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ATI Technologies, Inc. announced today that the RADEON™ 8500 MAC EDITION™ graphics boards are now available on store shelves with a suggested retail price of (US) $299. They've also announced the "Supercharge your Power Mac G4" promotion which allows customers to trade in the mainstream graphics solution that came with their Power Mac G4 for $150 rebate on a new RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION graphics card.

With "breathtaking visual quality and groundbreaking performance," the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION introduces Mac users to the "ultimate gaming and 3D graphics experience in both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X." ATI will add additional features in an upcoming driver release (due by mid-April), making it the only graphics board vendor to deliver FSAA (full scene anti-aliasing) for the Macintosh.

"Mac users have never seen this kind of gaming power before," said Stan Ossias, Product Manager, Mac Products, Desktop Marketing, ATI Technologies Inc. "In addition to unbelievable performance, RADEON 8500 Mac users will be able to take immediate advantage of our technologies like TRUFORM and SMOOTHVISION FSAA in games like Otto Matic, Spiderman, Harry Potter and others. ATI's Mac Team is really enthused to see these features exposed in hot new games."

The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION features a flexible multiple display capability, supporting a variety of combinations of output through DVI-I, VGA and TV-out connectors. Its performance and visual quality enhancing features include:

• TRUFORM™, ATI's innovative rendering technology that helps deliver smooth and natural 3D images in a performance-efficient manner;
• SMOOTHVISION™, ATI's FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing) technology, designed to minimize jagged edges and smooth images;
• SMARTSHADER™, ATI's advanced programmable pixel and vertex shader technology is also enabled in the GPU's hardware, allowing for more complex and realistic texture and lighting effects without sacrificing performance;
• HYPER Z™ II, a next-generation memory bandwidth saving technology that boosts rendering performance by 25 percent;
• CHARISMA ENGINE™ II, which supports full transform, clipping and lighting (T & L) at 62.5 million triangles/second peak processing capability;
• PIXEL TAPESTRY™ II, the RADEON 8500's 3D rendering engine, which uses four rendering pipelines to process an incredible 2 gigatexels per second for incredibly high fill rates in 32-bit color at high resolutions; and
• VIDEO IMMERSION™ II, a second-generation technology that enables integration of industry-leading digital video features, including DVD (digital versatile disc) video playback and advanced de-interlacing algorithms for unprecedented video quality.

The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION is compatible with any Power Mac computer with an AGP slot and Mac OS 9.2.1 or Mac OS X 10.1 or later. To promote their claim that "It is an ideal replacement for factory-installed AGP cards in any Power Mac G4," ATI is offering customers the option to trade in the mainstream graphics solution that came with their Power Mac G4--either RADEON 7500 for Mac or GeForce 4MX--for a $150 rebate on a new RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION graphics card.

Customers participating in the program must purchase their new RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION from the ATI.com web site, where they will be asked to provide identifying information for both their existing graphics product and Power Mac G4. Once their new RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION arrives, customers will return their RADEON 7500 or GeForce4 MX to receive a $150 rebate directly on their credit card. The program will run until May 31, 2002.

"Many Apple customers have expressed a desire to configure their new Power Mac G4 with the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION, but it isn't an available option," said Stan Ossias, Product Manager, Mac Products, Desktop Marketing, ATI Technologies Inc. "This program enables new Power Mac buyers to experience more advanced graphics without having to pay for two graphics cards."

For more information on the RADEON 8500, visit ATI's website and check out the preview at IMG.

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