New Portable Mac Is a Mixed Bag

NEW YORK —  Apple Computer Inc.’s first portable Macintosh will be heavy, bulky and expensive, but it will also have one of the sharpest screens in the business, analysts say.

Apple, which plans to announce the new portable Sept. 20, did not cut any corners with its long-awaited portable, even if doing so would have produced a more affordable and easier-to-carry computer, according to people familiar with the product.

“They’re trying to be, on one machine, everything to everyone. Which Apple has always done, especially in the Macintosh line,” said Richard Meyeroff, a computer consultant in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The portable Mac is expected to be priced at more than $6,000 and weigh about 17 pounds, making it more costly and heavier than the latest IBM-compatible laptop computers. It is powered either by wall current or an internal, rechargeable lead-acid battery.

On the plus side, its flat, flip-up screen is expected to be unusually large and sharp, with 1 million picture elements in a 1,000-by-1,000 array.

A sharp picture is important because many people use Macintoshes for design work.

To overcome the slowness of most flat screens, Apple has attached a separate transistor to each picture element, or pixel, so the screen responds almost instantaneously, analysts say. The screen’s biggest drawback is that it is somewhat hard to read in dim light, they say.

Devoted users of the Macintosh for years have seen fellow travelers being able to tap away on their laptop versions of Tandys, Zeniths, Toshibas and NECs.

Not Called Laptop

Apple has said it was not ready to bring out a portable Mac because the technology for one was not adequate. That apparently has changed.

In private showings Apple has been careful not to call the new machine a laptop, which would imply it is lighter than it really is.

“People are calling it the Paul Bunyan laptop,” said Dan Ruby, editor of MacWeek in San Francisco, a weekly newspaper that has broken information about the forthcoming machine.

Laptops are the fastest-growing portion of the personal computer market and have spawned their own smaller offspring, notebook computers, which weigh roughly 4 pounds and slip into an average briefcase.

Ruby said Apple’s decision not to sell a pared-down, lightweight laptop version of the Macintosh is typical of the company’s attitude: “When it comes to design stuff they’re rather arrogant.”

“My personal feeling is, I’d like Apple to take a look at what Toshiba’s done with the line of portables they have. That should give them a better idea of what the market’s looking for,” Meyeroff said.

Apple declined to respond Thursday to comment and speculation about its machine before the Sept. 20 announcement.

Apple won’t quite have the portable Macintosh market all to itself. Several small companies make fully legal Mac compatibles, billed as add-ons