New powerbooks, when?

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:57 pm

I ordered a Pentium 4 600 series 3.4 GHz with 2MB L2 cache
Those performance #s have not yet been run on the Ableton forum.

I'll post my performance results next week, when I get my laptop. I'm as curious as you are. Will be interesting to see if it does as well as I hope.

CPU wasn't the only consideration.

I was able to get dual harddrives, SATA drives, at that.
SATA is faster transfer than ATA100.
They're in a Raid 0 config, too.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:48 pm

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1175

Rosetta seems to run apps at 65-70%. Which isn't as bad as one would expect.
Some apps even run at powerpc standards

Screw it. i'm starting to save for a 17" or 20" iPowerbook.

i hope this article and me are not to wrong about Apple overstating the duration of the transition.

If somebody happens to know a developer that ordered one of those intel kits. Please pass on the performance test for Live

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:27 pm

That test system they used has the Intel 600 series processor in it, which is what I just got in my new laptop. Only they used 3.6 GHz vs. mine will be 3.4GHz.

They actually make the 600 series up to 3.8GHz, but the benchmarks actually are lower on the 3.8GHz than the 3.6GHz, due to severe bottlenecks.

The increase in benchmarks from the 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz is small, so I went with 3.4GHz because it wll run a little cooler and cost me $200 less.

I'll post my test results with Live ASAP next week... you can only assume the results will be better with MAC OS X vs. Windows XP.

DJSK · Post by **DJSK** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:40 am

Looks like we will just have to wait and see what Apple decides to do? These articles do help with some clues as to whether or not we will see G5 powerbooks or upgraded G4's:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1169

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1166

LOFA · Post by **LOFA** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:54 am

I don't pretend to have any insight or psychic powers. But... late January after they have cleared their stock of G4 and G5 based items (but not directly after...)

Actually, such activity would probably go much smoother on their image if they just waited till summer.

I will probably never switch from Apple (I have Logic Pro,) but only because their products are quality. I have no illusions that a raise in their stock-value will expedite the removal of US troops from Iraq. Nor will it reflect more food being placed in the hands of starving third-world children.

Any delay will be in response to marketing.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:07 am

AdamJay wrote:then of course MacIntel Powerbooks, possibly with dual core "Yonah" chips come summer next year.

hehe, mac users have a loooong history of waiting around for powerbook upgrades - remember people have been talking about the g5 powerbook since 2001

...but OSXI on a Yonah is something that would definitely make me consider doing a switch.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:07 am

Apple Motion 2 alone is all the reason I need to stick with Macs... incredible program!

Video graphics to accompany Live audio couldn't be easier...

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:13 am

Machinate wrote: ...but OSXI on a Yonah is something that would definitely make me consider doing a switch.

is OSXI pronounced " oh, sexy" ?

logman · Post by **logman** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:19 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/08/ibm_powerpc/

they probably could put this in a laptop, if they were willing...

phunktion · Post by **phunktion** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:57 am

why would anyone get a p4 laptop when Pentium Ms are the best mobile chips out there right. 2.0ghz M is equal to a 3.2 p4 in ableton

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:55 am

phunktion wrote:why would anyone get a p4 laptop when Pentium Ms are the best mobile chips out there right. 2.0ghz M is equal to a 3.2 p4 in ableton

Agree, and they use less battery power, and need less cooling, resulting in thinner/lighter laptops.

Conserning the topic; apple stated at the conference where they introduced intel recently, that it will take 2 years before the intel powerbooks are on the marked. One year for the imac stuf.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:05 pm

Angstrom wrote:
Machinate wrote: ...but OSXI on a Yonah is something that would definitely make me consider doing a switch.
is OSXI pronounced " oh, sexy" ?

nah, but I figure that I wouldn't be able to afford the mac until then...

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:04 pm

why would anyone get a p4 laptop when Pentium Ms are the best mobile chips out there right. 2.0ghz M is equal to a 3.2 p4 in ableton

Because the CPU isn't everything. It's only one component.
I was also able to get dual, internal hard drives.
I was able to get the drives in RAID 0.
I was able to get SATA hard drives.

You can't find all of that on a Pentium M box.

Another reason was price.

Go build yourself a Dell Pentium M laptop with 17" screen, 2.0 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM....Windows XP Pro. Then see what it costs. Over $3,600 and that's with only 100 Gig harddrive.

I paid $3,000 total.

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:53 pm

subterFUSE wrote:
why would anyone get a p4 laptop when Pentium Ms are the best mobile chips out there right. 2.0ghz M is equal to a 3.2 p4 in ableton
Because the CPU isn't everything. It's only one component.
I was also able to get dual, internal hard drives.
I was able to get the drives in RAID 0.
I was able to get SATA hard drives.

You can't find all of that on a Pentium M box.

Another reason was price.

Go build yourself a Dell Pentium M laptop with 17" screen, 2.0 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM....Windows XP Pro. Then see what it costs. Over $3,600 and that's with only 100 Gig harddrive.

I paid $3,000 total.

I got a (acer) 15.4 widescreen w/100 Gig, 2 Ghz Centrino, 1 Gig ram, bluetooth, ati x700 graphic card for $1,900

You can get them with raids too. I looked at those, but thought they were to expensive.

The P4 is noisy, and it aint built to perform in a laptop. Centrino is.

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:05 pm

The earliest you will see Intel Powerbooks is WWDC in June 2006. Apple knows they need to get new laptops out to the market as quickly as possible, which is why the Powermac will most likely be the last product in the Power PC family to get released on the Intel platform (late 2006/early 2007).

An acquaintance I know did some testing with Digital Performer 4.5 on one of the MacTel developer machines. He probably broke his NDA by telling me this, but he said DP runs under Rosetta, although not as efficient as a Dual Powermac 2.5. No one was expecting DP to run well under Rosetta anyway, but everyone was shocked that DP ran at all and didn't crash. I suppose that's a good thing for some apps, but I would think Core Audio apps need native code to really work correctly and efficiently.

Bottom line, I think buying a Power PC will carry you through all of 2006 without any heartache because smaller companies who don't have MacTel developer machines will need the time to port their applications and test them. 2007 will be the year to seriously consider buying a MacTel in leu of a Power PC.

New powerbooks, when?

Link about new G5 chips