Oh my, oh my. Apple has once again kick-started my drool glands with the latest Powerbook updates. While I’ve always been a fan of the 15″ Powerbooks (still hanging on to my 15″ Titanium), the new 17″ Powerbook is looking mighty fine.
Here are it’s latest updates:
- 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4
- 128 MB Mobility Radeon 9700 with dual-link support
- 5400-rpm 100 GB hard drive
- 8x SuperDrive with DVD+/-RW support
- Airport Extreme and Bluetooth 2 built-in
- optical digital audio in/out
Normally, I would be focusing on the 15″ Powerbook, but the addition of the optical digital audio port on the 17″ model definitely peaks my interest. True surround-sound output from a Powerbook is now possible. Also, the gorgeous 17″ screen would be a sweet upgrade from my current 15″ screen.
These new Powerbook updates aren’t stellar, but they are very nice. Processor boosts are always good. The default RAM is now up to 512 MB. A bigger hard drive, a faster SuperDrive, and the latest wireless technologies round out the new machines quite nicely. I would’ve liked a beefier video card, maybe a Mobility Radeon 9800 or even a GeforceGo 6000-series, but the 9700 is decent enough for me.
I know some people are going to complain that this should be a Powerbook G5 instead of a G4. While a G5 definitely would be a huge boost for the Powerbook, it still runs far too hot and uses too much power to be practical in a laptop. A laptop that burns through a coffee table and kills a battery in less than an hour isn’t exactly useful for a portable. Frankly, I don’t expect any word of a Powerbook G5 to come until at least WDDC.
One final cool upgrade for the Powerbooks: they cost less now. I configured a custom-built 17″ Powerbook with a gig of RAM, and it came out to $2849 before tax. That’s cheaper than what I paid for my 15″ Titanium 3 years ago. Apple even offers free shipping from the Apple Store online. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.
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