How the Powerbook lineup should look like...

My perspective on the future of Powerbook: (if apple wants to keep it alive)

1. The iBook line should be dropped!!…it's too close to the Powerbook and seems to offer nothing but a small margin in CPU speed and graphic card, and of course, the color…

2. Prices on the Powerbook should be dropped to a starting point of 999$
starting with the well known 12" PB (add 200$ for the super drive version)

3. Next in line needs to be an all new PB, with a 13" wide screen for 1399$

4. there is no need for two 15" PB that are basically the same, apple needs to find a mid price, and unite the two models,
with the extra features (graphic card?) as an option, the same way it does with memory and HD,
it should sell for 1899$ (to put up a descent fight with the Wintel notebooks)

5. on the top range models, apple needs to introduce a dual core G4 15" and 17" PowerBooks, these new PB are the only way apple can deflect the Wintel attack in the desktop substitute notebook front, a market that is growing rapidly.
These PB should sell for 2299$ and 2699$ respectively.

oriel29 said:

My perspective on the future of Powerbook: (if apple wants to keep it alive)

1. The iBook line should be dropped!!…it's too close to the Powerbook and seems to offer nothing but a small margin in CPU speed and graphic card, and of course, the color…

Click to expand...

not really, the iBook is a great intro to Mac laptops. Maybe a price drop?

oriel29 said:

2. Prices on the Powerbook should be dropped to a starting point of 999$ starting with the well known 12" PB (add 200$ for the super drive version)

Click to expand...

good idea, but with the iBook being around it is not wise.

oriel29 said:

3. Next in line needs to be an all new PB, with a 13" wide screen for 1399$

Click to expand...

they shoud change the 12" to a 13"

oriel29 said:

4. there is no need for two 15" PB that are basically the same, apple needs to find a mid price, and unite the two models,
with the extra features (graphic card?) as an option, the same way it does with memory and HD, it should sell for 1899$ (to put up a descent fight with the Wintel notebooks)

Click to expand...

i agree

oriel29 said:

5. on the top range models, apple needs to introduce a dual core G4 15" and 17" PowerBooks, these new PB are the only way apple can deflect the Wintel attack in the desktop substitute notebook front, a market that is growing rapidly. These PB should sell for 2299$ and 2699$ respectively.

Click to expand...

again i agree. since the G5 laptops are so far off, this seems to be a fesible option to for more speed until teh G5 comes out.

From what you are suggesting, should Apple do away with the emac and the iMac?

The problem here is you don't understand how Apple targets it hardware to the market. The i line of hardware is geared toward the consumer, whereas the p line is geared toward the professional market. What I have seen here, is that most individual here are buying Apple systems based on their PC equals, instead of their needs.

yea they wont drop the iBook because its still too popular and a cheap option.

agree with the 15" PB though as most people buy online if they want it customised anyway

dual core laptop? Would be nice to see and to gloat to other x86 laptop users but i think that its unlikely

inflexion said:

dual core laptop? Would be nice to see and to gloat to other x86 laptop users but i think that its unlikely

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Motorola (sorry Freescale) are already shipping a sub-10 watt dual core G4 which is pin-pin compatible with the PowerBook chips, I reckon 6 months tops before we see the first Apple laptops using the chip hit the streets.

Amen-Moses

i stand corrected then ^_^

i hope in 6 months your correct

oriel29 said:

My perspective on the future of Powerbook: (if apple wants to keep it alive)

1. The iBook line should be dropped!!…it's too close to the Powerbook and seems to offer nothing but a small margin in CPU speed and graphic card, and of course, the color…

2. Prices on the Powerbook should be dropped to a starting point of 999$
starting with the well known 12" PB (add 200$ for the super drive version)

3. Next in line needs to be an all new PB, with a 13" wide screen for 1399$

4. there is no need for two 15" PB that are basically the same, apple needs to find a mid price, and unite the two models,
with the extra features (graphic card?) as an option, the same way it does with memory and HD,
it should sell for 1899$ (to put up a descent fight with the Wintel notebooks)

5. on the top range models, apple needs to introduce a dual core G4 15" and 17" PowerBooks, these new PB are the only way apple can deflect the Wintel attack in the desktop substitute notebook front, a market that is growing rapidly.
These PB should sell for 2299$ and 2699$ respectively.

Click to expand...

1. The ibook should stay if you say that then you are also saying that the emac, mini, and imac should be droped too.

2. not with the ibook around

3. no gain from that you would still be running 1024 x 768 unles you made the screen short and wide

4. i agree there should only be the superdrive model of the powerbook 15" but all prices should stay the same with the 15" taking the price of the current combo drive

5. i agree again but all prices should stay the same

the reason that i don't think they will drop the ibook is the following. i have seen many cases, including 2 of my friends where they had previously used a windows laptop and decided to buy an ibook. they couldn't justify spending so much jumping from windows to osx. after using the ibook for a couple months, they decided that they love the os and sold their ibook to purchase the powerbook. also, when you look at a newspaper add, like micro-center, they'll advertise an ibook for $899. People will go to the store, see how nice it is, and then right to the right of the ibook is the powerbook. they see that it is only $200 or $300 more. all of apples products are like this. look at the ipods. you go to a store or online, planing on buying the ipod shuffle 1gb. you then see you can get the ipod mini for $50 more. then you see you can get the new mini for $50 more. for another $50 you can get the regular ipod. then you see how cool the photo is an that is $50 more. i know this doesn't happen exactly like that, but this is how the sell all of their products. the mac min, emac, imac, powermac, they draw you in and have everything setup so they you want to spend more to get the next level. all of your other ideas are great though.

i completely disagree with you on dropping the iBook line. i have a powerbook for everday use, but it is a 17" so it might as well be a desktop. i have been considering the 12" iBook to start taking to work and classes.