Apple Slashes PowerBook Prices 193
theloki42 writes "Apple has slashed the prices of the PowerBook G4 line, with the lowest now costing a measly $1599."
HELP!!!! I'm being held prisoner in /usr/games/lib!
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
(got a 12", love the little sucker. So small and light, goes with me everywhere)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Informative)
Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment.
I'm not sure which one is right, though.
Re:Obligatory (Score:4, Interesting)
only 10 day price security....... (Score:3, Informative)
i found that right here [apple.com] under the "Prices" section. i am 99% sure i heard 30 days too, but
Re:Obligatory (Score:2)
--Dan
Unless... (Score:2)
Maybe any orders that come in after the Ti's are all sold will get the Al instead.
Re:Obligatory (Score:2)
not bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:not bad (Score:5, Informative)
ReRe:not bad (Score:1, Informative)
They may be lying, though. The legacy ports don't matter. How could they matter?
I agree with you on the cachelessness being bad, and the display resolution is just idiotic. MacOS X has pretty large window dressing and fonts.
Re:not bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Also check the Apple PDF Datasheet [akamai.net] on the 12", you'll see that the drive is stated to write at 24x, not 2x as you suggest. (I just checked, and interestingly the Apple Store page says the drive writes at 8x. Weird, but still faster than 2x.)
Re:not bad (Score:4, Informative)
10 inches screen, 1280x768 res. Low latency and high contrast ratio too. Looks great.
It could be too small....But then just crank up the DPI rating, and it will work perfectly.
[fujitsupc.com]
Product site
The only laptop I was considering over this one was the powerbook. The fujitsu won based on the price.....
Re:not bad (Score:2, Informative)
I also run Gentoo Linux, so my opinion may not work for you....
In pure speed I do not notice much problems with performance. Windowmaker is perfectly responsive, so are all the other apps. The major slowdown it seems to me is not the processor, but the HDD. Mozilla runs quite fast, but the initial loading time is near 10 sec (unless cached).
Other benchmarks are my movie playing, which is perfectly fine with mplayer. Divx5 full screen dec
Re:not bad (Score:2)
12" Powerbooks with a SuperDrive write CDs at 8x. If they only use a Combo drive (like mine!) then CD recording goes at 24x.
Re:not bad (Score:4, Interesting)
The Combo drive burns CDs at 24x and rewrites at 10x. If you're reffering to the DVD burner, which is 2x, keep in mind we're talking about $1600 laptop.
Do 9lb PC laptops have faster DVD burners usually? Do they have DVD burners at all?
Re:not bad (Score:2, Funny)
the subnotes at the bottom of the catalogue indicated the weight and price did not include a battery!
Rubbish! (Score:5, Informative)
If it's 2x DVD-R, then you are correct - Apple has DVD burners in their laptops - something that few (any?) PC laptops have.
If you're talking about CD writing speed, it's bollocks - my iBook is a year old and has an 8x combo CD burner. The newer iBooks have 16x burners - I see no reason that the powerbook would have a 2x burner.
If it was a typo and you meant to type "24x" and call it slow, then you're just impatient. I doubt there's much point putting a burner of that speed in a laptop - the faster you spin the disc, the more battery you use doing so.
You also note that it "lacks several legacy ports in favour of firewire and USB" as if this is a bad thing. I don't want a paralell port or an RS232 port on my laptop. I'm sure there are people who do need these ports, for them there are two options - buy a PC laptop or buy an adapter. There's no reason to include them on 98.7654% of modern laptops*.
* 88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot.
Re:Rubbish! (Score:2)
And given that the adapters frequently do not work correctly in important ways, only one of these options is real.
Re:not bad (Score:2, Insightful)
My 4-cyl car runs at 6000RPM. Your big V8 only runs at 3300RPM. Therefore your car is slower.
Re:not bad (Score:2)
Before you start throwing the stupid car analogy around, get it right: If your little four-cylinder car goes 90mph at 6000rpm, and my big V8 goes 90mph at 3300rpm, your car is slower. Think about it: when that big V8 gets to 6000rpm, it'll be blowing doors off your rice-burning POS.
Besides, cars, like computers have myriad variables governing their speed. Gear ratios, overall weight, fuel type, aerodynamics, en
pish! cars and expensive Apples. (Score:2)
See, my 3(!) cylinder bike goes 70 at 5000RPM.
In second gear.
Of 6.
Where 5000 RPM is still less that 50% of the redline.
Full up: 3cylinders, top gear, 160 MPH at redline.
And 50MPG for normal calif highway driving (70ish-80ish,
not that I'd go that fast).
You could buy a BMW (Bavarian Made Winnebago) for $17k,
or you could get an SV650 from Suzuki for only $6k.
--- --- ---
Relevantly, Apple sort of notoriously runs slow bus speeds.
They've done it forever. Since the Ma
Re:not bad (Score:2)
Re:not bad (Score:2)
How about the rest of the world. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm looking buying a new mac soon. It would be tempting to go for a PB12 if they dropped as much as they should in price.,
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:5, Interesting)
$1599US for a powerbook12 is $2451 australian, with a direct currency conversion - something that will always be under the real cost due to importing, our taxes etc.
Still, the Australian base powerbook12 is $3995. $1500+ difference.
bah!
Same on the flip side of the planet. (Score:4, Interesting)
We're experiencing the same thing in Canada - because of the recent plunge of the US dollar versus our own, prices should have dropped... but they haven't. Apple gear in Canada still costs approximately 10% more than it should, at the current rates.
Now, I have some sympathy as Apple Canada/retail stores probably had to buy all that stuff at the old rate, but still.. I certainly won't buy another Mac until they adjust this discrepancy (and said Mac model starts with the letter 'G' and ends in '5').
Re:Same on the flip side of the planet. (Score:2)
Re:Same on the flip side of the planet. (Score:2)
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
adam at addaon dot com
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:3, Informative)
Check out these prices:
Its even worse if you are paying in Euro's rather than GBP.
I could grab a plane ticket to NY, stay in a nice hotel for a couple of days, watch a show on broadway, buy a powerbook and still pay less than I would from Apple UK.
I really want to switch but not at these prices...
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
The 15" Combo goes for UKP 1599 (about USD 2620). Also remember that the UK prices include VAT. If you were to buy a Powerbook in the States and bring it back, you would need to pay customs and VAT (or equivalent).
Pssst: Switzerland (Score:2)
Offer's also open for Germany(Berlin) and the UK.
You didn't wait for the AU Apple Store to update (Score:2)
You were a little too quick for them. The Australian Apple Store [apple.com.au] has since updated following the price drops, and a base 12" PowerBook is now $3099.
Sure, that's still a huge markup of over $600, but it's not quite the $1500 figure you came up with.
Why buy from Apple? (Score:2)
Why don't you just buy one "unused" via eBay, or some other US reseller?
Seems like they could mark up 5% and everyone would be WAY ahead...
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
And this works both ways, you know. Our idiotic government won't let us have broadcast HDTV until 2006, amost 20 years after it was first invented ... in Indianapolis!
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2, Insightful)
Arrogance + Xenophobia + Ignorance = American Pride
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:3, Funny)
Is that why you were all taping up your fucking windows a couple of months ago?
Fucking wanker.
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:3, Funny)
Naw...That was just the folks in the midwest who believe everything the TV tells them to. After all, American Idol does the best in that market. Besides, a little microbe or two doesn't scare us Californians at all! Hell, we surf off beaches that are contaminated with medical waste. *cough cough*
Pardon me...*little bit woozy, head...spinning*...now where was I? Oh yeah, Apple laptops still kick ass. Just as long as they keep
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Gimme a break. You wouldn't be calling him "Ronny" if you didn't have a problem with or were out of your diapers when he was in office. You are an AC anyway, so you can take your Trickledown Economics and bite me. At least Alan has the balls to use his name, not like you, you pansy butt-dart rimjobbing turd-burgular. Stop being such a pussy.
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Come on now. I was just beginning to like you.
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Re:How about the rest of the world. (Score:2)
Well, you're probably right. At least the others that I met who did use Windows weren't so quick to discount Macs like they do here. I tell people "Yeah, I use a Mac for work." The usual response is something like "What for?" or, "Macs blow goats!" or, "You get your work done with that thing?" In the
Education Prices (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're eligible, the Education Store has them for only $1499!
Re:Education Prices (Score:3, Informative)
And check your university for deals: mine threw in a 10 GB iPod for free. (Though they made you buy AppleCare, but I was going to buy it anyway.)
Re:Education Prices (Score:4, Informative)
Another strategy, that I'll be using myself shortly, is to join the Apple Developer Connection (for about $100) as a student and then use their hardware seeding program, which gives you about 10-20% off your first hardware purchase with them.
Plus, the program has a bunch of developer tools and other discounts included. It's certainly wortha look.
Re:Education Prices (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Education Prices (Score:2)
Hate to poop on your parade, but I don't think you will be using that strategy.
Re:Education Prices (Score:2)
Nevertheless, there are still discounts for students which amount to about the same.
Re:Education Prices (Score:2)
G5? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:G5? (Score:5, Informative)
RIP G4??? [envestco2.com]
G4 iBook??? [macrumors.com]
Yes, conflicting reports... But it's always safe to assume that when Apple lowers prices, their main goal is to clear out inventory for a new or updated model.
Re:G5? (Score:1, Insightful)
The only thi
Re:G5? (Score:2)
Re:G5? (Score:3, Insightful)
either they are waiting to leapfrog the 12" a
Re:G5? (Score:1)
Rumor = Bad thing, planted my Microsoft to undermine the confidence in current Apple products.
Unfounded Rumor = My Uncle knows this guy who works at a plant that met someone at an IBM booth at a trade show and then happened to wander into an Apple store while a fellow that bought an AMD chip was t
Upgrades pending? (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been waiting for a very long time now for Apple to upgrade the 15'' PB to an AI Model with Bluetooth and Airport Extreme. But now it won't probably be long until I get my PB and iPod. (My precious)
Regards
Christian
Re:Upgrades pending? (Score:5, Funny)
The HalBook? Might be interesting
-- shayborg
Re:Upgrades pending? (Score:2, Funny)
Dammit! (Score:2, Interesting)
The 667mhz powerbook simply doesn't sell at all on ebay.com.au anymore
What do us people with old powerbooks do?
I want to finance a nice sexy 15.4" Aluminium PowerBook (coming out real soon) or a nice PowerMac PPC970 (G5?) Tower, with 64bit Panther
D.
Re:Dammit! (Score:5, Funny)
Um, use them?
"I want to finance a nice sexy 15.4" Aluminium PowerBook (coming out real soon) or a nice PowerMac PPC970 (G5?) Tower, with 64bit Panther
I also want $UNANNOUNCED_PRODUCT!
(These jokes may not be as funny as I think they are. The coffee pot's still churning this morning.)
my joke appreciation level (Score:3, Funny)
the coffee is not neccessarily making you unfunny, but it definitely isn't helping your anxiety and paranoia.
Re:Dammit! (Score:1, Funny)
"And while I'm at it, I want a pony."
See? Much funnier.
Re:Dammit! (Score:2)
Maybe you should simply keep using your powerbook...who the hell looks at a laptop as an investment? Hello?
Re:Dammit! (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, the PowerMac I bought in January 2000 can't possibly have dropped as much in value as the tech-stocks i sold have done since.
heh. (Score:2)
That's true. Touche!
Yellowdog Linux for your old Macs an option... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, one suggestion might be to give it a new, longer period of usefulness by loading Yellowdog Linux, but that strategy may well not suit your needs as you may require certain OS X apps.
In my case, I primarily use a current generation tower with OS-X loaded--this is needed for my work. I also happen to have an old G3 Firewire laptop laying around that is about to go Yellowdog. Since it only has 128 megs of RAM, its not really a good candidate for OS X (and I won't put any more money into it at this point).
It is currently doing duty as my "legacy" OS 9 machine and I use it to run the 2 or 3 remaining pesky OS 9 apps that I have not/can not upgrade to OS X. And I no longer even care to run "classic" on my main machine.
The minute those apps are no longer needed, that old laptop will get a new lease on life running Yellowdog which does very well with older Macs. Then I'll be able to run more meaningful apps like GIMP (and hopefully even filmGIMP).
This is a great solution because instead of becoming increasingly meaningless (OS 9) or redundant (and underpowered) as an OS X machine, it will now fulfill a unique and useful roll in my studio.
To find out more, visit hwww.yellowdoglinux.com of course.
Re:Dammit! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dammit! (Score:5, Insightful)
It feels so good finally being content with something.
I look back to the foolishness of my former self with pity; I was never satisfied with my laptop. Somehow I thought that new hardware or a new OS would fix my problems. Somehow I kept at this for years, searching for the right laptop. I became a computing nomad--jumping from laptop to laptop, thinking that maybe my issues would be solved with the latest hardware. And jumping from OS to OS--from Windows to Suse to Debian to Mandrake to OpenBSD to FreeBSD... on and on. I couldn't find anything that really fit my needs.
I find that it wasn't really speed I needed all those years I was on the MHz treadmill--it was just a computer that worked the way it was supposed to.
I'm quite happy with what I have, and for the first time, I know I'll be using a computer until it dies its natural death. For the first time I can concentrate on getting things done rather than that gaggle of concerns and problems I had to think about before I could even start a project.
So, I've found out first-hand what people with old PowerBooks do--a lot more than people with old PC laptops.
heh. (Score:4, Funny)
--
"My name is Tres, and I'm never buying another Mac again."
"Okay, okay, cut!... we're going again. Writers, get over here."
"What did I say?"
Re:heh. (Score:2)
Re:heh. (Score:2)
Windows/x86 is just like a model T ford. Ever see film footage of the busy intersections of cities during the twenties, when the T was at its height? Practically every single car is a mo
Re:Dammit! (Score:2)
The Cinemaster DVD decoder in your Powerbook is useless under OS X (and Linux, may I add). I don't mind Apple end-of-lining products but going out of their way to force customers to purchase newer hardware is unforgivable.
PS- I
So now... (Score:5, Interesting)
Makes you wonder why the Combo Drive iBook is still $1,299 base...
Re:So now... (Score:2)
Notice that the price drop is only for the 867MHz models? Maybe the 1GHz G4 is soon going to be the new low end?
Re:So now... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:So now... (Score:2)
3. Computer Science. Of or relating to the production of images on video displays.
Would you like your ass for here or to go?
Down From What? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Down From What? (Score:5, Informative)
The prices are:
12" Combo drive PowerBook - $1,599 ($200 drop)
12" SuperDrive PowerBook - $1,799 ($200 drop)
15" Combo drive PowerBook - $1,999 ($300 drop)
15" SuperDrive PowerBook - $2,599 ($200 drop).
Nice drop on the 15" combo drive powerbook.
Re:Down From What? (Score:1)
It's $200 to go from Combo to DVD on the 12"
It's $600 more to do same on 15"?!
What are the other differences?
Re:Down From What? (Score:4, Informative)
for $1999, you get
867MHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, no airport, combo drive
for $2599, you get
1GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, airport, superdrive
so.. faster processor, more ram, bigger drive, wifi, and better optical drive.
Re:Down From What? (Score:1, Informative)
New chips soon? (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple have used IBM chips for years (Score:3, Informative)
You're obviously talking about the PowerPC 970, but if Apple use that it will not be the first time they've sourced chips from IBM.
Re:New chips soon? (Score:4, Interesting)
For even better deals check out their refurbs (Score:3, Informative)
If you don't need something absolutely brand new, check it out. I got my girlfriend a 700mhz ibook (with CDRW) last Christmas for about a grand.
in the end (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:in the end (Score:2)
I agree with everything you said, though... but MS has really got me by the balls when it comes to games.
At least Blizzard usually releases their games on Mac, but that's not enough for an addict like me! ;)
P.S. Anyone here have WC3 for Mac? What are your system specs and how well does it perform for you when there's a ton of units on screen?
Re:in the end (Score:2)
Re:in the end (Score:2)
The last Night Elf mission is really slow for me. How do the game menus perform for you? Before I got the GF3, they were far less smooth. But that's about all the GF3 did to help the performance over the TNT2. What it really wants is a new CPU.
Re:x86 ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to mention, hardware is where they really make their money. Everyone would probably just end up pirating the OS, anyway
There is more than "just works" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:x86 ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, why doesn't Apple make OSX for x86 machines ?
I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but everyone, repeat after me:
Because Apple is a hardware company!
Selling OS X for x86 machines would cut into their margins, encourage their competitors, and there's simply no way they could survive as an OS-only vendor (remember BeOS? That was a lot better than Windows, too).
Re:x86 ? (Score:4, Interesting)
PowerPC to x86 does not mean PC clone (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:PowerPC to x86 does not mean PC clone (Score:2)
Re:PowerPC to x86 does not mean PC clone (Score:2)
When I wrote "however MacOS X apps are much more likely to be less CPU dependent than MacOS apps of the mid-90's" I was referring to recompilation. Apologies for failing to mention that.
You are mistaken. It would be simpler than the 68K to PPC recompiles. What you have now emulates. What comes later gets delived in "obese" binarie