Pros

  • Classic design
  • Complete feature set
  • Huge screen, now with higher resolution
  • Huge hard drive

Cons

  • Higher resolution may make on-screen objects too small for some users
  • No increase in performance
  • Large size can be a problem in some situations

At A Glance

The 17-inch PowerBook adds a higher-resolution display and boasts longer battery life. Like its 15-inch counterpart, this PowerBook now ships with faster DDR2 RAM and a double-layer 8X SuperDrive.

Manufacturer’s Description

The first thing you?ll notice about the 17-inch PowerBook G4 is its drop-dead gorgeous display and now 46% brighter and with 36% more pixels than its predecessor. Featuring a powerful 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 processor, a 5400-rpm 120GB hard drive, an 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support and up to 2GB of RAM, the top gun of notebook computers has it all.

The Specs

Pricing
Part Number M9970LLA
Processor
Processor type PowerPC G4
Processor speed 1670.0 MHz
Cache size 0.5 KB
Bus speed 166.0 MHz
Memory
Memory type DDR2 SDRAM
Memory max 2.0 GB
Display
Display size 17.0 inches
Display type Active Matrix LCD (TFT)
Aspect ratio 16:10
Resolution 1680 x 1050 pixels
Graphics
Graphics Type Discrete
Primary Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700
Video Bus AGP 4X
Storage
Drive size 120.0 GB
Drive Controllers IDE (Ultra ATA/100)
Other storage
  • Type I PC Card
  • Type II PC Card
Battery
Vendor Rated Battery life 5.5 hours
Green
Energy Star compliant 1.0
Dimensions
Width 15.4 inches
Depth 10.2 inches
Height 1.0 inches
Weight 6.9 pounds
Optical Drive
DVD-ROM Pressed Disc Read Speed 8.0
DL DVD+R Write Speed 2.4
Single-Layer DVD-R Write Speed 8.0
CD-ROM Read Speed 24.0
Included Drives
  • DVD+-RW Dual Layer Combination Drive
  • Hard Drive
Included Software
Operating System Mac OS X
Other Features
Devices Modem
Input devices
  • Keyboard
  • Touchpad
Ports and Connections
Ethernet Type
  • 10/100/1000 Mbps
  • Wireless Ethernet - 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b
  • Wireless Ethernet - 54 Mbps IEEE802.11g
Type II PC Card or PC Card Type II 1
Type I PC Card 1
Available Interfaces
  • A/V (Composite)
  • Audio - Line In (1/8" Mini)
  • Audio - Line Out (1/8" Mini)
  • Audio - TOSlink Optical Digital
  • Bluetooth
  • Ethernet - RJ45
  • Firewire 400 port
  • Firewire 800 port
  • Serial - RJ11 Modular (Phone/Telco)
  • USB - Universal Serial Bus 2.0
  • Video - 15 pin High-Density D-shell (VGA)
  • Video - 7 pin mini-DIN (S-Video)
  • Video - DVI
  • Video - S-Video
Slots
  • Type I PC Card
  • Type II PC Card
Warranty
Warranty information 1 Year Limited Warranty

Performance

Macworld Labs
Tested Configuration Mac OS X 10.4.2, 512MB of RAM
Cinema 4D XL 9.1 4:14
Unreal Tournament 2004 20.6fps
Compressor 17:54
Speedmark 4 Score 134
iMovie HD 50  seconds
iTunes 6.0.1 1:59
Photoshop CS2 1:36