New chips, new notebooks

by Volker Weber

Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz processor (Intel Yonah processor)
2GB RAM 533/677
15.4" WXGA screen
Seagate 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
ATI Radeon X1600 512MB
DVD-DL Burner
Built-in 1.3 Mega pixel camera, with 225-degree swivel ability
New Intel Pro wireless 3945 a/b/g
Approximately 6 hours of batterylife (87W 7800mAH)

Apple, that is what you have to beat with a new Powerbook, if you don't want to be outdone by Acer.

Comments

Sounds quite a bit like the Acer laptop I just bought my son, although a bit more RAM and hard drive. Not a bad machine, so far.

Ben Langhinrichs, 2006-01-04

First of all I have to qualify the comment I am going to make.

I started many years ago on a Mac and was dancing when they released the Mac II Fx and I could finally retire the Mac II which I started on. I worked several years on the Mac always getting the lates and greatest. I went all the way to the point where Mac Clones where allowed and got myself 2 Clones from Daystar (Daystar Genesis) ... after the cloning was stoped by apple I personally stoped using a Mac.

In my current job I administer Macs, PCs and Linux machines.

I have been waiting for the day that others on this planet are allowed to build machines running the Mac OS.

So, here is my actual comment.

I think that as soon as Mac OS runs on Intel Hardware they will no longer be the leader of the pack. It may not be Acer, but definatly not Apple.

Steffen Gutermann, 2006-01-04

Mac OS X does run on Intel Hardware already ;-)

And I am still waiting for an internal 15K rpm harddrive solution for notebooks.
A notebook which you can place only with its edge on the table and the centrifugal force will keep it from falling.

Well I think I have to wait until hell finally hits zero kelvin.

In my opinion the average read/write seek times are still the main bottleneck on notebooks.

Martin Schroers, 2006-01-04

Wouldn't that be the gyroscopical force, Martin?

Andrew Magerman, 2006-01-04

1. The battery life sounds like a lie.
2. Noise as if you were on the airport field.
3. You may need no heating anymore.
4. 5 kg at least

Why should you need such a graphic card and such a processor in a MOBILE device?


Steffen, I've seen MacOSX working on a Thinkpad T42 - quite nice ;-)

Martin Hiegl, 2006-01-04

Martin, as Google will tell you, 6.6lbs equals roughly 3kg. This I wouldn't call too bad for a notebook equipped like that.

Stefan Rubner, 2006-01-04

You're right, Stefan - remarkable for this equipment.

But the noise and the heat are probably not that good.
And I'm still sure 6 hours are only possible with all things (light, wlan, processor "pulsing", ...) down and no working.
With all things on maximum I give it no two hours.

I'm still dreaming of a (sub-)notebook with 6 to 10 hours on all maximum, adequate equipment and affordable price.

Martin Hiegl, 2006-01-04

Martin - thanks. I didn't know that this was official. I will have to give that a try as soon as I have some time.

Is there somewhere a listing of what OS version will run with what type of hardware?

Steffen Gutermann, 2006-01-04

Oh stop, don't misunderstand me ... "official" is not the right word I think. It was just no problem to install and use it ;-)
The only thing that didn't work was the wlan driver.
"Officialy" there is still a barrier for installing on non-apple hardware.
http://www.osx86project.org/ can tell you more.

Martin Hiegl, 2006-01-04

Hm, since the TDP of the Core Duo isn't that bad, my guess would be that the majority of heat dissipation as well as the battery drainage will come from the ATI graphics. So by using an other graphics board, 6 to 10 hours of use should be possible as long as Bluetooth and WLAN aren't used continously. Having said that, I agree that 6 hours of battery life sound a bit far fetched for a product as outlined above. Since my travelling is more ground bound these days I however don't care as much about battery run time as I once did. For the moment, 4 hours are more than good enough for me.

Stefan Rubner, 2006-01-04

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