Apple Macintosh PowerBook 540 vs Apple PowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)

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Macintosh PowerBook 540 compared with PowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)

	AppleMacintosh PowerBook 540	ApplePowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)
Overview
Released
Released	May 1994	2004
Display
Screen size
Screen size	9.5″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	640 × 480	1440 × 900 (better)
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	9.5-inch active-matrix greyscale LCD with 64 grey levels at 640 × 480	17-inch TFT widescreen; panel technology and refresh unpublished.
Performance
Processor
Processor	Motorola 68LC040 66 MHz (PowerBook 540c)	PowerPC G4 1.5 GHz (PowerBook 17-inch 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1
Graphics
Graphics	–	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (64 MB DDR) or ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (128 MB DDR)
Memory
Memory	4 MB	512 MB or 2 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	240 MB	80 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	Motorola 68LC040 with 66 MHz internal processor speed and 33 MHz bus interface; 8 KB L1 cache and no floating-point unit	1.5 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 KB on-chip L2 and 167 MHz bus. Exact silicon supplier omitted.
GPU
GPU	–	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64 MB DDR; 128 MB video-memory build-to-order option.
Memory type
Memory type	4 MB on the logic board, expandable to 36 MB through one memory expansion slot	512 MB PC2700 DDR333 standard; two SO-DIMM slots, maximum 2 GB.
Storage type
Storage type	240 MB internal SCSI hard drive and Apple SuperDrive floppy drive	80 GB 4200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive; 80 GB 5400 rpm build-to-order alternative. 4× DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 3 hours	Up to 4.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	–	58 Wh
Weight
Weight	3.2 kg	3.1 kg (better)
Thickness
Thickness	58 mm	–
Width × depth
Width × depth	292 × 246 mm	–
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Two high-capacity Type II nickel-metal hydride batteries supplied; Apple claims 1.5–3 hours on one battery or 3–6 hours on two	58 Wh lithium-ion, up to 4.5 hours. Maker reference 3.1 kg includes battery and optical drive and varies by configuration/manufacturing. Published dimensions: height 2.6 cm, width 39.2 cm, depth 25.9 cm.
Charger
Charger	–	65 W power adapter
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure
Connections
Ports
Ports	–	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	–	AirPort Extreme 802.11g/b
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	–	1.1
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	ADB, serial/LocalTalk, AAUI Ethernet, HDI-30 SCSI, external video, stereo sound input/output and power input; optional internal modem and processor-direct PCMCIA expansion module	Two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, Type I/II PC Card slot, DVI, S-video, audio input and headphone output.
External displays
External displays	Video output supports compatible external Apple displays through an adapter; built-in greyscale display can be upgraded to active-matrix colour with Apple's optional upgrade	Dual display/mirroring; external resolution up to 2048 × 1536. DVI-to-VGA and S-video-to-composite adapters included; ADC adapter separate.
Keyboard
Keyboard	–	Full-size illuminated fibre-optic keyboard with ambient light sensor
Trackpad
Trackpad	Built-in solid-state trackpad	Tap, double-tap and drag support
Speakers
Speakers	Two built-in speakers and microphone with 16-bit stereo sound	Two stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	–	Internal omnidirectional microphone
In the box
In the box	Notebook, two batteries and power adapter; preinstalled PowerBook Mobility Bundle. Dimensions and metric weight come from Apple's October 1994 Apple Facts	Apple announced 19 April 2004 and expected the 17-inch model in early May. Actual first on-sale month unestablished after a bounded search; year precision retained. Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and iLife ’04 supplied.