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kennedy · Oct 19, 2005, 11:12 PM

Its so hard to read the Apple announcements... they often say things like its the whole line... but in reality the 12" was left out.

So, the 12" did not get longer battery life, for example.

The 12" definitely did not get higher res display.
But did it get a new sharper display?

mrmister · Oct 19, 2005, 11:25 PM

Nope. It got almost nothing. It doesn't even have as much built-in RAM as the iBooks...and I suspect it will be discontinued in the next revision. Bye bye, 12" powerbooks.

kennedy · Oct 19, 2005, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by mrmister

I suspect it will be discontinued in the next revision. Bye bye, 12" powerbooks.

Yikes, I hope not!!

I love my current PB12... absolutely adore it... can't imagine lugging around a 15"er anymore. Love the battery life too.

The key to living with the 12" is screen spanning... which requires a hack on the iBooks, last time I checked. And I must have a SuperDrive... still not an option on the iBook's, right?

I am actually going to order a new PB12 today... I'm out of space on my 80GB disk... so, upgrading to 100GB will be nice. And the bumps up in bus speed and disk speed should be noticable on top of the tiny bump in processor speed. And my daughter and wife are each needing upgrades to their Macs, so a series of hand-me-downs will work well.

But I was sure hoping for a backlit keyboard... that would come in so handy so often.

mrmister · Oct 20, 2005, 12:20 AM

You can hope, but i think the writing is on the wall for any who care to read it.

joe · Oct 20, 2005, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by kennedy

Yikes, I hope not!!

I love my current PB12... absolutely adore it... can't imagine lugging around a 15"er anymore. Love the battery life too.

The 12" PB has always been my fav. A buddy of mine has a 15" PB while another has the previous (1.67GHz) 17" PB model. Both are very impressive. But I prefer the smaller form factor of the 12" PB.

However, I've been holding off on a 12" PB purchase for Apple to boost the specs a bit. I didn't expect PCMCI, GigE, FW800 etc that the 15" and 17" models have. But I'd prefer the 7448 G4 chip (1meg L2 cache) to those new brighter hi res displays. Or at least a few MHz more than the previous 1.5GHz/1.67Ghz models. Of course the 12" PB didn't even get the display upgrade. Ditto a minor speed boost. In fact, other than a drive upgrade, the 12" PB seems the same as the previous model. You can't even BTO a 7200rpm hard drive. What a disappointment - quite a contrast to the major (IMHO) upgrades to the G5 Towers. I was expecting to order my 1st 12" PB today. Now I'm wondering if mrmister isn't right. Seems like Apple isn't interested in keep the 12" PB going. Who the heck is going to spend the same amount of money on a new 12" PB as the previous SuperDrive model when there's barely any difference?........joe

powerbook911 · Oct 20, 2005, 01:40 AM

This Powerbook is identical to the previous 12-inch superdive model. However, it is now $200 cheaper.

You can also get it, with a $150 rebate from Amazon, making it only $1350 after rebate (originally priced $1700 in January).

Peter · Oct 20, 2005, 05:27 AM

The powerbook wasnt updated - but i dont think it needs updating. What more can be fit into a 12" enclosure...

all2ofme · Oct 20, 2005, 09:55 AM

I think that Apple is waiting until they update the whole PB range. At that point I hope they go widescreen and higher res with the 12" machine. Would be nice if it were thinner, too.

I don't think that the lack of an update now means that it's about to get knocked on the head.

joe · Oct 21, 2005, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by Peter

The powerbook wasnt updated - but i dont think it needs updating. What more can be fit into a 12" enclosure...

A faster cpu, (or better yet a NEWER cpu like the 7448), a brighter LCD, a 7200rpm hard drive, lighted keyboard. All of these can fit into a 12" enclosure...

kafoochy · Oct 21, 2005, 12:38 PM

Talking about HDs, everybody is saying that the 12" didn't change, but I thought the previous 12" only had a 4200rpm drive and not 5400rpm as standard and the current specs on the Apple page mention the standard as being 5400rpm. Can someone verify that the previous drive was a 5400 or 4200?

slffl · Oct 21, 2005, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by Peter

The powerbook wasnt updated - but i dont think it needs updating. What more can be fit into a 12" enclosure...

I'm sure people said this about the original iPod as well

wunderkind · Oct 21, 2005, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by kafoochy

Can someone verify that the previous drive was a 5400 or 4200?

5400 rpm 100GB in my 12" that I got in April.