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voltaje · May 11, 2003, 11:55 AM

Hello, I have the great doubt:

I buy Alu 17"now, or to wait for if in a month they announce changes
and they raise to him of speed.

Apple usually modifies the models every 6 months, but it would
surprise that being given the Alu17 to me it takes made this maneuver,
opinions?

Thanks and to excuse my English.

AssassyN · May 11, 2003, 12:05 PM

Hi!

Most likely the 17" AluBook will not be updated until September or October 2003 at the earliest. Apple just started getting these machines out in April, thus I don't believe they'll be updated until the fall of 2003.

If you need it now, get it now, it won't be updated so soon that you'll feel like you've purchased an "outdated" machine. If you can wait until September or October, then wait.

appleleo323 · May 11, 2003, 12:05 PM

sorry to say but this question has been asked 20 times in 20 different ways, probly more but the answer always ends up being if you need it now then buy it, if you don't, then wait for the revision. Don't mean to sound rude.

voltaje · May 11, 2003, 12:18 PM

Hello again,

My problem is the doubt that changes it in a short period, very short of time.

Thanks for your opinion.

I will continue meditating

AssassyN · May 11, 2003, 01:39 PM

Like I stated, it's *HIGHLY* unlikely that Apple will change and update the 17" AluBook before September or October of this year. If you're waiting for an update, you'll be waiting until then at least most likely.

RooneyX · May 11, 2003, 03:02 PM

It's a really good computer, the best laptop ever and runs OSX really well, snappy! It's the best thing going until the 23 inch Powerbook comes out.

wallinbl · May 11, 2003, 03:24 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Like I stated, it's *HIGHLY* unlikely that Apple will change and update the 17" AluBook before September or October of this year. If you're waiting for an update, you'll be waiting until then at least most likely.

Unless they finally update the 15", in which case they may update the 17" to keep it up with the 15".

AssassyN · May 11, 2003, 03:59 PM

Originally posted by wallinbl:
Unless they finally update the 15", in which case they may update the 17" to keep it up with the 15".

Precisely; neither, of course, will happen until September or October. It'd be a horrid business decision to let down all the early adopters of the 17" PB by updating them 2 months after they came out.

seanyepez · May 11, 2003, 04:25 PM

Regardless of how angry 17-inch PowerBook owners will be, Apple will likely release the new PowerBooks are coming out in July

Since the 17-inch PowerBook is a specialty product and demand for it is still extremely high, Apple can afford to begin making new 17-inch PowerBooks whenever better components become available.

The 12-, 15-, and 17-inch PowerBooks will probably use 1-, 1.2-, and 1.4-gigahertz Motorla PowerPC 7457 G4 processors, respectively.

seanyepez · May 11, 2003, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Precisely; neither, of course, will happen until September or October. It'd be a horrid business decision to let down all the early adopters of the 17" PB by updating them 2 months after they came out.

If Apple updates the 17-inch PowerBook in July, it would have been six months since its original introduction at Macworld in January.

If people are always waiting for new stuff to come out, old stuff never gets sold. Because of this, Apple hates rumor sites.

wallinbl · May 11, 2003, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
If people are always waiting for new stuff to come out, old stuff never gets sold. Because of this, Apple hates rumor sites.

The big problem people have with Apple is fear of the unknown. You never know what is coming. With Intel, they announce ahead of time. You know what is coming. You can decide if you need what is out now, or if you need to wait. It doesn't hurt their sales in the slightest.

The only thing Apple gets by not preannouncing is that it pisses off the people that buy the week before the announcement.

voltaje · May 11, 2003, 06:46 PM

But, if they have begun them to give in April (alu17) how they are
going to change them after 4 months.

Although everything is possible clear.

Greetings

The Placid Casual · May 11, 2003, 07:00 PM

I always used to do the waiting thing... I've recently figured that in the long run, what's the point? Worst case scenario you still get a kick ass computer...

I just got a 12" PB... as soon as I used it, I knew I had made the right decision. So what if it gets bumpd 133mhz in a few months? I have it and am enjoying it now...

The last update brought AE, Bluetooth et al, so assuming the 970 doesn't get dropped in the machines, the next revision will be only an incremetal update anyways...

If yu can wait, wait, but if you need to buy now, I say be happy about it

djjava · May 11, 2003, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
I always used to do the waiting thing... I've recently figured that in the long run, what's the point? Worst case scenario you still get a kick ass computer...

exactly... i mean seriously, if you buy the current revision of the PB17, and say 4-5 months they come out with a 1.2 or 1.4 ghz, with 80gb, big flippin' whoop... the current PB17 is still a ballzy computer, and always will be!

macxtal · May 11, 2003, 07:47 PM

I don't see apple introducing the 15" -anytime- soon. Most people who want the 17 would have gone for the 15, as there is only a minor difference, and if it's your desktop - chances are you have at least one other screen connected to it. This personally leads me to believe Apple may get rid of the 15" altogether - if you want portability, get the 12, and if you want bigger, get the 17". The 15 would be so well positioned between the two as to hurt margins on each.

I have a 15" now, and am getting a 17". If you can live with the size - get the 17" now. Or get the 17" and an ibook, my current plan. I'd get the 12, but apple convienently left off DVI - a move that is clearly to encourage people to get one of the more pricey models. This is one of the things that leads me to believe the 15" will stay as is for some time, be updated when the 970 notebook edition comes out, or be phased out of the lineup completely.

The notebook edition of the 970 will not be available for at least 12-14 months, so I don't think you're going to miss anything there.

wallinbl · May 11, 2003, 08:50 PM

Originally posted by macxtal:
I don't see apple introducing the 15" -anytime- soon. Most people who want the 17 would have gone for the 15, as there is only a minor difference, and if it's your desktop - chances are you have at least one other screen connected to it. This personally leads me to believe Apple may get rid of the 15" altogether - if you want portability, get the 12, and if you want bigger, get the 17". The 15 would be so well positioned between the two as to hurt margins on each.

The 15" is the sweet spot. It is not going anywhere. They need to up the resolution on the 17" to make it a better upgrade. You're not getting many more pixels for your $500. (12" to 15" is 39% more, 15" to 17" is only 18.5% more, and a mere 46 pixels vertically).

I also feel it is time to move past 1024x768 as the minimum. That's just not enough room anymore.

RooneyX · May 11, 2003, 09:48 PM

Another thing I must add. I also thought the 15 inch was ideal and the 17 was too big. When I got the 17 I thought it was humungous. But after two weeks with it I got used to it and now it actually doesn't feel that big and the screen really makes OSX come alive in a new way.

seanyepez · May 11, 2003, 11:23 PM

Originally posted by wallinbl:
The big problem people have with Apple is fear of the unknown. You never know what is coming. With Intel, they announce ahead of time. You know what is coming. You can decide if you need what is out now, or if you need to wait. It doesn't hurt their sales in the slightest.

The only thing Apple gets by not preannouncing is that it pisses off the people that buy the week before the announcement.

No. That's not true. Intel sells processors, and Apple sells computers. Apple doesn't want to have to sell their 1-gigahertz PowerBooks at a discounted price. The latest Intel products are integrated into Dell, HP, Sony, and Gateway notebooks immediately after they are released. Quicker updates are a reality of the PC market. Intel has competiton. Apple doesn't have any direct competition in the hardware sector. When Apple updates their product line, Apple has to deal with selling entire computers at a discounted rate. Generally, the well-informed won't buy technology that will be outdated the next month.

Another reason Apple must not announce any products in advance is its leading role in hardware innovation. If Apple announces hardware in advance, PC manufacturers have more time to copy Apple's designs. Regardless of whether or not it pisses off a few of its customers, Apple announces new products without warning.

seanyepez · May 11, 2003, 11:29 PM

Originally posted by voltaje:
But, if they have begun them to give in April (alu17) how they are
going to change them after 4 months.

Although everything is possible clear.

Greetings

Simple. As faster chips become available, Apple could begin to use them in an updated 17-inch PowerBook. The RADEON 9600 Mobility and GeForce FX 5600 Go are almost ready.

wanderlust · May 11, 2003, 11:33 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
Another thing I must add. I also thought the 15 inch was ideal and the 17 was too big. When I got the 17 I thought it was humungous. But after two weeks with it I got used to it and now it actually doesn't feel that big and the screen really makes OSX come alive in a new way.

I agree. It's going to be hard to "revert" back to dem small screens if I ever have to. Even the 15" seems a little too small now.

djjava · May 11, 2003, 11:41 PM

Originally posted by wanderlust:
I agree. It's going to be hard to "revert" back to dem small screens if I ever have to. Even the 15" seems a little too small now.

I too agree... sure, at first it seems like 30acres of screen real estate. I tell you, it look bigger from far away than it does up close. whe I use my PB like a desktp (or laptop for that matter)... it feels fine.. feels like the perfect size.. yet, when I see my brother using his from across my parent's family room (he still lives with them, thankfully, I don't) it looks big...

Speaking of this, the macworld review says that you can't use the PB17 in coach class. I would think that the only hinderance would be your ability to open the lid due to the inclination of the seat infront of you.

if you can wait, wait. if you can't, buy it now... can we stop revisting this discussion... blah blah blah.

Daniel Bayer · May 13, 2003, 07:07 PM

...reaching around for a couple of pennies.....Yep...got em.

I have a 1ghz ti-book. am waiting until the 1.3 GHZ 17 with a possible 2Gb of ram and a 80GB drive comes out...in a few months at the latest.

db

mutron · May 13, 2003, 07:17 PM

I received mine yesterday.

It is an amazing machine. I was
waiting for the Al 15'' but thank
God I got the 17''

I have used a bit an 450Mhz (or 400) desktop
G4 with 512MB, but this one cannot
even be compared with the desktop one.

It is amazingly fast!

So even if apple decides to update the
model to 1.2 or 1.4 Mhz soon the difference
is not that big.

acadian · May 13, 2003, 08:45 PM

I think the 15" will go Al sooner than later. When that happens, especially if they put the 9600 in it, the 17" will at least be updated to the same GPU.

iDaver · May 13, 2003, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by acadian:
I think the 15" will go Al sooner than later. When that happens, especially if they put the 9600 in it, the 17" will at least be updated to the same GPU.

Agreed. I'd bet on a 15" Al by July and if there's the slightest bump in specs, the 17" will get 'em too.

And yes, there are threads like this one all the time. So what? If you don't want to read them, don't. Some of us like to speculate; sometimes, continuously.

HasanDaddy · May 14, 2003, 12:34 PM

Add me to the list of people waiting for the 17" update....I'm tempted to splurge and get it now - but I can afford to wait.....with the 970 on the horizon, why not?

As far as coach class goes......the 17" may be too big, but iPod's work GREAT in coach!

PBAddict · May 14, 2003, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Hi!

Most likely the 17" AluBook will not be updated until September or October 2003 at the earliest. Apple just started getting these machines out in April, thus I don't believe they'll be updated until the fall of 2003.

If you need it now, get it now, it won't be updated so soon that you'll feel like you've purchased an "outdated" machine. If you can wait until September or October, then wait.

I think it will be sooner. If they wait to October it will mean that the Powerbook has been maxed out a 1 ghz for nearly a year.

olli2 · May 14, 2003, 02:33 PM

I am waiting for the 15" Alu Powerbook, with >1GHz CPU and a very decent video card with Huge amounts of video ram. I also hope I can top up the Ram also over 1 GB. I feel that OS X needs juice to be really snappy, so I want a machine that has juice. Probably I will get my PB, and have it for 2-3 years, so I rather wait for a decent speced machine, that will fulfill my requirements over time. If I had time, I would wait for the 970 CPU in laptops, but it is more likely that it will appear in desktops in September-October, than months later in Laptops. So, the 970 laptops will come by this time next year.

The difference: I don't want killer Photoshop, I want snappy OS X. Photoshop is killer already, and it can only get even faster. However, OS X feels slow to me on current 1 GHz machines, compared to the snappy feeling that I have on a 1 GHz pentium with XP.

olli2 · May 14, 2003, 02:37 PM

Also, about size.
I have a 12" iBook now, and I find the screen hard to read. It is rally portable, but the letters are really minuscule in TextEdit.
I have played around for a while with the PB17. It is nice, it is big, it is amazing, but for true day-to-day use and sittting in front of working and typing, it felt too wide and unconfi. The 15" is still the best size for a laptop, that you want to use as a laptop, not as a moveable cinema display. Moveable and portable is not the same. But everyone has its own needs, I need a portable, not a desktop replacement.

voltaje · May 14, 2003, 03:22 PM

Thanks to all, finally I have requested a Alu-17.

If they leave new with other configurations bad luck, but if it is
good now will be it within a month, two or three.

In addition I have obtained a good supply by my YOU 867.

It is not worth the trouble to hope.

when he receives it, I count my experience..... I am nervous

phedge · May 14, 2003, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by voltaje:
Thanks to all, finally I have requested a Alu-17.

It is not worth the trouble to hope.

Exactly, and well put.
As soon as you open your 17, you'll forget any doubt you had.

wanderlust · May 14, 2003, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by HasanDaddy:
As far as coach class goes......the 17" may be too big, but iPod's work GREAT in coach!

Not true! I fly all the time; sometimes two or three times a week. I use my 17" in coach with NO problems. Zero. Nadda. Every time I hear people saying its just to humongous and that you can't use it in coach I can't help but laugh. It's really up to them to be continue living in the dark and miss out on an incredible computing experince. But far be it from me to try to convince someone of the truth when they've already convinced themsleves otherwise.

But you heard it from a frequent flyer, the 17" does just fine in coach, and anywhere for that matter. I've had the computer for over two weeks and take it everywhere with me and not once have I said, "Dang, if it were just a little smaller, it would fit."

I'm sure other 17ers would agree with me.