MacBook Pro vs G4 Powerbook…Soon

I know this is going to seem like a no-brainer comparison, but it seems (myself included) many people are making the jump from PowerPC to Intel with the recently refreshed MacBook Pros. I also want to find out for myself what the differences may be between the 2. As you may have noticed if you have been with me for a while is that I like to do comparisons of things. Of course, other than XBench, I probably won’t be doing all the standard benchmark tests other people do. I’ll run World of Warcraft on both and render some stuff in Final Cut Express, convert some files in iTunes, stuff I tend to do on a regular basis.

However, as of right now my status is marked as “Not yet shipped.” It seems that if you bought one of the new notebooks with a build to order opetion of any kind, you were placed on the lowest part of the totem pole as far as shipping goes. I didn’t even get an option for next day shipping when I added the remote. But once I get it and spend a few days with it, be assured that I will get my comparison out for ya.

I’m curious as to what you think about the refreshes, if you bought one or if you will wait until June which is looking like when the next refresh will be to the Centrino 2 Montevina platform.

Out at Last, Out at Last!!

After all the worrying and rumors going on yesterday, Apple has officially updated their MacBook and MacBook Pros. Both are running until Intel’s Penryn system. However the MBP was the more fortunate receiver of gifts this time around.

The MacBook Pro now has a baseline of 2.4GHz up to 2.6GHZ. The 17″ also received the LED display. Unlike the MacBook, the MBP received the multi-touch trackpad and to top it off, 256MB video card minimum with the option to bump up to 512 although the model remains the same, Nvidia 8600GT. Hard drive sized begin at 200GB with up to 300GB. The RAM remains the same. Nothing above 4GB.

I ordered mine a few minutes ago. Got the baseline which is world’s apart from my Powerbook G4 with only 80GB of HD space and 1.25GB RAM. I plan on slapping 4GB of RAM into it soon. I couldn’t justify $500 to go with the 512MB video card and I could have gotten the 250HD with that as well but I don’t think I will be needing that much. Hopefully I won’t be proven wrong on either end anytime soon hah!

So here’s to good news, but if you have any complaints like lack of case redesign or no new keyboard, please let me know. Also I wanna hear your thoughts on the MacBook which saw minimal updates.

Is Tomorrow the Day? UPDATEx2

Looprumors and MacRumors are both reporting we may finally see new MacBook Pros tomorrow February 27th. As of the most recent update three new model numbers have appeared in Best Buy inventory with current prices. Predicted updates are Penryn chips LED screens for all models and multi-touch trackpads. However, I’m a little leery on the trackpads. I think that will come with an eventual design overhaul to the system which will also include the MacBook Air keyboard.

My main desires are penryn processors and new video cards. Time capsule is also expected to be shipping this week but that will most likely not coincide with whatever Tuesday announcement will be made. I’ll update as any other news becomes available. Keep your fingers crossed. Don’t forget we can just as easily see an iMac or Mac Mini update instead.

UPDATE: AppleInsider is reporting to have confirmed new model numbers and prices through Apple and its Best Buy channel.

UPDATE 2: While not official, this could crush the dreams of many:

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/02/25/macbooks-not-macbook-pros-on-tuesday/

I’m just going to leave it at that for now.

The Last Minute MacBook Pro?

Tuesday February 19th brought us a couple surprises. One of which was the $49 iPod Shuffle with a soon to be released 2GB version for $69. I have an iPod Video, an iPhone and a 1GB shuffle and I have always said, the shuffle is by far Apple’s best iPod, especially if you’re on the go. I wear mine to the gym all the time and you can barely tell you’re wearing it. It won very high marks for me when I ran it through the wash and once it dried and charged, worked perfectly. If it broke or I lost it, I wouldn’t hesitate to replace it immediately especially at twice the space for $69. The other release today was Xsan 2 which I know absolutely nothing about so I’m not going to pretend to be excited or disappointed about this.

What wasn’t a surprise today was the total lack of new MacBook Pros. It seems like our last chance for a soon release will be Next Tuesday February 26th…IF there is an event. An event is a more likely place to announce new MBP’s than a news feed. If it doesn’t happen next week…I have absolutely no idea or hope left for us until WWDC. There is some concern now, we won’t see an update until summer when Intel releases their Montevina processors. This is something I hypothesized about before with the Penryn only being a stop-gap until then if it ever does get released. 

So what’s another week, right? Well if it doesn’t happen are you going to wait? Are you going to even switch to PC….blasphemy I know. Towards the end of 2007, people began to wonder if 2008 would be the year Apple fans would turn on their beloved company. Pitchfork march on 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino anyone?

Another Tuesday, No MacBook Pro

The Apple store went down again yesterday, Tuesday February 5, 2008…but only in the US and Canada. Many people thought we might just get the new MacBook Pro but what we did get was a 16GB iPhone and a 32GB iPod Touch. Until the store goes down across the world, there will be no MacBook Pro update so keep your fingers crossed for a worldwide Internet inconvenience. So what does all this mean?

Well, with the iPhone SDK coming out this month, people will need more space for apps, although I think and hope the 4GB will continue to do its job. Most 3rd party apps now are rarely over 1MB. Either way, the whole ordeal is not greasing my gears. What’s confusing is, why this couldn’t have been announced 3 weeks ago at MacWorld. It’s such a small bump that it could have been a top headline in the keynote and wouldn’t have outshined the MacBook Air? Maybe it wasn’t ready? Neither was AppleTV Take 2, and it’s still not ready.

The status of the MacBook Pro leaves us with more confusion. The Penryn chips are available and being shipped for other notebooks from other companies so why not for Apple’s notebook lineup? Well according to Intel’s roadmap, the Montevina chips are due in Q2 which would put the release beginning in March but for Apple more around NAB or WWDC. Remember the iPhone was released at the VERY end of Q2 of ‘07. By then this would qualify for a total overhaul of the system, but the possibility does arise that Apple will release a Penryn MacBook Pro only as a stopgap until the Montevina, kinda how the Intel Core Duo was before the Intel Core 2 Duo. It simply made the transition happen sooner.

In the end, if Apple does release a Penryn model anytime soon without overhauling other areas, it will be quickly outdone by the Montevina. So if you see a Penryn MacBook Pro soon without any other changes, just wait until NAB or WWDC, if you can. I’ll give it my best shot. So far Apple has released updates every Tuesday of this year. Mac Pro, Macbook Air, pink iPod, application updates, and iPhone/iPod touch updates. Time will have to creep up on the MacBook Pro eventually if Apple keeps up this pace. Of course 10.5.2 will be out before then as well.