Specifications
Display
12.1" XGA
1024 × 768
Processor
PowerPC G4
867 MHz – 1.5 GHz
Memory
256MB – 1.25GB
DDR SDRAM
Storage
40GB – 80GB
ATA Hard Drive
Dimensions
27.4 × 21.9 × 3.4cm
2.1 kg (4.6 lbs)
Ports
FireWire 400, 2× USB 2.0
DVI, Modem, Ethernet
Battery
Up to 4.5 hours
45W Adapter
Wireless
AirPort Extreme
802.11g (optional)
Price at Launch
$1,799 USD
(base configuration)
The Story
In January 2003, Steve Jobs walked on stage at Macworld San Francisco and pulled something unexpected from his shirt pocket — a 12-inch laptop. The PowerBook G4 12-inch was Apple's answer to a question nobody had quite asked yet: what if a professional-grade Mac was small enough to disappear into a bag?
It was the smallest laptop Apple had ever made, yet it sacrificed nothing. Full-size keyboard. FireWire. DVI output. AirPort Extreme. A SuperDrive in some configurations. The entire PowerBook feature set compressed into an aluminum enclosure barely larger than a hardcover book.
For many, this was the Mac that changed everything — the machine that made computing feel genuinely portable for the first time. Its aluminum design, introduced the same day as the 17-inch PowerBook, set the visual language Apple would carry forward for two decades.