The New PowerBooks

[Pilsbury]

Pilsbury: Is it really that much zippier than the stock HD?

Standard is a 2MB cache 4200RPM drive, so, yes it is...

I reckon boot time dropped by a good 30 - 40%.

There's also 7200RPM Hitachi 2.5" drives out that should be faster again, although, they 'only' have 8MB cache

[aaron901]

does a faster harddrive eat more battery or generate more heat? if i were to get the new 15" PB, do you reckon i should for the 4200rpm or 5400rpm? battery life is my main concern.

edit: does anyone know how fast is the hdd in the old 1GHz 15" TiBook? :unsure:

[monkey55]

Did you max out the ram? if you did that would account for the 4-6 weeks delay, you might be better of ordering it with the standard amout of ram and upgrading it yourself, it would be a lot cheaper and you would only wait 3-5 days instead. Also you should order it through the apple education store save a few hundred ?s, they never check if you are a teacher or student.

I din't max out the RAM, but i got 1Gb on 1Dimm so i can buy another dimm and get approx 1.5gb when it arrives. I bought my PB through the HE education store which works through my uni, so it's really cheap, even got myself an ipod. Don't mind waiting 4-6 weeks cos it'll hopefully arrive day before my birthday.

umes

[pizza]

Leif, the new PowerBooks were just announced. you're not gonna see any benchmarks this quick.

Here are some benchmarks :)

[macster]

does a faster harddrive eat more battery or generate more heat? if i were to get the new 15" PB, do you reckon i should for the 4200rpm or 5400rpm? battery life is my main concern.

edit: does anyone know how fast is the hdd in the old 1GHz 15" TiBook? :unsure:

The old ones are 4200 RPM

5400RPM drives do run a little hotter and use up more power

But the performance boost is good too

[TheDreamX]

I agree with some of the others here about not being much of an upgrade for exisiting users. I have a Ti 15" @ 867mhz that works great. Only downer is no superdrive - I was cheap and didnt feel like spending the extra money. Also, I saw a few of you talking about removing the superdrive... If you dont want it, maybe we can do a trade for normal CD/DVD combo????? hehe

BTW, does any know if you can get a backlit keyboard for a Ti PB and install it yourself?

[Fusion]

I agree with some of the others here about not being much of an upgrade for exisiting users. I have a Ti 15" @ 867mhz that works great. Only downer is no superdrive - I was cheap and didnt feel like spending the extra money. Also, I saw a few of you talking about removing the superdrive... If you dont want it, maybe we can do a trade for normal CD/DVD combo????? hehe

BTW, does any know if you can get a backlit keyboard for a Ti PB and install it yourself?

I am pretty sure the design and structure is totally different than the TI, so there is no way to make the backlit keyboard work. Where would you even plug it in to?

[michael.b]

Congratulations varekai2- have fun with your new PB :laugh: Another one joins the initiated :alien:

Thanks. :)

I cannot wait until I get it. :)

[Fusion]

dang.. i'm sooo tempted to get a new one.. the backlit keyboard is soooo wicked. and i'm just kinda sick of bringing my d-link bluetooth adapter with me all the time.. and with all the extra...

what do you guys think??

I think you are fooling yourself, and you know already you are going to get one. ;)

[chris_rv]

I guess Aaron just needs a little encouragement. I say get it :laugh:

[aaron901]

hahaha.. you all know me well :D

i'll see how much i can get on ebay.. if the price is good, then i'll join you guys! :D

[aaron901]

question! does the combo drive generate less heat? and will i get more battery life if i go with the combo drive?

[Fusion]

hahaha.. you all know me well :D

i'll see how much i can get on ebay.. if the price is good, then i'll join you guys! :D

Told you so... :p

About the combo, I am pretty sure that it does not generate less heat. You will get more life because you won't be burning DVD's, but other than that, it is the same.

EDIT: asked stupid question, deleted it. :whistle:

[Gary_Player]

GOD I want one...but with such a kick ass desktop *hugs computer* I dont really need one...Maybe a few years down the road when I'm travelling alot again...

I still want one though :D

[aaron901]

Told you so... :p

About the combo, I am pretty sure that it does not generate less heat. You will get more life because you won't be burning DVD's, but other than that, it is the same.

EDIT: asked stupid question, deleted it. :whistle:

lol :laugh:

another stupid question :D does more ram eat more battery? :D is 512MB DDR RAM enough? :)

[chris_rv]

Gary, nice to hear you want a PB :-) I say the more the merrier!

It might actually do you good to wait a bit before getting one- maybe Apple would have the next revisions ready. In that case, we'd be bugging you for pics :laugh:

[unspec]

Told you so...  :p

About the combo, I am pretty sure that it does not generate less heat. You will get more life because you won't be burning DVD's, but other than that, it is the same.

EDIT: asked stupid question, deleted it.  :whistle:

lol :laugh:

another stupid question :D does more ram eat more battery? :D is 512MB DDR RAM enough? :)

Not a stupid question at all.

Maxing the RAM should improve battery life. The reall killer is paging out the hard disk, with the maximum ammount of RAM installed in the machine, this is reduced.

[aaron901]

Told you so...?:pp

About the combo, I am pretty sure that it does not generate less heat. You will get more life because you won't be burning DVD's, but other than that, it is the same.

EDIT: asked stupid question, deleted it.?:whistle:e:

lol:laugh:h:

another stupid questio:D:D does more ram eat more battery:D:D is 512MB DDR RAM enough?:):)

Not a stupid question at all.

Maxing the RAM should improve battery life. The reall killer is paging out the hard disk, with the maximum ammount of RAM installed in the machine, this is reduced.

thanks mate!:):) i thought more ram will draw more battery and reduce the time.

[BxBoy]

man, now i'm really tempted to get one.. :shifty:

EDIT/UPDATE: what would be the CHEAPEST/BEST route to getting one? I want the 15"

Edited September 19, 2003 by BxBoy

[chris_rv]

BxBoy: I really thought somebody would've answered your question by now- I guess this thread has lost its steam. Oh well, it was a great run for my first ?hot? p:laugh:ugh:

Anyway, if you'd ask me, I'd say get the 15" PB with the fixed upgrades you want already opted in- this means deciding whether or not you'd get a SuperDrive,Lighted Keyboard and 1.25GHz G4 instead of 1GHz.

If you don't expect to buy another one in just a few years, I'd say get the 15" SuperDrive PB. That way, you could grow into getting more out of it. Try saving on the accessories instead.

[BxBoy]

BxBoy: I really thought somebody would've answered your question by now- I guess this thread has lost its steam. Oh well, it was a great run for my first ?hot? p:laugh:ugh:

Anyway, if you'd ask me, I'd say get the 15" PB with the fixed upgrades you want already opted in- this means deciding whether or not you'd get a SuperDrive,Lighted Keyboard and 1.25GHz G4 instead of 1GHz.

If you don't expect to buy another one in just a few years, I'd say get the 15" SuperDrive PB. That way, you could grow into getting more out of it. Try saving on the accessories instead.

How about discounts? Should I go the educational route or the ADC (Apple Developer) route?

[uniacid]

for ADC you gotta buy the membership which is $100 and with the discount it will prolly be around the same price as with a student discount

[michael.b]

for ADC you gotta buy the membership which is $100 and with the discount it will prolly be around the same price as with a student discount

I too did the math and it didn't seem far too economical... and why bother having to go through 'processing'.

[pizza]

for ADC you gotta buy the membership which is $100 and with the discount it will prolly be around the same price as with a student discount

The ADC Student membership comes with Jaguar. People have been able to eBay the Jaguar CD for $99 :p

[Fusion]

I too did the math and it didn't seem far too economical... and why bother having to go through 'processing'.

What are you guys talking about? You are way off! :no:

Education discount is only 100 dollars or so off the top cost. WIth ADC, not only do you get a HUGE discount on the initial item, but all the upgrades such as RAM and HD are at an extremely discounted rate also. Plus the fact that you get Jaguar, Developer Tools, etc.... all of which you can easily sell on eBay and make back the money that you spent on it in the first place if you wanted to.