Anyone up on the latest Apple gossip? Are they planning to release a new spate of computers in the near future (in time for Xmas, etc.)?
I ask b/c I’m thinking of buying an iBook… but I wonder if I should wait a few months (to see if they drop prices dramatically again when they introduce new computers).
The Better Half wishes to point out that historically the best time to buy computers has been between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The manufacturers bring out the big shiny specials in October, but if you wait until after Thanksgiving, that’s when the retailers start panicking about unsold inventory and dropping the prices.
However, he says that this year, with everything being so weird, all bets are off, although a slumping economy is also usually a time when you can pick up some good bargains on computer stuff.
According to a blurb on http://www.tech-report.com about a month ago (which I cannot now find), it appears as if Motorola has finally jumped the hurdles it needed to jump in order to bring a fast CPU to Apple. A 1.4 GHz processor appears to be on the way Real Soon Now ™.
If nothing else, a 1.4 G Apple will finally offer the opportunity for geeks to attempt to confirm or debunk the mutterings from the Reality Distortion Field which claim that the Apple is faster than any other processor at identical speeds. Actually, whatever the results are they will be disputed by either the Intel-igencia or the Mac-olytes, depending on which appears to do better.
I’m just happy to see Apple coming within 1000 MHz of the fastest desktop processors, which is probably where they’ll be by the time the new chip is released.
Apple has always been secretive about their new products and when (and if) they will launch them.
Sites like MacOS Rumors and Apple Insider get a lot of inside information and rumors, and also a lot of deliberate misinformation. So I wouldn’t trust anything you read there completely.
The current iMacs and PowerMacs will probably remain unchanged until MacWorld San Francisco in January.
Most rumor hounds are pretty well convinced that the PowerBooks will be updated sometime this month with a DVD/CDR combo drive and faster processors. Some seem to think that the iBooks will be updated at the same time, but I think this is much less certain.
A extremely funny site that occasionally posts rumors is http://www.appleturns.com. You could maybe even call them The Onion of the Mac Web. Anyway, they’ll probably have the dirt on October releases in the next few days. And if they don’t, well, it’s still a damned funny website.
The signs are pretty clear that new iBook and TiBook models are coming almost immediately. Dealers report that these models are marked end-of-life and are being cleared out of the channel. Or at least, that is what is being reported at http://macosrumors.com
The speculation is that the Powerbook G4 is being reworked to include a CDRW/DVD drive and faster processors. Nobody knows what is in store for the iBook, probably just a slight speed increase, since it is a very new model in most other respects.
As far as other rumors, it is believed that Apple is preparing to release G5 desktop machines running at speeds between 1.2Ghz and 1.6Ghz available before the end of the year.