Apple Computer today answered the fervent hopes of many gamers by releasing a new 800 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 powered by an ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics processing unit with 32 MB of DDR SDRAM, promising a dramatic improvement in the framerates of 3D-accelerated games.

Apple's previous top-of-the-line PowerBook (reviewed today on IMG) featured an ATI Mobility Radeon, which, while a substantial improvement for 3D gaming over the ATI Rage 128 Mobility, lacked the hardware transform and lighting unit of the Mobility Radeon 7500, which was announced by ATI shortly before the PowerBook's revision late last year.

The Mobility Radeon 7500 also differs from the Mobility Radeon in last year's PowerBook in boasting twice the VRAM — 32 MB, up from 16 — and a 230 MHz clock. Like the Mobility Radeon in the older model, the new chip communicates with the system via a 4X AGP bus.

Other notable improvements in Apple's newest PowerBook include:

• 800 MHz PowerPC G4
  
• 1 MB DDR L3 Cache
  
• 1280x854 Hi-res Display
  
• DVI Out

The addition of DVI output means that PowerBook users can now connect Apple's own digital displays, such as the 23-inch Cinema HD Display, to the laptop for use as a second monitor. The PowerBook's internal display, while remaining at the 15.2-inch widescreen format familiar from previous Titanium PowerBooks, has had its resolution increased to 1280x854, offering 23% more workspace and even better-looking anti-aliased text.

The 1 MB of level 3 cache, which is in addition to the 256 KB of fast level 2 cache on the G4 processor itself, brings to the new PowerBook a performance boost previously found only in Apple's Power Mac line.

The new PowerBook features a 133 MHz system bus, a slot-loading Combo Drive for playing DVDs and for playing or recording CDs, 512 MB of RAM in the 800 MHz model, and, of course, Mac OS X 10.1 pre-installed.

Apple is also offering a new 667 MHz model with 256 MB of RAM, complete with the Mobility Radeon 7500, Combo Drive, 133 MHz system bus, and 1 MB L3 Cache of its more powerful sibling.

The 800 MHz model retails for US$3199, and the 667 MHz model for US$2499.

Titanium PowerBook G4/800

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