Pros

  • AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth now standard
  • Large, wide screen
  • Advanced I/O options

Cons

  • Meager memory for the price
  • Big and a little heavy for travel

At A Glance

An incremental update to the 15-inch PowerBook G4 line, this model offers a faster processor, a new graphics chip, and faster DVD burning speeds.

Manufacturer’s Description

Take a high-performance PowerPC G4 processor, add a vivid display and enclose it all in a lightweight aluminum alloy case. What you get is the cutting edge of portable PC technology, the new PowerBook G4 from Macintosh. This revolutionary notebook is configured with a 1.33GHz PowerPC G4 processor with the Velocity Engine vector processing unit, a 512KB on-chip L2 cache, integrated floating-point unit, 256MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM (expandable to 2GB) and a 60GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive. In addition to the 167MHz system bus, this PowerBook contains a slot-loading combo with CD-RW and DVD-ROM functions and DVD-Video playback. It records CD-Rs at 24X, rewrites CD-RWs at 16X, reads CDs at 24X and DVDs at 8X (max. speeds). Built-in video output capabilities let you give crisp presentations on a VGA monitor, large-screen TV or projection system.You have a range of choices in connectivity with the built-in 56K V.92 modem, the integrated Gigabit Ethernet adapter, the Airport Extreme wireless or Bluetooth wireless. There is an IEEE 1394 Firewire port for easy connection of digital cameras or camcorders. The ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 video controller with AGP 4X and 64MB DDR SDRAM delivers knockout visuals and supports resolutions up to 1280 x 854 in millions of colors on the 15.2" TFT display. It supports displays in millions of colors to external monitors up to 2048 x 1536 through its included VGA adapter for use with VGA monitors or the optional ADC adapter for Apple flat panels. The built-in CD-quality stereo audio provides awesome sound through a pair of integrated speakers. The PowerBook comes with a full-size keyboard with 12 function keys and an embedded number pad, a touchpad, a rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack and an AC adapter.

The Specs

Pricing
Part Number M9421LLA
Processor
Processor type PowerPC G4
Processor speed 1330.0 MHz
Cache size 0.5 KB
Bus speed 166.0 MHz
Memory
Memory type DDR-SDRAM (DDRRAM)
Memory max 2.0 GB
Display
Display size 15.2 inches
Display type Active Matrix LCD (TFT)
Resolution 1280 x 854 pixels
Graphics
Graphics Type Discrete
Primary Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILE RADEON
Video Bus AGP 4X
Storage
Drive size 60.0 GB
Drive Controllers IDE (ATA/EIDE/ATAPI)
Other storage Type II CardBus
Battery
Vendor Rated Battery life 4.5 hours
Green
Energy Star compliant 1.0
Dimensions
Width 13.7 inches
Depth 9.5 inches
Height 1.1 inches
Weight 5.7 pounds
Optical Drive
DVD-ROM Pressed Disc Read Speed 8.0
CD-ROM Read Speed 24.0
Included Drives
  • DVD/CD-RW Combo
  • Hard Drive
Included Software
Operating System Mac OS X
Other Features
Devices
  • AC Adapter
  • Modem
  • Speakers
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 CardBus or CardBus Type II 1
Available Interfaces
  • Audio - Line In (1/8" Mini)
  • Audio - Line Out (1/8" Mini)
  • 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 - 4 pin mini-DIN (S-Video)
  • Video - DVI
  • Video - S-Video
  • Video - TV Out (RCA Jack)
Slots Type II CardBus
Warranty
Warranty information 1 Year Limited Warranty

Performance

Macworld Labs
iMovie 4.0 1:03
Tested Configuration Mac OS X 10.3.3 with 512MB of RAM.
Photoshop 8.0 2:18
Compressor 13:01
Unreal Tournament 24.6fps
iTunes 4.2 2:45
Cinema 4D XL 8.5 5:08
Speedmark 3.3 Score 121