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Overview of PowerBook G4 - 15 inch
This chapter outlines the features of the PowerBook G4 computer, with emphasis on the changes from the previous models.
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 changes, see Table 1-1.
Processor The PowerBook G4 computer has a PowerPC G4 microprocessor running at a clock speed of 867 MHz or 1 GHz. For more information, see PowerPC G4 Microprocessor.
Graphics IC and memory The ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics processor operates on the AGP4x bus along with 32 or 64 MB of DDR RAM. For more information, see Video Display Subsystem.
Hard disk storage The computer comes with a built-in hard disk drive with a capacity of 40 or 60 GB. For more information and developer guidelines for alternative hard drives, see Hard Disk Drive.
Battery bay The computer has a 61 watt-hours battery bay.
Power adapter The computer ships with a 65 W power adapter with grounded plug.
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW drive) Some configurations of the PowerBook G4 computer have a SuperDrive drive. For more information, see DVD-R /CD-RW SuperDrive.
Modem The computer has a built-in Apple 56 Kbps modem. The modem supports K56flex and V.92 modem standard. For more information, see Modem Support.
AirPort Card standard An AirPort Card is standard in the 1 GHz model. See AirPort Card.
Features
Here is a list of the features of the 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 867 MHz or 1 GHz. For more information, see PowerPC G4 Microprocessor.
System bus The speed of the system bus is 133 MHz in all models.
Cache location and speed In addition to the L2 cache, which is internal to the processor IC, the computer also has an L3 cache. See Level 2 Cache.
RAM The computer has two standard SO-DIMM expansion slots for SDRAM modules. The computer comes with 256 or 512 MB of SDRAM installed. 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 hard disk drive with a capacity of 40 or 60 GB. For more information and developer guidelines for alternative hard drives, see Hard Disk Drive.
Display The display is a 15.2 inch wide-screen TFT (1280 by 854 pixels) with a resolution of 101.4 dpi. See Flat-Panel Display.
External monitor All configurations support 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. (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 9000 graphics controller operates on the AGP4x bus along with 32 or 64 MB of video RAM. For more information, see Video Display Subsystem.
Battery bay The computer has a single battery bay. The battery uses lithium ion cells and provides 61 watt-hours at 14.4 V (nominal).
Power adapter The computer comes with a 65 W power adapter with grounded plug.
DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo drive Some configurations have a built-in DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive. See DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive.
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW drive) Some configurations of the PowerBook G4 computer have a built-in DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive drive. For more information, see DVD-R /CD-RW SuperDrive.
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 CardBus Slot.
USB ports The computer has two USB 1.1 ports for an external keyboard, a mouse, and other USB devices, described in USB Ports.
FireWire port The computer has one IEEE-1394a high-speed serial FireWire port, which supports transfer rates of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps. For more information, see FireWire Port.
Target disk mode The PowerBook G4 computer 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 Card An AirPort Card wireless LAN module is standard on the 1 GHz model and optional on the 867 MHz model. For more information, see AirPort Card.
Sound The computer has a built-in microphone and stereo speakers as well as a stereo headphone jack and a sound input jack. See Sound 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; the other function keys are programmable by the user. See Keyboard.
Trackpad The integrated trackpad includes tap/double-tap and drag features. For more information, see Trackpad.
Weight The basic configuration weighs 2.4 kg (5.4 pounds).
Size The computer is 341 mm (13.4 inches) wide, 241 mm (9.49 inches) deep, and 26.3 mm (1.04 inches) thick.
Appearance
Figure 1-1 is a front view of the PowerBook G4 computer. Figure 1-2 is a back view showing the I/O ports.
Peripheral Devices
In addition to the devices that are included with the computer, several peripheral devices are available separately:
The 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 three hours or less while the computer is running, shut down, or in sleep mode.
The Apple DVI to ADC Adapter, which enables the PowerBook G4 computer to support Apple’s ADC displays, is available separately.
The Apple Pro Keyboard, a full-featured USB keyboard, is available separately.
The Apple Pro Mouse, an optical USB mouse, is available separately.
The AirPort Base Station is available separately.
The AirPort Card is also available separately.
A power cable for use on airliners is also available. The airline power cable should have a sense resistor of 24.3K ohms connected between the power plug's shell and ground. For more information, see Power Controller.
System Software
The PowerBook G4 computer comes with both Mac OS X version 10.2 and Mac OS 9.2.2 installed. Mac OS X is the default startup system. For the latest information, see the references listed in Mac OS X and Mac OS 9.2.2.
Here are a few items of interest about the system software on the PowerBook G4 computer.
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 I/O Kit API. For more information, see the references listed at I/O Kit.
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 PowerBook G4 computer, the value of the model property is PowerBook3,5.
Power-Saving Features
The PowerBook G4 computer has several profiles to save power. These profiles are labeled on the Energy Saver panel of System Preferences.
Reduced Processor Speed
Reduced processor speed allows the software to change the processor’s clock speed, slowing down to conserve power or speeding up when more speed is needed. The slower clock speed is 667 MHz and the L3 cache is turned off.
The system software uses a reduced processor speed to automatically conserve power under the following conditions:
during system startup
when battery charge is low
when there is no battery installed
when using airline power
The user interface for the reduced processor speed is located in the options tab under the Energy Saver panel in System Preferences.
Operating Modes
The power management protocols on the PowerBook G4 computer support two power-saving modes: idle and sleep.
Idle: The system is idling with the main processor stopped in a halted, 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.
Sleep: The system is completely shut down, with only the DRAM state 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 PMU99 IC.
The computer automatically enters Idle mode after several seconds 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 mode.
While it is connected to an AC power supply, the computer can also respond to network activity when it is in sleep mode. The user can enable this feature by selecting Wake-on-LAN in the Energy Saver control panel.
When operating on the battery in sleep mode, the computer consumes less than 1 watt of power, meeting the Energy Star power-saving standard. When operating on the power adapter in sleep mode, the combined computer and adapter consume 3 to 4 watts of power.
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