The world's first 17" laptop arrives in the Middle East

It features the largest screen ever used in a portable, engineered into a 1-inch-thin notebook that weighs just 6.8 pounds.

Other features include AirPort Extreme 54Mbps wireless networking, high speed FireWire 800, a fibre-optic auto sensing backlit keyboard and built-in Bluetooth. It also comes with a Superdrive for burning DVDs and CDs.

Also introduced in the Powerbook G4 line-up is a new 12-inch model - the smallest laptop Apple has ever made. Weighing just 4.6 pounds, it has a high-resolution 12.1-inch TFT XGA active-matrix display with brilliant 1024-by-768-pixel resolution. This 867MHz PowerBook G4 delivers blazingly-fast performance thanks to its processor's Velocity Engine, perfect for next-generation video, voice and graphics applications.

"It is not just the first for Apple - It's the first for the world," said Elias Abou-Rustom, Marketing Director at (ABM). "The new 17" screen with its 1440x900 resolution is ideal for professional graphics work, movie editing, or watching wide screen DVD movies."

"And for those that want an ultra-compact solution with the G4's power and performance - the new 12' Powerbook is an excellent option. It ships with the NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go graphics processor so it is perfect for 3D gaming and multimedia work."

The PowerBook G4 comes with Mac OS X v.10.2 (Jaguar), Apple's next-generation operating system. Made with the Arab consumer in mind, it's possible to receive and send e-mails in Arabic and browse Arabic web sites. Jaguar also includes an Arabic-friendly search engine for computers users in the region. Arabic plug-ins are also available for many applications, including leading graphics applications similar to Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand.

Apple has also released a range of new software products, including Safari - the fast web browser ever. It contains useful features for blocking pop-up ads and a built-in Google search engine.

Brand new versions of Apple's award-winning digital lifestyle applications - iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and the recently released iTunes 3 - now work seamlessly together in a new integrate suite of programs called iLife. Both iLife and Safari can be downloaded from Apple Middle East website - http://www.appleme.co.ae

Final Cut Express is based on Apple's professional editing software Final Cut Pro, optimized for the DV format. Final Cut Express allows small business users, educators, students and advanced hobbyists to edit video like professional editors.

Apple's implementation of X11, the common windowing environment for UNIX systems, allows X11-based applications to run side by side with native Mac OS X applications on the same desktop and makes it even simpler to port X11 applications to the Mac.