G5 Powerbook?

[Charles Martin]

> From: Video International <videoint at jb3.so-net.ne.jp>
>
> Oooh scary thought! What would be a possible worst case scenario?
>
>> I guess the question is how long will they really decently support G4?
>
>>>> Apple has said the G5 is not suitable for Powerbooks.

At the risk of sounding pedantic (oops, too late!), Apple never said 
that the G5 was *not suitable* for Powerbooks, only that there was no 
plans for a G5 Powerbook in the near future. And I expect they're right 
-- the G5 chip used in the towers is obviously very hot (even if it 
does use less actual electricity than the G4). A further refinement of 
the G5 should produce a smaller, lighter, less-heat-intensive chip in 
due course -- IBM's probably halfway to it already. I've heard 
references to a "980" chip (as opposed to the G5 aka the PPC 970), but 
I don't think that's it.

I suspect that in about six months they'll announce a "970+" chip 
intended for notebooks, and about three to six months after THAT you'll 
see it in the more expensive side of the Powerbook line. Pure 
speculation, but that's MHO.

As for the question of how long Apple will "decently support" the G4, I 
really think this is a non-issue. We've already established (or did we 
on this list?) that Panther fully supports the same range of computers 
as Jaguar did (so that includes almost all G3-based machines). I had a 
friend who was at WWDC personally verify that even Expose works 
properly without the need of Quartz Extreme or a G4, so I think we can 
put that concern to bed for at least another 18 months or the NEXT 
major upgrade beyond Panther, whichever comes first.

 From everything Apple's said so far, it seems likely that the G4 will 
be with us in some Apple product or another for as long as the G3 has 
been with us after the G4 was introduced.

_Chas_

James Lileks, on Apple's iMovie versus XP's Moviemaker:
"Was [my bro-in-law's] machine cheaper? Yes. But time is money; I've 
never had to claw my way through the sodden mess of a corporate website 
looking for the one driver that will let me do what I want to do. I've 
never had to spend a Sunday afternoon trying to understand what iMovie 
wants me to do, because it does what *I* want it to do. He said that 
Moviemaker made him feel stupid, because he couldn't figure out the 
simplest tasks.
I'll say this for his machine, though: if he ever wants to back up that 
3.3 GB movie file on floppy disks, he's all set."