[mrfoxxman]

Just found out today that Apple is offering to install a Combo drive in all powerbook 550 / 667mhz starting in January. The cost will be $299!!! I am so excited to get a Combo Drive.....

[I'mDaMac]

Originally posted by mrfoxxman:
<STRONG>Just found out today that Apple is offering to install a Combo drive in all powerbook 550 / 667mhz starting in January. The cost will be $299!!! I am so excited to get a Combo Drive..... </STRONG>

Good for Apple. Offering us early adopters an upgrade path to the new combo-drive is awesome. I for one will be bringing my PowerBook into the Apple store as soon as the program starts. Woohoo!

[seanyepez]

Ingenious. Apple's found another way to scam us out of our cash.

[mikeT]

I sort of wish I'd waited for the combo instead of buying my 550 six weeks ago. Luckily, my credit card company (AMEX) has a 60 day price guarantee, so I'll be getting $200 back because of the price cut on the 550 DVD model. This upgrade is tempting, but expensive. Even if I used my refund, I'd still have to pony up another $99. Plus I'd have to let one of their technicians screw around with my machine. Decisions, decisions.

[Avenir]

I dunno, but for me (even though they don't offer the upgrade on the 500's, which is sort of messed up, I think, but there might be good reasons), I don't think I'd spend $300 just for an internal drive, when I could pay that much and get an external Firewire one (not necessarily bus powered, but I don't need to burn on-the-go ) that's even faster.

just my .02 Anyone have any thoughts as to why they don't offer the upgrade to 4/500 owners? Just bein' stingy Apple?

[Max8319]

another option you might want to consider is getting an external burner (24x)......it'll be a lot faster and cheaper (unless you really want the ability to burn on the go though you could just take your burner with you.)

Originally posted by Max8319:
<STRONG>another option you might want to consider is getting an external burner (24x)......it'll be a lot faster and cheaper (unless you really want the ability to burn on the go though you could just take your burner with you.)</STRONG>

I have a 677 48 GB drive 1GB ram and a CDRW! I had it for around 35 days before the combo was announced. So that's in line with say Gateway upgrading their products in line with falling demand.

I wont be upgrading to a Combo as all I wanted was a cdrw and it's the same speed so there's be no point. I am not impressed by the battery liefe enough to use it to watch a DVD. My iBook 600 DVD is far better for travelling.

I do feel sorry for those who have already bought the powerbooks with just the DVD believing there was no combo drive for quite some time.

Apple should upgrade the DVD only powerbooks for a lower fee. Sorry but they had these combo drives all the time but sales were probably flat so a lot of owners got suckered.

I have spoken to Apple and told them that in future I will never rush out and buy a Mac until at least 30 days has passed as they can not be trusted.

This upgrade was ready all the time. They were saving it for later but I bet the sales were flopping after an initial bump.

Anyway they're sending me a bag or something. They know it's bad to have done this. As Apple has never offered an upgrade like this before.

Now I suspect there is a superdrive for the G5 powerbooks this July already here but waiting for the right time.

My 677 with its 133MGHZ bus is fantastic, not a flaw, not a mark and I'm very happy but i'd feel pissed if I had not got the cdrw.

In the grand scheme of a years spending 299 is not a lot but still it's shabby. These combo drives did not come out of the blue. Typical Jobs scam.

Like the flat screen iMacs. When we get them Apple Store will have to spend 14 days just getting rid of the dust.

[LtKernelPanic]

I think it's great that Apple is offering this upgrade to Titanium owners but unless you plan on burning a lot of CDs on the road for under $300 you can get a nice fast 24x CDRW. Howver if you only have the CDRW PowerBook and would like DVD that makes the offer a bit sweeter.

[Max8319]

ok....yeah....G5 powerbook with superdrive? i don't think so. look how long it took them to get a combo drive (and i'm sure they didn't wait 60 days to just piss people off....that'd be stupid).....the G4 still has a lot of life left in it for the pb line

i'm about to recieve a ti400 with DVD and I have NO PROBLEM with it. your cd-rw drive is only 4x(?)...i've got an external one that is faster....if you need to burn on the go, oh well, but for ME i'd rather have the DVD and peternj prefers the CD-RW model

to each their own

Originally posted by LtKernelPanic:
<STRONG>I think it's great that Apple is offering this upgrade to Titanium owners but unless you plan on burning a lot of CDs on the road for under $300 you can get a nice fast 24x CDRW. Howver if you only have the CDRW PowerBook and would like DVD that makes the offer a bit sweeter.</STRONG>

Sorry but it's the complete reverse. With the powerbook's terrible battery life DVD is a joke. I have the cdrw on a 677/48GB drive/1Gb ram and I'm more than happy with just the cdrw. I don't want/need dvd but if I had dvd only I'd upgrade.

Amazing really ever since the option to burn cdrws on the powerbook users have been saying it's pointless as you can get faster externals but now we have a combo and you insist that customers like me will be the only ones who will upgrade? I don't think so.

DVD only sucks but cdrw only is just dandy. I couldn't wath one movie on a flight with my Titanium but cdrw is important.

I will be amazed if the few customers who have cdrw will upgrade.

It will be only the dvd only who will.

[Max8319]

so are you going to burn a cd on a plane?

[Max8319]

and DVD only doesn't suck.......maybe in your opinion, but not necessarily to others.....

to each their own

[cbr600f4]

Well I for one have been impressed with battery life, maybe not industrial design, but battery life.

Nick

[oscar]

Originally posted by cbr600f4:
<STRONG>Well I for one have been impressed with battery life, maybe not industrial design, but battery life.

Nick</STRONG>

I bet you also still use os9, osx power managament is appalling. If you were going to watch a dvd on a plane, you'd have next to NO BATTERY life left. I did this recently and had a 12% charge, that was great for all of 10 minutes before my powerbook starts shutting down.

[ichad]

Originally posted by oscar:
<STRONG>

I bet you also still use os9, osx power managament is appalling. If you were going to watch a dvd on a plane, you'd have next to NO BATTERY life left. I did this recently and had a 12% charge, that was great for all of 10 minutes before my powerbook starts shutting down.</STRONG>

I concur this... after a holiday recently, I resorted to ripping the DVD movie onto my hard disk for the flight home, leaving me enough power to play games for the rest of the journey.

<STRONG> Has anyone experienced the "no-optical drives" rule on plane journeys? I was gob-smaked when the pilot blamed a 300mile detour on a childs old discman.!!! </STRONG>

Two if not three batteries are essential for a full days work.
Whats the code-name for a titanium PB? Ti?

iChad

[seanyepez]

Though DVD playback does suck tons of battery life away from other uses, it is still one of my favorite in-flight activities.

How much do those stand-alone DVD players cost? I believe they are upwards of $1,000. Get yourself another battery.

[Avenir]

Originally posted by seanyepez:
<STRONG>Though DVD playback does suck tons of battery life away from other uses, it is still one of my favorite in-flight activities.

How much do those stand-alone DVD players cost? I believe they are upwards of $1,000. Get yourself another battery. </STRONG>

I'll concur on this... I have two batteries, one to watch a DVD, and the other to working Photoshop, play some games, etc. I fly a ton since I go to school 5,000 miles from my house, and the extra $129 was well worth it.

[t_hah]

Guys, have you used PC laptops lately?
I thought that the Ti's battery life was low as well until today...today I used my dad's laptop (which is a PC) and tried to install a USB driver for my Nikon 885. You know sometimes installing a freakin' USB driver can be a pain in the A$$ on Win 98. After 50 minutes of fighting with Bill's Nightmare 98, I managed to get the driver working, that is when the computer shut down becasue it had no more juice left in its battery. that is 50 minutes! That laptop had a 12" screen only! Not two and a half hours, only 50 minutes. That is when I knew how happy I was with my Ti500.
I know that the battery life could be too little sometimes, but in my personal opinion it is pretty impressive in comparison to many latops out there.

After upgrading to OS 10.1.2, my cpu usage in all apps dropped noticably. Now if my Ti is sitting idle it uses about 7-10% CPU speed, this used to be 15-20%. My battery seems to last longer and longer with the updates lately. I started from around 2 hours using OS X in March, now It is up to 2,5-3 hours.

t

[SMacSteve]

Originally posted by ichad:
<STRONG>

I concur this... after a holiday recently, I resorted to ripping the DVD movie onto my hard disk for the flight home, leaving me enough power to play games for the rest of the journey.

[qb] Has anyone experienced the "no-optical drives" rule on plane journeys? I was gob-smaked when the pilot blamed a 300mile detour on a childs old discman.!!! </STRONG>

Two if not three batteries are essential for a full days work.
Whats the code-name for a titanium PB? Ti?

iChad
[/QB]

I've never had this rule thrown at me personally, but I've heard of it being enforced. This is BS, there is no possible way that a contained optical drive can affect the navigation of a passenger plane! This comes from a family member that has a Dr. in Physics. What crap, it ranks right up there with the "cell phones" cause radio communications malfunctions line as well.

[seanyepez]

Yo "t_hah,"

I think you would be advised to know that most PC laptops are not that bad. What notebook was it? Considering it has Windows 98 and a 12.1-inch screen, it's a relatively old notebook. All batteries wear down after time. Because of its age and old design, your measurement is not accurate; compare it to a PC notebook is priced similarly and was manufactured at the same time of your Ti.

The heavy Dell Inspiron 8100 gets impressive battery life. I think you should read the battery life times at Computers.com; they are generally fairly accurate.

Admittedly, my Sony VAIO R505 gets about an hour and a half out of its miserably small standard battery.

[Neilwhit]

I just finished a couple of flights with my new TiBook 550 (10.1.1) and was curious about battery life based on this thread (read it before I left).

On the outbound leg did a movie and had little to no battery left. On the return flight, I reset the power management to spin down the HD after 5 minutes. Ran my movie and still had 46% of the battery after.

Whether this will repeat or not, don't know. Problem is that in OSX apparently we don't have seperate energy settings for battery vs. plugged-in like in OS9 etc.

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by SMacSteve:
<STRONG>

I've never had this rule thrown at me personally, but I've heard of it being enforced. This is BS, there is no possible way that a contained optical drive can affect the navigation of a passenger plane! This comes from a family member that has a Dr. in Physics. What crap, it ranks right up there with the "cell phones" cause radio communications malfunctions line as well.</STRONG>

On the way home from Europe this summer, I was told to put away my CD player, then my MP3 player, then my Game Boy Advance.

Oh nos@ !11 The Game Boy Advance will crash teh 747!

Freaking morons. I was so bored. At least they showed some French movie to entertain me. I would've choked myself to death, but that would've probably thrown off the airplane radar, and I would've been stopped from doing that too.

[seanyepez]

Hopefully, they won't crack down on notebook computers. It would be a real shame to lose hours of working time I have in the air.

[Avenir]

From what I understand, most of the reason they tell you to shut off all portable electronics is not because they'll interfere (they might, slim chance, probably not) with the plane, but because on take off and landing, they want the passengers' full and undivided attention. To me, it does sort of make sense, especially considering that most plan accidents occur during take off and landing. But after the plane is in the air, I think it's just stupid to have them turn anything off, even cel-phones. What I really want to see is some FAA regulation or scientific fact on how these devices cause the so-called interference.

[seanyepez]

The only thing I have agaist cell phones in midflight is the noise they create. Not everyone wants to listen to someone's cell phone conversation. I don't even think they would work at 33,000 feet flying over the Atlantic.

The next step in the airplane industry is an area located in the back of the plane where you can use cell phones and wireless Internet to your heart's content.