Ok, 1Ghz Tibook is here...so what's next?

[anthonymoody]

Dont get me wrong, I'm very pleased with today's announcement (especially coupled with IBMs announcement that 7200rpm drives will be available next year q1/q2). I'm wondering two things though:
1) what does apple do next with the TiBook?
and
2) when?

I think it's reasonable to assume that MWSF will bring nothing in the way of changes. My best guess is something in late spring/early summer. As for stats, other than the obviouis (1.2ghz chips) i'm not sure what else we'd see. DDR ram? Bluetooth? Brighter/bigger/smaller screen choices? New enclosure? Better airport range? Better heat dissipation? A reminder, I am *not* saying that I'm not satisfied with what we were given today, just wondering what's next and when.

What do you guys think?

 

[iGav]

Re: Ok, 1Ghz Tibook is here...so what's next?

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Dont get me wrong, I'm very pleased with today's announcement (especially coupled with IBMs announcement that 7200rpm drives will be available next year q1/q2). I'm wondering two things though:
1) what does apple do next with the TiBook?
and
2) when?

I think it's reasonable to assume that MWSF will bring nothing in the way of changes. My best guess is something in late spring/early summer. As for stats, other than the obviouis (1.2ghz chips) i'm not sure what else we'd see. DDR ram? Bluetooth? Brighter/bigger/smaller screen choices? New enclosure? Better airport range? Better heat dissipation? A reminder, I am *not* saying that I'm not satisfied with what we were given today, just wondering what's next and when.

Hey it's a sensible topic..... no worries buddy!!

As stunning as it is aesthetically........... it's getting on abit now, I know good design is timeless, and the TiBook is still a stunner........ but half the fun with Apple is wondering what the next aesthetic revision will look like...... Any improvement in heat dissipation, engineering etc will probably influence the overall design of the next major revision!!

I can't see them making it smaller............ I reckon probably a larger screen is a good bet..... (not the next revision, but within the grand scheme of things)

The obvious speed increase......

Thinner too..... there is space inside to make it thinner.........

I personally see it sticking with the G4 until mid 2004.... I'd still like a Dual option for when filthy amounts of brute horsepower are needed!!

Improved battery technology, allowing longer run times.....

Firewire 2 (not long after the towers get it)

USB 2 (not long after the towers get it)

And if I was going to be really wanky..... a hard chrome finish.........

WICKED......

 

[Kid Red]

Ask PowerPage.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Things that should be added to the next TiBook...

Lithium Polymer battery - extended battery life as power consumption increases.
200MHz+ Bus speed - no explanation needed
1.5GHz+ for the high-end
64 or 128MB GPU
Better LCD screen (brighter, higher resolution, greater viewing angle)
Much faster CD/R and DVD/R
2 FireWire Ports

 

[Bear]

Originally posted by FelixDerKater
Things that should be added to the next TiBook...

Lithium Polymer battery - extended battery life as power consumption increases.
200MHz+ Bus speed - no explanation needed
1.5GHz+ for the high-end
64 or 128MB GPU
Better LCD screen (brighter, higher resolution, greater viewing angle)
Much faster CD/R and DVD/R
2 FireWire Ports

We already have 64MB for the GPU with this latest revision.

I find that I usually have the screen down a couple of notches from maximum brightness. What do you want to do? Light a big room up with it?
But yes, a bit better on the viewing angle would be good if it doesn't increase the cost.

CD-R I'd like to see a 16x burn. The DVD-R well, that's less critical to me on a laptop, but a 4x burn would be good.

Why two firewire ports? Although I can see at some point having a couple of portable firewire devices, so this would be good. Especially if one or both were firewire2.

 

[Over Achiever]

It would be nice to have USB2 as well as Firewire2.

 

[DreaminDirector]

Possibilities...

Is there any possibility that Apple would come out with a mini-tibook. I know this has been discussed before, but I still want a subnotebook. I think that inkwell would actually be put to use if a small touch screen powerbook came out. I dunno, I keep thinking if I wish harder enough and long enough, something may happen. As for the next step with the Powerbook, I think a redesign is in the works. Don't get me wrong, I love my Tibook, but there are minor problems with it (weak hinge, weak paint). I was reading up on the ibook and found that they make that casing from a form of bulletproof glass. That would be great if they made the TiBook less fragile and some cross between the current TiBook and the workhouse Pismo.

Again, all in my opinion.

 

[gandalf55]

it would be cool to be able to swivel the display around... and drive a presentation on a TiBook... so the people viewing would be on one side of the table looking at the screen and you could drive it from the other side (saying your projector was busted or something.)

i dunno...

 

[Beej]

Originally posted by gandalf55
it would be cool to be able to swivel the display around... and drive a presentation on a TiBook... so the people viewing would be on one side of the table looking at the screen and you could drive it from the other side (saying your projector was busted or something.)

i dunno...

Uh, how would you see what you were doing?

 

[King Cobra]

gandalf55, have you seen any of the butt-ugly mock-ups of a swivel portable computer screen? If you haven't, grab a brown paper bag and hold it by the edge, do a search for such swivel screens, and prepare to vomit into the paper bag.

I would expect this for an updated Powerbook (not what I want, but what I expect):
1GHz and 1.25GHz portable G4s, single processor
PC2100 memory
40 and 60GB Hard Drives
32MB and 64MB VRAM
Radeon Graphics Card
Same high res.
Slightly improved Superdrive

This is a huge upgrade for the Powerbook, because it has increased 200MHz (800MHz to the 1GHz barrier) from top to top, the largest Powerbook MHz upgrade ever, and there is the option to make your own DVDs internally. You probably won't find a real huge upgrade like this again until April or May, as my guess.

 

[job]

Re: Possibilities...

Originally posted by DreaminDirector
Is there any possibility that Apple would come out with a mini-tibook. I know this has been discussed before, but I still want a subnotebook.

I think the new iBooks could be considered sub-notebooks.

I mean, just look at the specs and price..

 

[DreaminDirector]

well, yes and no....

I see your point, but I'm talking even smaller. Like a cross between (please please dont kill me...) a newton and a powerbook. Again, this is what I want rather than "Hey, I bet Apple's going to come out with a PDA". Trust me, I've read those threads and the members who get flamed for saying it.

I just think it would be interesting to see something that we can take every where in our daily lives. The ipod does music/contacts/calander but there's no way to input things into it without syncing it to something bigger. I have a TiBook, but I know that I don't want to take that every where I go. It's just too big. There was a great thread about a mockup of a new Powerbook Duo. The screen was 7.4 inches and it looked good. After people did some investigating, it turns out it's a Sony product over in Japan. The link is below

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13236&powerbook+image

Oh well, I'll just let this one go. A fake is a fake, nothing more. Thanks everyone for listening to me whine about this.

Ok, it's out of my system. Good times.

 

[King Cobra]

Why is it that when someone is asked not to be flamed I feel he wouldn't even if he didn't place that comment somewhere?

Director, I think the idea of a PDA + Powerbook into a Duo doesn't sound too bad. The only conflicts with your theory would be a diagonal 7.4 inch screen. Take a look at your monitor and your current resolution. How would that look with a 7.4 inch screen? Tell me you had your eyes placed on a laser so you can see 20/10.

I suggest increase the screen size to something like 9 or 10 inches, and maximize the res. to 800 x 600. Also, put in Jaguar, a G3 at 500MHz or so, about 320MB of RAM, a 20GB Hard Drive, and you have a sub for about $700.

Besides, compared to the sub PC notebooks I've seen, which register as bulky or battery draining, or a combination, I think such a SubBook would work very well. There have been rumors about an eBook, but with arguments about the "eBook" with multiple various specs.

Again, DreaminDirector, great idea. I just want to alternate a few options.

hitman also brings up an argument: price. So far, Director has argued for screen size to be minimized, and hitman has argued for a minimal price, as a sub notebook.

Now that we have both sides of the argument, I have a question. Which would be more important for a sub notebook: screen size and resolution, or low-end model price, given that there is only one model sub notebook? Given that, how would Apple expand on the boundaries of the sub notebook to establish a reasonable and effective "eBook"?

 

[BenderBot1138]

What's Next...

I gotta admit that a swivel display scares me a little, but if anyone could pull it off, it's the shoe-horn team at Apple (how DO they get all that stuff inside that one inch thin Titanium Case?)

On a more serious note... What I want next is an autographed picture of Steve Jobs with every Titanium Powerbook!

 

[jefhatfield]

we met the wintel world at two critical junctions;

1) the sub $1,000 dollar junction
2) the 64 MB video card junction

we also went over 1 ghz for a portable, but that speed is old hat for wintel notebooks

overall, hats off to apple...i have no real complaints

next step in 2003 sometime;

1) all tibooks over 1 ghz
2) ibook with G4 processor

 

[anthonymoody]

Yeah I totally hear you guys on the subnotebook...I think what I want is basically an Apple version of this:

http://www.dynamism.com/t1/main.shtml

It's a Panasonic - 12 inch screen, weighs 2+ pounds, built in wifi, etc etc. Somewhat underpowered for a NB these days (in PC land anyway) but put a 1Ghz g3 or g4 in, have apple shave off more size (which you know they'd find a way to!) and I'd buy this thing in a heart beat from Apple.

I think the TiBooks are great but even 5 pounds is a lot to lug if you travel a lot for work as I do.

TM

 

[digitalgiant]

Too big?

I have a TiBook, but I know that I don't want to take that every where I go. It's just too big.

Why do people think the Ti is to big to carry everyday. I do it day in and day out and let me tell ya,,, I would rather carry my Ti than Prismo anyday. How much room is really saved (vs an iBook) when it all goes into a backpack or case. Not to bag on anyone,,, but most people that talk about the Ti size are really talking about the price of the Ti being to big. They just cant afford them. I would never go back to an iBook for "size" sake. Only if I was on my way to Bosnia,,, the bomb-proof of it all. Hey have a great day.

 

[backdraft]

How about an internal 120mb Floppy Superdrive? Unfortunately floppies are standard in 90% of the computers out there and YOU must use them for work, school etc... They 120mb is plenty for photoshop (more than that use a CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW) regular floppies great for text files, word etc...

Apple wants open standards right? So how about the floppy?

-backdraft

 

[Over Achiever]

Apple got rid of the floppy...why would they bring it back? I'm sure apple thinks that burning a 650 MB CD is better than using a floppy...and most computers have at least a CD-ROM drive by now.

 

[primalman]

Ummm.....

Originally posted by backdraft
How about an internal 120mb Floppy Superdrive? Unfortunately floppies are standard in 90% of the computers out there and YOU must use them for work, school etc... They 120mb is plenty for photoshop (more than that use a CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW) regular floppies great for text files, word etc...

Apple wants open standards right? So how about the floppy?

-backdraft

Apple killed the floppy over 4 years ago. I haven't used a floppy disk in 3 years. Dead. Done. Move on with your life.

If you need quick, recoverable transport, use a Zip anyway. The 120mb 'Superdisk' as it was called, didn't really pan out, especially on Macs.

And you know, if you need to move around a measly 1.5mb [a floppy] email it.

 

[backdraft]

Well would you waste a 650mb CD for s file thats 500kb? PC users wouldn't they tell me all the time, and not everyone has an internet connection so I wouldn't be able to email them the file; that would mean that I would have to go out of my way and email the file to my email account then find a PC with internet access then download the file and save it onto a floppy and then giving them the floppy and then reverse if they edit the file versus just saving it on a floppy from my Mac (much easier don't you think?). Now take into account deadlines and you should begin to see the problems that arise from not having a built-in floppy on a Mac.

-backdraft

 

[Over Achiever]

Re: Ummm.....

Originally posted by primalman
And you know, if you need to move around a measly 1.5mb [a floppy] email it.

You also get a disk on key...choose the capacity you need. Most computers have USB ports by now...and there is no drivers to install (unless its Win98...) Its perfectly compatible with both systems...if you need to move small files (so burning a CD is too much), then getting a small USB Drive is the way to go.

[EDIT]By USB drive i meant the little flash memory card readers thats really compact and you might even be able to put on your keychain[/EDIT]

 

[beatle888]

i would like to see the LCD screen with a
contrast control option like the brightness
control option. i guess the current screen
is bright enough for IN DOOR use but NOT
out door use. we do however need more
contrast weither computing in or outside.

 

[backdraft]

Not all PC's have usb drives. At least OS X should be compatible with usb floppy drives, its really a pain in a PC dominated world.

I mean I have to use a floppy almost every day! = (

 

[cubist]

Wow, that Panasonic is $2800!

Almost three times the price of the iBook. It weighs half as much.

Superdrive? Avoid it like the plague. I have used one for a couple of years at work, and it stinks:

(a) It is very slow - it's floppy speed; Zip is at least ten times as fast.

(b) Worse, the disks are self-corrupting; after a couple hundred writes, they develop bad sectors, and there's no way to fix them, the format program only detects them. Bulk-erasing a disk destroys it. It's like preformatted magtape, except you need to rewrite a disk much more often.

I don't think we need anything like that in our laptops. But how about a mini-superdrive (3")? That'd be keen.