The PowerBook G4 Titanium ships with a new connector on the end of the AC adapter making it incompatible with previous power supplies. The previous adapter was used with the PowerBook 1400 through PowerBook G3 (Pismo) and allowed users to preserve their investment in accessories.
The “brick” portion of the adapter is the same Yo-yo design that Apple introduced with the iBook and later shipped with the Pismo.
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The picture above shows a G4 adapter on the left and the old G3/iBook adapter on the right. The electrical specs are the same but the DC plug is smaller as we have noted here before. According to Apple there was just no way to make the larger barrel connector fit on the new TiBook because the new enclosure is too thin.
Cosmetically, the units are very similar, but the G4 has a darker colored cord. Notice also that the Apple logo is printed in white on the G3 model, but appears to be embossed into the plastic on the G4 model.
With the change many readers have submitted questions like this:
I noticed that the TiPB now uses a new power adapter. Do you know of any 3rd party travel adapters for TiPB?
Michael Madson of Madsonline, sends this response:
Jason,
I will have working samples of both the airline/auto and the micro-AC adapter by Macworld Tokyo. I will be doing the plastics and power cords in graphite color. This is going to slow down my release date because custom colors on plastics and cords take a little longer than standard black. We are going as fast as we can. Getting that PowerBook really helped because we will be able to measure the actual current draw.
The G4 will run on 15 volts DC but will not charge the battery. At the moment I am planning to offer two airline options. One: a pass through cord that plugs directly into the EmPower plug on the airline. Two: a cigarette plug that raises the voltage going into the G4 enough to charge the battery as well as run the machine with DVD playing. This option you can use in your automobile too.
We now have everything we need to make the products, we just need 4-6 weeks to get production going.
Ciao,
Michael
