When

First let me say that I don't have a Mac crystal ball that makes sure everything in this article on a as-yet-unreleased product is absolutely true. So before you make any huge purchasing decisions on a rumor based article, please wait until after the 19th. Why the 19th? Our sources have pegged the announcement date of Lombard, Apple's next PowerBook (Also codenamed 101) at the NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters conference, where other technologies including QT 4.0, Final Cut Pro, and Mac OS 8.6 are being released. Our official estimate of the chances of Lombard being introduced at NAB are around 80%. Now, that's the announcement, not the availability of the machine in the channel. The production of the machine is being ramped up as you read this, and availability of the machine should follow the official announcement in about two to three weeks.

Why

How can you be so sure? Well, all the software for Lombard is or is almost GM (Golden Master, ready to ship). Mac OS 8.6 (Required for Lombard's release, will be preloaded on the machine) is going GM around this coming Friday and should be on FTP servers on Monday, with press hoopla centering at NAB. The final prototypes have been seeded to all engineers. Folks, Lombard is DONE. All indications point to an introduction at NAB or very soon after. Though it's always possible, an introduction as late as WWDC doesn't look very likely. By WWDC, the Lombard should be in good supply throughout the retail channel.

What

What exactly is Lombard? Lombard/101 is Apple's next generation of full-size professional Powerbooks. It is meant to completely replace the Wallstreet line, not complement it. While we may have been lulled into thinking that PowerBooks are cheap by Apple's firesales of Wallstreet models, but Lombard will be priced considerably higher than Wallstreet's current prices, which have gone through at least four rounds of price cuts. Remember what Wallstreet cost back in last May? From $2700 to $6,000 dollars. Expect Lombard's cost to fall right in those thresholds.

Specs

So what's under the hood? Lombard won't add anything earth-shattering to Wallstreet's current specs, but everything is nicely upgraded and put in a new formfactor. It will have speeds ranging up to 400 MHz running on a 66 MHz bus. The processor is a copper-based G3 with a full megabyte of backside cache. RAM quantities are dependent on the model, but 64 MB is expected to be the minimum. Hard drives are again dependent on the configuration, but they will range from 8 GB to 12 GB. A 56k modem with a new square formfactor will be standard on most configurations, though a low end Lombard may ship without a modem. Screens will be standard on a 14.1" TFT active matrix model. One type II PC Card slot. Serial and ADB are long gone from Lombard. But SCSI is on the machine, without a doubt. 100bt Ethernet onboard. The normal S-Video and VGA video out are on there. USB is on the motherboard, FireWire isn't. Read our article on the FireWire card under development. 4Mbit IrDA is included in every model of Lombard. The exact specifications of the video subsystem are not known, but it has been said that "it will do everything anyone wanted," meaning monitor spanning, not the mirroring Wallstreet offers. The video subsystem will also do DVD decoding without a seperate PC Card. Expansion bays are a different formfactor than Wallstreet's, with no backward compatibility. Batteries aren't vastly different, but should have longer life. The keyboard and trackpad are similar, but the buttons above the keyboard are gone, their mute, volume, and brightness controls have been moved to function key combinations on the keyboard itself that have improved software support that removes the small delay in action when using the buttons on Wallstreet.

Unknowns

So what don't you know? Well, a few things, given the new focus on secrecy at Apple. We know the formfactor will be thinner and different from Wallstreet, but its exact look is unknown and probably won't be until the actual announcement. A few things are pretty set, but subject to last minute change. The max speed is known at 400 MHz, but the inclusion of a 300 Mhz low-end model is unknown. The exact video subsystem is not known. It's going to be made by ATI, that's for sure. The name is still unsure but "G3 Series" is likely. Ready for confusion? And there's always the chance for some cool Apple innovation/surprise....

The Hard Sell

What?!? The thing has only one PC Card slot? This is a seeming caveat to a purchase of Lombard. First, we'll tackle the PC Card issue: Well, besides FireWire, Lombard has everything you might need (unless you're some kind of music/midi/videoediting-on-the-go person, in which case a breakout box from someone like Magma will probably be produced soon) on the motherboard. You won't need a Road Rocket card as the video subsytem will handle external monitor spanning and resolution switching. You won't need a PC Card modem, a modem is standard on all models, with the small possibility of a low-end having no modem. A USB PC Card isn't needed, it's on the motherboard. Lastly, DVD decoding is done by the graphics chip, removing the need for the standalone DVD decoding card. Just suffice it to say that under almost all mainstream use, your Lombard won't ever need to use two PC Cards simultaneously. And it doesn't have a floppy. Deal with it. Steve doesn't like floppies. Just be glad IrDA and SCSI escaped his wrath, their inclusion was uncertain up until recently.

Conclusions

So what do you think? We think Lombard is a very nice improvement over the already-fabulous Wallstreet line. There were a few things that were annoying in Wallstreet that have been taken care of in this model. You'll pay dearly for this machine, but it'll be a solid seller in Apple's product line. We can't wait to see what Lombard actually looks like, and can't wait to start reporting on the NEXT generation of PowerBooks.

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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