Apple Unveils 17-inch PowerBook G4

Apple unveiled the 17-inch PowerBook(r) G4, the world's firstnotebook computer with a 17-inch display, the largest ever in anotebook. Encased in a durable aluminum alloy enclosure, the newPowerBook measures 1in. thick and weighs 6.8lbs. The new 17-inchPowerBook G4 is also the first notebook to offer built-in AirPortExtreme 54Mbps 802.11g wireless networking, new high-speed FireWire800, a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, and built-inBluetooth for wirelessly connecting to cell phones and other Bluetoothequipped peripherals.

"Apple's taking another giant leap beyond PC notebooks with theworld's first 17-inch notebook, miraculously engineered into anultra-light aluminum alloy enclosure that's only 1-inch thin," saidSteve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Many users are going to wonder why they evenneed a desktop computer anymore."

The 17-inch PowerBook delivers the screen space and performancepreviously found only in desktop computer systems. The 17-inch screendisplays 1440x900 super-crisp pixels in a widescreen 16:10 aspectratio. The 17-inch PowerBook is the most powerful Apple portable everwith a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, new high-speed architecture, fastNVIDIA graphics and a slot-loading SuperDrive for playing and burningCDs and DVDs. Housed in a lightweight, durable aluminum alloy enclosurejust 1-inch thin and weighing only 6.8 pounds, the new model is thethinnest Apple notebook ever.

The 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes a fiber-optic backlit keyboard, aswell as ambient light sensors that control the brightness of thedisplay and automatically regulate the keyboard backlighting. In lowlight, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 automatically illuminates the backlitkeyboard and lowers the display brightness, reducing eye strain andextending battery life. As light levels increase, the displaybrightness is readjusted automatically, and the keyboard backlightingis turned off. This truly integrated display and lighting solution isan industry first, and will be warmly greeted by professionals whospend long hours in front of computer screens in low lightconditions.

The 17-inch PowerBook G4 has both AirPort Extreme and Bluetoothwireless networking built in. AirPort Extreme is based on the new802.11g standard and transmits data wirelessly at up to 54Mbps--almostfive times the data rate of previous wireless technologies--yet isfully compatible with the millions of 802.11b devices in use around theworld. Built-in Bluetooth provides wireless connections toBluetooth-enabled peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs. Apple's newiSync software is included, so customers can automatically synchronizeaddress books and calendars between Macs and Bluetooth-capable cellphones.

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes a full complement of I/Oports, including two powered FireWire ports, one FireWire 400 port andone FireWire 800 port so customers can quickly transfer uncompresseddigital video to high-capacity storage devices. And, it continues to bethe only notebook to offer built-in Gigabit Ethernet(10/100/1000BASE-T).

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 offers 1MB of level 3 cache and 512MBof fast Double Data Rate (DDR) memory running at 333 MHz. The new17-inch PowerBook G4 comes with the NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go graphicsprocessor and 64MB of dedicated video memory capable of delivering 880million textured pixels per second and advanced transform andlighting.

Pre-installed on every 17-inch PowerBook G4, "Jaguar" enhances themobile experience with unique features including Instant On, whichwakes the PowerBook from sleep in just one second; AutomaticNetworking, which automatically switches the network connectionsbetween Ethernet, 802.11 and modem; and advanced power managementthrough Energy Saver Profiles for industry-leading battery life. Everynew PowerBook G4 includes Apple's iLife applications, an integratedsuite of award-winning software including iTunes 3 for managing digitalmusic, iPhoto 2 for organizing and sharing digital photos, iMovie 3 fordigital movie making, and iDVD 3 for creating and burningHollywood-style DVDs.

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is expected to be available in Februarythrough the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple's retail stores andApple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $3,299(US).