New PowerBook G3 Series (Lombard)

Despite shortages in the US, this brand new PowerBook was on display in every Mac shop. They seemed to have plenty in stock. It's sleek (although it's not as thin as I thought it would be) and gorgeous with its translucent bronze keyboard (Japanese) and clicker and white Apple logo that lights up. It's so fast that many PowerBook owners should be able to easily get by without a desktop computer. Various web sites are reporting problems with the USB ports (see the PowerBook Zone) and a loud whine coming from the PowerBook. Apple apparently included a new USB Manager software with the Lombard that will require an update/patch. Regarding the sound issue, the best that I could tell in the busy stores the Japanese models on display were completely silent.