[MuttleyMac]

My wife wants a new iBook. She gets her bonus Friday. I don't know how long I can hold her off. I hear new ibooks are coming according to all the rumors. I don't want her to buy one Friday and new ones be released. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

This will make us have more macs than kids. What a shame!

[CandyMaffia]

very soon... i dare to say that they are here in the end of mars!!! and also a new fresh ipod with 10/20 and 40gigs!!!

[neilxu]

no new iBook any more, I think. 12PB is the "new" iBook.

[Langdon]

Originally posted by neilxu:
no new iBook any more, I think. 12PB is the "new" iBook.

No way, not before the powerbooks get bumped up in speed a lot higher. We'll stay with G3 iBooks at least until the fall. But iBook upgrades are coming though I am sure its closer to June.

[Peter]

Originally posted by neilxu:
no new iBook any more, I think. 12PB is the "new" iBook.

THEY HAVE THE SAME SCREEN SIZE
thats it, G3 - G4. Other than that they arn't realy similar. Just because their screen size is the same doesn't make it a replacement. No I cannot wait for the iBook speed boosts -
My prediction...
G3 800Mhz - 1Ghz
128Mb or 256Mb Ram
DVD Drive or 16x Combo (would have superdrive except for no iDVD)
20Gb to 60Gb HD
12" or 14" Screen
32Mb Grafix
Bluetooth
Airport Extreme
No Firewire 800

What do you think?

[MuttleyMac]

I don't want to wait until June. I dont want to wait till end or March.
She is going to want one within the next few weeks. I have heard the rumors for 3 weeks and nothing yet. Hoepfully within 3.

B&W_G3/300/
Pismo 400
7600 w G3 upgrade.
G4 Sawtooth w DVD-RAM
CX and SI

I am addicted

[Superchicken]

If she really wants it let her buy it, I think there's probably one or two months more till they get bumped in speed. If you're worried about getting the nicest speed or something there is the 12 inch PB that's just plain sweet...
The only things that the new iBooks will have probablyw ill be air port extream, built in blue tooth and slightly faster processors.

[Peter]

get one now, you'll end up constantly waiting

[xtal]

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
get one now, you'll end up constantly waiting

Considering the (relatively) recent bump and price drop in November, I can't agree enough with the sentiment above.

Get it now.

[molala]

they usually upgrade ibooks every 6 months (so May). but i also think they need to upgrade the 12-inch PB first before the iBook (otherwise the iBook might have more MHz) so more likely June or MWNY (July).

[iChristopher]

Originally posted by neilxu:
no new iBook any more, I think. 12PB is the "new" iBook.

Yes, education and consumers will love that! Sorry for the sarcasm, but Apple would be ignoring a HUGE segment. NO WAY, NO HOW does the iBook get scratched - not now and not for a VERY long time if ever.

They just reached the magic number of $999, which is huge for them. The next revision of the iBook will fly off shelves if they offer a healthy boost, and keep the prices where they are.

[TomHMeredith]

Get it now!!!!

Even if they do release new iBooks in 3 weeks, it'll be at least another 3 weeks before you would get one, so thats a 6 week wait, for what will probably be an update very similar to what the iMacs just got.

Tom.

[CheesePuff]

If she needs one now, get it now.

Make sure its the 800 MHz version and get 640 MB RAM, and it will be fine in Mac OS X. And of course upgrading to the 40 GB HDD will do wonders as well.

But once you BTO your order like this, it gets in the range of the PowerBook G4 12.1", which among other things is smaller, lighter, G4 power, faster system bus, faster CD-RW/DVD-ROM ComboDrive, DDR RAM, AGP 4x graphics, etc etc.

[Peter]

Originally posted by molala:
they usually upgrade ibooks every 6 months (so May). but i also think they need to upgrade the 12-inch PB first before the iBook (otherwise the iBook might have more MHz) so more likely June or MWNY (July).

the iBook will be ugraded before the PB. The iBook will probley have a 1Ghz G3. That would make the 867Mb G4 PB and 1Ghz G3 alot more evenly speed matched. You do realise that now I doubt the iBook will get a G4 until the PowerBook goes G5 or possibly Dual G4 ...

[Langdon]

Here's a better question:

Let's say they do upgrade the iBook and it gets Bluetooth and Airport Ex. Will it most likely be only the mid and upper level iBooks that get it? And I assume we'd see 32 mb video across all of them.

And would we see a price hike on the iBooks for the new technolgy? Even though Apple dropped the iBook prices in Nov I somehow seem to remember having a pattern of raising it again when it suits them.

[scottiB]

Most likely in May. June is when schools finalize purchases for the following fall. It might be March 13th or 20th (but the 20th falls during WWDC).

My guess: 867 and 1,000 mhz G3; 133 mhz bus; AirPort Extreme; whatever GeForce card is in the current 12.1" PBook. Same price points or $100 lower across the board.

[ccsccs7]

Hey everybody, let's keep in mind that the iBook has had its share of firsts (Things its gotten before the Powerbook -- or other macs).

Airport: got this before all other Macs.

Combo drive: got this before any of the Powerbooks.

At times, its CPU speed has been higher than the lowest end Powerbook.

So, basically what I am saying is that there can be surprises. I'm not making any predictions or suggestions.

[im_noahselby]

I made this prediction in this forum about a month ago. I'm pretty confident that we'll see new ibooks in March.

$999
800MHz PowerPC G3
128MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
CD-ROM Drive
AirPort ready

$1299
900MHz PowerPC G3
128MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
Combo Drive
AirPort Extreme ready

$1499
14.1 Screen
900MHz PowerPC G3
256MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
Combo Drive
AirPort Extreme ready

After this update, I still believe that Apple will unveil new ibooks at Macworld July. We will see new enclosures, 900Mhz-1Ghz G3's across the line, and Airport Extreme standard on all models. And probably a few things I haven't even thought of.

Noah

[TomHMeredith]

Do you really believe that the iBook updates will get Airport Extreme?

For most people Airport is used as a way to access the internet, and there isn't really any need to have Airport Extreme to do this.

Just my $0.02

Tom.

[TomHMeredith]

Do you really believe that the iBook updates will get Airport Extreme?

For most people Airport is used as a way to access the internet, and there isn't really any need to have Airport Extreme to do this.

Just a thought

Tom.

[Peter]

I think they'll get Bluetooth but no Airport Extreme. I hope that they up the iBooks to 1Ghz, wishful thinking ...

[RMXO]

Originally posted by im_noahselby:
I made this prediction in this forum about a month ago. I'm pretty confident that we'll see new ibooks in March.

$999
800MHz PowerPC G3
128MB SDRAM memory
30GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
CD-ROM Drive
AirPort ready

$1299
900MHz PowerPC G3
128MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
Combo Drive
AirPort Extreme ready

$1499
14.1 Screen
900MHz PowerPC G3
256MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
ATI Radeon 7500 32MB
Combo Drive
AirPort Extreme ready

After this update, I still believe that Apple will unveil new ibooks at Macworld July. We will see new enclosures, 900Mhz-1Ghz G3's across the line, and Airport Extreme standard on all models. And probably a few things I haven't even thought of.

Noah

i have to agree with this one also. we will likely see a 900MHz before we see an iBook at 1GHz....

[Peter]

Originally posted by RMXO:
i have to agree with this one also. we will likely see a 900MHz before we see an iBook at 1GHz....

I would consider purchasing a 1Ghz but would not consider a 900Mhz. Just think a 1Ghz would feel more future proof. Only 100Mhz but hey ...

[Superchicken]

The iMacs jumped from 800 to 1Ghz, so did the power books, the only ones that didn't were the Power Macs that went, 867 and Dual 800, then 933 then 1Ghz but right now IBM has 1Ghz G3s avalible so I think Apple's likely to stick em in there. Not to compete with the power books, but to compete with PC laptops! The G3 is still pretty comparable in speed to most P4 laptops and gets better battery life, so if they can up the speed more they may attract more students. And it's not a G4 so they really don't have to worry about most pros dropping down from a power book.
As for AE, I think if the low end is 800 we might not see it, if the low end is 900 we will. From what I understand AE doesn't cost much more, and it'd be nice for them to say soon that they have Air Port Extream across the line. And I mean even the high end iMac has AE now, and that makes far less sense than an iBook.

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by TomHMeredith:
Do you really believe that the iBook updates will get Airport Extreme?
For most people Airport is used as a way to access the internet, and there isn't really any need to have Airport Extreme to do this.
Just my $0.02

Tom.

Airport Extreme is a feature I'm sure many forum goers here care about and want before they make the plunge to purchase this system. It makes more sense to have Airport Extreme on a laptop than a desktop system and seeing as how Apple has included this feature in their new imac line (excluding the lowend 800 model) I'd undoubtedly expect it to come to the ibook line.

Imagine wireless printing to a USB printer from your new ibook that you're typing on your living room couch...

Originally posted by Apple @ http://www.apple.com/airport/ :
AirPort Extreme consists of two components: the AirPort Extreme Card and the AirPort Extreme Base Station. Together, they represent the future of wireless networking.

Clearly, Airport Extreme is meant to replace the original Airport.

Noah

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
The iMacs jumped from 800 to 1Ghz, so did the power books, the only ones that didn't were the Power Macs that went, 867 and Dual 800, then 933 then 1Ghz but right now IBM has 1Ghz G3s avalible so I think Apple's likely to stick em in there. Not to compete with the power books, but to compete with PC laptops! The G3 is still pretty comparable in speed to most P4 laptops and gets better battery life, so if they can up the speed more they may attract more students. And it's not a G4 so they really don't have to worry about most pros dropping down from a power book.
As for AE, I think if the low end is 800 we might not see it, if the low end is 900 we will. From what I understand AE doesn't cost much more, and it'd be nice for them to say soon that they have Air Port Extream across the line. And I mean even the high end iMac has AE now, and that makes far less sense than an iBook.

Considering that the iMac's processor speed wasn't updated for well over a year, it isn't surprising at all for most of us to see it now at 1Ghz.

Having Airport Extreme in a laptop is far more useful than in a desktop

Noah

[BigDaddy]

My biggest gripe with the ibook is no dvd rom without a cdrw. The cost is nothing I wish the cd rom by itself would go away.

[scottiB]

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
I think they'll get Bluetooth but no Airport Extreme. I hope that they up the iBooks to 1Ghz, wishful thinking ...

The iBooks are geared for education as much as conumers--probably even more so. AirPort Extreme allows 50 users to share 54 Mbs of bandwidth rather than the 11 Mbs of the old dual-ethernet (and 10 users of the graphite) base stations.

Add the USB printer sharing and wireless bridging, and AirPort Extreme is so applicable to classroom situations that I can't see Apple not offering it in iBooks (and perhaps eMacs).

[Langdon]

Originally posted by BigDaddy:
My biggest gripe with the ibook is no dvd rom without a cdrw. The cost is nothing I wish the cd rom by itself would go away.

Exactly why they won't have one again. Most people would love to use an iBook for watching movies during travel and high volume data DVDs. So make them spend the extra bucks for the mid range combo drive iBook. Makes sense to me from a business side.

[BTP]

Regardless of specs, I personally don't think we'll see a new iBook until around May sometime. A bit sooner, a bit later, somewhere around there.

For people that have been around and paying attention for the past few years, note that the cycle has been about every 6 months or so. That has been holding true for a while, hence my prediction.

[Superchicken]

6 months? Paid attention to the iMac at all? Yeah I know it's an oddity but it does show Apple's willing to bend it to 7 or 8 months if they wanna. Personally I think the next iBook revision will be big enough to warrent Mac World NY or at least the WWDC to show it off.

[TomHMeredith]

The iBooks are geared for education as much as conumers--probably even more so. AirPort Extreme allows 50 users to share 54 Mbs of bandwidth rather than the 11 Mbs of the old dual-ethernet (and 10 users of the graphite) base stations.

Add the USB printer sharing and wireless bridging, and AirPort Extreme is so applicable to classroom situations that I can't see Apple not offering it in iBooks (and perhaps eMacs).

Airport Extreme is a feature I'm sure many forum goers here care about and want before they make the plunge to purchase this system. It makes more sense to have Airport Extreme on a laptop than a desktop system and seeing as how Apple has included this feature in their new imac line (excluding the lowend 800 model) I'd undoubtedly expect it to come to the ibook line.

Imagine wireless printing to a USB printer from your new ibook that you're typing on your living room couch...

So, from what you are saying, does this mean that you can't use printer sharing, or have 54 users connected if you have an AE base station, and your clients on standard Airport?

I always thought you could.

Oh well

Tom

[scottiB]

Originally posted by TomHMeredith:
So, from what you are saying, does this mean that you can't use printer sharing, or have 54 users connected if you have an AE base station, and your clients on standard Airport?

I always thought you could.

Oh well

Tom

No, to clarify, what I was speaking more to the bandwidth than printing.

Since I purchased a graphite station three years ago, I've been able to print from my couch, but this was because I purchased an ethernet print server ($150) for my Epson and plugged into my home LAN. With the non-Extreme base stations, you could share USB printing, but the printer needed to be plugged into a Mac and that Mac needed to be on and print serving.

What's cool about AE base station for schools is that a USB printer can be included on the iBook carts rather than an ethernet connected one.

USB printer sharing is obviously applicable for home use; any USB printer can be networked without a Mac print server.

Non-Extreme AirPort (white) can handle 50 users, too, but those 50 users are sharing 11Mbs/sec while AE users share 54Mbs/sec--even using older AP cards.

Adding AE to an iBook is trivial. The method's been worked out with 12.1" PBook. I just can't see Apple not offering AE cards in iBooks. There's no reason not to.

[Peter]

Originally posted by scottiB:

Adding AE to an iBook is trivial. The method's been worked out with 12.1" PBook. I just can't see Apple not offering AE cards in iBooks. There's no reason not to.

It may be there, Airport Extreme but most places uses the 802.11b so its gonna be kinda useless for students for example for about 12months.
I want bluetooth though!

[Langdon]

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
6 months? Paid attention to the iMac at all? Yeah I know it's an oddity but it does show Apple's willing to bend it to 7 or 8 months if they wanna. Personally I think the next iBook revision will be big enough to warrent Mac World NY or at least the WWDC to show it off.

Doubtful. What more can they realistically do in the next revision? We aren't going to get color cases. No G4 for SURE. Airport Ex and bluetooth have debuted in their laptop line. Back lit keyboards haven't even reached the lower end powerbooks. And they have 12 and 14 inch iBooks. I have to agree that they will have to release before the June deadline so that schools can order new iBooks.
And they won't have anything we haven't seen them do before in other macs.

[rytc]

They should at least start shipping them with at least 320 MBs RAM across the line IMO.

[scottiB]

I settle for either a user accessable 2nd slot or at least 256MB soldered onto the motherboard.

(btw, I visited Heidelberg years ago, and I loved that city--just loved it.)

[neilxu]

no new iBook any more. However Apple will update 12'PB in July.

iBook is mainly for education market.

[jokell82]

Originally posted by neilxu:
no new iBook any more. However Apple will update 12'PB in July.

iBook is mainly for education market.

I highly doubt that. I bet the iBook will make it to at least a 1GHz G3 before they stop updating it a la the CRT iMac.

[neilxu]

If new iBook possible, then before Apple release 1G iBook, Apple has to eliminate 867MHZ 12'PB. Right now, iBook700, iBook800, PB867, PB1G, it's fine.

1G iBook will hurt 867MHZ PB. Although Apple will update 12'PB in July, the speed reaches 1G. So Apple won't update iBook to 1G.

Anyway, no one really knows how Steve decides.

Originally posted by jokell82:
I highly doubt that. I bet the iBook will make it to at least a 1GHz G3 before they stop updating it a la the CRT iMac.

[TomHMeredith]

1G iBook will hurt 867MHZ PB

I don't completely agree with this. The PowerBooks and iBooks are geared at different markets, and the iBook would still only be at G3.

Of course though, if they added AE, BlueTooth, then the iBook would be starting to get very similar to the PowerBook.

Tom

[jokell82]

Originally posted by neilxu:
If new iBook possible, then before Apple release 1G iBook, Apple has to eliminate 867MHZ 12'PB. Right now, iBook700, iBook800, PB867, PB1G, it's fine.

1G iBook will hurt 867MHZ PB. Although Apple will update 12'PB in July, the speed reaches 1G. So Apple won't update iBook to 1G.

Anyway, no one really knows how Steve decides.

12" PowerBook goes to 1GHz, iBook goes to 933 MHz. 12" goes higher, iBook goes to 1GHz. Where's the problem?

You said they'd stop updating altogether. I'm just saying that's not going to happen, at least not yet...

[rmendis]

Originally posted by BigDaddy:
My biggest gripe with the ibook is no dvd rom without a cdrw. The cost is nothing I wish the cd rom by itself would go away.

This is actually very interesting.

Apple doesn't offer DVD-ROM configurations anywhere. Not for the iMac nor for the iBook. While it still offers CD-ROM?

If Apple is looking at a way of producing some new aggressive configurations, this would be one way.
Introduce DVD-ROM versions of the iMac and iBook.

[rmendis]

Originally posted by neilxu:
1GHz iBook will hurt 867MHz PB.

Not necessarily.
Especially if the iBook enclosure is updated.

The iBooks had transformed from a portable version of the candy coloured teardrop iMac to junior versions of the successful and professional looking Ti PowerBook G4.

Now that the 12" PowerBook has arrived, the iBooks need not fill this space. In fact they clash...it causes confusion...12" PowerBook vs. iBook dilemma that many buyers are having ;-)

I am very confident that Apple will change the case design of the iBook and evolve it into more of a commodity line (like it was originally). If they don't change the *shape* of the enclosure they might very well chang ethe *colours*. Resurrecting the snow/candy colours again, to make the iBooks more commodity looking and less professional than the PowerBook G4s.

This time however, i hope they stick to Bluberry, Sage & Ruby, etc to keep the colours subtle ;-)

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by rmendis:
I am very confident that Apple will change the case design of the iBook and evolve it into more of a commodity line (like it was originally). If they don't change the *shape* of the enclosure they might very well chang ethe *colours*. Resurrecting the snow/candy colours again, to make the iBooks more commodity looking and less professional than the PowerBook G4s.

This time however, i hope they stick to Bluberry, Sage & Ruby, etc to keep the colours subtle ;-)

I don't see Apple steering away from their white color scheme for awhile. It seems to be their colour of choice for their consumer line of computers, but a little colour would be a refreshing change.

[Silencer]

I'm eagerly awaiting the update as it'll be when i get my ibook, which will be 12.1" and i'll max the hard drive and ram. I can't wait.
I've only been able to play around on a 700mhz with 128 ram and it was lagging like crazy just opening itunes and appleworks caused the beachball to appear. I'm sure the 800 with 640 ram would be a speedy, but if i did buy one now i wouldn't feel satisfied when the new ones come out, so im stuck hoping the new ones won't take too long.

[superblue]

I think the form will remain the same, but the interior's silver look will be replaced with the current 700's all-white opaque plastic (or at least a development of it, as the current version isn't that hot).

This will do two things - it'll visually differentiate the 12" ti and iBooks as pro vs consumer/edu and it'll help drive the cost down a little.

'e' and 'i' lines will then be consistently white, with the pro 'Power' lines sporting metallics via aluminium and the MDD's Quicksilver finish.

So with modest CPU and graphics boosts coupled with price cuts, the new iBook will keep both the pro camp happy by not encroaching on their terrain, and keep the consumer/edu camp happy by making the machine more competitive.

[andreas_g4]

Originally posted by Silencer:
I'm eagerly awaiting the update as it'll be when i get my ibook, which will be 12.1" and i'll max the hard drive and ram. I can't wait.
I've only been able to play around on a 700mhz with 128 ram and it was lagging like crazy just opening itunes and appleworks caused the beachball to appear. I'm sure the 800 with 640 ram would be a speedy, but if i did buy one now i wouldn't feel satisfied when the new ones come out, so im stuck hoping the new ones won't take too long.

RAM is what's all about. I have an iBook 600/16 Megs VRAM with 640 MB RAM and it performs really good in Jaguar. The UI experience is about the same as on my G4 733 at work.

[andreas_g4]

"The year of the notebook"

Hard to say if the iBooks will get bumped one more time or if there will come complete new machines. I would love to see a new enclosure. But the current one is good as it is. I can imagine the iBook look will only be slightly changed, as seen on the Powermac towers, until they go one step higher on the cpu ladder. I also remember Phil Schiller stating the G3 has a long future at Apple. If the iBooks stay G3 for more than a year, it's hard to believe that just Apple keeps a design for 3 years.

I hope we will see this/next month:

low end:

Same enclosure
12"
G3 800 MHz
128 MB RAM
CD-ROM/DVD
30 GB HD
32 MB ATI Card
Airport Extreme ready
No Bluetooth


mid range:

same enclosure
12"
G3 1 GHz
256 MB RAM (soldered on mobo)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM
40 GB HD
32 MB ATI Card
Airport Extreme ready
Bluetooth

high/heavy end:

14" TFT
G3 1 GHz
512 MB RAM (256 MB soldered on mobo)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM
40 GB HD
32 MB ATI Card
Airport Extreme ready
Bluetooth

Anyway, I could be totally wrong.

[rmendis]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
"The year of the notebook"

I think what Steve Jobs means by this is: this year notebook sales will start to overtake desktop sales.

The year that the iBook will become more important to Apple than the iMac...literally. In terms of revenue/sales/units.

I expect the iBook to become Apple's new entry level machine.
The next revisions ought to sport a new enclosure *or* more likely - colours to rival the original iBooks and agressive pricing...perhaps with configurations as cheap as $849 or even $799?

Think about it:
they are machines shipping G3 processors, 12" screens and CD-ROM drives...the most inexpensive components in the entire Mac range.