Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Portables (Apple) Businesses Apple Hardware

Apple Opens The Book On 17" PowerBook Specs 35

Posted by timothy from the r2d2-has-a-hologram-of-this dept.
maxentius writes "Apple released detailed specs on the new Aluminum 17-inch PowerBooks, apparently intended to spur compatible hardware development. A PDF is available."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple Opens The Book On 17" PowerBook Specs More

Apple Opens The Book On 17" PowerBook Specs

Comments Filter:
  • These are beautiful and wonderful machines - and with OSX - A nice to use and attractive gui - With a BSD core - You can do anything with these machines

    Shame about the prices being so high but you are paying for the quality

    • Re:Wonderful (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LordNimon ( 85072 )
      If you are paying for quality, then is it really a shame that the prices are high? Doesn't that also imply that the quality is high?

      I think it's hypocritical to praise Apple for producing high-quality products and then criticize them for charging more.

      • You can get quality at a lower price - Apple do make money - And I cannot blame them for this - It does seem a shame though that their prices are a few hundered £/$ above what most people will pay

  • Apparently... what? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Twirlip of the Mists ( 615030 ) <twirlipofthemists@yahoo.com> on Monday March 17, 2003 @05:28PM (#5531919)
    ...apparently intended to spur compatible hardware development.

    Huh? This technote isn't "apparently intended" to do anything. It's just part of Apple's normal documentation. Every time a new [apple.com] product [apple.com] comes out, Apple releases a technote [apple.com] documenting [apple.com] that [apple.com] product [apple.com].

    In fact, technotes just like this one are available for every Apple product [apple.com] going back to the original Mac Classic.

    • Re:Apparently... what? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Mac Classic was no more an "original" Mac than the Mac II, or the Quadra 950, or the 17" PowerBook for that matter. It *was* the first sub-$1000 Mac, with an 8 MHz 68000--just like the *real* original Mac (128k)--but it was introduced in 1990, not 1984. apple-history sez: "The Classic was more or less a reissue of the Mac Plus. It shipped in a newly designed case and had a large 512k ROM, which it could boot from. Most found it extremely slow. It sold for $1500."

      HTH
      WM

      P.S. BTW, you're 100% right about
    • This developer note is a technical description of the PowerBook G4 17-inch computer. The note provides information about the computer?s internal design, input-output features, and expansion capabilities.

      This developer note is intended to help hardware and software developers design products that are compatible with the Macintosh products described here.

      Apparently it is designed to help developers release hardware and software.

  • Not compatible *computers* (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Monday March 17, 2003 @05:31PM (#5531942) Journal
    No, this is not being done to allow production of compatible *computers*, just compatible peripherals. Apple has always done this for all their computers. Why is this news?

  • So what? (Score:2, Informative)

    by coolmacdude ( 640605 )
    Someone apparantly thought this was a nonstandard Apple practice. In fact they have always provided detailed specs like these on all their systems.

  • Apple != Sun (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Apple = releases specs on their hardware

    Sun = does not release specs on their hardware

    there, got it? good.

  • Great feature (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Eslyjah ( 245320 ) on Monday March 17, 2003 @06:32PM (#5532460)
    This is not new for the Powerbook, but...

    The Ethernet port on the PowerBook G4 17-inch computer supports Auto-MDIX. It switches between MDI (Medium Dependent Interface) and MDI-X operation automatically, so it can be connected to another device by either a straight-through cable or a cross-over cable.

    This attention to detail is why I love Apple hardware. Why don't all computer companies do this?

    • Re:Great feature (Score:3, Interesting)

      by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 )
      Buy the right ethernet card, and it does. MDI-X is a feature on my Gigabit card.

      When you build a PC, you get what you want.

      • Re:Great feature (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Space Coyote ( 413320 )
        That's all well and good for people who build PC towers. For laptops, though, it's absolutely rediculous to have to carry around an extra cable in my carrying case.
  • In the PDF, it mentions that the G4 has full SMP support. Since the PBG4 17" is so frickin' big anyways, why not slap another G4 in there for good measure? I'm sure battery usage would be of concern, but it sure would be the final blow in replacing a PowerMac with a PowerBook.
    • Actually, if you follow the rumor mill, Apple did give serious consideration to putting dual processors in notebooks. They appearantly decided not to for the moment.

      It's just as well in my opinion. Dual processors wouldn't actually boost speeds that much for the kinds of applications most people run on notebooks, even high end notebooks. A bit of photoshop work is one thing and might benefit a bit, but noone runs a renderfarm of laptops or serves a big database intensive site from one. And the cost wou
      • With OS X, the issue is not whether individual applications use multiple processors, like it was in OS 9. OS X distributes processes and threads between the two processors on its own. So, as long as you're running more than one process (is your computer on?), dual processors offer a world of benefit.
    • Would it heat up with 2... or more importantly, does it heat up with just 1?

Slashdot Top Deals

Math is like love -- a simple idea but it can get complicated. -- R. Drabek

Close