Sure! You can set Quake III to establish custom resolution settings by doing the following:
In the game, hit the the tidle key (to the left of the "1" key, it looks like this: "~" it'll bring down the console, and then type this in (and hit "Enter" after each entry):
/set r_customwidth 1440
/set r_customheight 900
/set r_mode -1
/vid_restart
That'll make Quake III run at full res. on your 17" PB.
Good luck!
