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Friday, October 28th 2005
RadTech Unveils New PowerBook Bag
RadTech, makers of unique laptop bags that allow the bag to be opened and the computer used without actually removing the laptop, has a new addition to its lineup. The Tekstyl Omni is constructed of lightweight and waterproof ballistic nylon, but lined with Polyethylene armor for impact-absorption.
Adding convenience to the protection of your PowerBook, the bag opens in the same clamshell manner as a laptop, meaning you don't even have to remove your computer to use it. While in the open bag, all ports and optical drives are still accessible. One really neat feature of the Tekstyl Omni is that it features risers to elevate your PowerBook and make typing more ergonomic. For those of us suffering from carpal tunnel or other RSIs related to typing, this is a great feature.
The Tekstyl Omni comes in two sizes, one for 12-13-inch laptops, and one for 14-15-inch widescreen laptops, making it a good fit for the 12-15-inch iBooks and PowerBooks. Prices for the two sizes are $42 and $45.
Wednesday, October 26th 2005
nova media Releases Globetrotter COMBO EDGE PC Card
For those of you taking your PowerBooks around the world and across cellular networks, yet still need consistent wireless internet access, nova media's new Globetrotter COMBO EDGE PC card is just what the doctor ordered. The PC card works for EDGE and GPRS connections with quadband support for the 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz frequencies.
The PC card includes nova media's Mobile High Speed 3G software, which makes configuration easy through the inclusion of 250 connection settings for use with most of the world's mobile network operators. Additionally, the card includes a retractable internal antenna and sticks only 4 mm out of the PowerBook, allowing it to be left in even when your PowerBook is on the move. The one downside to the Globetrotter COMBO EDGE? The card will cost you $410 at the current exchange rate, making this an accessory for the serious road warrior.
More information on nova media's Globetrotter COMBO EDGE PC card can be found at their website.
Tuesday, October 25th 2005
Apple Acknowledges Problem with SuperDrive Media
After months of complaints and questioning directed at Apple, the company has finally acknowledged incompatibilities with certain 8x DVD-R media and certain SuperDrives found in PowerBooks. Apple writes: "If you see UJ-816 as part of the model, make sure that you only use 2x or 4x DVD-R media." The model number of you SuperDrive is available from the System Profiler application. Various revisions of all three sizes of the PowerBook G4 have shipped with the affected SuperDrive model, so any concerned owners should check. While not a serious problem, it has been frustrating for many PowerBook enthusiasts to get no recognition or information from Apple, but at least the problem can now be identified.
Notes on the New PowerBooks
AppleInsider has a couple notes of interest on the new PowerBook revision, which has already begun reaching customers.
First, like the new PowerMacs (and, presumably, the iMacs), the new PowerBooks are not running the standard 10.4.2 version of Mac OS X. Instead, the PowerBooks have a new build of 10.4.2. The imminent release of Mac OS X 10.4.3 (which could be arriving any day now) should unify Mac OS X on all of the hardware lines.
Second, the sleep sensor, which was previously located on the body of the PowerBook, is now in the display bezel. Additionally, the speakers of the PowerBooks have been changed, going from the original setup of left, right, and a center speaker under the keyboard to only the left and right speakers.
Lastly, the new PowerBooks have one ATA bus which is shared by the hard drive and optical drive (in this case, the SuperDrive). There's been no word on why Apple made this move.
If you've just received one of the new PowerBooks, we'd love to hear any comments about it. Email us at editor (at) pbzone.com.com.
Friday, October 21st 2005
MCE Ships Auto/Air Combo Adapter
Long-time maker of PowerBook and iBook accessories MCE Technologies today began shipping its new Auto/Air Combo Adapter. The combo adapter, belying its name, actually works in not only airplanes and cars, but boats as well for charging your iBook or PowerBook on the go. The adapter weighs in at only five ounces and is compatible with all PowerBook G4s and all white iBooks, providing connections between them and cigarette lighter sockets or the EmPower sockets used by airlines. The Auto/Air Combo Adapter is available now for $50 and comes with a one-year warranty.
Fujitsu Updates LifeBook Line, Introduces P7210
Long-time readers of the site will know that we're big fans of Fujitsu's tiny LifeBook line of portable computers, and have long hoped that Apple would make something along the lines of an updated eMate or the smallest LifeBooks. Fujitsu has announced the LifeBook P7210, a 3lbs. laptop with 10.6-inch widescreen LCD. Despite its diminutive size, the LifeBook has three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, S-video, high-definition audio in and out ports, and slots for SD cards, Memory Stick Pro cards, and xD cards. Particularly impressive is the inclusion of a dual-layer DVD/CD burner. The only puzzling omission is an ethernet port, leaving Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g connectivity options for networking. The processor is a 1.2 GHz Pentium M, making it far from the fastest laptop out there, but more than adequate for most business needs on the road.
With the cult following of the PowerBook 2400, particularly in Japan, we think something even smaller than any of Apple's current offerings could prove to be a big hit, both in the US and internationally. Particularly with the extreme overlap of the current 12-inch iBook and 12-inch PowerBook, shaking up the lineup with something along the lines of the LifeBook would be an interesting way of clarifying the lineup.
Thursday, October 20th 2005
Plasticsmith Offers New Laptop Stand
The Plasticsmith today unveiled the Lapvantage Loft, a steel and acrylic pedestal to improve the ergonomics when using your iBook or PowerBook. The $80 accessory comes with two color options for the steel trunk of the pedestal and three color options for the actual platform, letting the aesthetically-aware Mac user coordinate his desk. For those using a laptop as a desktop replacement, using something like the Lapvantage Loft (or similar products) really is a good investment to reduce the chances of ailments such as repetitive stress injuries that can come from spending hours hunched over a laptop on a low desk. The Lapvantage Loft also features 3M gumdrop feet to help circulation of air underneath your laptop, helping to keep it cool.
Toshiba Announces .1-inch Thick LCD
Showing how much thinner laptops can get, Toshiba has developed an 11.1-inch widescreen LCD that is only 2.75mm/.1-inch thick. For comparison, most current laptop LCDs are twice this thick. The new LCD runs cool while also shedding 35% of its mass.
As reported by Laptop Logic, this improvement in LCD technology comes from a new glass developed by Toshiba, together with improved backlighting via LEDs, preserving the screen quality while increasing portability and weight savings. For those of you hoping to see examples of the new LCDs, it won't be long before they're in stores, as Toshiba has already begun mass production of them.
Wednesday, October 19th 2005
New PowerBooks Released: Long Laptop Nightmare Over at Last
After 10 months, Apple today released updated PowerBooks featuring a variety of improvements.
The biggest change, as some predicted, is the higher resolutions on the 15" and 17" PowerBooks. The 15" PowerBook now has the same resolution as the previous 17" PowerBook, 1440x900, while the 17" PowerBook now matches the 20" Cinema Display with a 1680x1050 resolution. This should satisfy all the people who have long called for higher resolutions for Apple's portables. Additionally, the 15" and 17" PowerBooks now have brighter displays, with Apple reporting up to a 46% increase in brightness on the new 17" model. While some expected the 12" model to feature a switch to a widescreen, no changes were made to its display.
As for other improvements, well, they aren't terribly significant. All of the hard drives are now 5400 RPM, with the 12" and 15" models featuring 80GB drives and the 17" featuring one of the new 120GB drives. 512MB of RAM is still the standard, but the 15" and 17" models now use PC2-4200 DDR RAM, while the 12" will continue to use DDR333 SDRAM. One thing buyers will appreciate is the SuperDrive being standard equipment on all new PowerBooks, with an 8x SuperDrive included on even the 12" PowerBook. As for graphics cards, the 12" again sees no improvement, but the 15" and 17" models have at least been bumped to 127MB of VRAM with their Mobility Radeon 9700 cards. One nicety added in this revision is the ability for the PowerBooks to drive the 30" Cinema Display.
As expected, the clockspeeds for the new 'Books is unchanged, topping out at a 1.67GHz G4, but one interesting thing to note is that Apple is claiming up to an extra hour of battery life with the new 15" and 17" PowerBooks. As we wrote about on Monday, the increased battery life while maintaining the same clockspeed could hint at a switch to the 7448 G4, which uses significantly less power at the same clockspeeds as other G4 variants. This improvement is perhaps cold comfort to some prospective buyers, but the extra battery life is certainly appreciated if there is no way to speed up the machines.
Much like the last update in 2005, Apple has little to offer in terms of significantly faster processors with the PowerPC in mobile aplications like the PowerBook, but they've still done their best to add value (at least in the 15" and 17" models). Higher-resolution, brighter displays, bigger, faster hard drives, more video memory, and improved battery life might not capture the public's imagination, but it shows a commitment to customers who want new PowerBooks before the switch to Intel.
Monday, October 17th 2005
New PowerBooks Due at Apple Event this Week
We know you've all been teased again and again, but it's looking like new PowerBooks are finally coming after all these months and rumors. After initially expecting new PowerBooks and PowerMacs at the One More Thing event last week, it seems Apple has decided the new iPod and pro hardware deserved separate introductions. Wednesday the 19th, then, Apple is expected to release updated PowerMacs and PowerBooks.
PowerBook fans should be warned to temper their expectations. While the PowerMac is possibly receiving a significant performance increase, in the form of two dual-core G5 processors in the high-end machine, the PowerBook might not even receive an increase in clockspeed. Upgrades are instead thought to be in the form of higher-density screens, faster RAM, and bigger hard drives. There is little certainty on any of this, though.
For all your rumor needs, AppleInsider and Think Secret are on the case.
Reader Mail: Differences in G4 Processor Variations
One of the rumors going around about the forthcoming PowerBook update is that the processor used will be changed from the 7447A to the 7448, both of which would be marketed as the G4 processor by Apple. In response to this, one reader wrote in:
What is the difference between the 7447A G4 and a 7448 G4? I have no clue...The 7448 is not a magic bullet or a major change from the existing processors found in PowerBooks. Clock speeds for the 7448 are expected to only reach around 1.7 GHz, certainly nothing to get too excited about in sheer performance terms. The major advantage of the revision, though, is much improved power usage. A 1.42 GHz 7447A uses 19 watts of power, while a similar 7448 uses less than 10. Apple could use these power savings to try and improve battery life, or to use better-performing components that were too power hungry when tied to the 7447A. We should add that some of the recent rumors suggest Apple is, in fact, not going to be moving to the 7448 in the new PowerBook revision, but if they do, it could help with battery life or to add performance increases in areas other than the CPU.
Wednesday, October 12th 2005
Apple Takes Over Your Living Room
While the PowerBooks were not updated today and are instead expected to be updated in the near future, today will likely be remembered as one of the most important in Apple's history, showing a more complete foundation of their multimedia strategy and the convergence of computers and the living room.
First, the video iPod is here. The new sizes are 30GB and 60B at $300 and $400 and in black and white, the screens are now 2.5" with a 320x240 resolution, but are actually the same dimensions as the last generation, aside from being even thinner! As for the video functionality, music videos, video Podcasts, and television are the initial content sources, with the inevitable expansion to feature films on the iPod still to come. The first commercial content to be available will be short films from Pixar, music videos, and television programs from ABC and Disney, such as Desperate Housewives and Lost. Episodes, short films, and music videos will cost $2 each and have a somewhat-similar DRM to music from the iTunes Music Store, allowing several Macs and iPods to have the same media, but no burning of episodes.
New iPod accessories were also announced today. For $39 you can get the Universal Dock to connect your iPod to a television (using the iPod AV cable or an S-video cable), or for charging and syncing. New with this Dock is that all iPods with Dock connectors can use it, using one of five Dock Adapters included in the box. Also available is the Apple Remote for $30, which allows the controlling of a Docked iPod for when it's connected to a stereo or TV. Perhaps more importantly, the Apple Remote can control an iMac, allowing for the presentation of photos, movies, and music, showing how Apple is bringing the functionality of iPhoto, iMovie, QuickTime, and iTunes into the living room in a big way.
To finish up on the music and iPod updates, Apple released iTunes 6, so if you haven't even gotten around to installing iTunes 5, don't feel too bad. The new release adds support for the expanded iTunes Music Store's video offerings, as well as introducing features to buy songs and videos as gifts for others and customer reviews and recommendations similar to Amazon's.
Finally, we come to the new iMac G5. The big change in the new iMacs is a built-in iSight webcamera and the program Photo Booth for taking snapshots with some novel editing features for sharing photos via email or websites. Both the 17-inch and 20-inch iMacs come with the Apple Remote for using Front Row presents a simplified interface for using the multimedia features of the iMac from across the living room, such as listening to music, looking at photos, and watching video content. While this may not sound particularly exciting, this is a beg step in Apple's effort to be the first company to successfully converge the computer and the living room, and Front Row should prove a crucial element in that effort. The 17-inch iMac G5 is 1.9GHz and costs $1300 while the 20-inch iMac has a 2.1GHz G5 and is $1700. They come with 160GB and 250GB Serial ATA hard drives and 512MB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM and ATI Radeon X600 Pro 128MB PCI Express graphics cards. While both machines have 8x double-layer slot drives, FireWire 800 is curiously absent.
While the lack of PowerBooks today is certainly a disappointment, it's hard not to be comforted by the abundance of other hardware and the strong evidence that Apple is hard at work on a lot of interesting projects.
Monday, October 10th 2005
Maine's iBook Program in Final Months
After nearly six years, Maine's $37.2 million dollar program to provide iBooks to all seventh and eighth gradersis preparing to conclude in early 2006. Without clear statistical evidence pointing in either direction, critics have emphasized cases of student misuse of the laptops, though laptop use outside of the classroom has also facilitated many positive activities, such as playing educational math games and writing fiction stories, according to MaineToday.com.
The program is one of the largest in the country using Apple computers, with 34,000 student laptops and 3,000 for teachers. Over the course of the four years and 37,000 laptops, only 100 have been lost or stolen and only 3.3% have been damaged. The students appear to be using the hardware quite responsibly, as most people would think more than 3.3% of laptops given to 34,000 middle school students for daily use would be damaged. Unfortunately, it's hard to measure the benefit of increased student interest in learning because of laptops, or to measure the benefit of having students grow up well-versed in using computers.
QuickerTek Announces PowerBook Transceiver and PC Card Bundle
QuickerTek, makers of many accessories for improving and extending wireless coverage, have released a new 250mW PowerBook transceiver and PC card bundle. The $250 bundle offers the latest 802.11g Buffalo PC Card with a very-portable transceiver to clip to your PowerBook, making previously-unusable wireless networks fast and strong. More information on the card and transceiver can be found at the QuickerTek website.
Thursday, October 6th 2005
Update: "One more thing..." Event to Feature Updated PowerBooks
After whetting our appetite yesterday, Think Secret today posted a second article on the details of Apple's October 12th event. Previously giving only the information that the PowerBooks would, in fact, be updated, Think Secret has now suggested that we can finally expect those higher-resolution LCDs on the 15" and 17" PowerBooks after months of rumors, with 15% more pixels expected on the new displays. The 12" PowerBook could move to a widescreen, although TS suspects this won't happen until next year.
Beyond the display improvements, DDR2 memory and a modest upgrade from the 7447A G4 to the 7448 G4 processor are expected to roudn out the performance increases.
Reader Mail: Insuring Your PowerBook
Reader Peter sent in the following a couple days ago:
I got only a short question: Do you know where I could get a cheap insurance for my 17" Powerbook?
This is one of those questions we receive all the time, particularly around this time of year and Christmas, as that's when students are going off to college with thousands of dollars of computer equipment and when a lot of people are making laptop purchases. While we have (knock on wood) not had take advantage of our computer insurance, the big name is Safeware, which can insure a variety of computers and electronics. In our own experience, the premiums are quite reasonable, and we've heard they're easy to deal with when disaster does strike.
Have a question that needs answering? Email us at editor (at) pbzone.com
Wednesday, October 5th 2005
Apple Event to Introduce New PowerBooks?
There are next to no details, but Think Secret is reporting that Apple will release updated PowerBooks and PowerMacs on October 12. If you haven't heard, Apple recently sent invitations to select media to an event for October 12, with the words "One more thing..." printed on them. Most speculation, of course, focused on video iPods and/or a video download service to expand the iTunes Music Store. Despite the lack of information on what the updates will consist of, we're inclined to say that we will, in fact, see updated PowerBooks on October 12, if for no other reason than that Think Secret's track record has been generally impeccable. Considering the attention Apple is focusing on this event with the suggestive invitations, we're extremely excited to see what's worthy of such hype. Still, keep your fingers crossed and your hopes in check, as there are no guarantees here.
Tuesday, October 4th 2005
Upbeat Audio Releases Boostaroo Revolution
The people over at Upbeat Audio let us know about their new portable amplifier, the Boostaroo Revolution. The amplifier runs off two AAAA batteries, which yield approximately 20 hours of battery life, while weighing only six ounces (with batteries). Just cracking three cubic inches in size, the Booster Revolution really is quite tiny and not too bulky for just about any activity or traveling.
While targeted at everything from portable DVD players to motorcyclists, the Booster Revolution is nice for PowerBook and iBook users who are looking for more volume out of their headphones or external speakers, or the Booster Revolution also can support two sets of headphones for shared listening to music or movie watching. We can certainly imagine a lot of people being interested in the $80 device just for sharing DVDs on airplanes and road trips.
The Booster Revolution is available now from Boostaroo.com, while other retailers will be getting them in later this month.
MCE SuperDrive Upgrade: Readers Respond
We wrote last month on the MCE SuperDrive upgrade for PowerBook G4 owners looking to add DVD burning to their repertoire. We took a look at what people were saying around the web about the upgrade, which was generally quite positive. One PBZone reader wrote in with their own thoughts on the upgrade:
I purchased and installed a MCE SuperDrive upgrade for a 1Ghz PowerBook Ti about 6 months ago. The installation went without any real problem. Instructions were pretty clear. I was running 10.3.x at the time and now am running 10.3.9. The drive itself is a Pioneer DVR-K04L; iDVD and Toast 6 had no problem recognizing the drive, no need for PatchBurn.IMHO, the drive is unspectacular. iTunes rip speed I don't have a good way to judge, but to rip a CD the max conversion is about 10-12x (to 128 bit MP3 format).
It is very finicky on the media used. I have a variety of DVD-Rs (since I had the original superdrive), mainly Ritek and Optodisk, some Memorex and TDK. I have had varying results. Although some of the disks are "rated" at 8X write speed, Toast reports back that it will only write at 6X speed. Using Toast and write speed of Best or 6X, the real world write speed is no better than 4X. I have recently acquired some DVD-R 16X discs, but haven't had the chance to see if this makes a difference. I've used some TDK 8X and Toast reports that it can write at 8X, the real world time is still only 4X.
Trying to use Toast set at the Best write speed can lead to bad burns. Usually, if I set the burn speed to 1 less than the maximum reported (that is if Toast reports a 6X burn speed, I set it to 4X), then I haven't seen a problem in the final disc. If I try Best or maximum burn speed, there is a high probability that an error will occur during verification. This seems to be a problem for iDVD since burning directly to a DVD-R has yielded unplayable discs. Using work arounds, I usually burn to a -RW disc to check things out before using Toast to burn to a final -R disk. More cumbersome, but no coasters.
As for DVD-RW, I have only 1X and 2X material. 1X material seems to burn just fine (although slow). The 2X material seems to burn OK when Toast is distinctly set for 2X burn speed, rather than "Best". Discs burned at "Best" speed work just fine in computers, but when I try to play it in commercial DVD players, video breaks up and they are unplayable. I'm looking into 4X -RW, but haven't gotten any yet.
I haven't tried any +R/RW material, although I recently bought a couple of +R DL discs. Haven't tried those yet.
MCE provides the drive and instructions. Using OS X, you don't need any other drivers. For the tinkerer, there are disassembly guides, which are equally easy to follow as the MCE instructions, and there times when I've seen this particular drive for $100 on specials, at that price I think that it is a nice upgrade over the older 2X superdrives. At $200, it is pretty expensive, my questions/comments to tech support were replied in an efficient manner, not instantly or overly slow, just OK.
Would I buy this again? My original superdrive seemed to be getting flaky on me, so I went after the upgrade versus a direct replacement. As I said, for $200, it is expensive for what you get (essentially the bare drive and instructions). With prices for the bare drive at 1/2 the cost and guides available, I would question whether or not to pay extra for the MCE company name.
Site News and Notes
We've updated the archives to mark the move to October, so if you've missed any recent news, it'll be waiting for you there.
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