[hoopla2000]

I'm looking to buy an i-book. I personally don't mind i-book with a G3 processor but am happier with a G4 engine in. With a G5 mac out finally, how long do u guys think we have to wait till Apple come out with a new G4 i-book?

[DeathMan]

The best we can hope for is for the iBooks and Powerbooks to get upgraded at the same time.

It seems like there are some heat issues with the G5, so it might be a while before they put them into the Powerbooks. I don't see G4s in the iBooks in the forseeable future, if ever.

I would rather see a slightly redesigned, cooler (and of course slower) version of the G5 in the iBooks, or the super G3 we keep hearing about that Motorola has been holding back on.

So to answer your question, I don't know.

[vvedge]

The issue might be the confusion between the iBook and the Powerbook G4. Unless, the Powerbook gets a G5, the iBook shouldn't get a G4.

BUT...if you look at what apple did to put a G4 into the iMac. Basically had the iMac and eMac systems coexisting with the Powermac G4 towers. Both with a decent slope of processor speeds.

Therefore I dont see why a G4 isn't possible in the future. What would have to come with it is a new design. Maybe something retaining the classic iBook color and practicality, with some of the design enhancements from the 12 inch Powerbook.

[The Placid Casual]

The iBook update is an interesting one...

No matter how good a choice it would be, I would have said that the iBook would never get a G4 due to the ongoing fabbing 'debacle', but hearing what Apple has said about Motorola 'not going anywhere', I'm now not so sure.

I would guess a 1Ghz G4 will go in in the next iBook revision, with the Powerbook getting the new 7457 G4 chip running at up to 1.4 Ghz and with higher bus speeds of 200Mhz...

No G5 in any *Books for about 9-12 Months.

What I would like to see happen, is the iBook to get the 'Gobi' chip... A die shrunk G3 with Alitvec made my IBM. There are reports of it running at 2ghz, with a Hyper-transport FSB! This would be awesome!

However I really think the G5 implementation will hold everything up. You can't have a 2ghz G3+ in an iBook, while a Powerbook gets a 1.4 G4 or 1.4 G5. It just doesn't look right 'clock speed perception' wise...

Interesting times ahead...

[DeathMan]

This was sort of where I was trying to go with my post. I don't want a G4 iBook anymore. I don't want a G4 anything. Powerbook, tower, anything. 200 Mhz front-side bus is a joke now.

I want something created for laptops using similar technologies as the G5. Like hypertransport, as you were saying.

I would like the Gobi, absolutely. G5 for the towers and powerbooks, and give us the iBook with a suped up tweaked out G3 that could give us nice speeds, and good battery life. I don't care about bluetooth, or Superdrive, external monitor spanning, or even firewire 800. I just want a small, nice looking, rugged iBook that isn't running a 100Mhz bus. I want a more modern afordable portable.

I'll probably break down in the next few months and get a 900mhz for demoing/selling some web applications I'm building. Will be more than fast enough. I just want MORE BETTER FASTER.

[x user]

Why does everyone think that G5 has more of a heat issue than the G4? I just don't think it is. I think apple could easily got to a 1.2-1.4 GHZ G5 in the PB series.

If nothing else just underclock a 1.6 chip.

I'm pretty sure it's more of a sales motivated move on Apples part. People will buy the Powermac now, then in a couple months the G5 Powerbooks will be introduced, and people will go ooohhhahhh and buy thoses as well. I have an iBook 800 right now, If apple had introduced a 12" pb G5 I'd have sold this and bought that. But now I'm considering buying a 1.8ghz desktop... because!

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by x user:
Why does everyone think that G5 has more of a heat issue than the G4? I just don't think it is. I think apple could easily got to a 1.2-1.4 GHZ G5 in the PB series.

If nothing else just underclock a 1.6 chip.

I'm pretty sure it's more of a sales motivated move on Apples part. People will buy the Powermac now, then in a couple months the G5 Powerbooks will be introduced, and people will go ooohhhahhh and buy thoses as well. I have an iBook 800 right now, If apple had introduced a 12" pb G5 I'd have sold this and bought that. But now I'm considering buying a 1.8ghz desktop... because!

I have to disagree...

First off, 'under clocking' as you put it just doesn't happen.

Secondly;

Do 1.2-1.4 G5s even exist?
Does the 970 include any energy saving/power management features?
How hot does the 970 officially run?

The G5 has 9 fans in the case! Obviously they are not all processor related, but I am guessing that the chips are running very, very hot... Either way we have no official statement on this which is somewhat suspicious...

In a Powerbook, there is no heat sink, one fan (or 2 max) that has to be very, very quiet... A whole redesign of the enclosure is needed. It may even take a die shrink to .90, or even a 980 to get the chip in a Powerbook.

If it was sales/marketing related, Apple would have been taking 1000's of orders on G5 Powerbooks as a result of the joint PM/PB announcement at WWDC...

[Lateralus]

As is now being reported by MacNN, IBM is to begin sampling 1.1GHz Gobi 750GX G3 processors immediately. 200MHz bus, 1MB of L2 cache.

The G3 will be in the iBook for a while, and it is a good thing.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
As is now being reported by MacNN, IBM is to begin sampling 1.1GHz Gobi 750GX G3 processors immediately. 200MHz bus, 1MB of L2 cache.

The G3 will be in the iBook for a while, and it is a good thing.

Cool. But kinda lame as well. I mean, 1.1ghz? Does that really cut it anymore? Also no Altivec or SIMD.

I looked at the specs and you can expect an increase of about 10% over a current chip of the same clock speed, but, well, is it enough?...

Roll on mojave.

[Scooterboy]

Right now, if you want or need Altivec, Apple is betting that you'll spend the extra $$$$ for a PowerBook.

The desktop G5's use 9 fans because they use slow, quiet, and strategically placed fans to cool the entire PowerMac with it's hot video card, 8 GB of RAM, big and fast Hard Drives, and 2 2GHz G5's. They could have used 2 fast and noisy fans to cool the case, but the 9 low power fans are quieter and will contribute to the overall elegance of the Power Mac G5.
Heat dissipation and power requirements at 1.2 GHz or even 1.4 GHz are comparable to G4, and the G5 will make a fine processor for the PowerBook.
I don't think that Steve Jobs would have declared 2003 the "year of the laptop" and then have Apple sit on it's laurels and cruise along on the current iBooks and PowerBooks. Yes the AlBooks are innovative, but they still use the same G4 chip from the Titanium G4 PowerBook. Still, Apple has stated that G5 won't make it into a PowerBook for quite some time. Too bad if this is true. What a coup it is for Apple to deliver the first 64 bit Desktop computer in the world and what a greater coup it would be for them to deliver the first 64 bit notebook computer in the same year. That would set the Wintel world on its collective arse. The G5 performance is stellar and I hope we see a PowerBook G5 before year's end.
Due to the sporadic and slow releases of faster G4's, and especially their cost (more than G5), I wouldn't expect them in iBooks soon or ever. I certainly wouldn't want to see G4's stripped of level 3 cache make it into the iBooks (like they have into the 12" PowerBook).

The new IBM 750 GX G3 features an on-die 1MB level 2 cache running at processor speed. 1.1 GHz iBook G3 with this chip on a 200 MHz FSB will be a very significant performance boost while still keeping the iBook G3 (especially important if Apple intends to keep the PowerBooks on G4.

Bring on the IBM 750GX! Bring on the Gobi! G3 isn't dead, and has more room to grow than the G4.