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axlepin · Aug 17, 2003, 10:15 AM

Last year, I bought my iBook mid-October, and as I recall, 3 weeks later, there was a change in that line such that a faster model for 25% less $ was released..

Is this a pattern that's likely to repeat? Could a 1-Ghz iBook be in the offing??

I have a friend who's about ready to buy and iBook but I'd naturally like to see her get the most for her money.

Anyone hear anything to support the idea of an iBook lineup change this Autumn?

axle

slider · Aug 17, 2003, 11:09 AM

I feel like there are going to be a lot of product releases, so seem over due. New iBooks, updated powerbooks with a new 15" (I think they are just working out some issues with them right now), new iMacs. I think the only things we won't see change is the eMac and of course the just release PowerMacs. I think the delay in the iMac and powerbooks are heat issues with the 1.25 G4, and I am sure we will see faster G3s in the iBook, at least 1Ghz. Maybe Apple wants to do a huge new products release for School, we'll see.

NYK Ace · Aug 17, 2003, 03:04 PM

rumor has had it every tuesday for the last 2 months for updated books. this tuesday is no exception, hey one of these Tuesday predictions has to be right.... right?!?!

fibroptikl · Aug 17, 2003, 04:04 PM

I remember that back in February or March they released new products every week for like 4-6 weeks.

I'd love to see that again.

radarbob · Aug 18, 2003, 08:53 AM

You can expect some kind of change about every 6 months. $100 drop in price 100MHz kick in CPU speed, slightly larger HD, etc. Every couple of years or so there are significant changes.

We all know it's coming. I figure it this way: the PowerMac just went G5, 6 mo. from now the powerbook will go G5, 6 mo. from then iBook will go G4. Just a guess on timing, but it is inevitable.

billybob128 · Aug 18, 2003, 11:19 AM

We all know it's coming. I figure it this way: the PowerMac just went G5, 6 mo. from now the powerbook will go G5, 6 mo. from then iBook will go G4. Just a guess on timing, but it is inevitable.

i think that a G4 iBook will be sooner cause the iBook line is really lagging behind in the laptop market

Volanges · Aug 18, 2003, 03:20 PM

There's no way they'll up the ibooks to G4's until the Powerbooks are G5's -- I really can't imagine that from a retail standpoint.

ChadC · 03:59 PM

the recent buzz about how IBM has a redesigned version of the G3 chip also lends me to believe that we'll be seeing the G3 in the iBook for some time. Also, for those of you that haven't used the 900 mhz iBook it is a nice, quick, stable, quiet, durable machine. It seriously rivals the 12" AiBook in many respects.

But I do agree, revision are, as always, around the corner. Sometimes they come when we expect, other times when we don't(i.e. the out of the blue 12" and 17" powerbooks).

-ChadC

andreas_g4 · Aug 18, 2003, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by Volanges:
There's no way they'll up the ibooks to G4's until the Powerbooks are G5's -- I really can't imagine that from a retail standpoint.

Of course there's a chance to this. It should not be too hard to differentiate iBooks and Powerbooks, from a marketing point of view. At least not harder as telling that a 867 MHz G4 ist faster than a 900 MHz G3.

Skypat · Aug 19, 2003, 04:21 AM

I think they will re-design the iBook by January. It is time for a change. They need to differenciate the iBook from the PowerBook.
iBook : tablet - 13" - 15"
Powerbook : 12" - 15" wide - 17" wide

WDYT ;-)

MSME · Aug 19, 2003, 06:16 PM

I don't understand why people think that the iBook is going to go tablet. The tablet PC's out there seem to be geared toward a niche market, and they're pretty expensive.

I think if apple introduces a tablet-pc type device, it'll be it's own product and not a replacement for something as popular as the iBook line.

Skypat · Aug 20, 2003, 01:32 PM

Well I did not say Apple would replace the iBook by a tablet mac. Of course not. But they might introduce a tablet iBook that compliment the rest of the iBook family. That's just an idea

MSME · 08:28 PM

Gotcha . . . just misread your post there.

An iBook-like tablet would be great for students taking notes -- and a little less conspicuous than typing on a laptop during a lecture. If Apple could price something like that less than the $2,000 tablet PC's they'd have something . . . too bad their specialty isn't undercutting PC manufacturers' prices

DeathMan · Aug 20, 2003, 07:55 PM

If they do use an IBM G3+Altivec, they'll not call it G3, they'll call it G5m or something like that, and it'll go in Powerbooks. If NVidia can call 2 totally different Video Cards GForce 4 (Ti and MX, I don't see why apple couldn't)

I wish they would just put a bullet in the G4's head (metaphorically speaking) and get some engineering behind the G3, give it altivec, and let it dominate in the notebook world.

Maybe they'll stick with the standard G3 for ibooks, but I think they need to name it something else. They just need to get G4 out of people's heads. Compared to the G5 the G4 sucks so badly, it makes hesitant to even consider any other apple product.

Skypat · Aug 21, 2003, 04:17 PM

G5m ... sounds very cool indeed ! But I guess the G5 has specs that the G3+ won't have.

Simon · Aug 22, 2003, 02:43 AM

Originally posted by Skypat:
G5m ... sounds very cool indeed ! But I guess the G5 has specs that the G3+ won't have.

Doesn't matter at all. The P4mobility is one hell of a lousy and slow POS compared to a hyperthreaded P4. Nevertheless all the stupid PC buyers bought it...

From a marketing point of view it would be great to use a Mojave (IBM's 750 (G3) with Altivec and higher-speed DDR memory support) and call it something like G5m.

Then clock it as high as battery/heat allows and sell it in the iBooks and PowerBooks as the low-power "G5".

That would be great marketing. The only problem left would be, how to get the "real" G5 into a fan-less iMac.

ChadC · Aug 22, 2003, 08:50 AM

It would be a great narketing scheme. But, I just don't see Apple doing this. They never have before and they tend to keep things "simple" in naming devices such as this. For example we have the iMac, eMac, PowerMac, iBook, PowerBook and iPod. We have G3, G4, G5 processors. On the PC side you've got different manufacturers using names for their computers that are a whole sentence long. I.E. Compaq Presario Student Desktop Internet Computer with a Pentium 4 processor. Yes, that is the official name of my girlfriends new computer(couldn't convince her parents to get her an iBook although she wanted it.

). You also have(as has been said before) Pentium 4, Pentium 4m, Celeron, and Centrino Processors. 95% of the PC buyers don't know what is what when it comes to them(i.e. ppl I know have bought Celeron based computers because they were cheaper without knowing what they were doing.). In conclusion I feel that Apple will keep it simple. Before the G5 came out there was a big discussion as to what they would call it. Names like X-Processor and others were brought up, but in the end they went with the easiest, most simple alternative. To continue the naming scheme they already have in place. It is for this reason that I believe in a year or so we'll see the new G3's in iBooks and they will still named G3's, and we'll see the beginning of the transition from G4's - G5's in the Powerbooks, iMacs and eMacs. But we all have opinions and we'll just have to see what good 'ole Steve-O surprises us with next...

-Chad

mikerally · Aug 22, 2003, 10:31 AM

Before the G5 came out there was a big discussion as to what they would call it. Names like X-Processor and others were brought up, but in the end they went with the easiest, most simple alternative.

Yeah I started the thread in the Powermac forum back in January where there was a big argument about what Apple would call the PowerPC 970.

I kept insisting that Apple would call it the G5, I know Apple too well and too long (Apple user of more than 10 years) - and yet all these newbie switchers in the forum came down on me like a ton of bricks telling me how dare I claim such a thing.

My point is, Apple is going to stick to the simple naming convention. The G3 will still be the G3, no matter what variant it is. Same for the G4 and now the G5. It's simple, and all the customers understand it.

Just another note about the iBook revision, trying to keep on topic here. The iBook has always been the last to get everything, last to get Firewire, Combo Drive, and etc. The only thing it ever got first was Airport. The tradition will now continue as the iBook will be the last product in Apple's lineup to get a DVD-Writer and a G4 processor.

One thing I can belive is the Apple are already looking into and developing G5 Powerbooks/G4 iBooks and probably release them at the same time at an Expo (maximum fanfare) - but we will be lucky to see them this year, think MWSF at earliest.

ChadC · Aug 22, 2003, 11:23 AM

well said... I agree 100%

Skypat · Aug 22, 2003, 11:34 AM

What will be the next upgrade to the iBook ?

They won't update the HD size ... I don't see 60 GB hard drives in an iBook ... 40 is ok and above what the market offers (see cheap PC notbooks with 20 GB or 30 GB drives).

Will they finally boost the system bus from 100 mhz to 133 or more ? Dunno. Will they boost the speed to more than 1Ghz ? They must.

They could introduce Airport Extreme and DDR RAM. I think they will also raise the memory built-in. 128 MB is just pathetic. 256 MB is the minimum.

The big question is : when will they change the iBook itself. New, thinner design, new screen ... does someone remember when they introduced the white iBooks a few years ago ? Wasn't it around March or April ? This may occur at the next Macworld. What hardware modification could they introduce ?
New iMac ? No. New eMac ? No. New PowerMac, no way ! New PowerBook ? No way either. New iBook ? Well, that's the only possibility I see. Or maybe another new Mac for business (low end G5 without monitor i.e.).

I'de love to be in a meeting room at Apple HQ playing with the next generation iBook thinking that some people like us would kill to do the same

pat++ · Aug 22, 2003, 05:30 PM

Originally posted by mikerally:

Just another note about the iBook revision, trying to keep on topic here. The iBook has always been the last to get everything, last to get Firewire, Combo Drive, and etc. The only thing it ever got first was Airport.

Not quite. The iBook got the combo drive BEFORE the PowerBook IIRC.

scottiB · Aug 22, 2003, 08:47 PM

Originally posted by pat++:
Not quite. The iBook got the combo drive BEFORE the PowerBook IIRC.

Yep, and Apple had a promotion where they gave away a FW CD-RW with every PBook G4 purchase. This was in Summer '01, I believe.

superblue · Aug 22, 2003, 10:25 PM

I'd love to see an "iBook Lite" - slimmed right down - no internal optical drive, with more of an emphasis on wireless networking to make up for it.

I read somewhere Steve Jobs is dead against removing optical drives, but I'm sure many customers would see the advantages. When the 2nd Gen iPods went 3G and slimmed right down, it got me thinking - if only the iBook could do the same... slimmer, LIGHTER, sexier...!

p.s. ChadC - is your signiature not a little on the long side?

Skypat · Aug 23, 2003, 10:06 AM

Yes me too. Just "a la Sony"

Cool, ultra-light with an airport system bundled.

Nicko · Aug 23, 2003, 01:38 PM

Hmmm well an ultra lite would be neat... but there is no way they are going to scrap the combo-drive in a consumer laptop. I am hoping for a slimmer design though... with a 13inch screen

Nerozwei · Aug 24, 2003, 02:31 PM

Chadc

Nice line up of Macs in your sig... Which is your favorite?

legacyb4 · Aug 31, 2003, 09:57 PM

I've been looking at getting an iBook but am waiting to see what Paris will bring.

Current size is fine with me although a faster bus would be nice for overall better system performance; so would a faster chip if for only mental satisfaction of getting into the gigahertz range.

I could live without Extreme and DDR on the iBook would be a luxury. Base memory of 256MB would be nice but I wonder if they would do that?

2 weeks to see what the future hold...

Originally posted by Skypat:
What will be the next upgrade to the iBook ?

Will they finally boost the system bus from 100 mhz to 133 or more ? Dunno. Will they boost the speed to more than 1Ghz ? They must.

They could introduce Airport Extreme and DDR RAM. I think they will also raise the memory built-in. 128 MB is just pathetic. 256 MB is the minimum.