Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2005.06.24
This Week's PowerBook, iBook, and Notebook News
General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. iPod news is
covered in The iNews
Review. News about Apple's transition to Intel CPUs and other
Intel developments is covered in The Macintel Report.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Intel Transition
Reviews
Windows Watch
News & Opinion
From Mac Plus to 17" PowerBook G4
hyku's Josh Hallett says:
"Unpacking my new PowerBook
17" got me thinking about my Macintosh history. It has spanned
18 years and seen 12 different machines starting with a Macintosh Plus in 1987 and
continuing today with a new G4 PowerBook 17".
"Let's take a look back, shall we."
Widescreen iBook Rumors Gain Weight
The Register's Tony Smith says:
"Asustek, not Quanta, will produce Apple's upcoming widescreen
iBook laptop Mac.
"So claims a report in Taiwan's Economic Daily News, which adds
weight to rumours published in April that the Mac maker is
preparing a consumer-oriented widescreen notebook."
Taiwan's Asustek Snatches iBook Order from
Quanta
AFX News Limited (via Forbes) reports:
"Asustek Computer Inc (2357.TW) has signed a contract with Apple
Computer Inc to make 14-inch 'iBooks' for the American computer
giant, the Economic Daily News reported, quoting unnamed market
sources."
DigiTimes.com's Jessie Shen reports:
"Asustek Computer recently beat out Quanta Computer to grab
orders from Apple Computer for a 14.1-inch widescreen iBook model,
with shipments to total about 500,000 notebooks, according to the
Economic Daily News.
"Last year, Asustek shipped more than one million notebooks to
Apple, the paper indicated. According to sources, the company
produced Apple's 12.1-inch iBook and 12.1-inch PowerBook. Asustek
also secured orders for the 15.4-inch iBook, which will be launched
in 2006, the sources added."
Reviews
12" iBook G4/1.2 GHz Reviewed
MacUser says:
"When the iBook range was launched, there was a wide performance
gap between this new consumer portable and the existing PowerBook
models. Now, though, it's a different story. Both portable lines
feature G4 processors and, despite the PowerBooks having more
megahertz, their performance is similar. And the iBooks are nipping
at the PowerBooks' heels in other respects, too."
Windows Watch
Carbon Fibre Used in Ultralight Laptops
gizmag.com reports:
"The never-ending quest for lighter, more powerful notebooks
appears to have a new trend, at least if you can call two carbon
fibre notebooks a trend. A fortnight ago Acer showed its Ferrari
4000 Carbon Fiber notebook, now MPC has joined with its own
high-powered notebook with carbon fibre lid. The sad part is that
unlike the sleek and sexy Acer, which shows the carbon fibre weave,
MPC has elected to paint theirs. Designed to offer an ultra-sleek
notebook with exceptional performance in a lightweight form factor,
the TransPort U1000 ultra-portable notebook computer weighs less
than four pounds, an Intel Pentium M processor for high-performance
mobile computing, and 12.1" display integrated into a carbon-fiber
lid. At US$1,900, it's a lot of performance in an incredibly light
package, but someone should tell them about the attractiveness of
the carbon weave."
Laptops Built for Abuse
Forbes' Arik Hesseldahl says:
"Occasionally I have a nightmare about bad things happening to
my laptop. A drink gets spilled in the keyboard, or it goes
crashing to the ground. Either would be enough to give me a real
start in the real world and would be certainly enough to shatter an
otherwise peaceful night's sleep....
"With these fears in mind, I've always wanted to try out some of
the so-called 'ruggedized' notebooks I've heard so much about over
the years. The opportunity finally presented itself when I got
samples from two manufacturers of rugged notebooks: Panasonic, a
unit of Japan's Matsushita, and the privately held Itronix, based
in Spokane, Wash.
"These are the machines that utility companies buy for their
field service personnel, that police departments buy for cops and
that the military buys for soldiers in dangerous places around the
world.
Bargain 'Books
Bargain 'Books are used unless otherwise indicated. New and
refurbished units have a one-year Apple warranty and are eligible
for AppleCare.
There are two different versions of WallStreet running at 233
MHz, the cacheless MainStreet
version and the later Series II
with a level 2 cache. It's not always possible to determine from
the vendor's listing which is being offered, so we've included
links within this paragraph to the two models. The same goes for
the PowerBook G4/667 (VGA) and
G4/667 (DVI), the titanium vs.
aluminum 15" PowerBook G4 at 1 GHz, and 1.25 GHz to 1.5 GHz
15" PowerBooks.
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1.2
GHz, 256/30/CD-ROM, $799
- refurb 12" iBook G4/1.2
GHz, 256/30/Combo, AirPort Extreme, $849
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1.33
GHz, 256/60/Combo, AirPort Extreme, $1,099
- refurb 14" iBook G4/1.33
GHz, 256/60/SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, $1,299
- refurb 12" PowerBook G4/1.33
GHz, 256/60/SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, $1,299
- refurb 12" PowerBook G4/1.5
GHz, 512/80/SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, $1,499
For more deals on current or recently discontinued models, see
our Best PowerBook G4 Deals,
Best iBook G4 Deals, Best PowerBook G3 Deals, and Best iBook G3 Deals.
