Apple Makes Combo Drives Standard on PowerBook G4 Line

CUPERTINO, California-December 17, 2001-Apple=AE today announced that it has
made slot-loading Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM) optical drives standard across its
entire award-winning Titanium PowerBook=AE G4 notebook line.

"The Titanium PowerBook G4 is one of the most successful notebook computers
of all time, and we are making it even better," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's
senior director of Hardware Product Marketing.

The versatile slot-loading Combo drive lets customers watch DVD movies and
burn custom music or data CDs. Apple's DVD player software, iTunes=81 2
digital music software and Disc Burner software come pre-installed on all
PowerBook models.

The super-light, yet incredibly powerful Titanium PowerBook G4 features:

* 1-inch thick Titanium metal body weighing 5.4 pounds*;

* a stunning 15.2 inch (diagonal) TFT wide-screen active-matrix display
with 1152 by 768 resolution;

* 550 MHz or 667 MHz PowerPC G4 processors with Velocity Engine=81 and 256K
of on-chip level 2 cache, running at full processor speed;

* 133 MHz system bus in 667 MHz model and 100 MHz system bus in 550 MHz mode=
l;

* 256MB or 512MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB;

* slot-loading DVD/CD-RW Combo optical drive for CD burning and DVD playback=
;

* AirPort=AE Card pre-installed in 667 MHz model, integrated antennas for
wireless networking in 550 MHz model;

* ATI Mobility Radeon graphics with AGP 4X and 16MB DDR video memory;

* built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet;

* 20GB, 30GB or 48GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drives;

* up to 5 hours of battery life on one Lithium-ion battery;

* USB, FireWire=AE, VGA and S-video output;

* a small, lightweight power adapter; and

* Mac=AE OS X version 10.1 installed, as well as Classic Mac OS 9.2.

Pricing & Availability

The new PowerBook G4 line is available immediately through The Apple Store=
=AE
(www.apple.com), at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers in
two standard configurations:

The 550 MHz PowerBook G4, for a suggested retail price of $2,299 (US),
includes:

* 256MB SDRAM; and

* 20GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive.

The 667 MHz PowerBook G4, for a suggested retail price of $2,999 (US),
includes:

* 512MB SDRAM;

* 30GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive; and

* AirPort Card for wireless networking.

Additional build-to-order options for the new PowerBook G4 include: 48GB
hard drive; up to 1GB of SDRAM; the AirPort Base Station and AirPort Card;
and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

* Weight includes battery and Combo drive, and varies by configuration and
manufacturing process.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple
II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to
students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world
through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.