# iBooks here!!!



## seetobylive (Aug 4, 2004)

Just found this PR release!!

No widescreen and I couldn't help but notice in the article that the Vieio card is TI Mobility Radeon 9550 with 32MB!!!! 32MB!!!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050726/sftu069.html?.v=18


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## jonmon (Feb 15, 2002)

on the apple.com website as well

1.33 g4 with 512 ddr ram minimum


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

Both the iBook and Mini retain 32MB of video memory. sad and disappointing.

The value is good on other fronts though - wireless stuff now included.


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

A bit of a letdown eh!


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## moonsocket (Apr 1, 2002)

Still only 32megs of vram?


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## NBiBooker (Apr 3, 2004)

I guess they are saving a new form factor for Intel. Big let down on the video cards.


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## NBiBooker (Apr 3, 2004)

It looks like my next book in 06 will be an Intel Powerbook, I think.


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## Waxman (Jun 2, 2005)

I agree it would have been nice for them to upgrade the video ram in the system but you must admit it was unlikely since I think that is one of the few things, specification wise, that relly differentiates the 12" PB. Also, people stop kidding yourselves! The iBook is not a gaming system, nor is it a photo/video editing studio, 32mb of vram is plenty to run all of OS X's eye candy at the only supported resolution of 1024x768. Like I said, the extra memory would have been nice but now we see this really is just a small incremental upgrade on the way to Macintels in less than a year.

P.S. - I'm ordering now, damn I waited all this time for a 1.33 G4 and Radeon 9550 in a 12" iBook. yeesh!


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## Luc Tremblay (Jul 5, 2005)

Scrolling trackpad baby!


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## joltguy (Apr 15, 2005)

This seems to be a fairly minimal update, especially when you consider how long it took to appear. Its way behind the "usual" schedule. Anyway, more than a few people will be disappointed today. I was kinda expecting Apple to throw out an exciting reason for people buy machines before the Intel switch... widescreen or a new enclosure would've done that nicely. Higher resolution on the 14" iBook would've been a nice move too. iBooks are a still a *great* value though.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

FWIW, the 9550 is only a few hairs below the 9600 in terms of performance I believe, so expect around a 30% speed boost over the 9200, even with still just 32MB of VRAM.

And hey look at typical PC laptops at this price range... Intel Extreme Graphics 2 with shared memory.

There is a reason why the POWERBook exists.


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## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

Online store is down now (being updated, I think) 

This makes the iBook a better deal than ever, though: (from the last 12" iBook) you now get:

-512mb standard (256 mb more than before)
-40 gb HDD (10gb more than the 30gb of the previous model)
-a slightly faster processor
-scrolling trackpad and sudden motion sensor
-better graphics card (still 32mb but at least its a bit of an update )
-built in airport extreme AND bluetooth (bluetooth was about a $70 upgrade on the previous model, although airport extreme was included). 

You're getting quite alot extra for the same amount of money as the old iBook (and it even costs the same amount as the old 12"). Thats a pretty good computer for that little money, its nice to have bluetooth built in now.

Seems like they are now offering up to 100gb HDD in the iBook (finally! - 60, 80, 100gb BTO options) and up to 1.5gb RAM (not sure how much there was before, but this means that the initial 512mb standard is one stick so you can easily upgrade to 1 gb now (just add a 512 mb SO-DIMM!)


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Hey get this...

PowerBook 12", 256 built in + 256 occupying the second slot, so if you add on 1GB you go to 1.25GB, not 1.5GB.

New iBook, 512 built in + empty second slot, so if you add on 1GB you go to 1.5GB, not, er wait.

Woohoo.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

CN said:


> -built in airport extreme AND bluetooth (bluetooth was about a $70 upgrade on the previous model, although airport extreme was included).


It's Bluetooth 2.0EDR to boot 

But I'll keep my iBook thanks, haha. I'm like very very slightly disappointed I didn't wait but *shrugs* whatever.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

dona83 said:


> FWIW, the 9550 is only a few hairs below the 9600 in terms of performance I believe, so expect around a 30% speed boost over the 9200, even with still just 32MB of VRAM.
> 
> And hey look at typical PC laptops at this price range... Intel Extreme Graphics 2 with shared memory.
> 
> There is a reason why the POWERBook exists.


Is the Radeon Mobility 9550 Core Image supported, though? Is the Radeon Mobility 9600 Core Image supported, even? I know the desktop Radeon 9600 is. It would be nice for the iBook to support Core Image.


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## someone (Jun 14, 2005)

Also note that with the old mid range price, you are getting superdrive along with larger harddrive, faster CPU and a larger screen


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## pingpong (Jun 16, 2004)

joltguy said:


> This seems to be a fairly minimal update, especially when you consider how long it took to appear. Its way behind the "usual" schedule. Anyway, more than a few people will be disappointed today. I was kinda expecting Apple to throw out an exciting reason for people buy machines before the Intel switch... widescreen or a new enclosure would've done that nicely. Higher resolution on the 14" iBook would've been a nice move too. iBooks are a still a *great* value though.



Agree. I am quite disappointed with the update. Most improvements are marginal.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Waxman said:


> I agree it would have been nice for them to upgrade the video ram in the system but you must admit it was unlikely since I think that is one of the few things, specification wise, that relly differentiates the 12" PB. Also, people stop kidding yourselves! The iBook is not a gaming system, nor is it a photo/video editing studio, 32mb of vram is plenty to run all of OS X's eye candy at the only supported resolution of 1024x768. Like I said, the extra memory would have been nice but now we see this really is just a small incremental upgrade on the way to Macintels in less than a year.
> 
> P.S. - I'm ordering now, damn I waited all this time for a 1.33 G4 and Radeon 9550 in a 12" iBook. yeesh!


My iBook works great for most games. Mind you.. not the latest and the greatest games run well.. but my choice wan't for a computer that could play games  Consoles are for that.

The iBook is great for Photo/Video Editing... it's all the speed I need and more... there's not much of a difference between the PB and the iBook as far as that goes anyway.

I extend my desktop onto another screen at the Monitors native resolution of 1280x1024. However.. if I had a monitor that could do 1600x1200 it would be able to do this too, I've tried it.

The iBook is a great machine.. and I really don't see a benefit in buying the Powerbook. The PB is a lot more money.. for almost the same machine. Save the 64MB video.


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## zurich (Nov 26, 2004)

From the ATI site:

The Radeon® 9550 provides full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 allowing you to immerse yourself in real-time cinematic game play for today’s and tomorrow’s game titles 

Direct X 9 = CoreImage supported (meaning it has fully programmable pixel shaders).


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

Thanks Zurich.

Of course we'll know for sure, once someone gets one and checks system profiler, which is sure to happen within a couple of weeks.


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

zurich said:


> From the ATI site:
> 
> The Radeon® 9550 provides full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 allowing you to immerse yourself in real-time cinematic game play for today’s and tomorrow’s game titles
> 
> Direct X 9 = CoreImage supported (meaning it has fully programmable pixel shaders).


Will we have all the eye candy in dashboard and everything??? Because the 9200 couldn’t.


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## Grunt (Jun 14, 2005)

DBerG said:


> Will we have all the eye candy in dashboard and everything??? Because the 9200 couldn’t.


I think this will be the case, yes. (Does the 32MB VRAM preclude this?)


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## joeyjojo (Jun 28, 2005)

so....pretty marginal upgrade...however it does make me feel a little stupid for ordering an ibook the other week and paying extra for another 256 of RAM, should've waited i guess....does anyone know if there is any way to get money back from apple on a bto ibook asa result of this upgrade??


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## NewGuy (Jun 23, 2005)

It's a great move to build market share. 
They have been pushing for a better entry level system to accompany all those iPods. Now they have it. For a little more than a grand you can have a much improved mac mini and a 20G iPod. This type of pricing will turn a lot of heads in window land.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

BTW a little birdie told me ....no waiting...not 100% but that's the word on the street.
I'll confirm later once I find out.


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## Mugatu (Mar 31, 2005)

Meh, a semi-improvement. The target customer (web surfers / word processing) will not notice any change between this revision of the iBook and the previous one. Being a Linux user, I just want the iBook with two mouse buttons and a wireless chipset that has linux supported drivers. I love the iBook for it's value and looks. Guess I'll wait until 2006 to see the Mactel iBooks.


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## nxnw (Dec 22, 2002)

I think the added value for the same price as yesterdays model is tremendous. Better video, more RAM, standard bluetooth, faster processor, bigger HD, motion sensor. The most I was reasonably hoping for was more standard RAM and a slightly faster processor - that's a more typical tweak.

I am very happy with this upgrade. I had been waiting to upgrade my iBook G3, and this gives me good reason to.


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## andrewenterprise (May 22, 2005)

Im still glad I bought a Powerbook. I considered waiting for an iBook, but I just couldnt wait. I needed the SuperDrive, and I much prefer the look of the Powerbook. Also the Powerbook is much more compact than the iBook. I have owned both, and though the differences may seem small, the extra compact-ness of the Powerbook makes a HUGE difference.


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## Ohenri (Nov 7, 2002)

[Yawn].

H!


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## Grunt (Jun 14, 2005)

andrewenterprise said:


> Im still glad I bought a Powerbook. I considered waiting for an iBook, but I just couldnt wait. I needed the SuperDrive, and I much prefer the look of the Powerbook. Also the Powerbook is much more compact than the iBook. I have owned both, and though the differences may seem small, the extra compact-ness of the Powerbook makes a HUGE difference.


I agree with every word of this - the 12" PowerBook was the way for me. (Except I didn't need the SuperDrive. )


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## joeyjojo (Jun 28, 2005)

hi good news for folks who have bought an ibook recently...i phoned apple and convinced them to give me a refund for the RAM and hard drive upgrade....120 some bucks back to me....it took a little bit of wrangling and a friend who is in the same positon was not lucky enough to get a lenient operator so is still wrangling....i am sorry i don't have that trackpad though..is it any good anyway???


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## Grunt (Jun 14, 2005)

joeyjojo said:


> i am sorry i don't have that trackpad though..is it any good anyway???


You could find out for yourself...


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## Commodus (May 10, 2005)

joeyjojo said:


> hi good news for folks who have bought an ibook recently...i phoned apple and convinced them to give me a refund for the RAM and hard drive upgrade....120 some bucks back to me....it took a little bit of wrangling and a friend who is in the same positon was not lucky enough to get a lenient operator so is still wrangling....i am sorry i don't have that trackpad though..is it any good anyway???


The scrolling trackpad is handy, but it's not a make-or-break item. It's an additional perk if you have a substantially older system and were looking for an extra incentive to buy in.


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## thejst (Feb 1, 2005)

I just talked to them as well about my iBook that I got last week- $100 cash back. No hassles.
In the end. a good deal- a 60 gig HDD for $42, a 'free' ipod and $100 after the fact cash back. I'm happy. Great little machine!

James


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## joeyjojo (Jun 28, 2005)

Grunt said:


> You could find out for yourself...



Awesome! Does this work ok? there seems to be lots of fine print type warnings before the download..i'll try it when i get home....


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Hey iBook users can use iScroll2 to enable 2 fingers scrolling. Works like a charm for me.

http://www-users.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de/~razzfazz/iscroll2/


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## zurich (Nov 26, 2004)

DBerG said:


> Will we have all the eye candy in dashboard and everything??? Because the 9200 couldn’t.


 Yup. CoreImage's hardware requirements are virtually the same as DirectX 9, so yes - iBook owners can now get in on the OS X eye candy love  The 32 megs of VRAM thing will just restrict you at higher resolutions, ie: running Expose on an external monitor at 1600x1200. But as far as the 1024x768 res of the iBook's LCD panel is concerned, 32 megs of VRAM is more than enough.


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

dona83 said:


> FWIW, the 9550 is only a few hairs below the 9600 in terms of performance I believe, so expect around a 30% speed boost over the 9200, even with still just 32MB of VRAM.
> 
> And hey look at typical PC laptops at this price range... Intel Extreme Graphics 2 with shared memory.
> 
> There is a reason why the POWERBook exists.


Shared memory is like having no memory at all. I hate computers with shared memory. Anyway, where did you guys find the 9550 on ATI's website, I can't find it.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I don't have the website but the ATI Radeon 9550 128MB totally owned the NVidia 5200FX 128MB.


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## avalon21 (Jul 17, 2005)

Hmm... I bought my iBook on July 1st, and I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't wait just a bit longer; but then again, I had no way of knowing that an update was imminent and besides, I don't really need bluetooth, I plan on getting a high capacity external HD, and I'm going to upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB anyway, since I want my copy of The Sims 2 to run as smoothly as possible.  Hindsight is 20/20.

A question for those who've managed to get refunds from Apple: do you think if I made a call, I would get a refund, even if I bought it almost a month ago? What exactly did you guys say when you called them?

btw, dona83: thanks so much for that link! I've installed iScroll and it works beautifully. In fact, I lamented the fact that my iBook didn't have the trackpad scroll function my old Windows laptop had... but no more! thanks again!

-avalon21.


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

*Today's announcements very underwhelming...*

...oh well, Apple can't get it right all the time.

For what it's worth, the following *should* have been what Apple released today... (and before you freak out - IT'S A FAKE)


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

mac_geek said:


> ...oh well, Apple can't get it right all the time.
> 
> For what it's worth, the following *should* have been what Apple released today... (and before you freak out - IT'S A FAKE)


    What is the smiley for :'(. I still want an iBook beside it all and I suggest anyone who wanted one, its the right time. Don't wait for .....Intel.......


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

DBerG said:


> What is the smiley for :'(. I still want an iBook beside it all and I suggest anyone who wanted one, its the right time. Don't wait for .....Intel.......


DBerG... I always like your posts.. but I can't figure out what you're saying here. Please help?


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## elook (Jun 21, 2005)

iScroll2 works perfectly, by the way - install and enjoy it. I just realized the other day that holding two fingers on the trackpad and clicking does a right click. Life is so much better now that I figured that out.


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## tikibangout (Jul 19, 2005)

Sweet, they upgraded me to the new model, yay!


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

While it's nice to get a little more for the same price, I don't see the iBook upgrade to offer the same excitement that the iMac revisions did in the Spring.. they really need to get more competitive in the laptop arena.. Dell has far better offerings for the same price.


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

The iBook went with an upgrade last year two times in three months I think. Could this ever happen again?


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## tikibangout (Jul 19, 2005)

It'll probably happen eventually, but as for now, its a pretty good upgrdade. I mean, i'm really liking the scrolling trackpad, bluetooth, and 512MB RAM standard. Not that great of an upgrade, but its better than nothing. And I can't really complain, I got upgraded for nothing.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

It really bugs me how people are comparing Dell with Apple. For $1249, at least my iBook is able to play 3D games reasonably well!  And Dell is an embarrassment, at least get an HP, Toshiba, or Sony.


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## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

dona83 said:


> At least get an HP, Toshiba, or Sony.


Don't know if I'd go with an HP laptop...


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## gnatsum (Apr 10, 2005)

Whats wrong with HP?

(hey alvin read the response)


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I personally wouldn't go with a PC laptop period, but if I really had to choose i'd probably go with Toshiba. But a few of my friends have HP and haven't had too much issues with them...


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

dona83 said:


> I personally wouldn't go with a PC laptop period, but if I really had to choose i'd probably go with Toshiba. But a few of my friends have HP and haven't had too much issues with them...


A world without Apple in the market of the Laptop and the Dekstop computer isn't a world I'd like to live.


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## tikibangout (Jul 19, 2005)

The bulk shipment of new iBooks is expected to be delayed shipment til next week! I'm so pissed, so ****ing close, yet soooooo far, i'm tired of waiting. Next time i'll be sure not to order around the time of an update.


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## Strimkind (Mar 31, 2005)

a world without apple would mean MS would still look like 98 and laptops would be crazy shaped as the powerbook began the current basic laptop design model.


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## Commodus (May 10, 2005)

If I went with an x86 laptop, it'd probably be Lenovo (formely IBM). At least right now, they have a reputation for good tech support and reliability. Also, the T-series is one of the few x86 laptop lines that puts an emphasis on slimness, not just raw speed or price.


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