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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=983
PowerBook G4 To Sport 1.2GHz G4, DVD-R
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
September 23rd 2002
But will they make it out of Titanium?
Jason O''Grady''s PowerPage is reporting that forthcoming PowerBook G4 mules have been
spotted running a wicked-fast 1.2GHz G4.
The report also predicts a DVD-R drive for the PowerBook, with the slimline drives
losing 2mm in height in order to slot into the PB''s chassis. As IGM conjectured some
weeks ago, the DVD-R may only be available on high-end systems or as a BTO option.
Sony has already announced a DVD-R option for some of its Vaio models.
As IGM has also suggested, Bluetooth will be an integral part of the new PowerBook.
Powerpage says "native" support, but it is unclear what this means, although they do
state that the PB G4 gets a redesigned mobo. With the advent of Apple''s Rendezvous
technology, this suggests built-in Bluetooth, as a PC card or USB solution would
appear kludgey, at best. With the disappearance of the IrDA port in the last PB rev,
built-in Bluetooth would be an obvious port to plug the gap - and with a great deal
more functionality as more Bluetooth-compatible cell phones hit the market.
PowerPage suggests that 1.2GHz would be the high-end model; there is no indication as
yet of what speed lower-end models may run, but 800 or 1GHz is probably the ballpark.
When will these marvels be introduced? Conventional wisdom says that we won''t see
these until MWSF in January. Fire sales of existing PBs in the channel post Xmas might
give a clue - but it ain''t necessarily so.
Analysis: We''d still like to see the switchable backlit keyboard (my personal pref),
mainly due to my lack of typing skills. How many will take up the DVD-R option though?
They''re a bargain on the eMac and iMac, but a DVD-R PowerBook will be definitely
high-end. Of course, it will be an exceptionally convenient portable graphics studio
for pros who need to back up and distribute exceptionally large files. The other
question mark is the graphics card, which will almost certainly be bumped to give
Quartz Extreme more juice.
The only issue that remains is: what will the new PowerBook be made out of?
[ Article revisions with corrections and updates are available on the Web site.
Read and post article comments at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=983 ]
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