Re: G3's, G4's, Altivec, DVD's, iBooks, and TiBooks

[Michel Dänzer <daenzer@debian.org>]

On Tue, 2001-10-23 at 11:17, Branden Robinson wrote:
> I read with interest the discussion of how there will "never" be good
> DVD playback on iBooks under Linux.
> 
> However, this discussion predated the iBook 2001.
> 
> The new higher-end iBooks have:
> 
> * a 600 MHz G3
> * a 100 MHz system bus
> 
> Most everything else looks to be the same as the iBook2 (same amount of
> L2 cache, same video chipset and RAM).
> 
> The iBook 2001 appeals strongly to me over the TiBook because:
> 
> 1) it's MUCH cheaper
> 2) there is a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW option available for it!
>    (It completely blows my mind that this isn't an option on the TiBook.)

Probably there is no such combo drive slim enough for the TiBook?

> 3) it's smaller
> 
> However, I don't want to hear that I'm not going to be able to watch
> DVD's in real time under Linux on even a 600 MHz G3.  That may be the
> case, though.
> 
> How about it?  Is the speed increase enough to make a difference? 

It might be. On this good ol' PowerBook with a 400 Mhz G3, about a third
of the frames are skipped or dropped. And as the software seems to be
improving rather quickly in this area, the new iBooks might soon be well
enough for smooth DVD playback.

> Or should I just wait another 6 months for Apple to cycle the hardware
> again?

There will be even better models in a year and so on, so you could as
well just let it be. ;)


For me it's now or never, I'll go for a new TiBook as soon as I have the
money.


-- 
Earthling Michel Dänzer (MrCooper)/ Debian GNU/Linux (powerpc) developer
XFree86 and DRI project member   /  CS student, Free Software enthusiast