Is the Titanium PowerBook G4 just too futuristic? Could be. The TiPB’s unusual construction caused a bomb scare and major traffic snarl-ups Friday at the Burbank Airport in Burbank, CA.
At least 30 flights and several hundred passengers were delayed for over five hours because airport authorities thought the Apple laptop might not be a “real computer.” It took them over six hours to figure out that the PowerBook was the real deal.
Airport security “did a swab” of the computer and its bag, which “came up positive for a chemical residue of concern,” although “the titanium in the laptop [the brand is never mentioned] might have triggered a false reading, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
The Titanium PowerBooks, introduced in January, was designed to, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, combine “power and sex.” The revamped portable is made of commercial grade titanium, just like spy planes. The material is supposedly stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum.
Of course, if its titanium construction does set off bomb scares, there may be lots more. The Titanium PowerBook is Apple’s hottest selling piece of hardware at the present time. Apple has sold over 115,000 of the new portables. (Thanks to MacCentral reader Ben Hines and the many others for the heads-up on this story.)