In Brief

Always in search of the perfect travel notebook, I was eager to try out Apple's new 12-inch Mac PowerBook G4, part of a line refresh that features faster processors and drives, more RAM and disk space, and a few entirely new features, notably Bluetooth 2.0 -- the first portable from any vendor to build in this new wireless standard. While the basic design is the same as the first aluminum PowerBooks introduced in 2003, I wasn't disappointed. The updates add needed pep, and keep the technology current while the world waits for a G5 chip cool enough for use in laptops. And of course all PowerBooks feature built-in AirPort Extreme for connecting to Wi-Fi at home and on the road.

At just 4.6 pounds and exactly as wide as its full-size keyboard, the 12-inch PowerBook is Apple's most compact Mac to date. Not quite as slim as some PC ultraportables, but feature for feature no more expensive than a similarly equipped Sony VAIO. Add an optional large display, and you've got a desktop-class machine that travels light.

In Depth

All compact portables must strike a balance between features and weight. And until now, I thought that a 15-inch screen was the smallest I could live with in a portable that doubles as both a travel and desktop machine. But the 12-inch PowerBook G4 changed my mind.

The new 12-inch PowerBook comes in two base models: a 60GB version with a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive ($1,499), and an 80GB model with an 8X DVD-RW/DVD+RW drive ($1,699). Both have 1.5GHz processors, 512GB RAM upgradeable to 1.25GB, and a mini-DVI video output that can drive a second monitor at up to 2,048-by-1,536 pixels, making it a perfect companion for Apple's Cinema Displays (although not the 30-inch model). And of course, like all PowerBooks, it includes AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, FireWire, and USB 2.0. What it lacks, compared to the 15- and 17-inch models, is Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, S-video output, and a PC Card slot.

I don't miss the FireWire 800 or S-video ports. Few FireWire 800 devices are available, and Apple sells a $19 adapter that provides S-video support. The PC Card slot and Gigabit Ethernet port are bigger omissions. With a PC Card slot, you could use a third-party Wi-Fi or cell data card. Third-party Wi-Fi cards have better range than the built-in AirPort Extreme card, and the coming HSDPA cell data standard is extremely attractive. And Gigabit Ethernet has a 1,000Mbps transfer rate over compatible wired networks, ten times the standard 100Mbps in the 12-inch PowerBook. But I'm one of the few with a home Gigabit Ethernet net. Most users won't know the difference.

What more than makes up for these omissions is the lighter weight and price tag. The $600 savings over a 15-inch PowerBook will buy you a nice LCD display for use when you're at your desk, bigger and better than the screens in the 15- or 17-inch models. And the 12-inch model also boasts longer battery life and much less heat buildup than its big brothers, two areas that bedevil the large-screen models. The 15-inch PowerBook gets so hot it literally gives me red blotches on my thighs. And when using Wi-Fi with the 15-inch, the battery lasts barely 2 hours at best. With the 12-inch PowerBook, I could consistently work for 3 hours, with no heat rash.

So what else is new in the 12-inch PowerBooks besides faster drives and processors? Apple has added three major new hardware technologies: Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, trackpad scrolling, and a Sudden Motion Sensor. All are great for road warriors. The Sudden Motion Sensor instantly parks the hard drive heads when the machine starts to fall, protecting your valuable data from accidental disk crashes. No, we didn't test this, but we're glad it's there...

On the other hand, I couldn't get enough of the trackpad scrolling. With this new feature, you simply drag two fingers across the pad to move up and down or side-to-side within any scrolling window. We've envied this capability on Windows trackpads for a while now, but the two-finger approach eliminates the unwanted scrolls we often experience when using a PC laptop. It makes one-handed surfing a breeze.

The biggest news for wireless mavens, however, is probably the inclusion of the Bluetooth 2.0+EDR standard, which is fully backward compatible with Bluetooth 1.0. While no Bluetooth 2.0 peripheral devices -- such as cell phones, PDAs, and headsets -- are yet available, they will start shipping this summer, and when they do, the benefits of the new standard should be clearly evident. Bluetooth 2.0 transmits data three times as fast as 1.0, making it much more practical for using your cell phone as a modem for your laptop (with new high-speed cell data services like EDGE, EV-DO, and HSDPA). Even better, since data is transmitted faster, much less battery life is consumed per transmission, a crucially important feature for cell phone users.

Design-wise, while the new PowerBook looks the same as the old, it's still sleek and sexy. The keyboard has a firm, positive feel, and it's full-size. We'd prefer it were backlit, but can live without it. The screen, on the other hand, is simply great. It's bright, crisp, and readable at 1,024-by-768 pixels. Some PC laptops try to squeeze in more pixels at the expense of your eyesight.

Our quibbles are with the Wi-Fi range and speaker quality, which have not improved over previous models. You'll want a pair of external speakers on your desktop, and a good set of headphones, if you use iTunes. And all the aluminum PowerBooks have relatively poor Wi-Fi range compared to similar PC notebooks. We can't understand why Apple, a pioneer in Wi-Fi, doesn't beef this up. But we've gotten used to moving around to find a seat with good reception at hotspots. We'd rather use the internal Wi-Fi than have a card sticking out of our laptop (although the 12-inch model lacks the PC Card slot of the 15- and 17-inch PowerBooks).

Software-wise, you can't do much better than the standard package on the PowerBook. Mac OS X Panther, iLife '05 (with iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, and GarageBand), Mail, Safari, and all the other Mac apps are the main reason Mac users are so devoted to their platform. If you're already a Mac owner, you don't need an introduction. If you're not, we hope you try them. Compared to Windows PCs, the Mac OS is much more secure, with virtually no viruses or spyware. Apple also includes excellent additional security features, such as FileVault and the Keychain, that encrypt and protect all your data and passwords in case of loss of your laptop, a key feature for road warriors, who often travel with the "keys to the company" on their laptop's hard drive. Only a couple PC laptop vendors offer this level of data protection.

Current Mac owners will also love the new software migration feature, appearing for the first time in the PowerBook line, that lets you automatically transfer over all your settings, documents, and applications from your old OS X machine. My entire 50GB of data was copied at the click of a mouse in about 90 minutes via FireWire, and I booted right into my familiar desktop environment, with all passwords and applications at the ready. That experience alone was worth the price of admission.

In terms of system performance, I found no discernable difference from my previous 1.5HGHz 15-inch PowerBook G4, which was already plenty fast enough for heavy-duty use. The main difference was that the 12-inch PowerBook only has one RAM slot (with 256MB on the motherboard), which means you can only get a maximum of 1.25GB, rather than the 2GB on the 15- and 17-inch models. As a devoted RAM junkie (I like to keep a dozen apps open at once, rather than constantly opening and closing them), this was a little troubling, but you would have to be a pretty heavy video or photo creator to really need more than 1.25GB.

The Bottom Line

The 12-inch PowerBook is the hidden jewel of Apple's laptop line. Often overlooked in favor of the larger, more attention-grabbing models, it has everything road warriors need in a compact, lightweight, rugged, and affordably priced package. As the first laptop computer to include Bluetooth 2.0, it's another example of Apple innovative leadership in the portable computing marketplace. But it's not just for travelers. Add an external display, and you've got a super desktop machine as well. We love it for its wireless features, battery life, built-in DVD-RW drive, trackpad scrolling, full-size keyboard, and great screen, not to mention Apple's suite of bundled applications and virus-resistant Mac OS operating system.