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Wednesday, March 19th 2003 11:22 CDT

UPDATE--15:50 CST: Former Vice President Al Gore Joins Apple Board of Directors

According to CNBC TV and confirmed by Apple's press release, former vice president Al Gore has joined Apple's Board of Directors:

CUPERTINO, California--March 19, 2003--Apple today announced that Albert Gore Jr., the former Vice President of the United States, has joined the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Gore was elected at Apple's board meeting today.

"Al brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom to Apple from having helped run the largest organization in the world‹the United States government‹as a Congressman, Senator and our 45th Vice President. Al is also an avid Mac user and does his own video editing in Final Cut Pro," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Al is going to be a terrific Director and we're excited and honored that he has chosen Apple as his first private sector board to serve on."

"Steve and his team have done an incredible job in making Apple once again the very best in the world," said former Vice President Al Gore. "I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X operating system and the company's commitment to the open source movement. And I am especially looking forward to working with and learning from the great board members who have guided this legendary company's inspiring resurgence."

Al Gore also serves as a "senior advisor" to Google, but as the press release mentions, this is his first appointment to a private-sector board of directors. The Apple press release continues:

Mr. Gore was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993. He was re-elected in 1996, and helped lead the U.S. into the longest period of sustained economic growth in American history. He served for a total of eight years as President of the Senate, a member of the cabinet and the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives including environmental policy, technology, science, communications and government cost reduction.

As a member of the U.S. Congress 25 years ago, he popularized the term "Information Superhighway," and was instrumental in fighting for federal funds to assist in building what later became the Internet. He has remained an active leader in technology -- launching a public/private effort to wire every classroom and library in America to the Internet.

Mr. Gore serves as a Senior Advisor to Google, Inc. He is also a visiting professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University.

Mr. Gore received his B.A. in Government with honors from Harvard University in 1969, and attended the Vanderbilt University School of Religion and the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Well, first I should note that I had not actually seen one of these in person before picking mine up. I had planned to hit the Apple Store this weekend to look over the display model, assuming it would be weeks before I would get one. Having said that, I have really been struck by the size. This really is, as others have said, a portable desktop. I can't imagine just whipping this out while sitting at a bus station or airport and casually working on it. Discreet it's not. By comparison, I've been using the PB 12, which is really, really handy for travelers and in some ways even more of a marvel because of the technology packed into such a tiny space..

Don't get me wrong. The 17-inch is everything it's been billed as: a wonder of technology and an amazing machine to use. But it does seem, er, GRATUITOUSLY large! ;-) Sort of like the Sundae you know you shouldn't have but will eat to the bottom of the bowl anyway. As for construction and operation, it's very speedy, tightly built, and seems to exhibit none of the problems associated with the early PB 12s. The lighted keyboard HAS to be the coolest feature, though the light is more white than purple, offering what I would call a subtle glow. The Quicktime movie on the Apple site almost exaggerates the brightness, no doubt to make it easier for people to see. (Real picture from the dark: http://www.kenmingis.com/Powerbook11.html) Hope this helps.

17" PowerBook Reports

Some readers have actually already received their 17" Aluminum PowerBook G4s in their hot little hands:

I was lucky enough to get a call from the Apple Store today. I had put my name on the waiting list back in January and when they got in 5 PB 17s today, I was one of the ones they called. Dashed over at lunch to get it.I was No. 2 (someone had been in 10 minutes earlier). So in addition to showing up for folks who ordered online, they're also showing up at some of the Apple Stores for people who put their names on waiting lists. So far, it's flawless. Pix at: http://www.kenmingis.com/Powerbook1.html

---

I picked up my 17 at the Knox-Hendrson Apple store in Dallas yesterday. It is one sweet machine.

---

my brother just called me to say that my 17 inch that i had ordered from applestore online on jan 9th has finally come home. I will check out the laptop and give you a review as soon as i get to look at it.

I've been given a verbal indication that my 17" that I ordered from MacWarehouse should ship somewhere around the 26th of March. I won't hold my breath, but as I ordered about a week after the keynote I don't think this is out of line based on recent shipping information.

1 GB RAM in 12" PowerBook G4 Responses

A couple of readers responded to our call for comments on the possible addition of 1 GB of RAM to the 12" PowerBook G4:

I contacted Kingston Memory about a 1GB RAM chip for the 12" PowerBook G4 as well, and attached is their response, sounding like very soon it will begin shipping. As to contentions that it will not work in the PowerBook, Apple seems to say that it will. see this page, the first chart:

Click here for the developer's note.

hope this helps clear the confusion up! I plan to get a PowerBook G4 in the next week, and am heartened to see that it looks like their RAM ceiling is 1152MB.

From: Lisa_Moreno@Kingston.com
TO:
Date: Thu Mar 13, 2003 08:11:01 AM AKST
Subject: Re: Kingston Product Information Request: US <> Dear Benjamin,

Thank you for your interest in Kingston Technology products.

I have checked with our product engineers, who first of all have stated that they don't know any Apple system that will support a 1G module. However, there is currently a 1G module in the process of being built and is expected to be released in the next few weeks. Possibly the first part of April.

If you have any other questions or require further assistance, feel free to contact us directly at 800 835-6575. We are available M-F, 6am-5pm, PT. I hope this information is helpful. Thank you for selecting Kingston as your upgrade partner.

Best Regards,
Lisa Moreno
Customer Service/Sales Support
Kingston Technology Company

Tuesday, March 18th 2003 08:12 CDT

More 17" PBs Ship from Apple; None from Resellers

We've received about five more shipping reports with confirmed tracking numbers from the Apple Store, and almost all those that have shipped so far were ordered on the day of the MWSF keynote.

If you've received a shipping report from anywhere other than the Apple Store, we'd love to hear about it. Also, keep those regular shipping reports coming in, as we'd like to track when orders shipped were placed.

So far, none have shipped from anywhere but the Apple Store online.

1GB RAM for 12" PowerBooks?

A reader sent in this post from a 12" PowerBook forum:

> 1 GB SODIMMS will be available on 03-19-2003 in a form that should work with our PB's. Check out this page: www.dallasmemory.com, and scroll down towards the bottom, to the SODIMM section. They list a 1 GB Samsung PC2100 (DDR 266) DDR SODIMM for $667 (quite expensive, but they are sure to go down as time goes on). The site only guarantees compatibility with a few Dell laptops, but seeing as how it has the same CAS Latency (2.5) as the RAM in our PB's it should work just fine.

17" Bag Roundup

Over at Can You Hear Me Now, they've put together a list of all the currently shipping 17" PowerBook bags out there. There's a bit over 15 choices out there.

It's somewhat ironic that there's a plethora of bag choices before a customer can even get the PowerBook itself...

Monday, March 17th 2003 11:04 CDT

17" Developers Note Posted

Apple has posted the developer's note for the 17" PowerBook model on its website. For those that haven't seen a DN before, it's a detailed technical document explaining every bit of the PowerBook's design and engineering. We suspect the note wasn't published until now because some details were probably changed between the pre-production units that were shown at Macworld San Francisco and the actual shipping units we will see shortly.

17" PowerBooks Ship!

It appears to us that the "shipping reports" posted Friday on MacNN and other sites are merely a sample unit or two going to Apple resellers and not stock for actual sale. So we thought that there'd be another week's wait for shipping reports from readers. However, reader Greg is the first to send us a shipping report with a confirmation tracking number from Apple:

I also received this in my mailbox this morning along with a tracking number, having ordered on the day of the keynote:

[There's some editing of the email he received so it displays properly-Ed.]

Dear Apple Customer,

The following products shipped on 03/15/2003. Transit time will depend upon whether you have chosen standard or premium freight options. If your order is shipping standard freight, it should arrive within 2 - 5 business days of shipment.

M8793LL/A PBG4 17.0/1GHZ/512/60G/SD/AP/BT-USA 1 2,639.00

The price difference is from a student developer discount. What a happy day. Apple actually did deliver on time since my "on or before date" has always been 3/20. I had been banking on it for a road trip I am taking on the 22nd so it seems I won't be disappointed.