Even with Core Duo breathing down its neck, I hear the Power Mac G5 isn’t a pushover. And for this reason I think Apple will delay its next desktop until the competitive advantage of an Intel chipset is obvious. Of course this will probably be some 12 to 18 months from now — after the chipmaker has moved to a 45 nm process and has begun to manufacture quad core processors. :)

As far as an entry-level laptop goes, I think Apple will release a new iBook as soon as Intel has begun adding more chips to the Core Duo family (late 2006 I’d imagine). Otherwise, an identical chipset would make iBook about as powerful as Mac Book Pro.

I am betting Apple will adopt a PC outlook where the only ‘constants’ are uniform standards and everything else is in a state of flux. That way the most expensive products will always deliver the highest performance. In other words, you will get what you pay for. ;)

As far as the 15″ and 17″ MBP and the pricing “fiasco” over BTO 15″, to me this hints that the 15″ was early and to hit the price point and satisfy customer demand Apple changed components most of the market wouldn’t be concerned with not getting. What’s wrong with that? Nothing really, Apple has to make a business decision on this and in my view hints that a minor update to the 15″ will come probably when they release a 12″ MBP to solidify the specs on the product line.

any thoughts???….

iBooks will eventually be moved to the Intel platform, however their next task in my opinion will be a desktop replacement for the G5′s towers and a 12″ Powerbook replacement to complete the MacBook stable. Following that the iBook will be next. The iBook is the consumer entry level laptop, the MacBook (and Powerbook before it) was the top end model. Of course they’ll do the upgrades to their top level first. Start thinking with your business hat, rather than your “wish list” hat.

Regarding the 17″ MacBook, you’d be hard pressed to find a comptetitor in its class. The nearest thing I found was a 17″ Toshiba, and it was no where near up to spec.

I am waiting, and unfortunately I will still wait until Apple releases a powerful-new generation-cheap laptop… and I am sure a lot of people still waits, seing the Intel Powerbooks prices rocketing over the hills and far away.

When will Apple convince me? I still have an Intel Pentium 4 laptop, noisy, ugly and with an aging battery and Suse Linux running on it. And time is approaching when I cannot wait more for a new laptop, but then, still this rig is more powerful than current iBooks. I want to have an apple laptop, but then again, i’ve already been 2 years waiting (because I do believe that Apple just wants to sell that old hardware, squeeze the cow more and more) for the release of current technology iBooks (in case you wonder, it’s not that I cannot pay for the intel-powerbook, it’s just that I hate its look and feel… i hate shiny metal stuff) and there is no way I will buy today a G4. So new pretty VAIOs are apperaring every half a year, and it seems that I will buy soon another PC.

Apple… will you ever learn that squeezing the cow has its limits? will you ever learn that if you put in the market nice and new iBooks (hey, don’t call the last upgrade “new” iBooks, please, be decent) people will finally rush to the shop to buy them? I hope, this time, I will not go to buy a sony laptop. Please give me the reasons not to do so, I am beggin you.

I meant to say Dr. Ballmer (not Dr. Bauer) in the first post — Microsoft’s el Presidente.

When Mac works, it’s brilliant. But when it doesn’t…

“Today is January 23, 2006, making it less than 20 days since the Core Duo was officially released, and T-minus ?? days until Core Solo is officially released. Yet, if we turn to Intel’s Errata documentation for the Core Duo and Core Solo lines, we already find 34 known problems. That averages out to an error-and-a-half found every day since the chips were released.” – (Chip) Geek.com

Apparently, there is a HUGE difference in having silicon tailor-made (IBM) and buying it off the rack (Intel). Acer, Dell, Gateway, and HP are using the same chipset in their laptops without causing mood swings.

I think Apple needs more time to familiarize itself with the x86 assembly line. And since Windows already has the errata factor built-in, Boot Camp seems like an ideal distraction.

P.S. Hector Ruiz is AMD’s President and CEO. ;)

Unfortunately, until the next CPU ‘stepping’ (to fix known errors) or OS revision (to work around foibles), MacBook Pro is likely to give users the same bipolar experience that iMac and Mac Mini have. :(

bipolar ehh?

(Mr. Baur has been hogtied to a hospital gurney.)

“The EMTs found you,” he continued, “strung out on Mac Book Pro propaganda — and if it wasn’t for their speedy response, you might have floated away on Cloud 9.”

“Uhhh…” Todd mumbled through the oxygen mask.

“Dr. Bauer and I are going to give you a dose of reality to reverse the psychedelic effects and set you on the road to recovery.”

. . .

“Errata are design defects or errors. Errata may cause the Intel® Core™ Duo processor and the Intel® Core™ Solo processor on a 65 nm process to deviate from published specifications. Hardware and software designed to be used with any given stepping must assume that all errata documented for that stepping are present on all devices.” – Intel

Unfortunately, until the next CPU ‘stepping’ (to fix known errors) or OS revision (to work around foibles), MacBook Pro is likely to give users the same bipolar experience that iMac and Mac Mini have. :(