[schwaz80]

The resolution and screen is just dismal compared to other things on the market. Sony has a widescreen 10.4" screen that is just amazing. Dell also just came out with a 12.1" widescreen. What are the chances that a new 12"(or so) revision will get a widescreen?

[nate_02]

I think it's possible, but at least they should be able to upgrade the resolution

[driven]

I looked at that Dell.

It was nice until I looked at two things:

1) Price: Apple's product is very competitive.
2) The Dell uses shared video memory and a crappy video chipset. That's a showstopper as far as I'm concerned.

[drprat]

the dell is also fatter (1.5" !) and uglier... i won't even get into the poor build quality...

in my opinion 1024x768 on a 12" (4:3) is perfect.. 12" isn't really optimal for widescreen... the sony type-s 13.3" on the other hand is perfect for widescreen... if you plan on doing some serious design work (sound, motion, graphics, etc.) you should consider an external monitor (color and calibration is far more consistent and resolution is much better) or possibly a 15.4" or 17" laptop..

[f1000]

Wow, the Inspiron's 125 dpi widescreen offers 30% more resolution than the PowerBook's 106 dpi screen. I wouldn't mind seeing 125 dpi on a future 12" PB G5.

[escher]

Originally posted by f1000:
I wouldn't mind seeing 125 dpi on a future 12" PB G5.

Especially now that it looks like Mac OS X Tiger will sport a resolution independent user interface! Until now, you could argue that higher DPI shrank the interface elements (e.g. the menu bar) too much. Soon, there will be no excuse left for puny resolutions.

Escher

[Randman]

A 13-inch PB would help bring some separation from the iBook line, but would it cannibalize sales of the 15?

[driven]

13 is an odd number. I hate odd numbers.

[Randman]

Originally posted by driven:
13 is an odd number. I hate odd numbers.

I guess the 15 and 17 are out of the question for you as well.

[driven]

Originally posted by Randman:
I guess the 15 and 17 are out of the question for you as well.

[Randman]

btw, count the odd numbers...

PowerMac G5 - Dual 2.0 Ghz, 1GB, 17" Studio Display, Soundsticks!, G4 Cube, 896MB, 80GB
, iMac DV SE 500, 384MB, 30GB (G3)
(That's a G3, G4 and a G5!)

G(five) (One)GB (Seventeen) Studio Display (Gthree).

What was that about a 13-screen again?

[driven]

Walked into that one.

My first apartment was apartment 13. The furnace exploded in the room underneath me and destroyed all of my stuff and nearly cooked me.

I'm just bitter about 13. It's an odd number to me.

My first camping trip as a youth took place on Friday the 13th ... at the same camp that they filmed the movie. What kind of sick adult plans such a thing like that. <GRIN>

[kenazo]

I've always liked the 13.3" screens on other laptops, like the IBM 600 series. 12" is a bit too tight (typing on my iBook 12" as I speak) and 14" at 1024 is a lot of glass...13" is a nice balance and if it was widescreen that would make it a killer size and res.

but yes it is an unlucky number...that's why Apple should go for 13.3" not 13" then it's fine

[driven]

I could live with 13.3". :-)

(I did like my IBM 600E when I had one ...)

[f1000]

Whatever kind of improved screen Apple eventually adds to the 12" PB, I would like to see the company keep the overall length of the computer close to what it is now. For me, the 12" PB's main strength has always been its compactness.

As an aside, I'd rather not see a widescreen added to the 12" PB that contains significantly fewer vertical pixels. I prefer vertical resolution over horizontal resolution for text editing.

[escher]

Originally posted by f1000:
For me, the 12" PB's main strength has always been its compactness.

And it's the main reason I chose a 12-inch PowerBook over any other Apple notebook.

I'd rather not see a widescreen added to the 12" PB that contains significantly fewer vertical pixels. I prefer vertical resolution over horizontal resolution for text editing.

I wholeheartedly agree. Too many of the smaller wide-screen panels unduly reduce vertical resolution. Text documents and Web pages are still mostly vertically oriented. So unless your screen is so wide (and tall enough) that you can display two pages side by side, wide-screen makes little sense.

My hunch is that Apple is more likely to make the 12-inch thinner and lighter, without changing its footprint. And that would be just what the doctor ordered for me.

Escher

[driven]

Anyone care to speculate as to when they will update the notebook line? (Ducking from the bricks you all will undoubtably throw at me for asking ...)

Anyone suspect that they may add the backlit keyboard to the 12"?

[Fabiano007]

Originally posted by driven:

Anyone suspect that they may add the backlit keyboard to the 12"?

Wow

That would be wonderful!

I'd love it!

[f1000]

Originally posted by escher:
My hunch is that Apple is more likely to make the 12-inch thinner and lighter, without changing its footprint. And that would be just what the doctor ordered for me.

Good doctors are hard to find.

[milhous]

i'm all for the 12" getting a widescreen display. this will help to visually differentiate the consumer line iBook (which can continue to use the same screen) to the professional powerbooks. the 12" looks a bit gauche when you see the 15" and 17" beside it. there should be some form of continuity within the entire line.

[driven]

Originally posted by milhous:
i'm all for the 12" getting a widescreen display. this will help to visually differentiate the consumer line iBook (which can continue to use the same screen) to the professional powerbooks. the 12" looks a bit gauche when you see the 15" and 17" beside it. there should be some form of continuity within the entire line.

I wouldn't go nearly that far.
I personally think the 12" looks quite elegant.

[cSurfr]

Originally posted by Fabiano007:
Wow

That would be wonderful!

I'd love it!

Where exactly would they put the ambient sensors? On the other 2 powerbooks they are under the speaker grills. The speakers on the 12 are on the back, so I don't know how well that would work.

[Link]

� 12" powerbook in the same style as the 15"/17" would be AWESOME. Perhaps this could be apple's ticket to put the backlit keyboard and whatnot in too

The Dell 12" is not all that great. For the price of a 15" powerbook you get a smaller screen, poor build quality (SERIOUSLY, if you've seen one they don't look that great.. the plastic job is kinda crummy and the USB ports look CHEAP).

.. stuff like that *sigh* It's not worth $1899 nevermind $2199.

[driven]

The only laptops I've seen that come close to Apple's build quality are certain lines of the IBM ThinkPads.

However: The Thinkpads are quite a bit more money than the Powerbooks and they run Windows.

[Fellow2000]

Anyone else think it is sad though that the dell 12 inch has the same resolution as the apple 15. I love apple products but I hate how low thier dpi is. Everything looks way to chunky for me. I was using a friends dell 15 inch that had 1900 pixels wide and it was a dream to work on, now only if it was an apple machine and ran OS X.

I would buy the 15inch in an instant if it were higher resolution, but carrying around that much of a laptop for only 1280 pixels is just rediculous. They could at least offer it as an add-on extra feature. I'd pay for it, no matter the cost.

[driven]

Originally posted by Fellow2000:
Anyone else think it is sad though that the dell 12 inch has the same resolution as the apple 15. I love apple products but I hate how low thier dpi is. Everything looks way to chunky for me. I was using a friends dell 15 inch that had 1900 pixels wide and it was a dream to work on, now only if it was an apple machine and ran OS X.

I would buy the 15inch in an instant if it were higher resolution, but carrying around that much of a laptop for only 1280 pixels is just rediculous. They could at least offer it as an add-on extra feature. I'd pay for it, no matter the cost.

As someone who owns a Dell with a high resolution (15" 1600x1280) all I can say is RUN. It's sharp, but after a few months your eyes start to get tired. (In fact, using that screen for 2 years may be one of the reasons that I'm now in glasses!) When I have to switch to one of my other laptops (same size screen but 1024x768) I'm so releved!

I'd never go with a super high-resolution again unless the screen were super big.

[drmcnutt]

Originally posted by driven:
As someone who owns a Dell with a high resolution (15" 1600x1280) all I can say is RUN. It's sharp, but after a few months your eyes start to get tired. (In fact, using that screen for 2 years may be one of the reasons that I'm now in glasses!) When I have to switch to one of my other laptops (same size screen but 1024x768) I'm so releved!

I'd never go with a super high-resolution again unless the screen were super big.

Now PC's cause vision problems, hum? LCDs have been at 1024X768 for years now I wish the resolution was higher on the 12 inch PB too. A higher resolution means more room for real estate, smaller, better defined icons and the 12 inchers could use better sharper res to sweeten their appeal. IMHO.

DRM

[Randman]

I love the wider screen on the 17 but I have to wonder how much an extra inch would do for the 12. I think I'd rather see the iBook line pared down and dropped to a 10 with a bare-bones equipment, longer battery, lighter weight and basement-level price. That would be great as a on-the-go notebook. At G4, 1Ghz, it would go nicely with a G5 (iMac or PowerBook).
That said, I don't think the backlit option is going for the 12. Notanytime soon at least. Higher price, the design of the keyboard and placement of speakers and the fact that the 15 and 17 and are more expensive and the backlit is a nice option for the upper-scale PowerBooks.

[shabbasuraj]

Originally posted by schwaz80:
What are the chances that a new 12"(or so) revision will get a widescreen?

ZERO.

[Fabiano007]

Originally posted by cSurfr:
Where exactly would they put the ambient sensors? On the other 2 powerbooks they are under the speaker grills. The speakers on the 12 are on the back, so I don't know how well that would work.

Somewhere on the Keyboard itself...

[driven]

Originally posted by drmcnutt:
Now PC's cause vision problems, hum? LCDs have been at 1024X768 for years now I wish the resolution was higher on the 12 inch PB too. A higher resolution means more room for real estate, smaller, better defined icons and the 12 inchers could use better sharper res to sweeten their appeal. IMHO.

DRM

More stuff on the screen and better defined icons is fine.

It's the teeny tiny text that drives me batty.

[StiZeven]

Originally posted by cSurfr:
Where exactly would they put the ambient sensors? On the other 2 powerbooks they are under the speaker grills. The speakers on the 12 are on the back, so I don't know how well that would work.

And why exactly do we *need* an ambient sensor on the 12" model if there is no room for it? That is an additional feature of the backlit keyboard on the 15" and 17" models, I find it hard to believe that it's needed for the backlight to work (or that Apple can tweak it to use the feature manually). I'd be perfectly fine with manually toggling the backlit keyboard on or off using the backlit brightness control keys on the keyboard just as you do with the others.

The next 12" PowerBook needs to be widescreen and Apple needs to adopt their own version of 'ClearView, Xbrite, and BrightView' technology. They also need to significantly raise the DPI/resolution. If you're eyes are that bad, there is a nice iBook with your name on it!

I'd rather have a backlit keyboard, nicer display and better battery life than a G5.

[teknopimp]

Originally posted by schwaz80:
What are the chances that a new 12"(or so) revision will get a widescreen?

the chances are pretty good, given that i just purchased a new 12" powerbook. G5 PB or dual-core G4 prolly coming next week too.

[olePigeon]

I think Apple will eventually use OLEDs once they get the industry gets the blue problems worked out.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
I think Apple will eventually use OLEDs once they get the industry gets the blue problems worked out.

What's the blue problem? I remember hearing OLEDS are flexible and saves a jack load of battery life .. wonder if you can X-Brite a oled =P ...