Overview of the 15-inch PowerBook G4
This chapter outlines the features of the 15-inch PowerBook G4, with emphasis on the changes from the previous model.
In this section:
New Features
All Features
Appearance
Peripheral Devices
System Software
New Features
The features that have changed are listed here along with references to the sections that describe them. For a quick summary of the feature comparison of this model to the previous release model, see Table 1-1.
Hard disk storage: A 100 GB or 120 GB 5400 rpm or a 100 GB 7200 rpm disk drive is available as a build-to-order option. For more information, see “Hard Disk Drive.”
Optical drive: The computer has an 8x SuperDrive with double layer burning capability. A Combo drive is available as a build-to-order option. For more information, see “SuperDrive” or “Combo Drive.”
Display: The display is a 15.2 inch wide-screen TFT (1440 by 960 pixels) with a resolution of 114 dpi. See “Flat-Panel Display.”
Optical digital audio input and output: The computer has a combined audio line-in and optical digital audio input port, and a combined headphone output and optical digital audio output port. For more information, see “Audio System.”
Graphics IC and memory: The ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics controller operates on the AGP4x bus with 128 MB of video RAM and dual link DVI functionality. For more information, see “Video Display Subsystem.”
RAM: The computer has two SO-DIMM expansion slots for PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM modules running at 333 MHz. See “RAM Expansion Slots.”
Battery: The computer has a 6-cell battery pack that uses lithium ion cells and provides 50 watt-hours at 12.8 V (nominal) for up to 5.5 hours.
Feature |
Previous model |
Current model |
|---|---|---|
Processor |
PowerPC G4 |
|
Enclosure |
aluminum alloy |
|
Processor clock speed |
1.5 GHz or 1.67 GHz |
1.67 GHz |
Graphics IC |
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 |
|
System bus speed |
167 MHz |
|
Device ports |
2 USB 2.0; 1 FireWire 400 ; 1 FireWire 800 |
|
Graphics memory |
64 MB of DDR; BTO: 128 MB with dual link DVI |
128 MB with dual link DVI |
Hard disk drive |
80 GB 5400 rpm. BTO: 100 GB 5400 rpm |
80 GB 5400 rpm. BTO: 100 GB or 120 GB 5400 rpm; 100 GB 7200 rpm |
Optical drive |
Combo drive or 8x SuperDrive |
double-layer burning 8x SuperDrive. BTO: Combo drive |
Audio |
audio line in, headphone out, microphone, and stereo speakers |
combined audio line-in and optical digital audio input port, combined headphone output and optical digital audio output port, microphone, and stereo speakers |
Keyboard |
backlit keyboard and ambient light sensors |
|
RAM |
512 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM SO-DIMMs running at 333 MHz with 2 GB expansion capacity |
512 MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM SO-DIMMs running at 333 MHz with 2 GB expansion capacity |
Wireless |
AirPort Extreme and fully-integrated Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR |
AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR combined into a single module |
Battery |
50 watt-hours battery with up to 4.5 hours operation |
50 watt-hours battery with up to 5.5 hours operation |
Power adapter |
65 W power adapter |
|
note: BTO — build to order |
||
All Features
Here is a list of the features of the 15-inch PowerBook G4 computer. Each feature is described in a later chapter, as indicated in the list.
Processor: The computer has a PowerPC G4 microprocessor running at a clock speed of 1.67 GHz. For more information, see “PowerPC G4 Microprocessor.”
Enclosure: The computer has a lightweight aluminum alloy enclosure.
System bus: The speed of the system bus is 167 MHz.
Cache: Internal to the processor IC is a 512 KB L2 cache. See “Level 2 Cache.”
RAM: The computer has two SO-DIMM expansion slots for PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM modules running at 333 MHz. The computer comes with 512 MB of SDRAM installed in one slot. Available as build to order options are two 512 MB or two 1 GB SO-DIMMs. Maximum RAM is 2 GB. See “RAM Expansion Slots.”
ROM: The computer has 1 MB of boot ROM used by Open Firmware at startup. For information about the ROM, see “Boot ROM.” For information about Open Firmware, see “Open Firmware.”
Hard disk storage: The computer comes with a built-in, 80 GB, 5400 rpm hard disk drive. A 100 GB or 120 GB 5400 rpm or a 120 GB 7200 rpm disk drive is available as a build-to-order option. For more information, see “Hard Disk Drive.”
Display: The display is a 15.2 inch wide-screen, active matrix, TFT (1440 by 960 pixels) with a resolution of 114 dpi. See “Flat-Panel Display.”
External monitor: The computer supports an external video monitor, using the DVI-I connector for a digital video display and an S-video connector for a PAL or NTSC video monitor. Dual link DVI functionality with 128 MB graphics memory supports Apple’s 30-inch Cinema HD display. (A VGA adapter and an S-video-to-composite adapter are included and an ADC adapter is available separately.) See “External Monitors.”
Graphics IC and memory: The ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics controller operates on the AGP4x bus with 128 MB of video RAM and dual link DVI functionality. For more information, see “Video Display Subsystem.”
Battery: The computer has a 6-cell battery pack that uses lithium ion cells and provides 50 watt-hours at 12.8 V (nominal) for up to 5.5 hours.
Power adapter: The computer comes with a 65 W power adapter with grounded plug.
Optical drive: The computer has an 8x SuperDrive with double layer burning capability. A Combo drive is available as a build-to-order option. For more information, see “SuperDrive” or “Combo Drive.”
CardBus slot: The computer has a CardBus slot that accepts one Type I or Type II PC card or a CardBus Card. For more information, see “PC Card/CardBus Slot.”
USB 2.0 ports: The computer has two USB 2.0 ports for an external keyboard, a mouse, and other USB devices, described in “USB 2.0 Ports.”
FireWire ports: The computer has one IEEE-1394a FireWire 400 port and one IEEE-1394b FireWire 800 port. For more information, see “FireWire Ports.”
Target disk mode: The 15-inch PowerBook G4 can act like a FireWire storage device connected to another computer. See “Target Disk Mode.”
Modem: The computer has a built-in modem with 56 Kbps data rate and V.92 support. For more information, see “Internal Modem.”
Ethernet: The computer has a built in Ethernet port with an RJ-45 connector for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, and 1000BASE-T operation. For more information, see “Ethernet Port.”
AirPort Extreme/Bluetooth module: A combined, internal AirPort Extreme wireless LAN and Bluetooth module is standard on the 15-inch PowerBook G4 computer. For more information, see “AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth Module.”
Scrolling trackpad: The integrated trackpad includes tap/double-tap, drag, and scroll features. For more information, see “Trackpad.”
Dual link TMDS: The computer supports dual link DVI functionality. For more information, see “Video Display Subsystem.”
Sudden Motion Sensor: Helps protect the hard drive from sudden drops or falls by parking the hard drive when sudden changes in position and accelerated movement are detected. For more information, see “Sudden Motion Sensor.”
Optical digital audio input and output: The computer has a combined audio line-in and optical digital audio input port, and a combined headphone output and optical digital audio output port. For more information, see “Audio System.”
Keyboard: The keyboard has an embedded numeric keypad and inverted-T arrow keys. Some of the function keys are used to control the display brightness and speaker volume. See “Keyboard.”
Illuminated keyboard: All configurations of the 15-inch PowerBook G4 have a backlit keyboard for optimal visibility in all lighting conditions. For more information, see “Keyboard.”
Ambient light sensor: The computer has an ambient light sensor which monitors light levels and activates the illuminated backlit keyboard and adjusts the display brightness.
Weight: The basic configuration weighs 5.6 pounds (2.5 kg).
Size: The 15-inch PowerBook G4 is 13.7 inches (34.8 cm) wide, 9.5 inches (24.1 cm) deep, and 1.1 inches (2.8 cm) thick.
Appearance
Figure 1-1 is a front view of the 15-inch PowerBook G4 computer. Figure 1-2 provides side views that show the I/O ports.
Peripheral Devices
In addition to the devices that are included with the computer, several peripheral devices are available separately:
The 15-inch PowerBook G4 Rechargeable Battery is available separately as an additional or replacement battery.
The Apple Portable Power Adapter, which comes with the computer, is also available separately. The adapter can fully recharge a completely depleted battery in 2 to 2.5 hours when the computer is shut down and in a little over three hours when the computer is in sleep mode.
Note: The 15-inch PowerBook G4 is designed to use the 65 W Apple Portable Power Adapter which ships with it (the adapter is labeled with a “65W” icon on the lower front). A 45 W Apple portable power adapter works with the 15-inch PowerBook G4, but may provide insufficient power during some activities and power may be drawn temporarily from the battery. Therefore a 45 W power adapter is not recommended.
For additional information refer to: http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1266.html.The Apple DVI to ADC Adapter, which enables the 15-inch PowerBook G4 to support Apple’s ADC displays, is available separately.
The Apple Keyboard, a full-featured, wired USB keyboard, is available separately.
The Apple Mighty Mouse, a programmable, optical, wired USB mouse, is available separately.
The Apple Wireless Mouse with built-in Bluetooth is available separately.
The Apple Wireless Keyboard with built-in Bluetooth is available separately.
The AirPort Extreme Base Station is available separately.
System Software
The 15-inch PowerBook G4 comes with Mac OS X version 10.4.2 installed and runs Mac OS 9 applications in Classic mode. For the latest information, see the references listed in “Mac OS X.”
Here are a few items of interest about the system software on the 15-inch PowerBook G4.
Open Firmware
System software on all current Macintosh models uses a design based on Open Firmware. With this approach, the ROM on the main logic board contains only the Open Firmware code needed to initialize the hardware and load an operating system. The rest of the system code is loaded into RAM from disk or from the network. For more information, see the references listed in “Open Firmware.”
Computer Identification
Rather than reading the box flag or the model string and then making assumptions about the computer’s features, applications that need to find out the features of the computer should use IORegistry calls to test for the features they require. IORegistry calls are part of the IOKit API. For more information, see the references listed at “IOKit.”
Asset management software that reports the kind of computer it is running on can obtain the value of the model property from the IOService plane of the IORegistry. For the 15-inch PowerBook G4, the value of the model property is PowerBook5,8.
Power Management
Apple’s power management techniques for the 15-inch PowerBook G4 are described in the following paragraphs.
Power Saving States
The power management protocols on the 15-inch PowerBook G4 support two power-saving states: idle and sleep.
Idle: The system is idling with the main processor in a low-power state. All clocks are running; the system can return to running code within a few nanoseconds. Cache coherency is maintained in this state. The CPU automatically transitions between run and idle, independent of the operating frequency. The operating frequency is based on the processor power management setting. For additional information, see “Processor Power Management.”
Sleep: Most internal components are powered off and the state is saved; the DRAM state is preserved for quick recovery. All processors are powered off with their state preserved in DRAM. All clocks in the system are suspended except for the 32.768 kHz timebase crystal on the PMU05 IC.
The computer automatically enters idle state after a few hundred miliseconds of inactivity. If the computer is attached to a network, it is able to respond to service requests and other events directed to the computer while it is in idle state.
While it is connected to an AC power supply, the computer can also respond to network activity when it is in sleep state. The user can enable this feature by selecting Wake-on-LAN in the Energy Saver preference pane.
When operating on the battery in sleep state, the computer consumes less than 1 watt of power, meeting the Energy Star power-saving standard. When operating on the power adapter in sleep state, the combined computer and adapter consume up to 3 to 4 watts of power.
Important: Peripherals such as PCMCIA cards and USB devices that do not conform to the computer’s power management protocols prevent the computer from switching to sleep state and so deny the user the benefits of this energy-saving state.
Processor Power Management
To lower power consumption and heat generation, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 incorporates an automatic power management stepping technique. Stepping is designed to run at full, half, or quarter processor speed and voltage to meet the demands on the processor. The processor speed will switch between 1670 MHz and 833 MHz at 1.28 V for divide by 2 and between 1670 MHz and 417 MHz at .93 V for divide by 4. The memory bus speed is not shifted.
If the 15-inch PowerBook G4 detects a system temperature that is high, due to high ambient temperatures or other factors, it will immediately force the system to quarter speed mode.
The 15-inch PowerBook G4 meets all applicable safety standards, including UL 60950 and IEC 60950.
Graphics Power Management
For additional power savings and reduced heat generation, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 incorporates a dynamic graphics power management technique. When required, the graphics processor runs at a reduced voltage and slower clock rate, similar to stepping on the central processor.
© 2003, 2005 Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2005-10-27)