Latest Power Macs go wireless

Fans of Apple Computer Inc.'s Power Mac G4 who seek to expand wireless connectivity might be interested in Apple's latest line, featuring more advanced wireless options, faster speeds and serious processing power.

The new Power Mac G4s support 54 megabits/sec AirPort Extreme 802.11g wireless networking which, according to Apple, runs at speeds up to five times higher than the previous AirPort 802.11b technology. Customers also can order the system with optional Bluetooth wireless capability.

To complement the Bluetooth functionality, Apple includes its new iSync software for automatically synchronizing address books and calendars between Macs and Bluetooth-enabled cell phones.

The ample processing options include a single 1 GHz processor, dual 1.25 GHz or dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processors. To harness this processing power, Apple includes its Xserve architecture with up to 2M of fast Double Data Rate (DDR) Level 3 cache and 333 MHz DDR memory.

The systems feature one FireWire 800 port, which is the latest generation of this high-speed serial interface. It also includes two FireWire 400 ports.

Expansion capabilities include four open 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and two external bays for optical drives. The highest Power Mac G4 configuration comes standard with Apple's DVD-R/CD-RW combination SuperDrive that offers recording speeds twice as fast as that of previous versions, according to Apple.

The Power Mac G4s come with Apple's iLife applications, an integrated suite of software including iTunes 3 for managing digital music, iPhoto 2 for organizing and sharing digital photos, iMovie 3 for digital movie-making and iDVD 3 on SuperDrive models for creating DVDs.

The single-processor 1 GHz Power Mac G4 and dual 1.42 GHz model are available now for $1,499 and $1,999, respectively. The dual 1.42 GHz model will be available starting in February for $2,699.