Apple Unveils World’s First 17-inch Notebook

Apple today unveiled the 17-inch PowerBook G4, the world’s first notebook computer with a 17-inch display, the largest ever in a notebook. Encased in a durable aluminium alloy enclosure, the new PowerBook measures only 1-inch in thickness and weighs just 3.1 Kg*. The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is also the first notebook to offer built-in AirPort Extreme 54Mbps 802.11g wireless networking**, new high-speed FireWire 800, a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, and built-in Bluetooth for wirelessly connecting to mobile phones and other Bluetooth equipped peripherals.

“Apple’s taking another giant leap beyond PC notebooks with the world’s first 17-inch notebook, miraculously engineered into an ultra-lightaluminium alloy enclosure that’s only 1-inch thin”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Many users are going to wonder why they even need a desktop computer anymore”.

The 17-inch PowerBook delivers the screen space and performance previouslyfound only in desktop computer systems. The new PowerBook’s stunning 17-inch screen displays 1440-by-900 super-crisp pixels in a widescreen 16:10 aspect ratio. The 17-inch PowerBook is the most powerful Apple portable ever with a 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor, new high-speed architecture, fast NVIDIAgraphics and a slot-loading SuperDrive for playing and burning CDs and DVDs.Housed in a lightweight and durable aluminium alloy enclosure just 1-inchthin and weighing only 3.1 Kg, the new 17-inch PowerBook G4 model is thethinnest Apple notebook ever, and lighter than most competitors’ 15-inch and 16-inch notebooks.

The 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes the world’s first fibre-optic backlitkeyboard, as well as ambient light sensors that control the brightness ofthe display 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 display brightness isre-adjusted automatically and the keyboard backlighting is turned off. Thistruly integrated display and lighting solution is an industry first, andwill be warmly greeted by professionals who spend long hours in front ofcomputer screens in low light conditions.

The 17-inch PowerBook G4 is the most wirelessly connected notebook ever,with both AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth wireless networking built in.AirPort Extreme is based on the new 802.11g standard and transmits datawirelessly at up to 54Mbps - almost five times the data rate of previouswireless technologies — yet is fully compatible with the millions of 802.11b devices in use around the world. Built-in Bluetooth provides wirelessconnections to Bluetooth-enabled peripherals such as mobile phones and PDAs.Apple’s new iSync software is included, so customers can automaticallysynchronise address books and calendars between Macs and Bluetooth capablemobile phones.

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes a full complement of I/O ports,including two powered FireWire ports, one FireWire 400 port and one FireWire800 port so customers can quickly transfer uncompressed digital video tohigh-capacity storage devices. And, it continues to be the only notebook tooffer built-in Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T).

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is the leader in mobile performance, offering1MB of level 3 cache and 512MB of fast Double Data Rate (DDR) memory runningat 333MHz. Combined with the power of Apple’s UNIX-based Mac OS X version10.2, the new 17-inch PowerBook G4 runs professional applications includingAdobe Photoshop up to 51 percent faster than a 2.2GHz Pentium 4-basednotebook***. The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 comes with the NVIDIA GeForce4 440Go graphics processor and 64MB of dedicated video memory capable ofdelivering 880 million textured pixels per second and advanced transform andlighting.

Pre-installed on every 17-inch PowerBook G4, Mac OS X v10.2 enhances themobile experience with unique features including Instant On, which wakes thePowerBook from sleep in just one second; Automatic Networking, whichautomatically switches the network connections between Ethernet, 802.11 andmodem; and advanced power management through Energy Saver Profiles forindustry-leading battery life. Every new PowerBook G4 includes Apple’s iLife applications, an integrated suite of award-winning software including iTunes 3 for managing digital music, iPhoto 2 for organising and sharing digitalphotos, iMovie 3 for digital movie-making, and iDVD 3 for creating andburning Hollywood-style DVDs.

Pricing & Availability:

The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is expected to be available in February throughthe Apple Store and Apple Authorised Resellers for a suggested selling price of £2,212 (ex VAT)/£2,599 (inc VAT).

Additional build-to-order options for the new PowerBook G4 include theability to upgrade to up to 1GB of DDR RAM. AirPort Extreme Base Station andthe AppleCare Protection Plan are also available for the new 17-inchPowerBook G4 for an additional price.

Apple offers special prices on Macintosh computers for education customersthrough the Apple Store for Education or by calling an Apple education sales representative at 0208 218 1599. Todownload the latest Apple education price lists, go to www.apple.com/uk/education.

* Weight includes battery and SuperDrive, and varies by configuration andmanufacturing process.
** Wireless Internet access requires an AirPort Card, AirPort Base stationand Internet access (fees may apply). Some ISPs are not currently compatiblewith AirPort.
*** Based on 9 commonly used actions in Adobe Photoshop 7.0.

Press Contacts:
Apple UK and Ireland Public Relations
Email: media.uk@apple.com
Phone: (020) 8218 1440