[kscherer]

Well, now that all that iPod crap is done with, what's coming to MacWorld San Francisco 2005?

I'm thinking new PowerBooks (either G5 or DC G4), Tiger updates, AppleWorks and a bunch of misc crap. Probably some speeches by software developers to intro us to some cool Core Video/Audio fun house stuff.

Bring it on!

[curiousuburb]

No DC G4 (won't even sample until 2q05). G5 PB only in the 17 to start. 15 maybe.
New GPUs across the PB line with 128MB VRAM for heftier Core support.
Tiger won't be ready yet... bigger demo yes. Shipping March.

Or so says my Magic 8 ball today.

[kscherer]

I'm thinking there might be a 3Ghz G5 PowerMac there, too.

[Gizzer]

Being the rumour-hounds that we are, MWSF should now provide some real far-out predictions!

Let's see: In 2004, we've had the new 4G iPods, 4G colour iPods, new iBook updates, new iMac's, updated G5's, new Airport Express, demos of Tiger.

Surely all that remains is faster Powermacs, new Powerbooks, a solid announcement on Tiger shipping date & possibly iLife '05!

Oh yeah, and some new Gadget we-didn't-know-we-needed-but-now-we-do (please step in Pscates with some cool illustrator mock-ups - that always gets the forum fired up and flowing!! )

Joking aside... what other updates could there possibly be?

[kscherer]

2 words - APPLE and WORKS!

[Crusader]

It's freaking October. One can't even begin to make bad guesses as to what will be announced at this point. Chill, you can always hope for a special event in November.



Oh wait, I was complaining about the fact that they have christmas stuff up now. My bad. Quad G5's at MWSF baby!

[unixguru]

Maybe they'll intro new soldering technology in their products so the logic boards don't fail after a year or two.

[El Guardo]

Upgrade to the 2.3Ghz xServe found at the University of Virginia.

[matt]

my prediction

Updated PowerMac line - 3.0Ghz, 2.8Ghz, 2.5Ghz

Updated PowerBook line - ??Ghz G# ?

2nd edition eMac

New product - Flash based iPod
$149 for 256MB (or maybe 512MB)

More on Tiger

Possible update to AppleWorks

[Ryan]

I don't the eMac needs to updated really. I mean, its meant for schools. They should bump the minumum RAM to 256, but other than that it has all the horsepower it needs. For some Powerpoint, Word, and Google its fine.

[Luca]

$149 for 256 MB? Are you kidding me, matt? That much flash memory costs $20. 512 MB is around $40, while 1 GB is $70-$80. And that's for consumers like us who are at the end of the chain. 256 MB provides so little storage it's not worth it - there would have to be at least 1 GB.

The eMac doesn't need much of an update. 64 MB of VRAM and 1.33 or 1.4 GHz would be nice, but it's not really necessary. BTW, CubeDude, the eMac already ships with 256 MB of RAM even on the lowest end model.

[matt]

Luca, since when does Apple charge small amounts of money for hardware? The Airport Base Station is HARDLEY worth $199. Just because you can buy a cheap name and slow flash card cheap, doesnt mean Apple will charge low prices.

[Luca]

Yeah, but they'll never make a 256 MB flash-based MP3 player. That amount of space just isn't enough to be useful. I know, I have a Palm Tungsten E and a 256 MB memory card - it's only enough for about fifty songs, not nearly enough.

Besides, the 4 GB microdrive that is used in the iPod mini often sells for $400 when purchased separately. Apple will charge a lot for any given product they sell (i.e. most of their 256 MB flash memory cards are $40+, twice what you'd pay from a large volume place like NewEgg), but they wouldn't base the price of a flash-based iPod on the price they charge for the flash memory itself. Each product they sell has a price and feature set that they believe is best. If they sell a 1 GB flash iPod, they'd be selling you a 1 GB flash iPod. Not an empty flash iPod plus a 1 GB memory card.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by matt Luca, since when does Apple charge small amounts of money for hardware? The Airport Base Station is HARDLEY worth $199. Just because you can buy a cheap name and slow flash card cheap, doesnt mean Apple will charge low prices.

Dude, I can get LexarMedia 40x 1GB CF cards for $70. What is cheap about LexarMedia or the xfer speed?????????????

[futuretheory]

anymore talk of iPods on this thread should be banned. I'm sick of iPod this, iPod that. I need tools, and frankly I'm about to buy a PC because I expected a much faster G5 at this time (which I have been saving for). Well the money is saved, but the machine speed isn't here (as usual).

I am so tired of waiting for "big event" product releases to get what I need now. They had have a 3ghz+ upgrade by Macworld, but sooner would be smarter. Desktops are hurting, again as usual. Color me bitter.

[Luca]

Wait, wtf are you talking about futuretheory? Your options for PCs right now aren't a whole lot better. You can go with dual Opterons, which are 2.4 GHz each. OMG less than Apple! Or you can go with dual Xeons, which run at a much higher clock speed (up to 3.6 GHz) but they are not nearly as efficient. The main flaw in Apple's desktops is the lack of decent accessories - GeForce 5200, 256 MB of RAM, 8x DVD burner, and 80 GB hard drive. It would be nice if these were changed to a Radeon 9600XT on the low end, 512 MB minimum (1 GB high end), 16x DVD burner, and a minimum of a 160 GB hard drive. PCI Express would be a welcome addition as well. But the processors are really not behind at all. They're right in line with the rest of the industry in that respect.

BTW, I own a PC because I got one that is faster than my Mac for less than my Mac cost. It does seem to fit me better for the time being since I'm into gaming and stuff, but I admit Macs are better for most things.

[wizard69]

Originally Posted by Luca Wait, wtf are you talking about futuretheory? Your options for PCs right now aren't a whole lot better.

Actually I'd have to say his options are better in PC land. However as in Apple land it would be best to wait. AMD systems with PCI-Express will soon be out. Frankly it doesn't matter what side of the fence you sit on right now, the industry is in a major transition, it is not a good time to be investing in hardware. If at all possible one whould wait until late Feburary when things have cooled down a bit and good evalutations are in place.

It would be nice if these were changed to a Radeon 9600XT on the low end, 512 MB minimum (1 GB high end), 16x DVD burner, and a minimum of a 160 GB hard drive. PCI Express would be a welcome addition as well. But the processors are really not behind at all. They're right in line with the rest of the industry in that respect.

You do point out the other big issue with Apple. That is the fact that you pay full price for their hardware but get half the goods. Apple sucks big time when it comes to memory and disk allocations. Sure they will fix that for you if you are willing to shell out even more bucks.

BTW, I own a PC because I got one that is faster than my Mac for less than my Mac cost. It does seem to fit me better for the time being since I'm into gaming and stuff, but I admit Macs are better for most things.

Put Linux on that PC and you will have much of the capability of a Mac for far less. Sure it won't be as easy but the trade off is $$$$ for a little time invested. Go with a AMD 64 system and you will be a bit further ahead in the 64 bit transition.

Dave

[Luca]

I already have a 64 bit system. Just put it together - socket 754 (yeah, I know it's on the way out, frankly I don't care), 2.0 GHz Athlon 64 3000+, 1 GB of RAM, 200 GB SATA drive, DVD burner, DVD-ROM, plain GeForce 6800, SoundBlaster Audigy 2, and Logitech 4.1 speakers. It's very nice, and the total cost was around $1000 (about half of what it would be for a comparable Mac).

Anyway, this is a discussion for a different thread I think. I don't think Apple will move past 2.5 GHz until WWDC '05 at the earliest. Hopefully they won't announce them too early. The thing is, Apple could become much more competitive by simply improving the standard features of their PowerMacs. They wouldn't even have to bump the processors. Just give them better standard components and a few general refinements and there's no need to bump the actual MHz. I'm sure they could squeeze at least 10% more out of each machine without bumping the clock speed, by just improving the motherboard's chipset and perhaps giving the G5s more L2 cache. PCI Express, better graphics cards, more storage, more RAM, and so on would easily hold the line over until they can move past 2.5 GHz.

[iDaver]

Headless iMac!

Seriously, now that we know Apple can put a G5 in a small enclosure, its time has come. 1.6Ghz for $999. 1.8Ghz for $1199. All specs the same as current iMacs.

Wouldn't this make for a great MWSF ?!

[adam1185]

surely they'll update the ipod mini to give it the longer battery life and a somewhat bigger hard drive or am I way off?

[Jay]

Well one of these has a decent probability of showing up if not more than one.

1. PowerMac G5 Update with PCI-Express and Possibly the 970MP judging by the last plist file in 10.3.5 which contained a new Powermac in the list. So I'm thinking a sizable revamp to the mobo and/or CPU to require the update.

2. PowerBook G5 15" and 17" also judging by the file above. I don't think a 12" will be ready quite yet and will probably be bumped up to 1.5 Ghz G4. Also Freescale is still vaporware at the moment so I doubt they would wait for them and work on a G5 instead.

3. Flash based iPod. If it were to happen it would have to be larger than 512 MB with 1 GB more likely. I'm guessing a price point around $99-$150. this is assuming they make one at all.

I'm hoping 10.3.6 will shed some light on the first two and the third is mostly wishful thinking.

[Messiahtosh]

The flash-based iPod will be the biggest announcement at the show, since it will be THE Apple product for some time. People will look at the moment when Apple introduced a low-cost iPod as the pivotal, game winning point in the digital music revolution. Apple will lock up the market with a low cost iPod option.

Apple is very, very close to dominating the digital music arena for years to come. The *only* thing that could now ruin it for them is a flood of digital players cheap enough that folks will buy them even if they are crappier than an iPod. Hey, its the same thing that happened with the PC market, right?

So hopefully Apple has learned a lesson and understand that they have to deliver a product in the sub 200 price range even if it isn't a particularly groundbreaking product. Folks who only want to spend 100-200 bucks on their music player aren't looking for anything groundbreaking...just cheap and functional. If Apple offers that, they will be able to wrap up the entire digital music enchilada and then "Plays For Sure" will have to be changed to "No One Cares".

[Tuttle]

An cheap flash iPod with even 256 or 512 MB would wonderful if they made a few changes to iTunes. There seems to be a pretty clear split among iPod owners. People who want to have as much of their music collection on hand at all times and and those who use the iPod for short periods of time like at the gym.

The current iPod lineup is ideal for the first group, but overkill for the second. If iTunes was modified so you could just click on an album or two and dump them to your flash iPod it would be perfect for those one hour trips to the gym or walks. I would love to have something like that if it was in the 100-150 range in addition to my big iPod. The portable music players at my gym are almost 50/50 iPods/old CD/radio players now - I've never actually seen a non-iPod player in real life. Throw in a free gym strap and I'm sure there would be millions of people beating down Apple's door for one.

[Messiahtosh]

Apple does offer a way to do those things you mention, in iTunes. You can manually update your iPod. That's how I manage my mini's music.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh The flash-based iPod will be the biggest announcement at the show, since it will be THE Apple product for some time. People will look at the moment when Apple introduced a low-cost iPod as the pivotal, game winning point in the digital music revolution. Apple will lock up the market with a low cost iPod option.

Maybe the biggest announcement for those iPod wanters. But, for apple and us a flash player won't be the biggest if a certain new laptop comes into play there.

[Messiahtosh]

I'm betting the new PowerBook won't show until April.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh I'm betting the new PowerBook won't show until April.

I think April will be the earliest. Maybe even the autumn. Apple are obviously aware of the need to get something out. However, (IMO) they will be reluctant to release a new PB that in anyway compromises on size, weight etc. Apple fans want to go forward in terms of speed but don't want compromises to the overall aesthetic.

Of course, the problem for us is we have no idea how far they have solved the whole heat/size issue. Has it crossed anyone's mind that the whole heat/size issue might just be a smoke screen for some other technical problem.

Then again, maybe the G5 PB's are all ready to go!

All anyone can do on these boards is just speculate. Unless there is anybody on here who is privy to 'inside info'.

regards

[FearlessLeader]

These powerbooks are so old Apple could happily bump up the non-processor specs and leave room for more changes to the freshly re-designed G5.

I would expect to see at least a "bump" on the PBs to a Radeon 9800 and some other improvements, with PCI-Express shipping later in a G5 for example.

[Messiahtosh]

Speaking of iPods. The iPod Socks come in some of the same colors as available iPods but also some different ones. I expect that the different colors, namely Orange and Purple become new colors of iPods in January.

[Tuttle]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh Apple does offer a way to do those things you mention, in iTunes. You can manually update your iPod. That's how I manage my mini's music.

They don't actually. Nothing as simple as just right clicking on an album and sending it to your iPod making space as needed.