Apple's Expo Releases

Apple has done it this time. Combined power, portability, and a large screen into their newest PowerBook, the PowerBook G4. The PowerBook G4 features a 400 or 500 MHz G4 processor; a 10, 20, or 30 GB hard disk; and up to 1 GB of RAM! There are also a FireWire port, a built in DVD drive (slot loading!), and up to 5 hours battery life, which is great for those road warriors who need the extra time to work.

The 1152 x 768 pixel screen means that anyone who uses programs that need a lot of screen space will want this PowerBook. This is the biggest screen Apple has offered yet on a laptop - and it beats most Wintel offerings, too. This is the first G-series portable in which Apple has noticeably beat the Wintel machines - in performance, size, and features.

The new Power Macintosh G4, with "power to burn" is a move in the right direction. For a year, Apple has been lagging behind the PC manufacturers by not bundling CD-RW drives with their machines. Apple has finally improved a great machine by adding CD-RW, as well as a faster system bus and faster CPUs. The new G4s come in 466, 533, 667, and 733 MHz. They come with a 30, 40, or 60 GB hard drive and either an ATI Rage 128 Pro or nVidia GeForce2 MX graphics card. The models that feature the DVD-R drive come with iDVD software, which lets you easily make DVDs.

Apple Pro Speakers have been released! You know those cool speakers that come with the Cube? Well, you can buy them separately now - for $59. Don't forget that the 15" flat panel monitor has been reduced from $999 to $799 and Mac OS X is scheduled to ship on March 24th - for $129.

How about OS 9.1? From what I have seen so far, it is pretty good. The new "Window" menu is very useful for switching between open windows, and Apple has added a keyboard shortcut to empty the Trash. There are a few other differences as well - a new search channel (I didn't even use the ones that were there in 9.0), and now when you select "Window options," the zoom box comes from the icon of the window you are selecting options for. Yes, when you start the computer it does say "Mac OS 9.1".

iTunes: not a great name, but a great program. So far, I find that iTunes comes close to the level of SoundJam MP, a commercial product that sells in stores for almost $50. Of course iTunes has a few drawbacks, like not being able to use skins, but if you think about it you are listening to music, not making your UI look like the music (although some people may want to do that, too). This is a free download. What do you expect!

iTunes says it requires Mac OS 9.0.4, but it runs fine on 9.0 as well. I haven't tested it on 8.x yet. Apple desperately needed a program like this to encourage users to join the "MP3 revolution" and have cool way to play audio CDs. (iMusic would have been a better name, though.) Apple should add a graphic equalizer and bass and treble controls. With a few enhancements, this could easily become "WinAmp for the Macintosh."

If there is anything that you must buy in this list, it is the PowerBook G4. It is simply amazing. I guess Apple still can do today what they did in 1992 with the PowerBook Duo's.

Now that I see all that Apple had to offer at Macworld San Francisco, I am beginning to see a new hope for Apple. They are certainly delivering some great products for the first part of the year. I hope there will be more good things to come later in the year.