The first European shipment of Apple's new iBook portable computers arrived on Wednesday at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin as part of a major investment in new technologies by the institute.

The RCSI made one of the biggest orders in the world purchasing 250 iBooks, networking equipment and peripherals in a contract secured by Dublin-based systems provider Typetec.

Apple says it has received more than 300,000 advance orders for iBooks worldwide.