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Gotta have it! Party Time!!!!!!!!

Is it 13"? Widescreen? No matter. I'm waiting for the PowerBook. My maxed-out iBook will run ProTools, Garritan Personal Orchestra, and Photoshop faster than any Rosetta android.

Damn I've just bought a PowerBook, and now I'm gonna have to buy this new iBook. I just hope my girlfriend understands that this is FAR more important than an engagement ring.

Lower prices? Not likely!

Apple always fully loads their computers, and adding the fact that Apple will most likely use the very latest chips that Intel has to offer (perhaps even to unique Apple's specs), there is no reason why the price would change much. The final retail price of a computer has little relationship to the manufacturer's cost of the CPU.

For those with more than two neurons to rub together, they know the difference between total fantasy and a rumour.

"Those behind the report of Intel-ready iBooks are the same sources responsible for past reports of the Mac mini and photo iPod, first reported by Think Secret."

Much thanks, guys, that helps us narrow things down quite dramatically.

Expect your information flow to shut off abruptly very soon now.

(first Ampar post)

If this is true, sign me up. I just hope they offer a faster hard drive for the iBook.

lol what a load of bs.

I'll bet that Apple has a $799 entry-level iBook model up their sleeves in order to further compete with Windows notebooks, but that's probably as low as they'll go.

All I can say is bring em on. I'll be right there in January to buy one if they're released then.

$799 would be a slam-dunk for me since I'd want to add AppleCare. The white case is getting a bit long in the tooth though. I imagine Ive is coming up with a new look to go with a new marketing effort.

It seems to me, and to Nick DePlume at thinksecret, that a yonah based ibook would possibly be faster than a g4 powerbook. You can rave all you want about the inherent effeciency of the g4 but the fact is that frontside bus is 167. Yonah's is "667 MHz FSB (166 MHz quad-pumped" according to wikipedia. I don't know what 166 quad pumped means though. Maybe it's some cheap trick like lengenthing the p4's pipeline to increase clockspeed without actually improving performance. and it will max out at 2.16, which for anyone who has used the pentium M chips knows, dellivers much much better performance than 2.16 pentium did. The M and yonah are more effecient like the PPC so the work per clockspeed is very comparable.

If the powerbook is using the g4 at 167Mhz and 1.67ghz and the ibook is using the dual core yonah at 667Mhz and anywhere between 1.5 and 2.16ghz it will probably be faster. For those who need powerbook g4 reliability for pro apps there will still be a reason to buy powerbooks but apple will look foolish selling a faster computer for half the price of their top of the line machines. Then again maybe apple wants to look foolish, instead of saving face on their past decisions to stay with PPC maybe they are ready to make it look like switching to intel is actually for performance reasons.

either than or they will use the new chips from ibm for awhile, but since the schedule for the change over appears to be vastly accelerated from what we were told I doubt Apple will do it. Plus a kick ass G5 powerbook now would call their switch motives into question by the general public, not just the geeks who follow processor development.

Anyone have any thought about what apple might do about this possibly contradiction of their cheap machine being faster?

If this is true it's a shame in several ways.
1. It's a shame to see the commoditization of Apple products. Dell was once successful, too, but I don't think any of us want to see Apple drift that way.
2. If there are new models coming in January it is a shame that Apple missed some of the Holiday buyers (particularly if the iPod halo effect is real).

Mike Buonarroti:

If Apple has chosen to get price competitive, there is no reason they can't. Remember that they have one major competitive advantage that the rest of the industry does not: They don't have to pay for a Windows license. It's amazing how much of the cost of a low price PC covers the Windows license.

Also, to refute your point about processors having little effect on the retail price of a computer, I'd have to disagree. Switching to Intel allows Apple to use more commodity components in the motherboard's design in place of more expensive custom chipsets.

There's no reason to believe that Apple will "fully load" their new entry level notebooks any more than they already do, with this in mind, and the points I made above, it's very possible that Apple could shave a couple of hundred off the price and still offer as good or better a product than what people are used to.

"1. It's a shame to see the commoditization of Apple products. Dell was once successful, too, but I don't think any of us want to see Apple drift that way."

What are you talking about? The only thing that will be different about these Intel-macs is the processor and its supporting architecture. The iBook (or any other Mac) will remain pure Apple.

Why do so many people think that just because Apple is moving from PowerPC to Intel seems to mean that Apple will stop being Apple?


For future reference: Apple ≠ Wintel world (or anyone else). Don't try to compare the two.

Unless they can introduce something that gives a NOTICEABLE better performance than the G4, they will not intro anything.

Pity:

"1. It's a shame to see the commoditization of Apple products. Dell was once successful, too, but I don't think any of us want to see Apple drift that way."

Apple's products have been commoditized for years. SDRAM DIMMs, PCI, USB, AGP, ATA, S-ATA, VGA, DVI, PCMCIA... There's nothing wrong with commoditization, as long as the design and quality don't suffer. There's no reason to believe that Apple's product designs are going to get worse. They are just parts after all.

"2. If there are new models coming in January it is a shame that Apple missed some of the Holiday buyers (particularly if the iPod halo effect is real)."

Yes, but a January release will help Apple keep it's sales momentum up through the post holiday season which normally takes a big dip, and allows Apple to maximize their PPC investment. Remember the Mac mini? It came out in January and sold like crazy anyways, helping Apple to have strong sales at a time when the rest of the industry is winding down. Intel iBooks at $200 less than what they sell for now would make the mini looks like a slow starter.

Buy your AAPL stock now while you can!

"There's no reason to believe that Apple will "fully load" their new entry level notebooks any more than they already do..."

Good point, but the matter of fact is: Apple's cheapest portable if already fully loaded. WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, Combo Drive, a decent amount of memory, and rationally sized (albeit slightly small) hard drive. With costs coming down as manufacturing costs drop in the future, Apple can continue to increase to increase specs like hard drive capacity, processors and graphics for similar comparative costs as time goes on.

"Remember that they have one major competitive advantage that the rest of the industry does not: They don't have to pay for a Windows license."

Another great point. Not only do they get OS X for free (practially), but also iLife, iWork (which I am 100% sure will ship on Intel-powered iBooks). The only thing they pay a license for is their third-party software - and I doubt those costs will increase by any significant amount (especially if Apple has a contract with them).

while I think most of us are really excited for the transition (some of my friends centrino notebooks just fly!), buying a powerbook or ibook right now is a great decision. for a major architecture change, there will be bugs in the new motherboards, and perhaps even in the chips themselves (hopefully not though, and I hope you read this Intel).

As long as there remain PowerPC binaries for apps, my 12" pb that I bought last year should last me at least 2 more years, and I'd only consider putting it on ebay if the current powerbooks are amazing.

it's a shame so many people are quick to give up machines just as capable after a Steve-note as they were before it. c'est la vie for an apple fanatic, though.

Even if new machines are announced in January, they won't be shipping in volume until March. March is much closer to the original Intel Inside timetable originally announced by Steve Jobs.

The real problem is that major applications, like MS Office, probably will not be available to run natively on Intel Macs by spring. Would purchasing such a machine be a smart move before the software is available?

Aren't Think Secret the clowns that originally said NO video playing Ipod in the Fall.

Didn't Appleinsider say in May Tetris is coming to the iPod soon?

these rumors crazy but the people who believe them are foolish.

It sounds like Apple will sell an x86 iBook Mini. I'd buy it, even if I do not really need a new computer.

mmmm need new ibook. mmmmm need new powerbook, mmmmm need new g5, mmmmmmm me the mac-monster. mmmmmmmm

This makes perfect sense. Apple has already created a third tier in their Mac range with the launch of the MacMini. A low-end equivalent in their laptop offerings will fill a noticeable gap and make a very attractive introduction to the Mac platform.

Jay, don't expect dual core Yonah systems in the first Intel based iBooks.

While there have been a couple of times where Apple's consumer line has had comparable power to the Pro line, I don't believe Apple will ever ship a consumer line product which is distinctly faster than the Pro line. Thus we will most definitely not see a dual core Yonah in an iBook (with cores ranging from 1.5 to 2.16 GHz and 667 MHz frontside bus) while Apple is shipping Powerbooks with 1.67 GHz G4s with its slow bus.

IF (and this is admittedly a huge IF) Apple announces an iBook at MWSF with an Intel processor it will most likely be a low power version of Dothan -- most likely the Ultra Low Voltage model at 1.3 GHz or the Low Voltage model at 1.6 GHz both of which have a 400 MHz front side bus. Will either of these be faster than the current PowerBooks? Maybe, but not significantly so if at all. When Rosetta translation is added in, for many applications the iBooks will still be significantly slower than native PowerPC apps on the Powerbooks.

Twenty Benson,

That's it! What a fantastic idea. They can call it the 'minibook'! Give it a 10" widescreen and offload the media drive to an external unit, and it'll compete with that tiny Sony notebook.

A 10" widescreen and I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Just cripple it too much.

uh i mean don't cripple it too much...

"Remember that they have one major competitive advantage that the rest of the industry does not: They don't have to pay for a Windows license."

What they save on a Windows license, they spend on OS development, so I'm not imagining a competative advantage here.

"The real problem is that major applications, like MS Office, probably will not be available to run natively on Intel Macs by spring. Would purchasing such a machine be a smart move before the software is available?"

It's not likely that Apple will launch Intel-based machines without coinciding app releases. Majors like MS and Adobe are likely ready to release when Apple gives the signal.

I would take this with a grain of salt. This is wishfull thinking and hyping MacWorld. It would be a really great move by Apple if they could put out there first intel Mac that soon. But if this wishfull thinking doesn't come true there will be a lot of whining and complaining about how bad MacWorld 2006 was. I hope it is but something inside tells me to be cautious.

FACT: THINK SECRET HAS AN AMAZING TRACK RECORD. Ok, now lets move on...

Apple is not going to intentionally cripple these machines. They will feature whatever iNtel can offer at the time. They will compare to spec wise to Dells that are probably in the same price range, except these will feature OS X and design by Apple. I think they will be priced starting at $699 (and will be comparable to a $699 Dell performance-wise).

They will sell fairly well and will bolster a traditionally weak quarter, but the iNtel Macs won't really take off until Adobe and others release native running software. Next summer?

Think Secret also has a very big axe to grind. They want to get a little revenge for the outing of the site's owner.

Whether it is spoiling Apple's big surprise or raising impossible expectations for a big MacWorld disappointment, one way or another they are going to get it.

Take everything they say with a big grain of salt.

"...MS Office, probably will not be available to run natively on Intel Macs by spring."

F*ck M$ Office! Don't load that sh*t! NeoOffice/J and Appleworks/Pages for me!

MW = given
as in, I wouldn't use M$ Office if it was given to me.

"F*ck M$ Office! Don't load that sh*t! NeoOffice/J and Appleworks/Pages for me!"

Yes, be we aren't counting individuals who live in their mom's basement and fap to donkey midget pr0n.

True, the new version of Open Office is comparable to MS Office, but Appleworks is a complete and utter joke.

MDN Word: Class

As in, show some class, get an education and learn to express yourself outside of profanity.

Even though Intel based Macs will become hacker bait, if Steve announces Intel based Ibooks at Macworld SF 2006 for $200, I'll buy 5 of them on the spot.

At this point, ThinkSecret could predict that the sun will rise tomorrow, and I'd still take it with a grain of salt. They have NO credibility at this time. They're a joke, quite frankly, and I don't understand why MDN bothers to report what they say.

I'll also be waiting for the intel Powerbook, preferrably with the Merom chipset. :-D

What a hoot to triple-boot!

Elmer F.U.D.-

What? Why are you so mean to us? Why do you say, "we aren't counting individuals who live in their mom's basement and fap to donkey midget pr0n"?

I have two questions for you: 1) just because we live in our mom's basement and use windows computers, are we not people?

2) How do I connect to donkey midget porn? What is the site address? Is it at MSN? mmmmmmmmmm sounds tasty . . .

PB smurf wrote:

"Is it 13"? Widescreen?"

For $200 it'll probably resemble an eMate.

"No matter. I'm waiting for the PowerBook."

Agreed. I'd rather buy a good product than something in Dell's class.

A year ago, Apple's ibook were very competitive laptops. These days, they just aren't. Now, I'm not talking about for us Mac users (anything that doesn't run os X isn't even in the same park), but for switchers or anyone on the line, they just aren't. I think the ibook will, or should be their best selling computer (it will be the biggest part of the consumer pc market), so they best make it competitive as fast as they can. I think it makes sense to introduce it first and they need to shave $200 off the price and add a third model. I really don't see any other choice. People looking for desktop replacements, and that's most of the buyers, want a 15 inch screen and they easily found under $1000 on the other side. Apple's start at $2000!! It's no wonder I couldn't talk my father in law out the 15 inch Dell he just bought.

And once more Think Secret, the great bastion of truth and "insider info" raises its head to prognosticate upon us...

Can anyone tell me why the Mac mini is so ballsout cool? It's a gimmic, a lure to get people on the dark side to take their first initial steps into the light of MacOS X. I'm plugging along on a Pismo 400MHz G3 with a DVD-ROM drive that bit the dust over a year ago (it was the 3rd to do so on my Powerbook - the first 2 within 6 months of buying it). But I'm not looking to "downgrade" to the mini. It would be good for the kids' room, if I had any... It would be nice in the kitchen for recipes... It would be cheap in school computer labs... But it's a non-starter for me, even if it's more powerful than my G3 Pismo.

And if,... IF we see an Intel iBook at MWSF it won't be Yonah, because it would negate the Powerbooks. I doubt it would even be a Pentium M, which is old-tech by now. It would have to be a Celeron, so as not to ridicule the Powerbook. And even then it couldn't adopt the best features of that chip architecture, because it would still trounce the Powerbook.

Face it, if we see any new Apple kit "announced" at MWSF it's gonna be a Yonah dual-core Powerbook - the bus, dual-core and faster cpu will ease a lot of the Rosseta lag, but it may be Summer before Adobe releases native versions.

The iBook would wait for the single-core Yonah, and when Merom ships in the Fall Apple will drop it in the Powerbook, creating the following range:
• iBook Jr.: Celeron 32bit, single-core, 12", Intel graphics, combo drive...
• iBook "regular".: Yonah 32bit, single-core, 13" widescreen, Intel graphics, combo drive...
• iBook "hi-end": Yonah 32bit, dual-core, 14" widescreen, PCI-Exp 64MB gpu, SL superdrive, low-end of speed range...
• Powerbook: Yonah 32bit, dual-core, 13-15" widescreen, PCI-Exp. x16 128MB gpu, DL superdrives, upper-end of speed range...
• Powerbook "Pro": Merom 64bit, dual-core, 15-17" widescreen, PCI-Exp x16 256MB gpu, DL superdrives, "bells & whistles galore", hi-end of speed range...

I can believe the early introduction finessé but doubt the lower prices. We have seen lower price rumors in the past. People love to hope but Macs are worth it. And when you look at Total Cost of Ownership they usually are cheaper already.

This article says people don't want 12" laptops...that is B.S., I would say that is the most popular seller at the Apple Store. People love the size and most students lean this way over the larger 14".