For Immediate Release
Apple Announces New PowerBook-Faster, Thinner, Lighter
Battery Life Extended to Five Hours on Single Battery
WWDC, SAN JOSE, California-May 10, 1999-At its annual Worldwide
Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple Computer, Inc. today announced
its new PowerBook line. Powered by copper-based 333MHz and 400MHz
PowerPC G3 processors, the new notebooks provide true desktop
performance and run up to twice as fast as the processors in Pentium
II-based notebooks*. Weighing just 5.9 pounds, the new PowerBook line
is nearly two pounds lighter and almost 20 percent thinner than their
award-winning predecessors. Powered by up to two lithium-ion
batteries, the new PowerBook line runs up to five hours on a single
battery -and up to 10 hours on dual batteries-setting a new industry
record for notebook computers.
The new PowerBook line comes standard with 14.1-inch LCD screens, and
also features industry standard USB, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, and 56K
/v.90 modem ports for easy connection to the latest peripherals and
high-speed networks. Customers can now extend their workspace with
dual display capabilities when the new PowerBook is connected to an
external monitor, video projector, television or VCR.
“The new PowerBooks are the fastest, lightest and longest battery
life full-featured notebooks in the industry,” said Steve Jobs,
Apple’s interim CEO. “We hope our customers are delighted with these
great new PowerBooks.”
The new PowerBook line features:
* Thin and light design-5.9 pounds with CD and battery, 5.7 pounds
with battery and weight saving module;
* Fast 333MHz or 400MHz PowerPC G3 processor;
* Brilliant 14.1-inch active-matrix display;
* Up to ten hours of battery life through dual lithium-ion batteries;
* Support for up to 384MB of SDRAM;
* Built-in ATI Rage LT Pro video controller and 8MB of video memory;
* VGA and S-Video ports for dual display and video mirroring;
* Two USB ports for connection to the latest generation of computer
peripherals;
* Support for FireWire via Newer Technology’s FireWire To Go CardBus Card;
* Built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet;
* Easy access to RAM expansion and removable hard drive through
flip-up keyboard;
* CD-ROM or DVD-ROM option with on-board DVD-Video support and hot
swappable expansion bay.
Pricing and Availability
The following configurations of the new PowerBook line are available
from Apple Authorized Resellers and The Apple Store
(www.apple.com): * 14.1-inch TFT display/333MHz/512K L2
cache/64MB/4GB hard drive/24x-speed (max) CD ROM/Ethernet/ 56K modem
U.S. ERP $2,499;
* 14.1-inch TFT display/400MHz/1MB L2 cache/64MB/6GB hard
drive/2x-speed DVD-ROM/Ethernet/56K modem U.S. ERP $3,499.
Additional build-to-order options for the new PowerBook line include:
a 10GB hard drive; RAM up to 384MB; DVD-ROM; and third-party options
such as ZIP and SuperDisk expansion bay modules from VST Technologies.
Apple today also announced the immediate availability of Mac OS 8.6,
a significant upgrade to the Macintosh operating system which is free
to owners of Mac OS 8.5; the shipment of the Macintosh version of
OpenGL 3D graphics software; and an agreement with Dragon Systems to
bring their award-winning speech recognition software to the
Macintosh. * Based on industry standard ByteMark processor test.
Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the
1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the
1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original
mission-to bring the best personal computing products and support to
students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers,
businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
Press Contact:
Russell Brady
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-6877
brady2@apple.com
Nathalie Welch
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-5430
welch@apple.com