New PowerBooks, Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse 699
no_demons writes "This morning Apple iCEO Steve Jobs gave the keynote at the Apple Expo in Paris. The whole PowerBook line up got an upgrade, with the 15" model now sporting the much rumoured goods (1.25GHz, backlit keyboard, bluetooth, Airport Extreme), available from today. Apple also announced a new wireless keyboard and mouse."
No longer the latest and greatest... (Score:3, Informative)
Sob... sob...
Re:No longer the latest and greatest... (Score:3, Informative)
Apple rolled back the MB rev on G4 desktops when the G5's were announced. The current shipping G4's are actually based on an older motherboard than the systems introduced in Jan 2003. The Jan 2003 models don't boot OS 9.
I always wondered (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I always wondered (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I always wondered (Score:3, Funny)
If the word "cool" didn't exist in the human language, Steve would have a fairly sucky presentation also. :)
Re:I always wondered (Score:3, Funny)
Because it is clearly "beyond cool." :)
"kick ass" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I always wondered (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I always wondered (Score:4, Funny)
Stevenotes! (Score:3, Informative)
Bah... (Score:5, Insightful)
On a serious note, I'm thinking about getting a laptop and the Powerbooks are looking like a good bet; Unix core (so I can run apache & Postgresql etc; yes, I know they work on Windows too, just about) with a nice GUI and everything "just works"(TM) rather than having to download beta drivers to get wifi kind of working under linux.
Re:Bah... (Score:5, Informative)
YDL & Panther peacefully co-exist with no problem. I love my Tibook. I will probably never buy another kind of laptop. Well worth the money.
Oh, and another thing, the screen is excellent. Probably the best laptop screen I've seen. Apple's parts are all pretty much top notch.
Re:Bah... (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess you haven't seen the WUXGA screens now shipping on HP/Compaq nx7000/x1000 or Dell's widescreen laptops. 1920x1200 resolution, 15.2 diagonal. I can't believe that Apple hasn't shipped a better screen than 1280x854 on it's 15 inch model. My 15.2inch HP has more pixels than the 17inch Powerbook! The picture is amazing. As a side note, the company that makes the Powerbooks for Apple (Compal), is the same one
Re:Bah... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bah... (Score:5, Insightful)
Screen quality is measured by contrast, brightness, pixel responsiveness and quality of the glass.
Apple screens are far superior to anything on the Wintel side.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bah... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bah... (Score:5, Informative)
Okay. Let's go with realism. I've used both Apple and PC-based (mostly IBM and Dell) laptops and desktops for the past few years. Let's see how they stack up.
LAPTOPS:
On Apple's portables, control-clicking is EASIER than having a two-buttoned trackpad. When I want to reach down to click, I do so with my right thumb, as the heel of my hand pivots to the left slightly, and my thumb extends in that direction. If I want to pop up a contextual menu, my left pinky hits Control as I click with my right thumb. This is very easy and intuitive. Having a two-buttoned trackpad would force me to move my thumb into an awkward position in order to do this.
DESKTOPS:
Apple's current mouse design does not permit two buttons without introducing severe usability issues, and, really, as you can get a multiple-buttoned mouse (with a scrollwheel if that gets you horny) easily enough, this isn't nearly as much of an issue.
Re:Bah... (Score:3)
Lots of people are as enthusiastic towards high-end car audio as some other people are towards having a pointing device with 10 buttons and three scroll wheels. (This latter group, incidentally, is generally composed of the same people who subscribe to PC Enthusiast Magazine, regard Norton Systemworks as The Best Thing Ever, declared Win98SE to be superior to Windows 2000, and had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the late 90s and Windows XP.)
Unless you're looking
Re:Bah... (Score:3)
Re:Double Bah. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Double Bah. (Score:5, Informative)
To answer a few questions above:
Yes, they run Linux...Yellow Dog, Mandrake PPC just to name a couple.
Yep, they play
Any other questions?
Re:Double Bah. (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, I'd prefer to destroy software/algorithm patents, but the MP3 licenser (Fraunhofer?) doesn't seem to be nearly as unreasonable as some. That's "non-onerous", in my opinion.
The processor and the OS on board the iPod is what I'm glomming under the title of "firmware". I don't know if
Re:Bah... (Score:5, Funny)
Huh, that's nothing. My mouse has ten buttons, precision crosshairs and has - in place of scrollwheels - a small mousepad on top complete with a tiny mouse that I operate with my little finger.
"Cassie" is back? (Score:5, Interesting)
--
-Sid
Re:"Cassie" is back? (Score:3, Informative)
But it does seem to more closely resemble "Cassie".
innovation (Score:4, Interesting)
Where's the innovation here? The mouse *still* has only one button (yeah, go ahead, start the button wars flame game) and, while the mouse has rechargable batteries, neither the kbd or mouse has a "dock" to plug in to so they can be recharged easily.
And, at ~140.00USD MSRP (more if you don't have a bluetooth-disabled Mac) for the Apple combo, it seems like the Logitech bundle would be a better choice.
Since Apple used bluetooth, they could have at least done something extra with the kbd (like add a mini-tablet area or speakers or *something*).
I sincerely hope this isn't the beginning of a (bad) trend.
Re:innovation (Score:5, Informative)
Re:innovation (Score:4, Funny)
Re:innovation (Score:3, Interesting)
>one button (yeah, go ahead, start the button wars flame
>game)
I fail to see how a multi-button mouse qualifies as innovation? Logitech and Kensington have been making them for years.
>while the mouse has rechargable batteries, neither the
>kbd or mouse has a "dock" to plug in to so they can be
>recharged easily.
The question is how long do those batteries last. If I have to replace them once every five years that they aren't recharge
Re:innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
>wireless kbd no matter what the price was.
When why the fsck does the price matter to you? As your initial post would indicate?
Re:innovation (Score:5, Informative)
It's a good idea, and Apple's stuck with it. If you really need those extra buttons, you may as well buy a new mouse. You're paying a premium for Apple hardware anyway, so I'm sure you can afford it.
Re:innovation (Score:5, Informative)
We've been using iMacs as museum kiosk workstations and you constantly see children and inexperienced adults unable to separate the act of clicking from the act of dragging, meaning that every link they try to click, they end up dragging the image across the screen because they don't realize that by resting their hand on the mouse and adding a slight amount of downward pressure, they're still "clicked."
Or, worse yet, if they are trying to drag something and reach the end of the table, it's not at all clear to them to grip the sides of the mouse to "hold" the click. It ends up causing us no end of headaches.
"But the clear plastic is so pretty! They coordinate so well with the computers!"
Re:innovation (Score:3, Interesting)
Sadly, there was never any research. It was more of an informal observation made by Jef Raskin, way, way, back when he saw users getting confused using the three button mice on the Xerox Alto.
And remember, the behavior of buttons back then was quite different to what we're used to now. There were no double clicks. There was no dragging. Naming conventions were awful (they were called red, yellow, and blue, but the buttons were in fact all black, a
Re:innovation (Score:3, Interesting)
Likewise, a triple-click could represent a center button action.
This is keeping with the concept of a simple interface. Power users can access advanced features through advanced actions.
Re:innovation (Score:3, Funny)
Re:innovation (Score:3, Funny)
On the other side of the map, in a sick irony, there's my father (lost to Windows because of its apparent cheapness). I swear, it seems like he never uses his left mouse button. He just found the right-button one day and now he has no grasp of what the term "default action" means. I'm always like, "Open that!" And he's like, "Ok, Hmmm, let's see, Open, Edit, Play, Add to Archive, Scan for Viruses, Send to:, Delete, Cut, Paste,
Re:innovation (Score:3, Insightful)
>issue.
Not really. Ambidexterity is a good thing.
When I am using the trackpad on my laptop I tend to use my left hand probably around half the time (no apparent reason, I'm actually right handed).
That I have a single clickable surface to press, no matter where my thumb is on the pad, can only be qualified as a Good Thing(TM).
When I need it I pull out my optical trackball. It has two buttons and works just fine, and in most situations having a
regarding recharging (Score:4, Informative)
Not a big deal, even if you use disposable batteries.
Re:regarding recharging (Score:3, Informative)
Re:innovation (Score:4, Funny)
Go ahead, show me another vendor that has a wireless, one-button mouse.
Can't find one? A-ha! That's right! Apple innovates again!
(How's that for spin
-- james
Apple is wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apple is wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
I would love to be able to get a 1.33GHz 12" powerbook, but engineering would seem to be the problem.
Cooling issues (Score:3, Insightful)
Target Market is the Key (Score:5, Insightful)
When I got this machine, speed was not the reason why I purchased it. Performance was part of the reason why I chose it over an iBook--which I am pleased to report it is much faster than my old iBook (with its 8MB graphics card and lack of Altivec, which I needed) ever dreamed to be--but you could have made it significantly faster beyond that and it would not have held more than marginal appeal over this model.
I purchased it for the form factor. The weight and the size. 802.11g and Bluetooth were both positive points in its favor but the true "killer app" here was that it was smaller than my iBook and I needed a small laptop.
Apple looked at their target market and said "who is buying each of these systems and why? How much does performance matter to them compared to size and weight?"
As usual (Score:5, Insightful)
All I want is a slim, compact keyboard with basic functions. Like this [akamai.net].
Are there any keyboards like this for the PC? I would much appreciate being able to find one.
Re:As usual (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, the Apple USB keyboards all work on Intel machines. The only catch is the key mappings of some of the bottom row keys: on an Intel keyboard, the [alt] key is typically to the immediate left & right of the [spacebar], but Apple puts the [cmd] keys in that position instead, and puts [option/alt] one key farther away. The Apple [alt] key works normally, it's just in the "wrong" place.
The catch is that [cmd] key -- Windows interprets it as the [win] key as found on modern keyboards, and brings up the system menu whenever it gets pressed. Some people really like that key, and find it useful: it's a big time saver for me to be able to use shortcuts like [win]+[E] (bring up Explorer), [win]+[R] (bring up a Run dialog), and [win]+[F] (bring up a Find dialog). However, more people seem to dislike it than like it, and in any case, the problem here is the position: with the system key placed where [alt] typically goes, it's almost inevitable that it'll accidentally get hit all the time -- and this will get annoying.
Another problem is if you go back & forth between Macs & Intel (Windows/Linux/whatever) using the same keyboard, the situation will get confusing. For example, cut/copy/paste are done on both the Mac & Windows by hitting, respectively, [X]/[C]/[V] and a modifier key. On the Mac, that modifier is next to the [spacebar]; on Windows, it's at the edges of the bottom keyboard row (typically). If you're using Apple keyboard on just Apples, and whatever keyboards on Wintel, then it doesn't seem to be as confusing (just as I don't get confused with the [caps lock] / [ctrl] swap on Sun keyboard), but if you're using the same keyboard on both systems, then it can start to get blurry -- you learn to avoid [cmd] because you don't want the system menu, but then you can't get cut/copy/paste to work because you're hitting [option] or [ctrl], etc.
This wouldn't be so bad if you could re-map the keys, but (parroting what I've been told by others here), Wintel keyboards just transmit codes for the key bring pressed, but Apple keyboards transmit the actual logical meaning for each key -- meaning that it's apparently not possible to re- map (say) the [option/alt] and [cmd] keys to be in the standard Wintel arrangement. So you're stuck, and all you can do is train yourself to get used to little quirks like the ones noted above.
But that said, yes, it works, and it can work nicely. I've got a couple of spare Apple keyboards, and even with the funny keymappings they're still nicer to use than most laptop keyboards, so I tend to plug in an old iMac keyboard to use on my fiancee's Toshiba laptop, and for the most part there aren't any problems in doing this -- except for the bottom row of keys, everything works identically.
Re:To use this keyboard on a PC... (Score:3, Informative)
In other, better, news... (Score:5, Informative)
from http://www.msnbc.com/news/966392.asp
That seems like more of an announcement suiting the frontpages of this hallowed bytespace.
encryption key? (Score:5, Interesting)
The notes say the keyboard uses encryption. I'm a little curious how the key is shared between the keyboard and the computer? At first I thought it might use a standard USB cable to connect to the computer and maybe charge rechargeable batteries, (seems like a good idea!) but it does say "no cables". Maybe you have to type a key in that's presented on the setup control panel? Although I suppose it could be exchanging keys with PGP or other public key technology.
It'd also be a nice touch if they'd have put USB ports on the keyboard, that could "tunnel" through the bluetooth back to the computer. Sure it's slow, but if you happen to have some other peripherals like a touchpad or multibutton mouse etc., that'd be a nice way to deal with some of the cord issues while maintaining compatibility with existing non-bluetooth peripherals.
Kudos to Apple though on a bluetooth optical mouse + bluetooth enabled laptop. I don't use an external mouse on my powerbook, but I can see this as "one less cable to plug in" when getting the 'book out of the bag. As it is, when I arrive home I plug in my speakers, ethernet (yes, I have 802 but cable is faster), firewire (for my pod), and power.
Re:encryption key? (Score:5, Funny)
Actually I think they should've had an inflatable kitchen sink pop up when I press ctrl-option-delete on the keyboard, but sure, throw in that USB thing too.
Steve Jobs - kitchen sink and USB. Are you listening?
Why batteries? (Score:5, Funny)
Why don't they generate the power from the users keystrokes, or send little eltrical signals over the bluetooth protocol?
My ordinary USB mice don't need batteries, so I don't think that a bluetooth mouse should.
Re:Why batteries? (Score:5, Funny)
makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:makes sense (Score:5, Informative)
Re:makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Except it doesn't work with anything. A friend was trying to get a bluetooth mouse and keyboard for his ibm ultra-small laptop (with bluetooth built in). He looked at the microsoft kb/m, and, well, basically you had to use a MS bluetooth dongle and disable your internal bluetooth.
Just great. Really helpful MS.
Asshats.
Re:makes sense (Score:3, Informative)
Hint: If you have to use MS's BT adaptor, you might as well not make it BT. What were they thinking? "Oooh! My foot! What a great target! Allow me to shoot it, a lot of times."
Re:makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)
---snip---
Let me tell you the wonderful story of the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse. I got hold of one of these right after Christmas and went home to try it out. As I was putting the CD in the computer, I noticed that i said "MS XP only". I was running 2000 at the time (Now running RedHat 8). OK, so I couldn't use the Bluetooth device on my computer without paying additional MS tax.
OK, so I gave it to a friends girlfriend who had XP on the computer. She couldn't install it, so I went up to her to install the device. I put the CD in the machine and was told that I needed XP SP1 to do this. Fuckin' L. OK. The XP SP1 CD was included was after 30 minutes, it was installed on her computer. Reboot, and try the Bluetooth driver CD again. It seemed to install something but it soon told me that since I did not use the English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish or Swedish language, the drivers could not be installed. (She had Norwegian installed) DAMN IT!
After the failed attempt to get the Microsoft product to work on another Microsoft product, I went to my mother to have a look at her new iBook. I though that just for kicks, I could put the MS Bluetooth dongle in the Mac USB port. So I did, and...
Go figure.
---snip---
I also attended an MS press conference this Monday, where they presented some new stuff. The only thing new about it all was the fact that the scroll wheel tilted sideways as well as scrolled. It was annoying as hell, and the only use I could imagine was for use in Excel spreadsheets, but none of the computers I treid had Excel installed on them.
The rest of the press conference was embarassing, it was just a collection of ripped off ideas like Bluetooth PAN integration (Available in Q2 2004 with Windows SP2) and a new chip in the optical mice, that make them last 6 months on two AAs. Just as long as my Logitech optical, that is.
Real bluetooth keyboard?? (Score:3, Interesting)
can you use the keyboard with a t68i ?
regards
John Jones
specs (Score:5, Informative)
12" Powerbooks 12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
256MB DDR266 SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA/100
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 (32MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
FireWire 400
AirPort Extreme Ready
*Mini-DVI out
$1599 with Combo Drive, $1799 with SuperDrive
15" PowerBooks
15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
256MB DDR333 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (64MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme Ready
DVI & S-Video out
$1999 with Combo Drive, 60GB drive, $2599 with backlit keyboard, SuperDrive, 80GB drive, AirPort Extreme, 512MB RAM
PowerBook 17" 17-inch TFT Display
1440x900 resolution
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (64MB DDR)
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & S-Video out
$2999
*The miniDVI out is a smaller connector that reuires a dongle to connect to DVI cable or vga adapter.
Back to the iMac-days? (Score:3, Interesting)
And please make it match the feel of the new Powerbook-keyboards and aluminum-colored!
Not the iCEO (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not the iCEO (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, Steve kept the "i" when he dropped the interim. He though it went well with iMac, iTunes, iLife, iChat, etc. One of his more, er, conceited moves, but that's Steve for you. :D
-sam
Man now my PB is 3 generations old. (Score:4, Insightful)
On a more serious note. I don't really see to much of an improvement in powerbooks. A couple of extra features and the wireless stuff added is cool. But nothing really big enough to really need an upgrade yet. Probably when the G5 is able to shrink and run cool with less power for a power book. But right now the 667mhz power book meets all my needs and it is fast enough. For most of my use (The Maxed out RAM helps).
I don't have an issue with the wireless keyboards but I do with the wireless mouse. It seems way to easy to loose. Especially with mice because those are the things I drop all the time because of the fact they are always physically moved all the time. I would be happier if the wireless keyboard had a USB port on it to hook up the usb mouse to. I know the wired keyboards had that and Sun Had that on all their keyboards until they went USB and I really liked that concept because of where the keyboard is the mouse it close buy so you can sit back and still have the keyboard and mouse reach. Also when the mouse dropped the wire acted like a safety cord preventing it from hitting the ground, Also making it easier to pick up while typing because you just pull the wire up. Now with wireless you drop the mouse it goes clunk on the grown scratching its nice finish. and worse when you go to try to reach for the mouse you bend over and the keyboard then fall to the ground hitting in a way that some of your letters pop out. because you always touch type you have no real idea where they keys go back to. so you put them in First come First serve. But because one of the keys that fell off was the shift key you put it in replace of the V and B key so when ever you try to write any word with b or v in it will always put vb in it. This will make you look like a Microsoft guy which will then cause all your coworkers to loose all respect for you. So they work the political engine of your company and find a way to get you fired. Now without the job you cannot finish the payment on your powerbook so the Repo man comes and takes it. But after he looked at the keyboard he points out the keys are in the wrong spot. So you cannot even get full reboed value from it. Which puts you in debt.... When will apple stop hurting people!
Re:Man now my PB is 3 generations old. (Score:5, Informative)
Take a closer look at the 15" model.
- PC133 RAM becomes DDR333.
- 1GHz CPU becomes 1.25GHz.
- Bluetooth is integrated.
- 802.11b becomes 802.11g.
- 60GB disk becomes 80GB.
- Radeon 9000 becomes 9600 (think vastly imporved pixel / vertex shaders).
- FireWire 800 included.
- Oh, and the new magic glowing keyboard.
Nothing entirely earth-shaking, but together they make it a lot more appealing. And before you ask, mine's on order...Oh crap... (Score:5, Funny)
My boss asking me to change the batteries in his mouse every day.
as i'm sure you may have noticed.... (Score:3, Interesting)
does this not bring into mind the classic x86 BIOS message "Error 5: keyboard not FOUND. [press F1 to continue]"
seriously though, wireless USB protocol keyboards frighten me due to your keystrokes being transmitted in "plain sight." how is bluetooth and the 128-bit encryption any different? are there plans to allow a single bluetooth keyboard to work with many different computers (i.e. for administration just hit a switch on the device and you can flip to a different channel or something).
sure, use this wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, but to get either working initially we're gonna have to require that you use mental psychokinetic rays for dialog navigation. i'm sure somebody has the real scoop on this
so what it is?
Whoa whoa whoa... where'd the L3 cache go? (Score:4, Interesting)
My first thought about these updates was "maybe apple has finally put some L3 cache in the 12" model!" But when I went to check it out [apple.com], they had removed every mention of L3 cache on their pages. I doubt that they took the cache OUT of the larger models, so is this just an attempt at obfuscation by no longer mentioning the cache, or did they finally equalize the chipset?
Re:Whoa whoa whoa... where'd the L3 cache go? (Score:5, Informative)
Previous PowerBooks used older 74xx processors with 256 KB of on-chip full-speed L2 cache and varying amounts of off-chip quarter-speed L3 cache.
The L3 isn't really needed anymore due to the doubling of the faster on-chip cache. Sure, 8 MB of L3 cache would be neat, but it would also up the price. Be glad the new books have the nifty Mobility Radeon 9600!
Re:Whoa whoa whoa... where'd the L3 cache go? (Score:3, Informative)
The very real impossibility... HL2 is a totally new engine and is pure DirectX 9. Porting it to OpenGL and the Mac environment would be a total nightmare, take years, and would probably end up running slow.
Doom3, on the other hand, is a totally different story. Hopefully there'll be plenty of games using that engine in the future. (Granted there are lots of games on the Q3 engine, but that sure hasn't helped the mac game world m
Mouse: non-rechargeable Lithium batteries? (Score:3, Funny)
Power Source:
Uses 2 AA Lithium Non-Rechargeable Batteries (included), on/off switch
Another stunning lack of innovation
I suppose because most people still wouldn't get this for an aftermarket mouse as it has no scroll wheel. Come on Apple! Put your flat-scroll wheel patent to work! Let's at least see something!
I also hate the way they talk about having a single button as being "easy and comfortable to use, regardless of the size of your hand". What a way to talk up a mouse for simpletons!
Anyway... love the computers...
-Pete
MS Definition of innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
>contacts on the bottom and create a USB powered
>charging base, like the Logitech etc cordless mice.
Let me get this straight: "Innovation" now means doing what your competitor has done for a long time? Am I missing something?
As to why they did it this way: My best guess is that they didn't want them to slowly die. Rechargeable batteries need to be plugged in more and more frequently when you keep them plugged in when not in use and their charge lasts for less and less time.
So rather than have an ignorant customer say "I've had this mouse for three years and its completely unusable now!" they make it clear from the get-go that you need to swap the batteries every so often.
The real factor here is how often they need to be replaced.
>I suppose because most people still wouldn't get this for
>an aftermarket mouse as it has no scroll wheel. Come on
>Apple! Put your flat-scroll wheel patent to work! Let's at
>least see something!
If you want those features, buy your hardware from Logitech. Stop asking Apple to make everything from Desktops to Hummers.
Incidentally, they do put their "flat scroll-wheel patent to work": in the iPod.
Also Microsoft (Score:3, Informative)
ATI 9600 (Score:3, Interesting)
One question, however: does anyone know if the drivers for the R300 series are (or will be) available for PowerPC?
iirc, the R300 has a binary-only DRI/xfree86 module for x86. Fine, but do they have it for PPC?
I know nVidia couldn't care less about linux/ppc - I wonder if ATI does (doubt it, for fear of pissing off Apple maybe?)
I'm also assuming the Airport Extreme card is still unsupported in Linux? That's not a big deal if you have a cardbus slot like on the 15" and 17", but it is a big deal on the 12" - having no wireless support whatsoever in Linux would be a bummer. (And I doubt you can put an old Airport card in them - if I remember correctly they didn't have the same interface)
Oh, and don't give me "MacOSX is at least as good as Linux" - It may be true, but I'd like to have a choice, if at all possible. There's a lot of Linux programs I've grown used to, and Fink, while good, doesn't cut it compared to Debian for instance.
It's hard to find a decent laptop. I wish the 12" came out with the ATI Radeon 9200.
Right now I'm hesitating between the Apple AlBook 15" and the Sony TR1 series. They both have issues with Linux though.
Wireless keyboard and mouse... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or children (Score:3, Funny)
I just wish I still had some non-wireless phones!
4200 RPM HD?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is this lame? How much does it matter performance-wise?
lithium batteries :( (Score:4, Interesting)
Will they Learn? (Score:3, Insightful)
First -- where's the bloody VGA port? You can't just grab your TiPB and use it as a portable office. The one time you forget to put the DVI-2-VGA adapter in your pocket is the day you'll want to project the current project in the conference room. I wouldn't replace the DVI with VGA but add it to the base system.
Also, what's with moving all the ports to the sides? Have you spent any time typing on a laptop with cables sticking out the side? I know -- Apple's pushing wireless connectivity but most offices still don't (and won't) have 802.11x connectivity due to security concerns. And there's still no wireless Firewire. As a bonus the older TiPBs looked tidier with the cables flowing out the back, hidden by the screen. Now they look like Pippi Longstocking when cabled up.
Lastly, an old rant, two buttons on all mice -- especially the built-in track pad. I understand the argument that one mouse button is less confusing for some users, but for whom? All the Macworld video clips tout high-end use by graphic designers, photographers and music producers. I can hear them in the focus group "Come on, Wayne...it's for the noobs." How about putting a big red icon in the middle of the desktop that reads "Don't Panic". Clicking it (with either button) would display a help entry accompanied by soothing music: "Right-button - Mostly harmless. Used by the smart set to get more work done. Safely ignored by you."
Re:Will they Learn? (Score:5, Insightful)
Er, yes. And it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I love that I can just lean to the side a little to see what I'm doing when I need to connect a cable. No more standing up and/or blindly feeling around the back of the laptop for the correct port. Apple did the right thing by putting the most commonly-used ports (i.e. modem and ethernet) closest to the rear, where they are least likely to get in the way. Same with the AC input on the opposite side. I've been working like that for two years with my iBooks, and never felt like protruding cables were stealing valuable workspace-- and I'm a lefty!
Also, you can't make the laptop particularly slim if you've got to put the hinge on top of a row of ports.
I also have no complaint about the single trackpad button. I am apt to click with either thumb at any given time, and it's nice to know that I don't have to worry about which side of the trackpad button is under that thumb. When I want to pull up a context menu, I have to consciously hold down Ctrl. I think this is the right way to go about it, because you're not concentrating on hitting the correct button by default-- only when you WANT to activate the secondary function.
I use a multibutton mouse with scroll wheel on my G4 at home, and I've set it up so that both buttons return a click, but clicking the mousewheel brings up context. This way I can tell by feel exactly what I'm clicking (and also so I don't get used to having the context menu pop up when I left-click, so I don't keep hitting the wrong button when 'm working on a righty's computer.)
~Philly
Re:Catching Up (Score:5, Insightful)
If Apple went to stock x86 hardware, yes, their prices probably would fall. This helps Apple how?
Apple has assiduously avoided having to compete in the low margin, backwards compatibility nightmare, stock x86 hardware realm for a reason. Apple make systems with a level of hardware/software integration across the product line that is only dreamt of in the wintel world. Because their systems provide such a superior user experience, Apple can, and does, charge a premium for a premium product. This premium price makes Apple profitable.
Moving to x86 destroys all of Apple's advantages. Their systems would no longer work seamlessly because the near infinite combination of possible hardware would guarantee the same sorts of nightmares seen by windows users daily. And Apple would have to drop prices to compete with MS and Linux on the same hardware platform.
No wonder Apple have wisely opted to keep their platform different from the low cost, hardware incompatibility swamp that is the world of stock x86.
Re:Catching Up (Score:3)
I don't know why people think this. The only parts of a Mac today that aren't "stock x86 hardware" are the motherboard and CPU. If Apple ever moved to x86, you can be damn sure they'd be having their own custom-made motherboards without all the proprietry crap weighing down current PC 'boards (ie: no ISA bus/bridge, no PS/2, no BIOS, etc). There would be no way their prices would fall, or feel any real pressure to.
Moving to x86
Re:Catching Up (Score:3, Insightful)
Likewise, too many choices can almost be as bad as not enough choices. And when it really comes down to it, how many choices do you really have? AMD or Intel, Radeon or GForce, soundblaster or soundblaster.
Not a whole lot of real choice.
Re:Catching Up (Score:5, Insightful)
Take for example, USB. Apple didn't invent it, but Apple made it big. USB had been arround for a while on the PCs, but everyone in the x86 world is lodged into legacy hardware. Apple was in a very good position to start making USB only based computers and as a result gave USB the life it needed to take hold.
Re:Wow... it's bluetooth! (Score:4, Informative)
I've got a D-link bluetooth adapter [dlink.com] for my iBook and a mate bought one for his IBM laptop at the same time, seems to work fine for both systems. He can link up to his mobile phone fine, and we set up networking between the two computers using them to see how easy it was - no problem.
Was about the cheapest from a known brand I'd seen as well.
NB: I'm nothing to do with the company, etc. etc.
Re:Wow... it's bluetooth! (Score:4, Informative)
"Important: Requires a Bluetooth enabled Macintosh (either built-in or using the qualified D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth Adapter (older D-Link DWB-120M adapters are not supported). Mac OS X, v10.2.6 or higher required. "
So if you've got the DBT-120 and not the DWB-120M you're set.
Rich
Re:More advertising? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More advertising? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More advertising? (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw this posted by an AC somewhere around /. and I think it sums it up fairly well..
Yes, Apple does get a better response these days... and why shouldn't it? They've clearly got a clue since OS9, and while not everything is open source, much of it is. They also seem committed to standards and interoperability. While Microsoft is busy mangling standards so that customers are compelled to buy other Microsoft products to assure everything works, Apple has become a vendor that actually cares about playing well with others.
If you think Slashdot is an Apple love-in without merit, go back and find praise predating recent versions of OS X. Slim pickings, I'd say.
Re:More advertising? (Score:3, Insightful)
As el reg stated, the once unique powerbook titanium is now copied widely. Fortunately Apple did not sit still. We now have a new design that will be copied.
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse? None else widely available. I know MS is supposed to have one, but a goggle search only points to vapor.
Apple has been and is the future of personal computing. They se
Re:Nice evolution (Score:3, Informative)
It will. The increase is due to the availability of 1GB DIMMs.
Economics 101 (Score:5, Interesting)
A commodity is only overpriced if one of two things is true:
1) It does not sell.
2) You have reliable evidence that a lower price point would have increased your earnings (note I did not say "unit sales").
We don't know if these things will sell yet. Simply.
In absence of evidence whether they will sell at *this* price point, we *certainly* don't have evidence that they would make more money by selling it at a lower price point.
You think they are overpriced? Don't buy them. For me personally it wouldn't matter whether they sold them at $20,000 or $5+S&H: I don't have a use for them.
Bluetooth Keyboard & mouse for use with the Pa (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It never fails... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It never fails... (Score:3, Insightful)
Every Apple user on the planet knows that you never buy a new computer from Apple right before one of their expos or conferences, precisely because Apple almost always unveils new and upgraded models then. You're an idiot.
Re:but why would...? (Score:3, Interesting)
And if you think Bluetooth has 'more bandwidth', you might want to look at the specs
-psy
Re:D-Link Bluetooth adaptor the only one? (Score:3, Informative)
There sure are. I have a pair of Mitsumi WIF-0402C adapters that do not claim any Mac support whatsoever from the manufacturer but work perfectly with Apple's Bluetooth software.
I got mine on eBay for about $20 each back in January from a guy in NYC who had a ton of them, but apparently the only Mitsumi Bluetooth adapters up for auction right now are being sold by people based in the UK.
I also know Belkin makes a USB Bluetooth adapter. I don't know the p
Not for a long time! (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember that the G5 comes from the Power4, which was NEVER designed to be a low-power/low-heat CPU, it will NEVER be as suitable for laptop use as the 750-series will. Even with a major die-shrink and voltage drop, the G5 will STILL put out much more heat than the G4 did, and even that was too much.
Don't worry though, I'm sure IBM will be using a lot of what they developed for the G5 in the 'mojave' G3s. They might even be marketed as G4s or G5-mobiles because they will have roughly the same features.
Apple Store (Score:5, Informative)
Refurbs are covered by Apple's standard 1-year warranty, with the option of purchasing AppleCare, so hardware issues, well, aren't an issue. Also, a standard set of software, cables, manuals, etc. are included in the box.