lists ship dates of between 1 and 3 days for all of the models.
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crtfanboy - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Who wants to take bets on whether Anand will give up on hardware reviewing when he joins the Mac side, focusing instead on teaching losers how to cook?Commodus - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
Nick L:Check www.barefeats.com and the X800 XT benchmarks. It looks like ATI actually has better-optimized Mac performance right now. Presumably, this extends into the mobile realm as well.
Nick L - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
One last question. Will Tiger decrease the battery life of the powerbooks by using the GPU's 3D pipeline that might have been shutdown on Panther?Nick L - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
I'm interested if the performace difference between nVidia and ATI in OpenGL extends to the Mac, given that ATI has a history of not being as fast at OpenGL as nVidia on PC.Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
ViRGEI'm actually not tempted by the new PowerBooks at all, but I do think that they are a good move for Apple and they are great for people about to buy one. The added video memory is interesting but the most interesting feature to me is actually the dual link DVI.
I'm pretty happy with the PowerBook as it is right now, although I could use some more memory in it. For the time being (until my trip to IDF), I've turned it into a Tiger beta system to try out the OS and get some initial thoughts down in preparation for my review of the final.
No, I think for me the only PowerBook that could tempt me to upgrade would have to be something significantly more powerful, lighter or more feature filled.
Take care,
Anand
gbc02 - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
Unless you know something I don't, my bet is he already has.ViRGE - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes Anand to break down and buy a new PowerBook?;-) I know how much he loves his Exposé, so a laptop with 128MB of graphics RAM has to be pretty mouthwatering... I know I sure want one.Mark Little - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
I just bought mine 30 minutes ago. I can't wait. I got a 12" Combo Powerbook 1.5 GHz.I sent a cost comparison to my friend comparing the exact same dell with this Powerbook. Here are the specs and price (education discounts on both).
Apple Powerbook 12" Combo (Education discount)
512 MB
60 GB @ 5400 RPM
Combo Drive
Wireless b/g
1.5 GHz G4
Geforce FX 5200 64 MB
12.1 TFT
Bluetooth
1 year warranty
Mac OS X
$1399
Dell Inspiron 700M (Education discount)
512 MB (subtract 64 MB for video)
60 GB @ 4200 RPM
Combo Drive
Wireless b/g
1.6 GHz Pentium M
Intel Extreme Graphics 64 MB Shared
12.1 TFT
1 year warranty
Windows XP Pro
$1273
Dell only sells one 12" screen Inspiron so that is why I picked the 700m.
The Dell comes out ~$125 less but the 700M doesn't have a 5400RPM harddrive option, only uses Intel shared/crappy video card (which of course subtracts from the available main system memory) and doesn't have any bluetooth. The Dell does have 100 MHz more on the processor but a 1.5 GHz G4 and 1.6 GHz Pentium M are esentially the same. Of course, I would never buy any laptop with Intel graphics and shared memory architecture.
I can't believe how close they are now in price (Almost exactly the same!).
ksherman - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
even more annoying... Apple still hasnt picked up the ATI 9800 mobility yet... mabye their working out a deal for the Go 6800? that would be sweet!Commodus - Monday, January 31, 2005 - link
I think the PowerMac will be updated before Tiger - unless Tiger ships during or before March, that is. That "publishing powerhouse" deal that ends on March 14th strongly suggests that Apple wants to clear out their PowerMac stock for a new model.The real question is, will any pre-WWDC PowerMac ship with PCI Express or not? They don't have to wait for Tiger to implement support; it's just a question of whether new tech is just around the corner, or whether Tiger is close enough to make a delay worthwhile.