by , 4:30 PM EST, February 19th, 2001
When Steve Jobs introduced the SuperDrive and the 733 MHz PowerMac G4, he said that Apple would begin shipping the models in late February. Apple announced today that they new units are shipping now, and that, in our books, is in the middle of February. According to Apple:
Apple® today announced it has begun shipping its new 733 MHz Power Mac™ G4 with the SuperDrive, a combination CD-RW/DVD-R drive that can read and write CDs as well as DVDs that can be played in consumer DVD players. Apple unveiled the SuperDrive at MACWORLD Expo in San Francisco last month.
The Power Mac G4 with SuperDrive also includes Apple's revolutionary new iDVD™ application software that enables users to easily create professional quality DVDs for playback on consumer DVD players.
iDVD lets professionals and consumers quickly and easily create professional-looking DVDs for playback on consumer DVD players. iDVD shields users from the complexity of DVD authoring by offering professionally designed themes and drag-and-drop simplicity. With one click, iDVD automatically converts iMovie™, Final Cut Pro® or any QuickTime™ video file into the required format, compresses them into the MPEG-2 compression standard required to make DVDs, and burns the DVD-R disc with Apple's new SuperDrive.
Apple's new optional DVD Studio Pro™ application is the perfect complement to Apple's award-winning Final Cut Pro video editing, effects and compositing software. DVD Studio Pro, the first full-featured DVD authoring tool available for less than $1,000, offers professional-quality DVD encoding, authoring and writing. With DVD Studio Pro, G4 users can encode their Final Cut Pro projects in the DVD format; author DVDs; preview finished projects in real-time; and burn DVD video discs with the G4's new SuperDrive.
With Apple's new iTunes, the world's best and easiest to use jukebox software, users can import songs from their favorite CDs into their Power Mac G4; compress the files into the popular MP3 format; organize their music using powerful yet easy to use searching, browsing, and play list features; watch stunning visualizations on their computer screen; and create custom music CDs with the Power Mac G4's new CD-RW or combination CD-RW/DVD-R SuperDrive.
Pricing & Availability
The 733 MHz Power Mac G4 is available immediately through The Apple Store™ and Apple Authorized Resellers in the following standard configuration: 733 MHz processor with 256K level 2 on-chip cache and 1MB level 3 backside cache; 256MB of PC133 SDRAM memory; 60GB Ultra ATA/100 hard disk drive; NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB video SDRAM; CD-RW/DVD-R SuperDrive; two FireWire and USB ports; four full-length 64-bit PCI slots at 33 MHz; 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet; AirPort ready; built-in 56K V.90 modem; iTunes; iMovie 2 and iDVD software for a suggested retail price of $3,499 (US).SuperDrive writes to standard 4.7GB DVD-R discs, available from The Apple Store in packs of 5 for a suggested retail price of $49.95 (US).
You can find more information on the PowerMac G4 733 MHz SuperDrive equipped Mac at Apple's Web site.