In a keynote presentation At MacWorld Expo Tokyo, Apple today unveiled new iBook, PowerBook and Power Mac G4 lines, and announced that the forthcoming Mac OS X operating system will include the highest-quality Japanese fonts available.

The new iBook line includes the debut of iBook Special Edition. Featuring double the memory and hard drive size, all three new iBook models come standard with 64MB of memory and a 6GB hard drive. iBook Special Edition features a faster 366 MHz PowerPC G3 processor and, like iMac DV Special Edition, comes in a Graphite-color enclosure (yippee!) and sells for $1,799 -- a $200 premium over the standard iBook. Otherwise, the iBook specs. stay pretty much the same as they were, which will be a disappointment to those who were hoping for and anticipating A FireWire port and sound-in support.

Changes to the professional PowerBook line are also evolutionary rather than revolutionary. On the outside, the new "Pismo" PowerBook G3 looks pretty much exactly like the "Lombard" model it replaces. Under the hood - er - keyboard you will find either a 400 MHz or a 500 Mhz PowerPC G3 processor, with 128 Mb standard RAM on the higher end unit, hard drives up to 18 Gigs, and a new 100 MHz system bus. On the back, the HDI-30 SCSI port is gone, replaced by and two built-in FireWire ports, which let users easily transfer digital video with DV camcorders or external hard drives. With Apple’s Final Cut Pro 1.2 software installed, the new PowerBook is a complete pro-quality mobile video editing system. Pismo also supports batteries in either bay, giving up to 10 hours running time between charges. Price points remain the same at $2,499 and $3,499 for the 400 MHz and 500 MHz units respectively. A special build-to-order Pismo is available from the Apple Store for $3,799 including an 18 Gig hard drive and an extra battery and power adapter.

Apple also announced a speed bump for the Power Mac G4 line with processors running at 400-, 450-, and 500 MHz -- a return to the original specs when the G4 was introduced last fall except that the 400 MHz unit now uses a Sawtooth motherboard.

All Apple's new hardware products support Apple’s revolutionary AirPort wireless networking which provides untethered Internet access at speeds of up to 11 megabits per second. Apple’s AirPort solution includes the AirPort Card, which fits easily inside iBook, PowerBook and the Power Mac G4, and the AirPort Base Station, which contains a 56K modem and a 10BASE-T Ethernet port for connecting to a phone line, cable modem, DSL modem or local area network.

The new iBook, PowerBook and Power Mac G4 products are available immediately via the Apple Store (http://www.apple.com) and through Apple Authorized Resellers.

In addition to the significant hardware announcements, Apple today also announced that its forthcoming Mac OS X will include the highest-quality Japanese fonts available and the largest character set ever on personal computers, through an agreement with Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a leading font developer in Japan. The fonts, made up of 17,000 characters in each of six typefaces, will let all Mac OS X users—from publishing professionals to first-time users—easily create the highest-quality documents in Japanese, both on screen and in print.

(Photos Courtesy Of Apple Computer Inc.)

Charles W. Moore

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February 09, 2010