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The Lowdown on the 15" AlBook

- 2003.02.10

It's been over a month since Apple surprised us all with 12" and 17" PowerBooks, their smallest and largest laptops ever. (The Mac Portable still takes the cake for heaviest at nearly 16 pounds!)

Since then Apple has introduced new Power Macs, updated the G4 iMac, dropped prices on the eMac, released a one-third faster Xserve, and done absolutely nothing to the iBooks and PowerBooks.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Well, that's about to change. As expected, Apple is about to announce an aluminum version of the 15.2" titanium PowerBook. Between Big Al and Little Al, maybe we should call this one Middle Al?

The most obvious difference is the aluminum casing, which will give all three PowerBooks the same appearance - and should eliminate the griping about paint scuffing, titanium scratching, and paint flecking off.

There are no real surprises here. The 15" AlBook will have the same 1280 x 854 pixel 15.2" display as the current TiBook, will drop AirPort support in favor of AirPort Extreme, will have a FireWire 800 port, and will be just a tiny bit lighter and more compact than the TiBook.

Middle Al will have the same kind of hinge construction as the current aluminum PowerBooks. It will also run at the same speed.

That's right, no speed bump.

Nor will Apple move the ports to the side - with the PC Card slot on the left and the Combo drive or SuperDrive taking up most of the space on the right, there's no convenient way to do it at present. At least that's what our mole in the Apple janitorial services department tells us.

We wonder, though, why Apple can't move the PC Card to the right, leaving the left side for ports. Oh well, the unknown janitor hasn't let us down yet.

Oh, and one more thing, in keeping with recent price reductions, Apple will be reducing the price of the 15" PowerBook G4 from $2,299 for the Combo drive version and $2,799 for the SuperDrive machine to $1,999 for the 867 MHz Combo drive model and $2,499 for the SuperDrive machine.

One way Apple is saving costs on the 15" PowerBook is by using a reduced grade of aluminum - recycled soda cans instead of aircraft grade aluminum. They figure we'll never know the difference unless we drop or bake them....

- Anne Onymus

Recent Rumor Mills

Microsoft Announces Cash for Clunker PCs, 07.29. Beleaguered Microsoft, with declines in profits and market share, is offering cash for old computers to boost sales of new PCs with Windows Vista installed.
StealthMac: 2 Hardware Solutions for Mac OS X on Windows PCs, 01.26. Apple has been working on hardware to put a Mac inside a Windows PC for over a decade. The latest developments, according to our MacMole.
Apple Announces Mac OS X Licensing, 01.14. Apple decided it would rather switch policies than fight Pystar and others. OS X licensing program could change Psystar's future.
New Apple drive supports Blu-ray and HD DVD, 09.11. Tired of being second-guessed and sometimes outmaneuvered by Microsoft, Apple has embraced both next gen DVD formats with its new SuperDrive Extreme.
More in the Rumor Mill index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
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Recent Deals

Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
More deals in our archive.

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