Apple PowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD) vs Apple PowerBook G4 17-inch (Early 2003)

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PowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD) compared with PowerBook G4 17-inch (Early 2003)

	ApplePowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD)	ApplePowerBook G4 17-inch (Early 2003)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2005	March 2003
Display
Screen size
Screen size	15.2″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	1440 × 960 (better)	1440 × 900
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	15.2-inch TFT widescreen, 1440 × 960; panel technology and refresh unpublished.	17-inch TFT widescreen; exact panel technology, brightness and built-in refresh unpublished.
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 1.67 GHz (PowerBook 15-inch Late 2005)	PowerPC G4 1 GHz (PowerBook 17-inch Early 2003)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1
Graphics
Graphics	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (128 MB DDR)	NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go (64 MB DDR)
Memory
Memory	512 MB or 2 GB (better)	512 MB or 1 GB
Storage
Storage	80 GB to 120 GB (better)	60 GB
CPU
CPU	1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 with 512 KB on-chip L2 and 167 MHz system bus. Exact silicon supplier omitted.	1 GHz PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine, 1 MB DDR SRAM L3 cache and 167 MHz system bus. Exact silicon supplier/SKU omitted.
GPU
GPU	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128 MB DDR and dual-link DVI standard	NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go, AGP 4 × with 64 MB DDR video memory.
Memory type
Memory type	512 MB PC2-4200 DDR2 running at 333 MHz; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 2 GB.	512 MB PC2700 DDR333 standard; two SO-DIMM slots and maker-supported maximum 1 GB. Unofficial 2 GB in EveryMac is excluded from configurations.
Storage type
Storage type	80 GB 5400 rpm Ultra ATA/100 standard with Sudden Motion Sensor. Build-to-order: 100 GB 5400 or 7200 rpm, or 120 GB 5400 rpm. 8× SuperDrive with 2.4× double-layer DVD+R support; optional Combo drive. Speed/optical alternatives retained here rather than duplicate capacity rows.	60 GB 4200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 and slot-loading SuperDrive. Maker UK launch sheet specifies DVD-R 1 × write/8 × read, CD-R 8 × write, CD-RW 4 × write and CD 24 × read; later EveryMac 2 × DVD-R and Macworld 16 × CD-R figures differ, so launch maker specification retained.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 5.5 hours	Up to 4.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	–	55 Wh
Weight
Weight	–	3.1 kg
Thickness
Thickness	–	26 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	–	392 × 259 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 5.5 hours, dependent on configuration and use. Retained maker family sheet publishes 15-inch reference weight 5.6 pounds, footprint 13.7 × 9.5 inches and thickness 1.1 inches; no calculated metric main values. Its detailed 58 Wh battery section is explicitly 17-inch and is not borrowed.	55 Wh lithium-ion, up to 4.5 hours maker claim. Published 3.1 kg includes battery and optical drive and varies by configuration/manufacturing process; closed metric dimensions 39.2 × 25.9 × 2.6 cm.
Charger
Charger	Power adapter included; wattage not established for this exact generation in the read family sheet.	–
Materials
Materials	Aluminium enclosure	Anodised aluminium enclosure
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	AirPort Extreme 802.11g/b	AirPort Extreme 802.11b/g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	2.0 + EDR	1.1
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	Two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, DVI, S-video and Type I/II PC Card slot. Combined analogue/optical digital input and output.	Two 12 Mbps USB 1.1 ports, one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, Type I/II PC Card/CardBus, DVI, S-video, line input and headphone output. Support table mislabels FireWire MBps; UK sheet explicitly states Mbps.
External displays
External displays	Dual-link DVI supports 30-inch Cinema HD display; DVI-to-VGA and S-video-to-composite adapters included.	Dual display or mirroring up to 2048 × 1536 externally; DVI and included VGA/composite adapters.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Full-size illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor	Full-size keyboard with fibre-optic backlighting and ambient light control; 79 ISO keys and embedded numeric keypad.
Trackpad
Trackpad	Two-finger scrolling/panning, tap, double-tap and drag support	–
Speakers
Speakers	Stereo speakers	Two built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Internal omnidirectional microphone	Internal omnidirectional microphone under left speaker grille
In the box
In the box	Apple UK confirms immediate availability on 19 October 2005. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and iLife ’05 supplied. The retained sheet’s configuration table covers all sizes but its detailed specification section describes the 17-inch; only the 15-inch table and explicit build-to-order fields are used here.	65 W power adapter, cord, modem cable, DVI-to-VGA and S-video-to-composite adapters. January announcement expected February; Macworld reported actual customer arrivals in March 2003. Month retained without inventing first delivery day.