By now you’ve probably seen the TV commercial. Vern Troyer, the diminutive “Mini Me” of the Austin Powers movies, and Yao Ming, the towering 7’6” center of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, are seated together on an airliner. When the chime sounds permitting “electronic device” use, Yao pulls out his “little” laptop, while Troyer opens his “big” laptop, which covers him like a kindergartener’s lunch tray. This clever spot showcases Apple Computer’s new laptop offerings, introduced in January and just now becoming widely available. The “little” laptop is officially named the 12” PowerBook G4, and the “big” model bears the 17” PowerBook G4 moniker. They’re both encased in an aircraft-grade aluminum alloy, hence their “unofficial” designation by some as “Little Al” and “Big Al” (“Al” being the symbol for aluminum on the Periodic Table). The two new “Als” join their elder half-brother, the Titanium-encased 15” PowerBook G4, in Apple’s pro notebook lineup.

“Little Al” is small in stature but big on features. He’s the size of a piece of notebook paper (8.5”x11”), a little over one inch thin and a little under five pounds. Inside there’s an 867 MHz G4 processor (roughly equivalent to a 1.6 GHz Pentium), an NVIDIA video processor with 32 MB of video RAM, room for 640 MB of fast Double Data Rate (DDR) memory, and a slot-loading, CD-burning, DVD-playing optical drive. Available in a build-to-order configuration is a CD-burning, DVD-playing and DVD-burning SuperDrive. Connectivity is a snap, with built-in modem, Ethernet and Bluetooth, and antennas for an optional Airport Extreme wireless networking card. Airport Extreme is based on the emerging 802.11g standard, which is faster than Intel’s Centrino 802.11b wireless offering.

“Little Al” is the road warrior’s dream machine. He’s compact (useful in even the most cramped coach airline seats), rugged, and his aluminum casing is resistant to scratches and stains. With the included VGA and S-video output, you can connect to TVs to watch DVDs, connect to projectors for business presentations, or connect to another monitor to extend your workspace. With advanced battery power management (and a few of the battery saving tips we talked about last time), Apple advertises a five-hour battery life.

“ Big Al” is the world’s first laptop with a 17” screen - 1440x900 pixels in a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio. There’s easily enough space to display two pages side-by-side, or work on a Photoshop image without dodging palettes. And, as you can imagine, watching a DVD on it is breathtaking. Truly an engineering marvel, “Big Al” is only one inch thin, and at 6.8 pounds is lighter than many Wintel 15” and 16” laptops. Packed inside are a 1 GHz G4 processor, up to 1 GB of DDR memory, a 64 MB NVIDIA video processor, slot-loading DVD-burning SuperDrive, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Airport Extreme, and Apple’s new FireWire 800, twice as fast as USB2.

When the ambient lighting in your workspace dims, “Big Al” won’t leave you in the dark. When a sensor in the keyboard area senses low light, the keyboard is “back-lit”, so you can see the keys without turning on the lights.

Where “Little Al” is ideal for use while traveling, “Big Al” is more suited to bringing true desktop capability to a location once you get there (although the thin profile and relatively light weight make it easy to transport).

“ Little Al” will set you back $1799 in base configuration, $1999 with the SuperDrive. “Big Al” carries a true “flagship” price of $3299, but with all the features, you’re getting a laptop and desktop in one package.

© 2003 Peter F. Zimowski