It is difficult to stir definitely passionate, yet somewhat finite, user base to purchase "iterative speed bump" computers (particularly laptops) yet Apple has managed to guild its Aluminum Powerbook line with a handful of neat new features. Most of these are invisible, yet their presence makes PowerBook life easier (trackpad scrolling) and less fearsome (sudden-shock hard drive protection).

Keyboard backlighting (variable brightness of course), integrated Airport Extreme and the world's fastest BlueTooth links are now standard. Beneath the illuminated keyboard, the trackpad now supports automati vertical (or horizontal) scrolling. Just use two fingers in place of your normal one, and any open window becomes scrollable. Again, saving seconds per minute adds up to many minutes each day and week.

The 1.67GHz G4 Processor runs longer and still delivers enough power for robust video field editing. While PC makers brag of the peak speed of USB 2.0 (480 mbps) Apple's inclusion of Firewire 800 demonstrated sustainable speeds 3 to 4 times that of the fastest USB 2.0 drives we attached. And yes, two USB 2.0 ports are included, along with a Firewire 400 port. said easier, the PowerBook supports 50, 60 and 100 MByte/second file transfers. Saved time adds up quickly on large digital video file transfers.

Touchpad - Ready to Scroll & Roll
With two-finger custom scroll, the 1440 x 844 pixel screen jumps to your command. Even large virtual windows can be intuitively scrolled where before it was a multi-wipe and click chore to explore their boundaries. You can customize this feature to suit your needs via System Preferences.

G-Sensor Helps Protect Your Data
The new PowerBook G4 helps protect your valuable data using Apple's Sudden Motion Sensing technology. In the event of a drop, the new Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) instantly parks the hard drive heads so they won’t scratch the disks on impact, lessening the risk of damage. When the module senses your PowerBook is level, it unlocks the hard drive heads automatically.

Question - how does one test the efficacy of this feature without destroying a PowerBook or hard drive? Well, as the internal G-shock sensor s supposed to quickly park the disk drive heads as soon as a free-fall is sensed - precursor to a hard impact to follow.

Well, eighteen months ago, when IBM offered a similar feature on ThinkPad PCs, we saw a C-net reporter prove the disk drive was made safe by physically dropping the ThinkPad 3 feet. Well, the good news, the hard drive survived fine. The bad news: the machine was in pieces, with the screen and keyboard both limp, afterwards.

To avoid this, we simply tested the feature';s performance by using a microphone and high quality audio recording application to "listen" to the drive as we dropped it carious heights (onto a pillow, Apple, not a hard floor.)

Sure enough, the drive sensed something with an over 120-inch drop and the sound of the heads being parked was discernible! Nice work Apple!

All 15 and 17 inch PowerBooks now ship with Enhanced Data Rate 3-Mbps Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, offering three times the speed - while remaining compatible with - Bluetooth 1.1. That should give this PowerBook a longer useful life with cell phones, Navigators and the like - fast enough for decent video streaming.

The newest SuperDrive finally supports +R and +RW media in addition to -R and -RW support. (All that's missing is the dual-layer capability of the newest dual G5 Towers, but all good things come to those who wait.)

Running Virtual PC 7.1, this fastest PowerBook is finally fleet enough of foot to support smooth media playback in Virtual PC with Windows XP.

At $2,299 with 512 MB of RAM, the system represents a new performance value from Apple. Shipping now with System 10.4 (Tiger).