Macworld 2006 Thread

StompyJ · Post by **StompyJ** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:04 pm

Two huge problems for us audio guys.

a) No FW800 port
b) No PCMCIA card slot!

Aside from that and some minor aesthetic issues (MacBook Pro, sounds way lamer then a powerbook, and it doesn't look as cool) It should be pretty awesome.

4-5x as powerful is hard to beat!!!

bigbadotis · Post by **bigbadotis** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:10 pm

enjoy your time with your iMac... free of emulation, native applications, no worrying about software having to be updated and whether you will have to pay for those updates or not...

or sell me your old rubbish G5 iMac for a couple of hundred pounds??

I'm calmer now, the initial period of blinding rage has passed. The sad thing was I always figured I would sell my iMac when they came out with Intel PowerBooks. But now I'm guessing the resell value is going to drop a lot. Maybe not though, we'll see.

"MacBook" is a lame name for a cool computer. I think our old PowerBooks will retain high resell values because their name is so superior.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:10 pm

StompyJ wrote: 4-5x as powerful is hard to beat!!!

apple website wrote:Up to four times the speed of the PowerBook G4

"up to"

powerbook runs at 67% on Live 5 performance test

67 / 4 = 16.75 %, this figure seems unlikely to me.

I would expect the real CPU usage will be more in line with what we would expect from a dual core dothan offspring. Dothan results are about 27%, I would expect around 22% from Yonah.

claudek · Post by **claudek** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:11 pm

they look good..Should be sweet. I think they will be good on first run for some reason.

claudek · Post by **claudek** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:13 pm

Angstrom wrote:
StompyJ wrote: 4-5x as powerful is hard to beat!!!

apple website wrote:Up to four times the speed of the PowerBook G4
"up to"

powerbook runs at 67% on Live 5 performance test

67 / 4 = 16.75 %, this figure seems unlikely to me.

I would expect the real CPU usage will be more in line with what we would expect from a dual core dothan offspring. Dothan results are about 27%, I would expect around 22% from Yonah.

Apple always over estimates things like power and battery life.

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:15 pm

claudek wrote: Apple always over estimates things like power and battery life.

To be fair there isn't a computer manufacturer that doesn't do that.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:16 pm

hambone1 wrote:
Machinate wrote:Chinese calendar?

hehe, I'm a die-hard pc guy, and -I- think it's cool. The iMac always was an attractive product to me anyway.... *checks the price of the 20*
Elitist moron...

hehe, not anymore... I checked the website.... gulp.

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:17 pm

nobbystylus wrote:Ok... now the direct comparisons with the Windoze machines can start... feels pretty odd.. wait for all the comments :

'you can buy a Dell with exactly the same spec for £150 less... !!!!!!'

slightly depressing...

we've been paying twice as much for Apples as we could for Dells for the last 4 years - just to have OSX.

now being only £150 more is revolutionary!

frahnque · Post by **frahnque** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:17 pm

the new Mac-Intel AD:
http://www.apple.com/intel/ads/

I know this tune, but I just can't put my finger on it. does anyone know what tune it is?

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:28 pm

Angstrom wrote:
StompyJ wrote: 4-5x as powerful is hard to beat!!!

apple website wrote:Up to four times the speed of the PowerBook G4
"up to"

powerbook runs at 67% on Live 5 performance test

67 / 4 = 16.75 %, this figure seems unlikely to me.

I would expect the real CPU usage will be more in line with what we would expect from a dual core dothan offspring. Dothan results are about 27%, I would expect around 22% from Yonah.

well i'm sure it would be that good if Live 5 was multithreaded.
as it is, expect something more like 25-30%

robtronik · Post by **robtronik** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:30 pm

I wonder if you can install windows on these things too to have dual boot capability? That'd be sweet considering that I have some plugins that are windows only that I'd like to use on occasion.

rob.

kenn michael · Post by **kenn michael** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:31 pm

let's see if it's possible to dual boot these machines into Windows...

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:33 pm

kenn michael wrote:let's see if it's possible to dual boot these machines into Windows...

you'd want to buy a license for Windows XP to put on a $2500 new mac?

insane.

ocp · Post by **ocp** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:38 pm

robin wrote:
kenn michael wrote:let's see if it's possible to dual boot these machines into Windows...
you'd want to buy a license for Windows XP to put on a $2500 new mac?

insane.

Is it really?!

bizack · Post by **bizack** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:40 pm

Two points:

The PowerBooks aren't gone. They're still there. Meaning the MacBook is their new 'mid-level' laptop. I bet mid-year there will be new iBooks, and new PowerBooks. The MacBook was probably necessary for the 'intermediate' user, and it also avoids the problem of killing off either the iBook or PowerBook line right now.

OS X provides dynamic load balancing. Even if Live isn't dual processor ready, OS X will dump threads between processors so that you're not overtaxing either one. That's the sweet part. Of course it would help if the application was multi-processor (or multi-core) natively.

I'm in the market for a new machine, and now I have no idea what to get. I was expecting the prices of the G4 PowerBooks to drop, but that didn't happen. And I would guess that in May or June, you'll have new machines with much more power (and probably firewire 800... I'm willing to bet my car on that one) at a comparable price.