Jobs Debuts PowerBooks with Scalable 14-inch screens
G3 PBs Get Cheaper and Faster
By Andrew Gore
At his Seybold Seminars keynote address today, Steve Jobs announced that Apple is adding to most configurations of its popular PowerBook G3 line a 14.1-inch active-matrix display with a key new feature: the ability to switch resolutions.
Enabled by a new and faster ATI Rage LT Pro 2D/3D graphics chip set, the new portable display will be able to switch from 1,024 by 768 pixel resolution down to 800 by 600 or even 640 by 480 pixel resolution. The ATI chip set also supports anti-aliasing, which reduces the "roughness" of images and text displayed at lower resolutions.
With the addition of the new screens, Apple has also changed its pricing--to become even more competitive. At the low-end of the updated line is a 233MHz PowerBook G3, now with 512Kb backside cache, 32MB of RAM, 4MB of video RAM, a 2GB hard disk, and a 20x CD-ROM drive for $2,799. The new 266MHz configuration adds 64MB of RAM and a 4GB hard drive for $3,499; and the new 300-MHz PowerBook includes an 8GB hard drive and a DVD-ROM drive, complete with MPEG PC Card for playing back DVD movies, for $4,999. Apple will continue to offer the 233MHz PowerBook with a 12-inch passive-matrix display, but will drop its price to $1,999.
macworld.zdnet.com |
