By Bob LeVitus
If you haven't been following Apple news
closely you've probably missed a lot of new product announcements.
Over the past couple of weeks, Apple has introduced a plethora
of new and updated products including a new 15-inch PowerBook model, faster 12 and 17 inch PowerBooks, faster iMacs,
higher-capacity iPods, and a wireless Bluetooth keyboard
and mouse.
The biggest news had to be the introduction of a new batch
of PowerBook notebook computers earlier this week at the
world famous Apple Expo in Paris, France. As you may recall,
Apple introduced 12 and 17-inch aluminum PowerBook models
earlier this year, but the 15 inch model was not updated
at that time. The Mac community has spent the months since
that introduction speculating when we might finally see
aluminum 15-inchers and Steve Jobs gave the answer in Paris
on Tuesday.
The new 15-inch aluminum PowerBook G4 incorporates most
of the nifty new PowerBook features introduced with the
17-inch PowerBook in January—backlit keyboard with ambient
light sensors (unfortunately, optional on the lower-priced
system), FireWire 800, USB
2.0, and Gigabit Ethernet, plus
support for AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth (both optional),
and trades the old titanium case for a sleek new aluminum
enclosure. Other changes include a larger (512KB) on-chip
level 2 cache (but no level 3 cache); an ATI Mobility Radeon
9600 video subsystem with 64MB of DDR VRAM; bigger hard
drives (up to 80GB); and support for up to 2GB of RAM (up
from 1GB in previous model).
The 15-inch PowerBook is available in two configurations,
with 1.0Ghz or 1.25Ghz G4 processors, priced at $1,999
and $2,599 respectively.
The 17-inch PowerBook received a speed bump to 1.33Ghz,
and a $300 price reduction to $2,999.
The 12-inch PowerBook received a speed bump to 1.0Ghz
and built-in support for Apple flat-screen displays, with
prices starting at $1,599.
But wait! There's more! Apple also introduced the Apple
Wireless Keyboard and Wireless
Mouse, new Bluetooth-based
input devices said to provide reliable performance at up
to 30 feet with secure 128-bit, over-the-air encryption
and Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) software that eliminates
interference between Bluetooth devices and other wireless
networks and devices. Both feature advanced power management
that automatically switches to low power modes during inactivity
and can also be turned off when not in use.
Those were the two big announcements from Paris, but that's
not all the news from Apple. Last week they announced new
20GB and 40GB models of the best-selling iPod digital music
player. The new 40GB iPod can hold up to 10,000 songs (that's
roughly a month of non-stop listening), but is lighter
and thinner than two audio CDs. The 10GB model remains
priced at $299; the new 20GB model is $399; and the new
40GB model is $499.
Also last week, Apple announced a new batch of iMacs,
with faster PowerPC G4 processors running at 1.0 GHz in
the 15-inch model and 1.25 GHz in the 17-inch model. Both
include 256MB of faster DDR SDRAM running at 333 MHz and
an 80GB hard disk. The 17-inch model, priced from $1,799,
sports a beefed-up NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics
processor with 64MB of DDR video memory; the 15-inch iMac,
priced from $1,299, retains the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics
processor with 32MB video memory.
Last but not least, if you purchase any new Macintosh
computer together with Apple's Keynote presentation software
before December 27, 2003, you'll receive an instant $50
rebate. Details are at www.apple.com/promo.
If you're in the market for a new Mac (or your first Mac),
you've never had more or better choices than you have today.
Apple Computer. Cupertino, California. www.apple.com
Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on
Mac OS and the author of 41 books, including The
Little iTunes Book and
Mac OS X for Dummies, 2nd Edition. E-mail comments to
doctormac@boblevitus.com.
Copyright © 2004 Bob LeVitus
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