Switching: Questions

[dave_h]

Ok, in anticipation of my needs at grad school, I'm considering a switch from Dell Laptop / PC to the new 12'' powerbook.

A few questions:

1. What's the upgrade cycle for the Powerbooks? If I spend the $1700 now, will Apple release an upgraded Powerbook by the end of the summer? Might there be a price drop before the end of the summer? (Should I wait, or splurge now?)

2. I'd like to attach both an external keyboard and mouse to the system. Is there a USB built in to the external wired keyboard, or would I have to use both USB ports on the system? How many total USB devices can the deck handle?

3. Is the system limited to a single active firewire device in use at one time? I.e., if I'm dumping 90 minutes of high-bandwidth video to my drive, I'd rather it go to the external 160GB firewire drive. However, both the video camera and the drive require a firewire connection. How would I achieve this setup? Is there a firewire "hub"?

Thank you for your answers!

--dave

 

[Graeme43]

The keyboard has 2 USB bits where you plug stuff in as I seen in the shop (you would plug the USB mouse in one of them) and you have the port for other uses

 

[dave_h]

cool, thank you -- it's a little thing, but important for productivity =>

 

[rman]

1) Apple just upgraded the entire laptop line. So looking at past history of Apple. I don't see Apple upgrading the laptop line. So far this year we have seen the eMac, iBook, and the PowerBook have been updated. We should be seeing the iMac and the PowerMac upgrade coming next.

3) I believe there is a limit of 127 devices on a firewire chain. So I don't think you are going have any problems. On my chain, I have an external disk, DVD burner and the camera.

 

[dave_h]

1) Apple just upgraded the entire laptop line. So looking at past history of Apple. I don't see Apple upgrading the laptop line. So far this year we have seen the eMac, iBook, and the PowerBook have been updated. We should be seeing the iMac and the PowerMac upgrade coming next.

3) I believe there is a limit of 127 devices on a firewire chain. So I don't think you are going have any problems. On my chain, I have an external disk, DVD burner and the camera.

... so the external drive would have a "daisy chain" port...? (My firewire digital video camera doen't)

 

[Chamorro]

... so the external drive would have a "daisy chain" port...? (My firewire digital video camera doen't)

Some do, some don't.....need to look carefully @ whichever drive/enclosure you choose.

 

[rman]

... so the external drive would have a "daisy chain" port...? (My firewire digital video camera doen't)

My DVD burner and external disk both have two firewire ports.

I place my camera at the end of the chain, since it only has one port.

 

[dave_h]

awesome -- thank you for your answer! I'm excited to switch!