[salmonstk]

I find it odd there is no battery life quote. makes me worry.

[zzipp]

orangermac said:
"This update seems like quite a mixed bag. Oddly it seems that there have been some steps backward:
60 less vertical pixels, no dual layer superdrive, no PCMCIA, no more firewire 800
I wonder why some of these cuts were made, especially the superdrive. "
I couldn't agree more. Of all of the missing or crippled features of the new MacBook Pro when compared to the last generation of Powerbook G4, the one I would miss the most is a fast DVD write speed (not to mention DL write capability). If you review the features of the iMac Intel versus the iMac G5, they are are perfect parity - with some improvements, in fact - except for the maximum RAM capacity has been lowered to 2GB on the iMac Intel (from 2.5GB on the iMac G5). The MacBook Pro is a completely different story. At this time, I'd suggest doing the one thing that can let Apple know what you think about this.
Send Apple feedback letting them know you want to see feature parity between the old Powerbook G4 and the new MacBook Pro. If an 8x write/DL write Superdrive is what you'd really like to see in the MacBookPro, then tell them that. I did.
I can only assume that there's either economic or technical reasons that Apple didn't include a faster Superdrive, Firewire 800, etc. in the new MacBook Pro. But they figured out how to do it before with the previous machines. I'd wager they can figure it out again.
Keith G.

[zzipp]

quicksilver said:
While SATA will probably overtake FW800, those who still need FW 800 can get it with the new MacBook... I found a FW800 card that should work...

http://www.abocom.com/productdetail.php?id=326
This product unfortunately may not work with the MacBook Pro, because the slot width on the MBP (no one else has used the dreaded acronym yet, but what the heck) - is 34mm, while the FW800 adapter Expresscard you linked to is 54mm wide.
As I understand it (from the scarce information on the web), a 54mm wide Expresscard slot is required to accomodate 54mm wide cards. 34mm cards can fit in either sized slot (34mm & 54mm).
All Expresscards must extend a minimum amount beyond the exterior of the "slot host" as a part of the design spec, roughly .5 inch. So you pull out the card, rather than eject it like a PC Card. However, manufacturers are not limited to that card length, so it's possible to have cards that stick way out (much like Wi-Fi PCMCI cards do). This may allow for enough PCB area for a manufacturer to produce a 34mm wide FW800 Adapter Expresscard. Only time will tell.
An good (but old - from 2004!) overview can be found here.

Interesting to note is that Expresscard allows card manufacturers to access a host system by the USB 2.0 bus, PCI Express bus, or both. Also, Expresscard specs certainly allow for full FW800 speed, as they are theoretically capable 250MBps (thats Mega-Bytes per second), while FW800 tops out at 100MBps.

Having USB 2.0 and PCI Express bus access allows for Expresscard adapter cards which provide full speed access to USB 2.0 based flash card readers, high speed network adapters, full-speed SATA and eSATA adapters, and more. Also, there is the potential of some forward compatability using a PC Card adapter that will fit 34mm Expresscards. Obviously, there must be some speed penalty in that configuration.

Even more specific information can be found at the official Expresscard homepage here.
I hope that helps.
Keith G.

[brycesteiner]

Looks fine on my Linux laptop and it uses AA. Even the screen shot is very readable.
Bryce

[hillstones]

Haven't watched the webcast yet...too many hits garbled the video. Have to wait until later tonight.
1) MacBook Pro? That is just sad. "PowerBook" had nothing to do with the PowerPC. Since 1991, PowerBook has been like a trademark name for an Apple laptop. I can understand the reason for a name change, to indicate a newly designed product. But MacBook Pro is so lame. PowerBook Pro would have been a better choice. So what's in the future...the iMacBook?
2) PowerPC is not outdated or yesterday's technology. It is different technology and still very fast for a processor. I am glad Apple did not quickly drop the iMac PPC or PowerBook PPC. People have a lot of money invested in PowerPC software and may not be willing to run their apps in emulation. I am considering an iMac G5 20" before they eventually disappear. The Power Mac's biggest complaint is noise, and it is the ugliest Power Mac ever. I don't want a jet engine in the house.
3) No modem in a laptop? I agree...WTF??? I can understand a desktop dropping the modem since most people have broadband at home. But I would not want to drag around an extra accessory (USB modem) just for connectivity in case I travel to a location without broadband access. What if you forget the modem?
4) No FW800...doesn't seem to be a big issue. FW400 is more commonly used with DV cameras anyway. Apple will not drop FW400 because then iMovie (and Final Cut for the pros) will be a dead product. And Apple knows there are plenty of families that love to videotape and iMovie and iDVD are great for the consumer. With everything pushing towards media in the home, they will not drop FW400.
5) You don't need a Dual G5 to do video editing. My 867 MHz G4 PowerBook runs iMovie and iDVD just fine. iMovie originated in OS 9 on a G3. So you don't need the top of the line G5 to do video editing.
6) I would like to see a real test between the iMac G5 2.1 GHz and the new iMac Intel to really see how this new processor performs. I am mainly curious to know if the speed increase is only due to the Dual Core technology, or if it is actually faster running software only written to recognize a single core chip. I would really love to see a Dual-Core iMac G5 (since there is not much Intel software yet), but Apple would never take away sales from the Power Mac. But maybe they should since they doesn't really advertise the Power Mac G5 anyway.

[redheadtempe]

The more I compare the specs of the MacBook and the Powerbook I am (like others) becoming more dissapointed. The chip, bus, and graphics may be faster but those appears to be the only advances. No dual layer writing (every other machine on Apple's site specifies DL or not, so I assume it doesn't have it), no Firewire 800, no mention of battery life (that can't be good), and no modem? What the he is up with that? Apple's designers should get out of Cupertino once in a while. Broadband is hardly everywhere (and in many places like Starbucks and some hotels they still charge for it). Apple couldn't shell out $19 for a modem in these things? They could have put it where the FW 800 port was!
And the price. The PB may be slower but it is far more fully featured.

[minderbinder]

"a 1st generation Powerbook G4 (500MHz) can handle most of what ProTools can throw at it as long as it is jacked up on memnory. Any powerbook from the last year or two would be more than enough to make an audio pro some $. "
With an expansion chassis? I don't consider that portable any more. And their LE software chokes on all but the smallest sessions.

[Tau_Myx]

The text on that site looks much better on my screen: (In fact, the GIF seems to have lost some sharpness for some reason.)
http://my.voyager.ne...gr/Greygrab.gif
I'm using Safari on a G4 iMac. Font smoothing is set to medium, but the other settings seemed to make no difference to me.
If you use a laptop with a modem, don't you still have to carry a cable to connect it to the wall? If I had one, I'd always keep it in a bag with accessories.
Firewire seems to be required for DV and D8 camcorders, but it does not appear on the new DVD or hard drive based ones, and Sony has been putting USB on their camcorders too. (For stills. I don't know how this effects video.)

[montgomery_burns]

In reply to:

---

As I understand it (from the scarce information on the web), a 54mm wide Expresscard slot is required to accomodate 54mm wide cards. 34mm cards can fit in either sized slot (34mm & 54mm).

---

Why would Apple choose to use the 34 mm slot when a 54 mm slot provides better compatibility and is the same width as the PCMCIA slot it replaces?

[montgomery_burns]

In reply to:

---

I assume the lack of Dual Layer DVD writing is due to Apple predicting that pretty soon there may be Blu-Ray or HD-DVD burning built in the new computers?

---

Then why does the new Intel iMac have a dual layer DVD burner?

[montgomery_burns]

In reply to:

---

It was a classic case of Apple flawed design and where they didn't listen to commonsense

---

What should Apple do? Learn to make a better laptop dock, or abandon docking altogether?

[alfriedman]

Yeah, I too am upset about the missing 56K modem, but I am even more upset about the missing floppy drive. The lack of a SCSI port also troubles me. Lastly, I am deeply disappointed to see that Hypercard is not included in the list of software. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[moose_n_squirrel]

Will the new MacBook Pro powered by Intel Core Duo work with the Apple Duo Dock?
What do you mean it won't?!?! But the name sounds like it will! It would give us back our floppy drive too!
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[MCJ]

"With smaller distances for electrons to travel, and two processors designed to share resources and conserve power, Intel Core Duo achieves higher levels of performance as it uses fewer watts."
In theory then the MacBook's battery life should be the same or superior to the outgoing G4 models!