Nicest of the Damned

MacBook Air=Portable Cube

MacBook Air @ Macworld,
originally uploaded by viejomoeb.

I was excited about the rumors of an Apple subnotebook being announced today. I've loved what Apple has done in this space before, and have been a regular user of all three generations of Mac subnotebooks — the PowerBook Duo (I had a 230c), the PowerBook 2400c, and the 12" PowerBook G4.

Having watched the keynote, and gone over the specs with a fine-toothed comb, I'm mostly disappointed. The MacBook Air is a very sexy form factor surrounding some very ordinary parts -- you've got an iPod hard drive, integrated video that burns 144 megs of system memory, and 2 gigs of RAM that it appears are permanently attached, and cannot be upgraded. Unlike every portable Apple has ever built, the battery isn't even user swappable.

I initially thought Apple might take this opportunity to introduce a new form factor in between the MacBook and MacBook Pro that would, in a year or 18 months, serve as the model for the next revision of the MacBook. Such a machine would skimp a little in comparison with the Pro, but likely offer a dedicated video card, standard laptop components cleverly packaged, and an LED-backlit widescreen display.

Instead, what we got strikes me as a “café computer,” one that will be fine for e-mail and weblogging, but that I don't see using for on-the-go video work (there's not even a FireWire port) and that won't even open Photoshop. To better manage heat and power consumption, Apple has designed in a 1.6-gigahertz processor, significantly slower than a standard MacBook (and at least nominally slower even than the processor in the Mac mini). Instead of the commodity hard drive, a 5400-rpm Serial ATA model, the Air gets a 4200-rpm Parallel ATA model in the iPod's 1.8-inch form factor.

Apple has provided one option that could mitigate the machine's performance handicap a bit: A solid-state hard drive, currently 64 gigabytes. Unfortunately, building that drive in is a $999 option!

It's beautiful, certainly. Apple's design aesthetic seems to be collapsing in on itself, leaving just a single word: Thin. Beveled corners, like those on the iPod touch, make the Air's edges visually sharp, while the drop-down ports, required by the crazy thin-ness of the case, are very cool.

But it's beautiful at a price. Here's a machine for travelers that won't be able to connect to the in-room ethernet. Here's a machine that can't simultaneously handle a keyboard and mouse unless the keyboard provides USB pass-through (lots don't). I find myself wondering if it's true: You can be too thin.

Sitting here 10 hours from the keynote, the Air doesn't remind me most of the late, beloved 12" PowerBook or the 2400c, still my favorite computer of all time. The Mac it reminds me of is the Cube. Like the Cube, it's beautiful, offers little expansion capability, and looks pricey when compared to its Apple stablemates.

Is there a miniBook in the pipeline?

Apple Recon | Mac Book Mini

Apple Recon is reporting on rumors that Apple has a subnotebook in process, with specs and pricing in between the MacBook and MacBook Pro. The rumors suggest a 3.5 pound package, with a 12" 1280 x 800 monitor, hard drive and optical drive (and possibly a new caching flash drive as well), and 6 hour battery life.

If this comes to pass, I will be sorely tempted. My two favorite laptops of all time are the PowerBook 2400c and the 12" PowerBook.

I know such a machine is possible -- I'm currently using one, even if it has a Dell logo. It's not 3.5 pounds, and I'm sure Apple will bring other innovations to theirs (Apple Recon speculates on an LED backlight and the flash drive), but my Dell XPS M1210 matches this rumor, to be announced in June, today.

The base system is 4.3 pounds, and about the same size as a PowerBook 12", but it's got a lot of features I would be surprised to see in the final Apple release, as well: S-Video out, 2 gigs of memory with support for 4 gigs, and an ExpressCard 54 slot. Mine's got an extended battery, and it's good for 4-5 hours of wireless use, enough that I haven't really noticed the battery life. The 256-meg nVidia 7400 video card drives my 20" widescreen display alongside the internal LCD, and nVidia supplies a software wizard to gracefully set up multiple displays. There's plenty I don't like, of course: Something about the keyboard feels like it's coming off on my fingers, and there are media keys along the front of the case that I keep bumping by mistake. The topcase is a black plastic that picks up oil from my hands every time I pick it up. It's got the glossy screen, which is very bright, but I've found myself in two situations where I had to move the laptop to eliminate glare. If I were using it in the field, that number would be higher.

I love the rumored specs for an Apple subnotebook, although I wish it could fit an ExpressCard, since its target market (knowledge workers and execs on the go) are likely to take advantage of high-speed cellular wireless connections. Also, I hope the rumor is wrong about a 2-gHz ceiling on clock speed. If Apple addresses this giant, yet tiny, hole in its portable line, the machine should have at least a nominal speed increase over the MacBook.

Biggest Macworld and switching to the PC

Hivelogic | Regarding Macworld 2007

O'Reilly MacDevCenter | Our Macworld Wishes

So the biggest Macworld in years starts tomorrow (Tuesday for Macworld Expo). Nobody seems to have a real handle on what Apple's going to do this year, so predictions are all over the place. Apple has pushed the hype by promising that “The first 30 years were just the beginning,” suggesting major things afoot.

Over at HiveLogic, Dan Benjamin offers a fairly safe list: Whatever Apple's iTV becomes, updates to the iMac, iPod, iLife and iWork, and a preview of Leopard, with Windows virtualization built in. All good stuff, with the virtualization probably the only controversial choice.

Benjamin doubts we'll see the iPhone/iPod phone, new iSights, or a Mac Pro update, widely expected because Intel will be announcing its new Kentsfield processors tomorrow. He rates as “possibilities” high-def iTunes (to support TV and movie content in HD), an update to the iPod Hifi, a MacBook Pro speedbump, and BlueRay support, and is holding his breath for a “true” video iPod, a nanoBook (an ultraportable laptop), and a Beatles iPod, heralding the arrival of the Beatles catalog on iTunes.

Over at O'Reilly's MacDevCenter, a survey of writers turns up a surprisingly common wish for a Core 2 Duo update of Apple's longstanding desktop form factor, last seen in, what, the 7600? For years, this was the most popular corporate Mac, in its IIcx/IIci/Quadra 650/Power Mac 7100/PowerMac 7500/7600 iteration, which usually shared a motherboard with Apple's top tower, albeit generally with a slower processor, and generally offered 3 slots. The iMac line is inherently wasteful in a corporate environment, because most companies are ready to upgrade the CPU long before the LCD has died, but the Mac mini is generally a little underpowered for corporate use. So I'll add this to my wish list (fat lot of good it will do).

Also looking back to the future are a couple of writers who want a replacement for the 12" PowerBook. That would be terrific. The Mac world significantly lags the PC world when it comes to sub-notebooks, and it seems like I'm seeing more and more of the smaller, lighter machines in airports. If you spend a lot of time on the road, and use your machine for office functions, a 12" (or smaller) machine you can hook to an external monitor in the office, with a decent keyboard and battery life, makes a lot of sense.

Also, three of their writers want changes to .Mac. One wants it eliminated (I don't see that happening), while another wants to see it significantly enhanced. I still would like to see .Mac become an extension of a home server product (like the HP MediaSmart server, but software or Mac mini-based and therefore cheaper), with two-way synchronization of selected files and folders between .Mac and the home server; automatic backup of purchased iTunes and other user content to the home server; domain, weblog, calendar and photo sharing support over the internet.

Meanwhile, I'm starting a new job tomorrow, and I hear they've got a sub-notebook Dell waiting for me. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. It's been 5 years since I spent more than 30-45 minutes at a Windows desktop.

Bye, bye, PowerBook; hello, (gulp) MacBook Pro

Apple | MacBook Pro

So Apple managed to completely shroud much of what would be introduced today, and delivered higher-performance versions of the incredible iMac (formerly “iMac G5”) and PowerBook.

For some reason, Apple has chosen to set aside the “PowerBook”label, certainly one of the great brand names of all time, and has rechristened the Intel-driven portable line “MacBook Pro.” Steve Jobs said something about wanting the Mac name in their computer products, so it seems likely the consumer-level laptops, when introduced, will just be the “MacBook.” Somebody is bound to be manufacturing “PowerBook” stickers to cover the horrible name.

The MacBook Pro is an interesting hybrid. The sheet metal is very similar to the previous 15" PowerBook, but with a few notable changes. Most obviously, Apple has added a built-in iSight camera atop the display. The PC Card slot has been abandoned, replaced by the newer, smaller ExpressCard slot, for which I have seen exactly zero products. (Actually, there are 10.)

I'm also a little concerned that there was NO mention whatsoever of battery life. Intel's Centrinos have a good reputation on that, but this is a new processor. Presumably, if it was significantly better than the PowerBook, Steve would have mentioned it.

Strangest to me is the inclusion of a single FireWire port, limited to FireWire 400. One thing I was looking forward to in my next PowerBook was faster backups thanks to FireWire 800, but it's not to be, at least on the 15" model.

And why only a single form factor? If the existing 15" case could be re-engineered to take the new motherboard, and the iMac case could be re-engineered to take the new motherboard, why couldn't the 17" PowerBook case, or the 12" PowerBook, or the iBook? It looks like they're dipping a toe, to gauge how quickly people are going to migrate.

The iMac and the 15" PowerBook have been the meat-and-taters of Apple sales for years. The existing G4 and G5 models of each continue to be available -- no sudden influx of thousands of “refurbished” machines, no banishment from the Apple Store's front page. It looks to be, as with the first Power Macs and with OS X, another example of Apple soft-pedaling a transition, and taking it easy on its users.

Uncle Steve's medicine show

weblogs.oreilly.com | One possible future for the PowerBook line

Not long to wait for the latest Apple keynote, and I'm as interested in what's coming down the pike as I've been since the 12" PowerBook intro.

(By the way, my PowerBook is off for repair with what appears to be a bad hard drive, so I'm going to be at least even on my AppleCare investment.)

The consensus rumor seems to be that the Mac mini and the iBook will be the first machines to get Intel chips, and that both will be introduced tomorrow. I can see an upgrade to the mini: they're not really sold primarily on their performance, and other rumors suggest the update will include new TV and streaming media features to justify more processing power.

The iBook, on the other hand, confuses me. Based on what we're hearing from developers, it seems like any current-model Centrino will offer battery life and performance meeting or exceeding the current PowerBooks. The favorite rumor seems to be a pairing of a dual-core Yonah processor and a 13.3" wide-screen LCD. Why not just put that chip in the PowerBook? O'Grady and others suggest Apple won't migrate that quickly because some of their professional applications, but I really liked a comment someone made in reply to one of the rumors. Remembering how the iPod rumors had suggested a "color iPod mini" which turned out to be the iPod nano, the commenter suggested that perhaps the 13.3" iBook might actually be the first new Intel-driven PowerBook, a “PowerBook nano.”

Creating a 13.3" PowerBook serves a number of purposes: miniature laptops are extremely popular among road warriors today, and the 12" PowerBook, world-beating when it was introduced, is now comparatively portly for a micro-laptop. Users of this sort of machine are less likely to use it for high-end pro applications; it's more like a messaging center and portable data archive. Also, they're less price-sensitive, which would let Apple maintain its margins a little more. And it maintains the natural order of things, with the PowerBook outperforming the iBook.

As a shareholder, I hope the rumors of an iBook at a significantly lower price ($599?) come true.

And Jason O'Grady's Apple plasma screen rumors? They seem way out there to me. If they come true, I think it's time to consider a future where Apple no longer sells computers, refocusing on consumer electronics, media, and software.

$70 million in iBooks?

ajc.com | Cobb wants Apples for teachers and students

Looks like my old school system has eliminated both Dell and IBM from consideration for a very large laptop program, in favor of about 63,000 iBooks from Apple.

Cobb County's public schools expected to pay about $275 each for the machines (and that's one healthy volume discount), but also will be buying support, training and maintenance, that make up the bulk of the deal. If the Journal-Constitution's numbers are right, 63,000 students times $275 per iBook runs only about $17.25 million, so the majority of the costs (as we all know) come after acquisition.

The system intends to roll the program out in three phases, first to teachers, then high schoolers, and finally to middle school students.

The linked article includes dates and times for 4 meetings the superintendent is holding for parents during the next 3 weeks.

Funky OS X screensaver problem

I’ve periodically seen a strange error on awakening the PowerBook from sleep. The screensaver’s login box appears, I enter my information, submit it, and the screen goes black. It’s not entirely black, however — the cursor is still visible.

If I put the machine back to sleep with the power button and ‘s’, I can repeat it ad infinitum. If there’s a second user on the machine, I can log in as them when the login window appears, and they get a full, graphical session, but switching back to the original user lands me in the black hole again.

I’ve finally discovered a workaround: login to the machine from a second box, and kill "/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow console....". Doing so logs out the current user and generates a new login window, so it’s only slightly better than my previous solution, shutdown -r now.

Next goal: find a way to get just the window manager to restart, so I don't lose the user session.

Yes, you will notice the missing 333 mhz

MacMegasite - 10.2.8 Reducing Processor Speed?

I had this happen to me. I thought it was odd that I was maxing the processor so frequently, and that the 500-megahertz TiBook seemed almost as fast as the miniBook.

The page above suggests that a PRAM reset (Command-Option-P-R on startup) will straighten everything out, but that wasn't enough on my PowerBook. I had to also reset the Power Management Unit: With the machine off, press and release Shift-Control-Option-Power On at the same time. Nothing will happen, but wait at least 5 seconds. Power up, and check that you're back to normal.

You can verify that you're fixed with Xbench, or with the shell command 'sysctl hw.cpufrequency'.

Update: I rebooted today after installing QuickTime 6.4 and iTunes 4.1, and afterward, my CPU frequency was back at 533 mhz. Resetting the PMU (and only the PMU) straightened it out.

miniBooks now support 1152 megs of RAM

PowerBook G4 867 MHz [12-inch Screen] January 2003

The good news is that you can now buy a 1-gigabyte DIMM for the PowerBook 12-inch. The bad news is that it's $499. That should be coming down over the coming months.

Seen at MacMinute.

Also on the miniBook: I was floored to read on one of the rumor sites that the 12" would be revised with a thinner form factor! I want to know what customer told their market research people, "I just wish it was only a half-inch thick." It's hard enough finding laptop bags that fit it now, as small as it is.

I would love for Apple to give the 12" parity with the bigger machines, and sell them based on mobility and screen size (and possibly expandibility, since the 12" doesn't have a PC Card slot or, for now at least, DVI out). I'm hopeful that the tremendous sales of the miniBook (which has been Apple's best-selling PowerBook) might make it happen.

No longer perfect

My 12" PowerBook is no longer perfect. I spent most of the night working on a proposal, and noticed when I got to work this morning that the miniBook wouldn't sit flat.

When I turned it over to check, one of the feet was missing (rear left). Getting these to stay mounted must be one of the great engineering challenges we face today -- a quick survey of the laptop menagerie suggests no one has it nailed, and my trackball has also lost two of its feet.

I checked with the Apple Store, and they're back-ordered, so mine may not be an isolated case.

Me and my miniBook

I've had my miniBook for 6 days now, and am favorably impressed. The performance is noticeably faster than any other PowerBook I've used, and the package works wonderfully for my purposes.

The Airport Extreme works well with my older AirPort base stations, and the multihoming support seems to work better than it did on my Lombard (possibly a 10.2.4 improvement?).

I saw stories that Apple is sending iLife to recent 12" PowerBook purchasers, but I haven't seen any notification, for the very good reason that it was preinstalled on my machine.

I used it on an airplane for the first time tonight, and it seems like the perfect notebook for coach. It fit comfortably on the tray, and the keyboard didn't force my elbows into my neighbor. Battery life seems to be somewhere between 2 and 4 hours. Sorry I can't be more specific, but it's varied significantly with Energy Saver settings, and I've only taken it below 15% twice.

I've seen more benchmarks, and it appears the system is noticeably slower than the current 15" PowerBooks. I'm okay with that. I started jonesing for a new system when the 800-mhz TiBook was the top of the line, and I wanted Apple to leave that machine as the bottom of the line when new PowerBooks (which wound up being 867-mhz and 1-Ghz TiBooks) were introduced, with a price tag of $2,000.

The 12" gives me all the power and more of that system. I also get a design I like better, Bluetooth, and AirPort Extreme. The 12" is expandable beyond a gigabyte when 1-gig PC2100 SO-DIMMs become available (using one would give 1152 megabytes).

One small problem I've had is with my briefcases. My older cases all expect a laptop to be bigger, thicker or both. I got a new rolling Samsonite for Valentine's Day, and the miniBook fits -- if I turn it sideways.

12" PB meets 2400c

New 12" Powerbook compared to 2400

Here's a photo gallery from a lucky guy with a 12" PowerBook and a 2400. Helps reinforce my notion that the new miniBook is a spiritual successor to the Comet. For its time, the 2400c was the perfect laptop for me.

Spotted at O'Grady's PowerPage.

More on miniBook

It's pretty much all over but the shouting; I'm pretty sure I'm going with the miniBook. I've seen some reports of the build-to-order SuperDrive systems shipping, but there appear to be a couple of shortages still constraining delivery: the Airport Extreme cards aren't ready, and the DDR266 memory isn't yet available through Apple.

Here are a couple more pictures I got the other day (click on either picture for a larger view):

This one gives you an idea of the changes to the keyboard.

Here's a user's-eye view.

miniBook face-to-face

So I've seen the new miniBook, and it's good.

Circumstances have conspired to give me an especially good feel for the right way to go on the upcoming PowerBook purchase. I'm spending the weekend (at least) in the company of a 500-mhz TiBook, so I can get a feel for how I like its form factor, which I've always felt is a little too big. I'm posting this through it.

The TiBook is still running OS 9, so it seems lightyears faster than the OS X Lombard PowerBook G3 I use most frequently. The extra screen real estate is nice, sure, but it doesn't seem to buy me anything I would really use all the time.

Here's a picture comparing the 12-inch miniBook and the 15.2-inch TiBook on display at the Apple Store. The new keyboard on the miniBook is a noticeable improvement on the mushy keyboards Apple has used on laptops since the Lombard, at least. I sympathize with the people saying the silver coloring of the new keyboards isn't as attractive as the translucent keys of the older keyboards.

The Atlanta Apple Store sold out its first shipment of 12 miniBooks in less than a day, but they're still quoting 2-4 weeks for build-to-order models.

More 12-inch news: Here's a link to miniBook hard drive upgrade pictures. A report this morning on Macintouch says the miniBook gets extremely hot on the left palmrest (the miniBook at the Apple Store didn't seem unusually warm anywhere).

By the way, Howard joined us, and wrote up his thoughts on the littlest PowerBook.

Meeting the miniBook

There have been a number of reports that the 12" PowerBook is now available at the Apple Store. I meant to call today to confirm that the Lenox Square store has them, but at midafternoon, my cell phone rang. It was a friend standing in front of the miniBook display at Lenox.

The friend has gone through 2 TiBooks, a 500-mhz and a 1-Ghz, and was pretty impressed by the mini. My understanding is that the Build-to-Order models (with the SuperDrive, extra memory, and/or the larger hard drive) will take a while to filter into the pipeline.

When I was checking out prices at the Apple Store onlince, I spec'ed a SuperDrive model with base RAM and hard drive, since I remembered that Apple has traditionally made the upgrades a pricey option. At some point, they've changed that. The upgrade from a 40-gig to a 60-gig hard drive is a $50 option, for instance. Switching a 128-meg DIMM for a 512-meg, bringing the miniBook to 640 megs, is a $150 option, while Crucial wants $203 for the 512 DIMM.

So, tomorrow, I'm headed off to the Apple Store to get my claws on the new keyboard, see how hot the little sucker runs, and see when I could get a build-to-order model through the Apple Store. I'll be taking along my digicam, so I'll post some pictures tomorrow night.

On a related note, I found a miniBook photo gallery linked from MacSurfer.

Moving from wanting to having

So, through an elaborate combination of events, I think I'm in a position where it makes sense to buy a new computer. More importantly, I think I've talked my wife into it.

So the next step is figuring out what to buy and where to buy it.

I dropped by the Apple Store and CompUSA today; neither one has either of the new PowerBooks in stock, and Apple has a shaky history on meeting promised ship dates. I'm hesitant to buy a new model sight unseen, but my immediate preference is for a fully decked-out 12" PowerBook. Of course, if I want it NOW, I can go with the 12" iBook for around $500 less, or the 15" TiBook for about $500 or about $800 more.

One friend wants me to go with the TiBook, just like his, on the grounds that I need the extra power. Recent benchmarks show a noticeable gap between the PowerBooks, attributable to the Level 3 cache on the 15" models that's absent on the 12", and to differences in the video cards.

On the other hand, running the same test suite on my feeble Lombard suggests I'll be blown away by any of the above. Here's a table to compare the stats:

Test	Lombard	12" PowerBook	12" iBook	15" GHz TiBook
CPU	28.02	88	91.1	117
Memory	19.86	96.7	49	109.4
Threads	22.93	62.3	50.5	86.3
Quartz	15.62	74.7	82	124.9
OpenGL	5.79	73.4	56.4	97.7

The iBook looks like a pretty good deal here. Naturally, I would love it if the machine I like had the fastest scores on everything, but the economics of the subnotebook mean that you have to charge less for it, and it can't outperform its siblings. Still, in the worst test, it's 3 times the speed of my Lombard.

I also confirmed a report on Macintouch that the miniBook requires a different keyboard with the SuperDrive. Update: That may not be true. The part number is for the Keyboard and OS, so it might have a different part number so the SuperDrive machines get iDVD, which combo drive models don't.

Indepth with Frank's next computer

MacNN | Feature: In-depth: 12-inch PowerBook

There was a negative review of the 12" miniBook on Macintouch today, but it seemed to ignore the economics and the physics of a design like this: you can't charge as much as for its larger siblings, and there are bound to be at least a few things you have to give up to minimize the size.

I'm typing this entry on my IBM 560x, on which I finally have wireless access working. The whole thing is less than 4 pounds, but without CD or dvd and with an 800 x 600 LCD. I would trade another pound for the CD and larger screen.

Apple wants my soul....

Now everybody knows why Apple executives seemed to think this would be a better-than-ordinary Macworld Expo.

My personal must-have, no-permanent-job-be-damned object is the new 12-inch PowerBook. It resembles an aluminum-encased G4 iBook (no gigabit Ethernet, 640 megs max memory, general layout), but is available with a SuperDrive for $1999, which nearly perfectly fits what I had in mind way back here.

Also released:
The LuxoBook: Apple's 17-inch PowerBook

I don't want to be on a flight next to somebody with one of these. I agree that the engineering to put a 17-inch LCD in a 1-inch thick package that weighs 6.8 pounds borders on the miraculous. This would be a great desktop replacement if it never left your desktop. It's made of a new aluminum alloy instead of titanium, and the 15-inch SuperDrive price drops to $2799.

Both new PowerBooks have Bluetooth built in and the Wi-Fi/Airport antennae up by the screen like the iBook, which should help the range.

Safari "turbo browser"
Apple is definitely aiming for a younger crowd with the new nomenclature: here's a "turbo browser", and the new AirPort is "Extreme".

Safari doesn't break a lot of new ground. It seems like it's what Jobs promised: a fast native browser with a clean interface. I haven't used it long enough to love or hate anything, but I definitely noticed the lack of tabbed browsing almost immediately.

Airport Extreme

The new Airport Extreme base station is actually two products, one without modem or antenna jack for $199, one with both for $249. Both have a USB port that lets you locate your base station near your printer and use the base station as a wireless print server. Update: Someone pointed out that I'm missing the lead in this story: the new EXTREME AirPort goes all the way to 54 megabits per second, rather than just to 11, like the old Airport. Of course, since only a tiny fraction of us are sucking from a straw any larger than that, AirPort Extreme is a little excessive until 802.11 makes a bigger showing in home electronics.

Apple also claims the new base stations will support up to 50 users. I'm very curious to see one of these dissected, so we can see what they've done to support more concurrent users (the original base station is a small embedded system with a standard Lucent PC Card) with 5 times the throughput -- what about the new base stations would let them handle 25 times the theoretical throughput?

Also, the new Airport Extreme cards are actually mini PCI cards, like those IBM has migrated to on the ThinkPads. An adapter is necessary to plug them into earlier iMacs (and I suppose would be necessary for PowerBooks released before today).

Also: Lots and lots and lots and lots of new software.

Frank the green-eyed PowerBook monster

> ... buying a TiBook next week. Probably will get the top
> of the line with dvd burner or the one below it. Do you have any
> advice or comments on that? Where do you recommend we buy it from?
>
> C.
>
Sounds like a very merry Christmas indeed. As I've said here before, I can't see why anyone would opt for the combo drive when the SuperDrive is only $200 more.

I did some checking around online and here's what I found for PowerBook shoppers:

You've got three retail locations in town: AIS, CompUSA, and Apple. AIS doesn't show any PowerBook promotions on their website right now. CompUSA is likely to offer a bundle of some sort (commonly an inkjet printer) in lieu of discounts, but none were evident when I was there yesterday. Apple currently has a $40 special to double the memory (to, drool, 1 gig in your machine), adding a 512-meg SO-DIMM worth about $140 on the street these days (you can opt for that deal on the web or in the store).

One advantage of face-to-face is that you can fire the machine up in the store to check for dead or stuck pixels, if they drive you nuts (both my PowerBook and external LCD have exactly 1 bad pixel, which I very occasionally notice). One disadvantage is that they will charge sales tax.

Online, Amazon is offering a free Palm Zire and free shipping (but not showing a price, and reporting that "the item is not stocked"). J&R in New York is doubling memory for free (but it looks like you have to call in, not just order through the web). MacConnection is just selling it with the full gigabyte already installed at $2999. MacWarehouse is the only online retailer that claims to have the 1 ghz model in stock right now, at $2994, no sales tax, with a bundled inkjet, a case, and a 128MB mini flash drive. Only Apple (and Micro Center) charge sales tax for orders to Georgia.

For a full online price comparison, see: http://www.macprices.com/g4tracker.shtml .

Through January 7, there's a $300 off Microsoft Office promotion, where it's $199 if bought at the same time as a Mac, that you can use with any of these.

All Apple promos: http://www.apple.com/promo/

'Book accessory

Griffin Technology

Griffin has released its entry in the laptop-stand category. Theirs is clear plastic, elevates the top of the portable's screen to about 16", and costs $39.99.

Seen at Gizmodo.

New Apple portables arrive

They're headlining at Apple's web site this morning. Looks like Apple is delivering on the high end of what the rumors sites were expecting:

iBook

• iBooks drop $200, gain 100 mhz; low end is 700 mhz, CD-ROM, $999


• All iBooks have the Radeon 7500 graphics card


• All 800 MHz iBooks ($1299 and up) get 32 megs of video memory


• Press Release

PowerBook

• 867 MHz and 1 Ghz processors


• 3 prices: $2299 for 867, $2799 or $2999 for Ghz, depending on optical drive


• SuperDrive on $2999 model, otherwise combo drive


• Mobility Radeon 9000 across the board


• 32 megs of video RAM on 867s, 64 megs on gigahertzen


• Press Release

I don't see Apple selling a lot of gigahertz PowerBooks without the SuperDrive for only a $200 premium.

Election day = Apple announcements?

Mac Rumors: 19inch LCD's and PowerBooks November 5, 2002

Well, the PowerBooks that I thought would ship by the end of September probably won't even be announced in October, but rumors are that they're still on the way.

Also, Apple is expected to improve their range of LCDs by adding a mid-range 19" model with 1600 x 1024 resolution, which would make it a wide-screen model.

Hosanna! Monitor spanning on (most) iBooks!

Extended Desktop

Leave it to the Germans to fix the biggest annoyance with Apple's otherwise-sweet iBook. The page above details dual-head monitor support for the Radeon-based iBooks.

Seen at MacOS X Hints.

Bluetooth in Jaguar

Ken Bereskin's Radio Weblog | Bluetooth in Jaguar

Very useful meme: "Bluetooth is to USB what 802.11b is to Ethernet or more simply put, Bluetooth is wireless USB."

Also details the specific Jaguar features created or enhanced for Bluetooth.

Ken works for Apple and has been posting a Jaguar feature (or two) every day.

Rumors 2, Frank 0 and a PowerBook marketing idea

Looks like we won't see the new PowerBook by the end of September, as I guessed way back here. I still think they're coming soon, and this morning, I had a thought:

Why doesn't Apple keep the 667 around as a "low-end" TiBook? In recent history, Apple has marketed two PowerBooks -- right now, there's a 667 and an 800. To fit the "Good, Better, Best" marketing on their website, they've made the "Best" be a build-to-order high-end machine with a bigger hard drive and more RAM. Why not just keep the 667 around for this revision, and have 3 levels of machine (assuming the new low-end would have been an 800, following the pattern)?

They could price the 667 at $1999, $200 higher than the most expensive iBook, with the now midrange 800 at $2499, and the new top-of-the-line (933 or dare we hope 1 Ghz) at $3199. If necessary, Apple could save money on the low-end by offering a different video card than the top two (as with the Power Macs) or a smaller hard drive (or both).

The reason I suggest they do this for this revision is that the TiBook is getting a little long in the tooth, and the rumor mill thinks this may be the last generation with the current skin. I know a lot of people who would love a TiBook, but find $2,500 too high a price point. Apple could spin the move as bringing the TiBook to a whole new audience.

A little anti-Kearns

Flirting With Mac OS X

Byte's Moshe Bar has made the switch, after holding out as long as he could. Gives a good Unix guru overview to moving over to OS X (on a Powerbook G4/800).

Spotted at MacCentral.

Nice try, but a little off....

IGM: Better by Design: The Best Designed Apple Laptops

I feel qualified to comment here. I've used (for at least a weekend) the Macintosh Portable, the 140, the Duo 230, 540c, 1400, 5300c, 2400c, 3400c, Wallstreet, Lombard, and TiBook.

According to IGM, the best were: the original iBook, the PB 500 series, the PB100, the Wallstreet, the 3400, the Duo, and the latest iBook.

I would argue for my favorite Mac of all time, the 2400c, over the Duo -- it was sturdier, faster, lighter, and dual PC Card-enabled. With a 2400c, you no longer needed the Dock that a Duo practically required.

I don't buy the Wallstreet over Lombard/Pismo arguments -- my Lombard has held up better than a Wallstreet used by a far more fastidious executive I know, and I think the Wallstreet is just too big and clunky. Additionally, most Lombard/Pismos have DVD decoding, and they deserve extra credit for having sufficient horsepower to run OS X acceptably.

I've never been a fan of the original iBook, which has too small a screen in too big a package, though I think Remy is right on that the current iBook is a sweet package (he misses the boat in the iceBook section about the 2400's video, which was better than the current iBook primarily because it supported spanning on external displays).

Looks like new PowerBooks

ATI announces Mobility Radeon 9000

Coupled with these reports:
HardMac.com: PB G4's end of life (in French)

MacOS Rumors points out the new education-channel discounts, which often precede new product roll-outs, and which are scheduled to last through 9/25.

I think we'll see new PBs by the end of September, with the new Radeon 9000 Mobility.

Some range

Check out this class of laptops - 8/26/02

Comparison test of $1500 laptops from Apple, Dell, IBM, and WinBook. The ratings range from 4.5 stars all the way down to 3.5 stars. Maybe a 0-100 scale would have worked better.