PRESS RELEASE
January 7, 2003
Apple Unveils World's First 17-inch Notebook
First Notebook to Feature 802.11g Wireless Networking, FireWire 800 & Backlit Keyboard
MARKHAM, Ontario—January 7, 2003—Apple® today unveiled the 17-inchPowerBook® G4, the world´s first notebook computer with a 17-inch display,the largest ever in a notebook. Encased in a durable aluminum alloyenclosure, the new PowerBook measures only 1-inch thin and weighs just 6.8*pounds. The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is also the first notebook to offerbuilt-in AirPort® Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g wireless networking**, newhigh-speed FireWire® 800, a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, andbuilt-in Bluetooth for wirelessly connecting to cell phones and otherBluetooth equipped peripherals.
"Apple´s taking another giant leap beyond PC notebooks with the world´sfirst 17-inch notebook, miraculously engineered into an ultra-light aluminumalloy 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 computeranymore."
The 17-inch PowerBook delivers the screen space and performance previouslyfound only in desktop computer systems. The new PowerBook´s stunning 17-inchscreen displays 1440-by-900 super-crisp pixels in a widescreen 16:10 aspectratio. The 17-inch PowerBook is the most powerful Apple portable ever with a1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, new high-speed architecture, fast NVIDIAgraphics and a slot-loading SuperDrive™ for playing and burning CDs andDVDs. Housed in a lightweight and durable aluminum alloy enclosure just1-inch thin and weighing only 6.8 pounds, the new 17-inch PowerBook G4 modelis the thinnest Apple notebook ever, and lighter than most competitors´15-inch and 16-inch notebooks.
The 17-inch PowerBook G4 includes the world´s first fiber-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 54 Mbps�almost five times the data rate of previouswireless technologies�yet is fully compatible with the millions of 802.11bdevices in use around the world. Built-in Bluetooth provides wirelessconnections to Bluetooth-enabled peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs.Apple´s new iSync software is included, so customers can automaticallysynchronize address books and calendars between Macs and Bluetooth capablecell 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 333 MHz. Combined with the power of Apple´s UNIX-based Mac® OS X version10.2 "Jaguar," the new 17-inch PowerBook G4 runs professional applicationsincluding Adobe Photoshop up to 51 percent faster than a 2.2 GHz Pentium4-based notebook***. The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 comes with the NVIDIAGeForce4 440 Go graphics processor and 64MB of dedicated video memorycapable of delivering 880 million textured pixels per second and advancedtransform and lighting.
Pre-installed on every 17-inch PowerBook G4, "Jaguar" enhances the mobileexperience 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'siLife™ applications, an integrated suite of award-winning software includingiTunes™ 3 for managing digital music, iPhoto™ 2 for organizing and sharingdigital photos, iMovie™ 3 for digital movie-making, and iDVD™ 3 for creatingand burning Hollywood-style DVDs.
Pricing & Availability
The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is expected to be available in February throughthe Apple Store® (102.p.syniva.es/canadastore) and Apple Authorized Resellersfor a suggested retail price of $5,299 (CDN).
The new 17-inch PowerBook G4 is expected to be available in February throughthe Apple Store® (102.p.syniva.es/canadastore) and Apple Authorized Resellersfor a suggested retail price of $5,299 (CDN).
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.
- *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.
Apple Canada Inc. is headquartered in Markham, Ontario and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple products are available at more than 450 Authorized Apple Canada Dealer locations across Canada.
- Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh,Keynote, QuickTime, Quartz,AppleWorks and Apple Store are either registered trademarks or trademarks ofApple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respectiveowners.