Apple Releases Mac Os X Public Beta; Unveils New Ibook Line - Product Announcement

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Sept 18, 2000

During the kickoff keynote at Apple Expo Paris, where over 250 exhibitors are showcasing solutions and services for the Macintosh platform, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) released Mac OS X Public Beta and introduced a new iBook line in all new colors. Apple also announced that it will offer the Radeon graphics accelerator card as a build-to-order option on The Apple Store (www.apple.com) for all Power Mac G4 and Power Mac G4 Cube systems.

Immediately available in English, French and German through The Apple Store for $29.95, Mac OS X features state-of-the-art technology throughout, including advanced Internet and graphics technologies, a new user interface named "Aqua," and an open-source UNIX-based foundation named Darwin.

Mac OS X features true memory protection, pre-emptive multi-tasking, and symmetric multiprocessing when running on the new dual-processor Power Mac G4 line. Mac OS X includes Apple's new Quartz 2D graphics engine (based on the Internet-standard Portable Document Format) for stunning graphics and broad font support; OpenGL for spectacular 3D graphics and gaming, and QuickTime for streaming audio and video. In addition, Mac OS X features Apple's new user interface named "Aqua," which combines superior ease-of-use with amazing new functionality such as the "Dock," a breakthrough for organizing applications, documents and miniaturized windows. Mac OS X Public Beta includes many applications, including Apple's new Mail client (IMAP and POP compatible) and new versions of the QuickTime player and Sherlock Internet searching tool, as well as a beta version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the most popular browser for the Mac.

Apple has also unveiled a new iBook line featuring FireWire ports and iMovie 2, the world's most popular and easy-to-use digital video editing software. Apple's new iBook now comes in Indigo and the new iBook Special Edition, which includes a DVD-ROM drive for watching DVD movies on the go, comes in Graphite.

The new iBook models include: a 366 MHz or 466 MHz PowerPC G3 processor; a 10GB IDE hard drive, configurable to 20GB; a 400 Mbps FireWire port for connecting high-speed peripherals such as digital camcorders and hard disk drives; a CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive; an AV port providing audio and composite video output; and the blazing ATI RAGE Mobility 128 controller with 8MB of SDRAM for great games and graphics.

Providing advanced 3D graphics processing for the Macintosh, the Radeon graphics card is available immediately for order through The Apple Store for all Power Mac G4 and Power Mac G4 Cube models for an additional $100.