New Intel Macs due to ship in Feb

[dj_soo]

New macs are now running on Intel dual-core chips rather than the Motorolla PowerPC chips of old:

First line with these new chips include the new line of Laptops: http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ now dubbed: "MacBooks" as opposed to Powerbooks.

And the new line of iMacs: http://www.apple.com/imac/

Personally, I'm waiting to see the independant benchmark tests to see if the speed increase is really what they claim it to be, but it's defintely intriguing. Only issue I have is the prices still haven't really dropped (I thought that was part of the point of switching to intel - to reduce the cost of Mac computers) and i'd definitely wait til the 2nd generation before even considering purchasing a new MacBook or iMac.

I'm actually hoping to see a Mac Mini with the new chip soon as I could actually afford that :o.

[Lenny]

also waiting...

looks promising though

[charly]

waiting to see how they are, but if things are good i'm definitely trading in my powerbook for the macbook.

[acidic_liquid]

Hmmm there's always a chance that the first line of new products have bugs in them. Maybe it's smart to wait for rev B?

And charly, where can one trade in a Powerbook?

[charly]

well of course, but there are always going to be problems. that's why it's better to just wait and see once they're out, and see what the actual issues are. people can speculate as much as they want, but i won't buy it until i see it and know more.

as far as i know, any apple store (like west world, mac station, etc.) i only called mac station (where mine was purchased) to ask about if there was a 30 day return policy, but i would have to trade it in.

they weren't too sure what the trade in value for the g4's would be. they'll trade in most things that they can resell, and i know your powerbook is new so they'd take that.. just have to decide if what they'll give you is worth it.

[dj_soo]

^ that's why I would wait til the 2nd generation of Macbooks. there are *always* issues with brand-new hardware (see problems with the Xbox 360).

[Leviathan]

The sole reason why Apple switched to intel was because IBM couldn't produce processors that were low enough power for laptops. I'm sure part of the reason was also because IBM made jobs look like a fool by not getting the G5 up to 3ghz. There was absolutely no way a g5 was going to be put in a laptop.

They are still keeping the powerbook like too, at least until they run out of stock. They are still for sale on the Apple web page.

[charly]

Originally Posted by mofo-x

^ that's why I would wait til the 2nd generation of Macbooks. there are *always* issues with brand-new hardware (see problems with the Xbox 360).

there's going to be issues with any hardware, no matter what. sometimes it's worse than others, but they'll never be perfect.

people are still having issues with the latest g4 powerbooks, and they aren't the first of their kind.

really, it all boils down to what the issues are. to buy it right away, before they've even shipped, is just ridiculous.. but then so is completely dismissing it.

[acidic_liquid]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

The sole reason why Apple switched to intel was because IBM couldn't produce processors that were low enough power for laptops. I'm sure part of the reason was also because IBM made jobs look like a fool by not getting the G5 up to 3ghz. There was absolutely no way a g5 was going to be put in a laptop.

They are still keeping the powerbook like too, at least until they run out of stock. They are still for sale on the Apple web page.

I read that another main reason was cooling. The g5 chips are amazing, but they require a cooling system that just won't fit in the tiny Apple laptops.

[Leviathan]

Yup, the G5 used too much power which in turn made it run really hot.

Originally Posted by acidic_liquid

I read that another main reason was cooling. The g5 chips are amazing, but they require a cooling system that just won't fit in the tiny Apple laptops.

[Rytalin]

Originally Posted by mofo-x

New macs are now running on Intel dual-core chips rather than the Motorolla PowerPC chips of old:

They switched from IBM, not Motorola.

[dj_soo]

^ that's right. my bad.

[Leviathan]

Actually I think the G4 processors were produced by Freescale, which was a motorola spin off. The g5 was produced by IBM.

Originally Posted by Rytalin

They switched from IBM, not Motorola.

[Lenny]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM_alliance