Best Apple Laptop: Apple12-Inch Powerbook G4

Don’t let its streamlined size fool you. Apple’s smallest portable (12-inch screen, 4.6 lbs, 1.18 inches thick) is packed with all the processing power you’ll need for school or professional applications.

It’s equipped with the G4 Velocity Engine at 867 MHz that helps accelerate data-intensive processing applications for graphics and video work. This little G4 comes standard with built-in Bluetooth so you can connect wirelessly with mobile phones or Palm OS-based handhelds. It’s also Airport Extreme ready for fast Wi-Fi networking. The 12.1-inch TFT Active Matrix screen at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution is bright, brilliant and reproduces vivid colors. It includes built-in stereo speakers and ships with the Mac OS X operating system and a host of applications including iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, iCal, iSync, iChat and Mac OS X Mail, basically covering all your needs for handling music, video, burning DVDs with the optional Superdrive upgrade, digital pictures and more. $1299 with Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) $1799 with SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW); www.apple.com