[Naz]

okay as long as I get to order my PB next week I will be happy

[kennedy]

What's the chance that along with the new PowerBooks, Apple announces a DVI monitor? They have to realize that they are losing tons of sales of secondary monitors to their PowerBook customers because the need for an expensive DVI->ADC box is pricing their already high-priced monitors way out of reasonable. I love my Apple 17" on my PowerMac... but no way can I justify that and the VGA->DVI->ADC conversion path that is just going to uglify the signal.

[Eug]

Originally posted by kennedy:
What's the chance that along with the new PowerBooks, Apple announces a DVI monitor? They have to realize that they are losing tons of sales of secondary monitors to their PowerBook customers because the need for an expensive DVI->ADC box is pricing their already high-priced monitors way out of reasonable. I love my Apple 17" on my PowerMac... but no way can I justify that and the VGA->DVI->ADC conversion path that is just going to uglify the signal.

The DVI-->ADC converter doesn't affect the signal at all. But it costs $$.

VGA-->DVI would require a $$$$ box, and Apple doesn't sell them.

I just bought a Samsung 172T, which has both VGA and DVI inputs. (ADC wasn't an option since I primarily use it with a PC.

[Alpha-sphere]

Originally posted by kennedy:
What's the chance that along with the new PowerBooks, Apple announces a DVI monitor? They have to realize that they are losing tons of sales of secondary monitors to their PowerBook customers because the need for an expensive DVI->ADC box is pricing their already high-priced monitors way out of reasonable. I love my Apple 17" on my PowerMac... but no way can I justify that and the VGA->DVI->ADC conversion path that is just going to uglify the signal.

Yeah they really should bring out a new TFT screen cause the new G5 doesn't match with the current flatpanels and have you ever seen apple with non matching objects? It's like ordering a cheeseburger without cheese.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Alpha-sphere:
Yeah they really should bring out a new TFT screen cause the new G5 doesn't match with the current flatpanels and have you ever seen apple with non matching objects? It's like ordering a cheeseburger without cheese.

I agree. The displays don't match their computers at all.

We have iBooks and iMacs (and a 12" PowerBook) with VGA.

15" and 17" PowerBooks with DVI

and PowerMacs with ADC and DVI.

What Apple needs are new TFTs that support all Macs. The sizes are fine the way they are. Maybe the resolution on the 17" could be increased to 1600x1200 or they could go wide-aspect with it.

The inputs: VGA, DVI and ADC as well as 2 USB2 (that work if the screen is plugged in via ADC). Allow on-the-fly switching between all three of the inputs so that people can connect up to three Macs to one screen if they like.

On the other hand, I'm starting to wonder if Apple should drop ADC and switch to DVI across the whole line. DVI carries both analog and digital signals so it offers the necessary flexibility. And since Apple dropped the Cube and its efforts to design ultimately sleek and sexy computers (where it mattered that the ammount of cables in the back of your computer and screen was as low as possible) it seems they could really switch to DVI.

[ae86_16v]

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/augustpowerbooks.html

[Simon]

Originally posted by ae86_16v:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/augustpowerbooks.html

Ohhh.

Does that suggest no 12" update at all or just no big hardware change on the 12", i.e. only a speed bump?

And what about credibility? dePlume isn't exactly known for being the real insider-mole, is he?

[Eug]

Originally posted by ae86_16v:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/augustpowerbooks.html

Q16 and Q41 will run a Jaguar OS variant code-named Blackrider... a special version of Mac OS X 10.2.7 with hardware support for the new models...

It's unclear when Apple plans to announce the upgrades, but one Apple retail source said the new 15-inch and 17-inch models are expected to arrive later this week.

It's gonna be a good week. The G5 is now shipping too, for those of you living under a rock.

[Esquare]

Originally posted by Eug:
It's gonna be a good week. The G5 is now shipping too, for those of you living under a rock.

Huh, what's a G5?

[ehmunro]

Originally posted by y2kerr:
I'm in the same boat as you -- I need a laptop before September.

So if Apple doesn't update the PB 15" before September, can anyone recommend a good Windows laptop?

I know this will likely enrage a few people around here, but I'm serious! Besides, I'm only a potential switcher -- I've used Windows computers all my life. If I don't get a Mac I won't know what I'm missing. I'll wonder what I'm missing, but Apple isn't giving me a lot of choice. Oh well. At least I'll be able to play Half Life 2!

Do yourself a favour, after you buy
this, download Gentoo's linux distro, and catch the wave of the future. The Darwin OS is probably just as good.

Also, don't be a butthead, spend the extra money to upgrade from Windows XP to the older Win2K (as 2K is a whole lot more secure). What does it say about Micro$oft land when the old OS is considered an upgrade over the new by the resellers?

[kentuckyfried]

ahh...a key point to consider:

Since the Al powerbooks (on the outside) are in their first revision,
will you go for the "first gen" 15 inch powerbooks if they have a G5 processor, or are you going to wait for the 2nd revision g5 notebooks?

[LfGrdMike]

Toshiba makes the best PC laptops my friend loves his.

[Naz]

!7" PB is almost mines... *faints*

[lvarini]

any idea when it will be available in stores? i've been wanting to buy it for a month already... can't wait!!

[kennedy]

Originally posted by LfGrdMike:
Toshiba makes the best PC laptops my friend loves his.

Yeah, they are way better than most PC laptops.
I am currently typing this on my Toshiba Tecra 8100; which
replaced my prior Tecra 8000 (company-provided). The battery
lasts a whopping 5 minutes. Get a new battery you say? Well,
my company has stopped providing new batteries because they
degenerate so fast. Oh, and the screen periodically goes blank...
I have to hit Fn-F5 over and over until it comes back. I went to
get it replaced but was told, "Oh, most of them do that after a
while. I'll swap you for one of our spares, but it might just do
it more often." Even when the battery worked, it was pretty lame
at going to sleep and waking up... never could trust it, so I always
quit any critical apps... just shutting down and restarting was
actually easier. I am constantly having to defrag the disk to restore
performance. And the user experience... well... I hate Windoze. At least
with Win2K (unlike 95, 98, and NT), I don't have to reboot twice a day...
maybe just once a week or two.

I'm looking forward to making this Tecra 8100 into a secondary machine
for running just a couple rarely needed apps... and moving waaayyyyy up
to a PowerBook... either the existing PB12 or the new rev B PB12...
whatever is available the next few days!

I am praying for rev B to come out already... but I'll be happy with the
huge step up to the existing PB12... unless the new one comes out a couple days later.

[lvarini]

ok.. what i meant to ask is... does anyone have any new news regarding the release date of the new 15"?? should be coming any time now right?!?

[ehmunro]

Originally posted by LfGrdMike:
Toshiba makes the best PC laptops my friend loves his.

There is NO brand name PC worth the upcharge, if you're going to buy Wintel standard hardware, do yourself a favour and stay away from the brand names, you spend an extra six to eight hundred dollars for a name, with quality oft worse than generics. The six to eight hundred figure is in relation to laptops, given the choice of spending two thousand for a Toshiba or fourteen hundred for an equivalent generic from Sager, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

[David Hagan]

Originally posted by lvarini:
ok.. what i meant to ask is... does anyone have any new news regarding the release date of the new 15"?? should be coming any time now right?!?

It is pretty much accepted that before Friday (likely Tuesday) we'll see new PB's.

[kennedy]

Originally posted by David Hagan:
It is pretty much accepted that before Friday (likely Tuesday) we'll see new PB's.

"Pretty much accepted"???

AFAIK, we have one bit of circumstantial evidence and two bits of unsubstantiated rumor-mill evidence... and based on that, its pretty much accepted?? I assume you guys are seeing a lot more substantial sources of information than is being posted on MacNN... how about we see some of that rather than the "chatter" (to borrow a term) we've been given so far?

BTW, I am definitely waiting through tomorrow... not sure if I'll wait after that though. Probably will, but its killin' me. (I have an end-of-month deadline to be up and have my whole world moved over. I don't want to end up moving my world to one of my desktop macs just to move it again to my new PowerBook 12.)


Any source information will be greatly appreciated!!

Brian

[David Hagan]

I like the chances...

Think Secret:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/augustpowerbooks.html

PowerPage:
http://www.powerpage.org/cgi-bin/Web...y?newsID=11323

When Think Secret posts, they are generally about 98% on the $$$. Powerpage is less reliable, but has gotten some stuff right some of the time.

[kennedy]

David, thanks for the links...

Originally posted by David Hagan:
Think Secret:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/augustpowerbooks.html

PowerPage:
http://www.powerpage.org/cgi-bin/Web...y?newsID=11323

PowerPage also has this, which gives a bit more for us PB12 waiters:

http://www.powerpage.org/cgi-bin/Web...y?newsID=11322


But is that all? Just those two sources? Well, and the MacPrices evidence that the TiBook inventory is all but dried up?


Thinner, backlit keyboard, faster, and FW800 (what about USB2?)... makes me want to wait... it'll be about perfect (until low-power G5's are created). But it could all be nonsense rumors like the past 3 months...

[David Hagan]

Kennedy,

The reason the ThinkSecret story is important is because they *never* reported on the possibility of new PowerBooks all throughout the past six months. When they have a solid lead, and report it, it usually turns out to be true. If I were you, I would hold off to wait and see what does materialize this week. It may not be tomorrow as the article at Think Secret intimates - but they do say this week.

[Naz]

this is killing me

[ltr3]

Originally posted by IgoByte:
It'd be a nice surprise if they ended up using the new 7200RPM 60GB HDD from Hitachi.

It would also be great [IMO] if they finally started using higher-res screens on these. A 15" wide-aspect screen really ought to have a higher native resolution.

EDIT: I also doubt that they'll use a 167Mhz FSB.

One way that Power Computing was able to consistently kick Apple's but in benchmarks is that Apple goes cheap on disks -- I wouldn't hold my breath on high performance drives stock from Apple any time...

[LfGrdMike]

Kennedy that was absolutely lovely but this person asked for a PC alternative. I gave him one. My friend has had none of the problems you speak of. He has had great luck so far so I dont know what your talking about. I know the powerbook is better but thats not a PC laptop is it. Also his model is newer than yours so most of the bugs if they ever existed that you speak of most likely got worked out. So thanks for your lovely sarcastic input Ill just throw it right back at you.

I understand this is a mac thread. Why is it though that everyone goes balistic when you mention a PC laptop that is a good purchase to a potential powerbook buyer. I will say straight out the powerbook is the best laptop out their right now, but if your looking for a PC alternative just in case its still cool to make suggestions even on a powerbook forum.

One last thing "As others have said this rumor has been going on for months and months so dont get peoples hopes up over something that isnt even a fact." Otherwise its cool to hope I know im hoping. I am buying tommorownight/wedmorning no matter what though. So whatever happens happens. I could care less its still a good machine. Furthermore the student discounts may not be as good for the new model so either way I win. New model or better discounts.

[11011001]

You guys do realize that even if they do announce new powerbooks tomorrow, it's going to be a while still before they make it into stores.

So, taking that, I am not mega hyped about a possible announcement, since it still means a great deal of time before I can actually get my hands on a new PB.

[kennedy]

Originally posted by 11011001:
You guys do realize that even if they do announce new powerbooks tomorrow, it's going to be a while still before they make it into stores.

So, taking that, I am not mega hyped about a possible announcement, since it still means a great deal of time before I can actually get my hands on a new PB.

I was where you are until I saw this:

http://www.macprices.com/g4tracker.shtml

and given its back-to-school week. Either someone screwed up really, really bad... or they were intentionally emptying the channel... and the only reason to do the latter would be because you are ready to ship the new one.

So, I am hoping for it all being a brilliant Apple move and abundant supply of PowerBooks ready to go as of ... TODAY!! Please!

[ae86_16v]

That might not be true. Sometimes they have models that are available to order immediately and will ship in a couple of days.

[kennedy]

Originally posted by LfGrdMike:
Kennedy that was absolutely lovely but this person asked for a PC alternative. I gave him one.

Yes, and I gave him one also... but one based on a large company's worth of inputs rather than based on one person's experience. Even some of the most horrible products had shining individual samples... just because you can find someone who drove their Ford Pinto 100,000 miles without a single repair doesn't mean the average person should expect to do so.

Why is it though that everyone goes balistic when you mention a PC laptop that is a good purchase to a potential powerbook buyer. I will say straight out the powerbook is the best laptop out their right now, but if your looking for a PC alternative just in case its still cool to make suggestions even on a powerbook forum.

I wasn't flaming you... I was just sharing my very negative opinion of my Toshiba laptops. I'd suggest almost any other. Try an IBM Thinkpad. Try a Gateway perhaps. I simply cannot recommend Toshiba.

[kentuckyfried]

Then again, it's not like I'm going to die if I don't get one tomorrow...I shrugged off the 12" for so long, surely a month or two more won't kill you or me.

Originally posted by 11011001:
You guys do realize that even if they do announce new powerbooks tomorrow, it's going to be a while still before they make it into stores.

So, taking that, I am not mega hyped about a possible announcement, since it still means a great deal of time before I can actually get my hands on a new PB.

[skateray]

So if the powerbooks were updated today, tuesday, what is the latest time of the day that the site will be updated? In other words, when can we give up hoping for a release today?

[PSU guy]

Originally posted by skateray:
So if the powerbooks were updated today, tuesday, what is the latest time of the day that the site will be updated? In other words, when can we give up hoping for a release today?

When they are not at a trade show, Apple usually announce products by 9am, Pacific Time. Meaning since it's about 10:50 on the east coast, it's 7:50 @ Infinite Loop. 1 HOUR AWAY FROM PBs!!!(hopefully)...

[escher]

Originally posted by PSU guy:
When they are not at a trade show, Apple usually announce products by 9am, Pacific Time. Meaning since it's about 10:50 on the east coast, it's 7:50 @ Infinite Loop. 1 HOUR AWAY FROM PBs!!!(hopefully)...

I've scratched today (8/19) as an intro date, but I haven't given up hope for a very near release. As the saying goes, hope springs eternal.

Escher

[DeathMan]

Wouldn't it be nice.

[David Hagan]

Originally posted by PSU guy:
When they are not at a trade show, Apple usually announce products by 9am, Pacific Time. Meaning since it's about 10:50 on the east coast, it's 7:50 @ Infinite Loop. 1 HOUR AWAY FROM PBs!!!(hopefully)...

Nope. Apple usually updates their store with new stuff from 8:00 to 9:00 am Eastern Time. Most times, the European and Asian sites go down minutes prior to 8:00, like around 7:50 AM Eastern. And I believe they did the last iBook revision in the middle of the night at like 3:00 or 4:00 am Eastern Time. Very silent.

[lvarini]

you know somewhere there's a little apple guy reading this forum and delaying the release date just to see us get more and more worked up... grrrr.... he has a big grin on his face, and two mean little eyes... he's probably using a new 15" PB to read this too!!

[southtdi]

We'll I am new here but have read the entire thread. A heads up on Apple's website. If you go to the support section and click on specifications on the selection bar scroll down to the powerbook section. You can view the specs for the 12" and 17" models but the Ti book there are no specs to click on. Somethings up but who knows when.

One other question that was touched over before. I ordered a 15" model last night with the combo drive, 60gb HD, single 512 memory, and Airport extreme card. The scheduled ship date is on or before 8/26. What happens if they release a new powerbook before then? I noticed that they had a long run out and aksed about it when I ordered last night and the sales guy told me to keep an eye on my email by the end of the week for an update. I just assumed it was incase they were behind in production of the current model and had to run the ship date out a little. If that is not the case and they don't have the current ones to ship do I have to pay more for the new ones if the price goes up even though I have a valid order right now?

Might sound a little obvious to some but I have been jerked around by companies this way before.

BTW, first mac (but I love to play with them) but i have been a network admin. for the last eight years.

[Eug Wanker]

If you go to the support section and click on specifications on the selection bar scroll down to the powerbook section. You can view the specs for the 12" and 17" models but the Ti book there are no specs to click on.

The specs are still there.

P.S. Welcome!

[sleepydog]

I ordered a customized 15" PBook last week. The ship date was supposed to be today (on or before 8/20/03). I recently got an email from Apple saying that the ship date will now be on or before 8/27/03.

"unexpected supply delay"

Darn. Another few days -- and a Tuesday! -- of watching Apple's site incessantly.

[David Hagan]

You know what would really be cool? If Steve Jobs was a guest on Jay Leno and was there to talk about Pixar and Apple, and just so happened to bring along a new product and announce it on the Tonight Show. Not going to happen this week, though, Leno is on vacation. </dream>

I think the new PowerBooks will be announced sometime before next Tuesday; I'm optimistic we'll see it tomorrow or Friday. Fingers-crossed!

[southtdi]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
The specs are still there.

P.S. Welcome!

Thanks for the welcome

Where I am taling about is when you log into the website and on the very top click support. When you get there on the lavender/ pinkish bar click specifications. When you scroll down to the powerbook section the third item there is the powerbook titanium right after the 12" and 17" models and there is nothing to click on to view specs.

Everything is still there for the main section for the powerbooks so it could just be nothing but seems odd in a very minor sort of way.

Believe me I am not obsessing on this one even though I would like the aluminum case and backlit keys with the fast processor. Anyway, anybody at least might be able to tell me what has happend in the past when a product change happend during an order with basically none of the current product around?

[Eug Wanker]

You're misreading the page. The four lines below "PowerBook G4 Titanium" are all Titaniums.

PowerBook G4 (12-inch): Specifications - 2003.01
PowerBook G4 (17-inch): Specifications - 2003.01
PowerBook G4 Titanium:
* PowerBook G4 (1GHz/867MHz): Specifications - 2002.11
* PowerBook G4 (DVI): Specifications - 2002.04
* PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet): Specifications - 2001.10
* PowerBook G4 (Titanium): Specifications - 2001.01

[southtdi]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
You're misreading the page. Look at the four lines below "PowerBook G4 Titanium".

PowerBook G4 (12-inch): Specifications - 2003.01
PowerBook G4 (17-inch): Specifications - 2003.01
PowerBook G4 Titanium:
* PowerBook G4 (1GHz/867MHz): Specifications - 2002.11
* PowerBook G4 (DVI): Specifications - 2002.04
* PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet): Specifications - 2001.10
* PowerBook G4 (Titanium): Specifications - 2001.01

OK, now I see. Sometimes the simple and overlapping of apple models can make it a little difficult to follow. Didn't think it was anything major anyway but since everyone is hot to find something I though i'd mention it incase it was remotely a clue.

[Cards1]

Originally posted by David Hagan:
You know what would really be cool? If Steve Jobs was a guest on Jay Leno and was there to talk about Pixar and Apple, and just so happened to bring along a new product and announce it on the Tonight Show. Not going to happen this week, though, Leno is on vacation. </dream>

I think the new PowerBooks will be announced sometime before next Tuesday; I'm optimistic we'll see it tomorrow or Friday. Fingers-crossed!

Here is a thought: A poster in Appleinsider said he spoke to an Applestore employee that said all Apple Stores would have Demo G5's tomorrow. Now follow this:

1) Apple had to know this last weekend that G5's were going to start to ship this week

2) If the AppleStore employee is right, Apple had to know that they would get the G5's to all stores on Friday

3) ThinkSecret and O'Grady's said the Powerbooks would be announced later this week

Now to put it all together:

Apple announces new Powerbooks tomorrow @ 9:00 ET with shipping immediately notice. Ship not only G5's to the stores, but also new PB's to all the stores to be displayed tomorrow. If this happened, what kind of traffic would this create at the stores this weekend? An incredible amount!!! Buy the new PB's and look at the G5's. What a marketing plan!!!

Anyways, just a thought--stranger things have happened.

[aapljack]

I hate to speculate because my obsessing over when we will see a new 15" PB is getting a little scary...

BUT..

When I went to CompUSA this afternoon, they had cleared a space for the G5 (which the Rep said would be arriving) and there were no 15" PBs on display at all. I asked if they still had them in inventory and was told they have a couple 867s left. Wouldn't that be cool if both the G5 and the PB did arrive in stores the same day, as the previous post implies??

-brian

[David Hagan]

Card1,

I too thought that this might be the plan. As they say, we'll see!

[sleepydog]

Originally posted by sleepydog:
I ordered a customized 15" PBook last week. The ship date was supposed to be today (on or before 8/20/03). I recently got an email from Apple saying that the ship date will now be on or before 8/27/03.

"unexpected supply delay"

Darn. Another few days -- and a Tuesday! -- of watching Apple's site incessantly.

Well.. a few hours after receiving a note from Apple saying that my PowerBook had been delayed a week, I got another note saying it had been shipped!

Still in Taiwan... making its way to the US!

[urban]

I went to an apple dealer today the sales rep told me they had none of the 15" left, one 17" left and only one 12" demo unit left. He also cared to mention that he wasnt sure if more powerbooks would be ordered to the store. He told me they used to receive powerbooks in bulk quantity, 50+, and recent shipments only gave them 5 or so powerbooks at a time. Apparently they have no control over how many powerbooks to be sold but rather APPLE ships powerbooks to them to be sold to the public.
If this is any indication, the new updated powerbooks should be near if not tomorrow.

BTW im from Canada.

[mainemanx]

Originally posted by urban:
... the new updated powerbooks should be near if not tomorrow.

OK, it's "tomorrow" 9:15am est, WHERE'S OUR 15" POWERBOOKS ????!!!!!

You just know they're gonna' wait until their education iPod deal expires! 'And I NEED that iPod to learn Japanese ... just to make the wife happy ... no other use for it

[Naz]

I just hope they updated by Sept 20th thats the longest I can wait