Apple Supersizes, Shrinks PowerBooks
Tuesday during his keynote speech at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced 17-inch and 12-inch models of the company's stylish PowerBook notebook.
The new PowerBooks sport an aluminum alloy casing -- instead of the titanium found in previous models -- that is scratch and stain resistant, and are bundled with QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition.
Apple has given wireless connectivity a boost in the PowerBook. The new models both have integrated Bluetooth, for wireless connections to devices such as cell phones and PDAs. In addition to improved Wi-Fi reception matching Apple's iBook line, the PowerBooks now include support for Airport Extreme, Apple's implementation of the new 54Mbps 802.11g standard.
Weighing 6.8 pounds and just one inch thick when closed, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes a 1GHz G4 processor with 1MB of L3 cache and a 64MB NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go graphics chipset. The notebook features the same widescreen display as on the 17-inch iMac, with a resolution of 1440x900.
The 17-inch PowerBook is the first product to include FireWire 800 connectivity, doubling the previous speed of FireWire to 800Mbps.
One unique feature of the new 17-inch model is the fiber optic backlit keyboard. Two light sensors on the case are used to automatically adjust the brightness of the display and the keyboard based on the amount of light in the area. This model, which includes 512MB of PC2700 DDR RAM, a 60GB hard drive, SuperDrive and Airport Extreme card, will be available in February for $3,299 USD.
Slated for late January availability, the 12-inch PowerBook G4 is the smallest notebook Apple has ever released. Slightly smaller than the 12-inch iBook and weighing only 4.6 pounds, it features an 867MHz G4 processor and a 12.1-inch display running at 1024x768. This model includes a 40GB hard drive, 256MB of PC2100 DDR RAM, a 32MB GeForce4 420 Go graphics card and a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for $1,799 USD. A version featuring the SuperDrive is available for $1,999 USD.