(Note: on 11/16/2000, Gamer's Depot has an Interview with ATI's CEO. ATI's CEO comments on Nvidia's GeForce2GO notebook chip power use and availabilty, as well as their own M6 Mobilty chip. The M6 is based on the Radeon and has already been shown to some OEMs he said. )
[Update - In fall 2001, Apple's PowerBook G4/550 and 667Mhz models began to use the Radeon Mobility graphics chip with 16MB of DDR video ram. See the Systems page, PowerBook section for an article on the PowerBook G4/667, including a performance comparison to the Toshiba notebook using the GeForce2GO graphics chip.]

High End PowerBook:
• Either a 700+MHz G3 (IBM version w/on-die L2 cache) or less likely, a G4 chip version if lower-power G4s are available)
• GeForce2GO chip with 32MB of DDR RAM *OR*
   nbsp;ATI M6 (Radeon) Mobility with 32MB
   nbsp;(Considering drivers and power use, ATI's chip may be more likely)
• 15 inch LCD screen
• Integrated Firewire Camera, allowing 640x480 capture
  (mounted like the Sony picturebook's camera but perhaps also detachable)
• Thinner design than current models, but not sacrificing a good keyboard
• Dual Firewire of course, large hard drive, etc.
• Combo DVD/CDRW drive (at least as an option)
  
  Compact PowerBook:
• IBM G3 Chip w/on-die Cache (500mhz or better)
• GeForce2GO chip (perhaps with 16MB DDR RAM) or
    ATI M6 (Radeon) Mobility with 16MB
• Integrated Firewire Camera
• 12 inch LCD (10.4" screens are just too small in my opinion)
• 1 inch or so thickness, but with powered firewire ports and a better keyboard than PC subcompacts like the Sony SR17. (See my mini-review of the SR17 for why I think it's just too small in some areas like the keyboard)

I really think the timing is right for Jobs to really steal the show as far as portables; with the combination of IBM's faster G3 chips and the GeForce2GO chip coming to market. It could be a very interesting year ahead.

" Apple today announced a $500 Price Drop on the Old and New PowerBook 500. The rebate ($200 mail in) is also still good on both units. Here is the new Price structure:

A102 1751 Old PB 500 (A102 1761 Memory SKU)- was $3299 before rebate, now $2799 ($2599 after mail in rebate).

A102 1840 New PB 500 (A102 1858 Memory SKU)- was $3495 before rebate, now $2995 ($2795 after rebate).

A102 1940 - The Instant rebate SKU is now $2849 ($2649 after mail in rebate).

Marc Panzella
Pacific Business Systems, Inc.
Home of ClubMac
(800) 899-2447 x4784 "

I can see the rumor sites headlines now - "Apple clears way for new Powerbooks due at MWSF" (or similar).
[For reviews and articles on later powerbook models, see the Systems page, Powerbook section.]

I could kick myself for not suggesting this before, since minimum disk cache size settings (Memory Control Panel) were noted in the past here as a tip for video capture with older macs (listed in the Fuse card review and as boosting capture rates by 3x with my PB G3 wallstreet in MotoDV a year or two ago). Reader Karl Keefer said setting the disk cache to less than 1MB (1024K) fixed the audio dropouts he had with a PCI IDE card (Turbomax ATA/33). [Note - two readers later reported this tip did not help (8500 owner with PCI IDE card in slot nearest CPU, and a 7500 owner). The 8500 owner noted VM on, I suggested trying with VM off to see if that mattered.]

Although not all older mac owners with PCI IDE cards report audio/video stuttering problems, it's very, very common (has been since the first Mac PCI IDE card reviewed here in spring 1999). Pre-Beige G3 macs were originally listed as not suitable for A/V use with PCI IDE cards/drives. (The A/V issues are also common with older macs and PCI SCSI cards over the years, still noted in the FAQ along with the fix; reducing the card clock speed to 14mhz or less.)

I recently switched my S900 back over to SCSI while trying (unsuccessfully) to get OS X beta to install, but want to test this with that system as soon as possible. In the meantime, if any older mac (Pre-Beige G3 system) owners with PCI IDE cards try the low disk cache setting tip, let me know if it cures your A/V playback problems from the IDE drive. Please include your system, IDE card and drive details.

" Hi Mike,
I did a little more troubleshooting on the "missing resolutions" mystery this weekend. Turns out that disabling the ATI ROM Xtender extension restores the previously available resolutions. I'm not really sure what this extension does as Diablo 2 still has RAVE and OpenGLSome available after disabling it.

Also, readers may not be aware that if you hold down the Ctrl key when accessing the resolutions in the control strip, it will bring up many more resolutions, some which may or may not be available depending on the monitor capabilities.
Mike "

The previous tip noted in Thursday's News was using utilities like the freeware Griffin resolution switcher. I've added this tip to the Radeon 1.0 Driver Update Feedback page as well as another reader using the old trick of leaving the monitor off until after the system powers up.

" Hi Mike,
Well I am an apple tech and also a die hard strike force fan, (our clan is #1!). update 436 for unreal tournament seems to really mess with strike force. What happens in the first round with the patch installed, is that you appear as a bleeding ghost and see your body from a 3rd person perspective.

Well, the only remedy for that at this point is to reconnect after starting the first round, everything should be fine after that. After the first round, it will not happen again until you connect to a different map. Hopefully that will help. (I am assuming that you are running strike force 1.5 beta since you can get into the game).

Well if you see someone on the strike force server named ICE-penGuin thats me, i will give you a hand customizing it.
Regards,
Edward Yim
ps. version 1.6 should fix that problem according to the strike force programmers. "

" Hey Mike,
I have a Umax S900 with a TurboMax ATA/66 card and Maxtor 36.5gb drive. I was also unable to get this to work, but now I'm glad I didn't throw away the previous firmware update. I was able to startup on my rescue zip disk and revert back to the old firmware without losing anything. I suggest that no one use this update, unless they want to put a day away for trouble shooting as I did.
Kyle Kost
P.S. Do you think that Acard or TurboMax will make an update that makes IDE drives connected to their cards readable under Mac OS X or Linux?"

Only Acard could answer that one, but I suspect they will have to make an OS X compatible firmware update available eventually, otherwise once OS X ships the lack of compatibility would affect sales I'd think (depending on how popular OS X is of course).
[Update - Acard ATA/66 and Sonnet Tempo ATA/66 cards (as well as the Turbomax ATA/66 - all based on the Acard) are OS X retail version compatible. See the IDE articles page, controllers section for a page of owner feedback on OS X with IDE cards. VST's IDE card however was not noted as compatible with OS X.]

Combo DVD ROM/CDRW Drives:
• IDE Ricoh MP9120A in Dual G4
  (noted it was not bootable)
• IDE Ricoh MP9120A in G4/AGP
  (notes some audio cd issues)
  
  DVD ROM Drives:
• IDE Hitachi GD-3000 in B&W G3
• IDE Toshiba SM-1402 (12x/40x) in Beige G3
  (notes drive was bootable)
  
  CDRW Drives:
• IDE Plextor 12/10/32A in G4/AGP
  (not bootable, noted errors in Jam 2.6)
• SCSI HP 9200+ external w/PB G3 lombard
  (not bootable)
• USB Philips DCRW 400 w/iMac (rage128 pro model)
• SCSI Smart & Friendly CD-RW12432 w/Powercenter
• Firewire Sony CRX1600L-A2 (12x/8x/32x) w/B&W G3
• IDE Yamaha 8424EZ in G4/AGP
  (noted using OS 8.5 CD/DVD extension, not OS 9's)
• SCSI Yamaha 8824S external w/9600
• SCSI Yamaha CRW8824SZ in PowerTower/Pro
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE IBM 75GXP 30GB in G4/AGP
  (see this guide)
• IDE Maxtor 46GB in B&W G3 rev 1 w/PCI IDE card
• SCSI Seagate Cheetah 4.5GB (external) w/8500 and PB G3 Firewire
• Firewire 80GB (Electric dogs?) w/PowerTower Pro
  (filed under 'other brand')
• Firewire Western Digital 30GB w/Beige G3 (w/Apple Firewire card)
  (notes very very low performance)

You can find these full reports by searching the database with the drive/brand/mac models listed above selected (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database.

• Bottom Line Railgun G3/300 in 9600/200 (rated 10)
• OEM G3/466 ZIF in Beige G3 (rated 10)
  (under "other brands" category)
• Powerlogix G3/350 in 8500 (rated 10)
• XLR8 CarrierZIF w/Sonnet G3/500 ZIF in 8550 (rated 10)
• XLR8 G3/233 in PowerCurve (rated 10)
  
  
• iMac G3/333 OC report
• Beige G3/266 OC report
• B&W G3/350 OC report

You can find these full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database of over 4,700 entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand)

Software Updates:

• Rapster 1.0b14 (direct download link)
• Resonator v1.01b (VST Plug in)
• VST Flash Media Reader v1.0 (direct download link)
• Handspring Visor v1.1 [For Visor Platinum & Visor Prism](direct download link)
• XLR8 Point & Scroll v1.2.0 (1.2 was posted some time back, not sure what 1.2.0 changes are)

Apple TILs:
• Final Cut Pro: Avoiding Rendering of Audio Clips When Using Filters
• Final Cut Pro: Field Dominance Discussion
• Final Cut Pro: Viewing DV Video out of an NTSC or PAL Monitor
• Final Cut Pro: Properly Configuring the Sequence Settings
• WebObjects Current Patch List
  
  CIP Movies (Customer Installable Parts)
  
• Cube
• iMAC (Original)
• iBook
• PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze Keyboard)
• Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
• PowerBook G3 Series
• iMac (Slot-Loading)
• PowerBook (FireWire)

Mac News: (Note: Regurgitated press releases, etc. are not listed)

• Apple embarks on MacOS X for Intel project (the register)
• NVIDIA GeForce2Go Mobile Graphics Chip (Not exactly Mac news, but like the Geforce2 MX, it's mac compatible as far as biendian support, with the right drivers and firmware of course. More details are at this Nvidia page. Cnet also mentions the chip possibly being used in Macs, noting announcements may come from Steve Jobs. The main news page has notes on my 2 dream PowerBooks I'd like to see next year with the GeForce2GO (and other features)-Mike.)
• Return of the Mac, new and improved (independent)
• Apple Is Back In Business (techweb)
• Steve Jobs Website (geocities?)
• First Aqua Replacement Available: Themes a Reality (osx talk)

Gaming:
• Arcade-game boost for Macs (macworld UK)
• CroMag Rally Demo (includes OpenGL 1.2.1 as noted on game news page)