[lehman]

"Apple's Industrial Design team has slipped." "I was disappointed by no new case design." Man, we Mac fans can sure be fickle. What I want to do is to help put into perspective what has taken place at Macworld Tokyo.

People are complaing about no new case design and I am a little surprised as well, but think about it for a minute. Apple has just released a new G3 PowerBook. Keep in mind G3. These newest ones will very likely be the last G3 PowerBooks ever.

So if you are Apple and you are working on a G4 (G4!!!) PowerBook to eventually replace these, you're going to want a case design that will clearly differentiate from past PowerBooks. Not a succession of different case designs. Consumers will not see the difference between a G3 and a G4 because they're ALL different looking. You want a definative breaking point between the two generations.(The same thing with OS 9 and OS X, but thats for a different post.)

Second, your going to want to give consumers who sense that the biggest improvement in the line (G3 to G4) is yet to come, a reason to buy this new machine. INTERCHANGABLE COMPONENTS. (zip, battery, etc.) Say you have a Lombard PowerBook and you want to wait for THE REAL PISMO (read on below). If you give users a chance to bring their old components into this new machine, you have a much higher chance of selling this "New" PowerBook to Lombard users.

The REAL PISMO is yet to come. I think that Pismo is the codename of a PowerBook, just not this one. This is purely speculation of course. My theory is Apple had a whole new case design for this PowerBook. Late into design of the whole machine, Apple learns that Motorola will be able to come up with a cooler G4 chip that will be able to run in a PowerBook without the thing melting or catching on fire. (G4a?) As for reasons stated above Apple wants a distinction to be made between the the two generations of PowerBooks so they put the new design on hold for the REAL PISMO and reuse Lombard design.

Which brings me to why Firewire PB was delayed. There are 2 reasons. 1)Discovery that G4 PowerBook will come sooner than thought. (as talked about above) 2) If your Apple do you want a Laptop running at a faster MHz than your desktop? Apple had to wait for the G4 PowerMac to be bumped. They (Apple) did not have to wait for Minuet (Firewire PB does not even use 9.01 the bumped G4 does) as reported by rumor sites. Maybe a Flat Panel shortage but not as likley as the 2 reasons I gave above.

Well thats my 2 cents.

P.S. I challenge anyone to find a more compelling Laptop design than the one Apple has now with Firewire PB. There isn't one. Another factor in staying with Lombard design.

lehman

[Misha]

Unless Moto and IBM are able to work a technological miracle (very doubtful) we won't see a G4 PowerBook until 2001.

My guess is a speed bumped PB G3 in Pismo's case will debut at Macworld in July.

I repectfully disagree, Madame moderator. If moto makes it to .18 micron (and they said they would by the summer), all bets are off, IMO.

It is, at the very least, possible to see a G4 powerbook by fall of this year.....maybe right around MacWorld?

If I were a betting man, I'd go with your prognostication, but I just wanted to say that it COULD happen......

Dammit

Actually, between rumors of the G4e and a new deal where Kodak and IBM will be making the new chips using masks 1000 times smaller than current, I say that a G4 laptop could be a reality within the year. Now, keep in mind that MacWorld NY is also the expected date for the release of OS X (which, btw, runs like a MF on a 500mhz PB) which also, logically, would be a great time to announce speed-bumped machines to run it on. I expect a revised G4 desktop running a 750 or faster G4e, the first G4 iMac (possibly a DV Extra SE?), and a G4 PB. This of course, is just a suggestion. I have absolutely no idea what the schedule is, they don't tell us developers much before stuff comes out.

Phunky Monkey