Apple faces weighty PowerBook decision

For Apple, releasing a G5 PowerBook continues to be a hefty issue.

Apple customers have been waiting for the company to deliver a PowerBook driven by the G5 chip for some time. The more powerful chip first arrived in the Power Mac line in 2003, and Apple began offering it in the iMac last year.

The computer maker is well aware that Mac fans want a G5 PowerBook, and technically, the company could offer one now. But given the relatively power-hungry nature of the IBM PowerPC 970FX processor - Apple has dubbed the 970FX and its predecessor, the 970, "G5" chips - a G5 PowerBook would require compromises in size, weight and other aesthetics such as noise production. Apple, and likely most of its customers, wouldn't be willing to live with that.

Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of Microprocessor Report, said: "It'd be this really thick, heavy notebook, and it would be loud as all get-out. Those would not be design choices that Apple would want to pursue."

Apple acknowledges the design challenge.

David Moody, VP of worldwide Mac product marketing at Apple, told silicon.com's sister site CNET News.com on Monday: "It is fair to say that incorporating a G5 into a notebook as thin and light as the PowerBook is extremely difficult."

Instead of releasing the much-hoped-for G5 PowerBook, Apple on Monday introduced a new lineup of PowerBooks with slightly faster G4 processors. It also added more memory, as well as features such as a scrolling TrackPad and a motion sensor that protects the PowerBooks' hard drives if the machines are dropped. Moody wouldn't say whether the updated PowerBooks represent the last revision to the line before a switch to the G5, nor did he offer further details on when the company might offer a G5 laptop.

David Becker writes for CNET News.com.