Apple's online store has always prided itself on its simple layout and ease of navigation. That simple design was improved upon yesterday, as the fourth product line, the new iBook 'Consumer Portable,' became available for prepurchase. The storefront is now organized along Steve Jobs' "four-square" product strategy chart, with consumer portable and desktop on the left, professional portable and desktop on the right. Snazzy new "Buy Me" buttons, promotions along the right, and accessories along the bottom complete the new redesign.

The second major change to the Apple Store yesterday was the addition of "Build to Order" options for the "Bronze" PowerBooks, with the following options being available:

• Processor (333/400)
• Memory (64 Megs to 384 Megs)
• Hard Drive (4 gigs to 10 gigs)
• Optical storage (CD/DVD)
• AppleCare extended warranty. (none/1 yr.)

The two configurations of prebuilt Bronze PowerBooks, with a $1,000 price difference, along with only one having DVD capability gave many people problems in making a decision between the two models. With Build-to-Order, you can finally configure that 333 MHz/DVD or 400/CD ROM/10 GB HD that suits your needs perfectly. However, you pay a price for BTO, as the Apple Store charges sales tax, regardless of your state of residency. Apple claims BTO PowerBooks ship within 10 days. Time will only tell if this new option is a speedy alternative to wrenching decisions between prebuilt models.



Back to the index page for today's PowerBook news and more...

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Written/Edited/Published by Doug B. Landry
Logo by Jon Iverson
Apple, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS,The Apple Store, and Powerbook are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
©1998 Doug B. Landry. All rights reserved. All or part may not be reproduced or distributed without prior consent.
Coded on a Apple Macintosh Powerbook G3 Series from Baton Rouge, LA

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