Apple Unveils Power Mac G4 and Cinema Display – The Ultimate System for
Publishing Professionals
QuickTimeTV Adds New Channels from Rhino and Warner Bros. Records
iBook Pre-orders Top 140,000 in 40 days
SEYBOLD SAN FRANCISCO-August 31, 1999-During the kick-off keynote today,
Apple introduced the Power Mac G4, its new line of professional desktop
computers which deliver supercomputer-level performance on a desktop, and
the Apple Cinema Display, a spectacular 22-inch LCD flat panel that is the
largest LCD display ever brought to market. Together, they create the
ultimate system for publishing professionals.
The Power Mac G4 is the first personal computer in history to deliver
supercomputer-level performance of over one billion floating-point
operations per second (gigaflops). The Power Mac G4 is powered by the
revolutionary new PowerPC G4 chip architected by Apple, Motorola and IBM,
which incorporates a new execution unit named the Velocity Engine-the
heart of a supercomputer miniaturized onto a sliver of silicon.
Applications which tap the power of the Velocity Engine, such as Adobe’s
Photoshop, run up to twice as fast as on 600MHz Pentium III-based PCs.
Already, nearly 60 industry-leading developers are optimizing their
products to take advantage of the unprecedented speed and performance of
the G4 with Velocity Engine, with some of those products available
immediately. The Power Mac G4 comes in a stunning, translucent clear,
silver and graphite enclosure.
The Apple Cinema Display is a 22-inch LCD display (the largest ever brought
to market), offering the same viewing area as a 24-inch flat CRT display
and featuring a “letterbox” format with 1600 x 1024 pixels and 16.7 million
true colors.
Apple also today announced that two new content providers have joined its
QuickTime TV network, the Internet’s highest quality-network for web-based
video and audio. Utilizing the QuickTime Streaming Server Software’s new
playlist feature, Warner Bros. Records becomes the first major recording
label to create commercial-free, genre-specific Internet radio and video
stations, which also allows consumers to buy music as it is streaming.
Rhino Records, meanwhile, will use the QuickTime format exclusively to
stream content from its recently launched Rhino Handmade, the first-ever
Internet-only collector’s imprint.
Additionally, Apple announced it has received advance orders for over
140,000 of its new iBook consumer and education portable computer. iBook,
the “iMac to Go” was introduced at Macworld Expo on July 21 and is
scheduled to ship to stores nationwide in mid-September.
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.