Pros: looks great; excellent features; wakes from sleep instantly; good value
Cons: AC adapter cord doesn't wind up nicely; mouse plugs into left side.
The Bottom Line: Small, stylish, and highly capable, the iBook is a great buy. I'm very pleased with my 500MHz model, and the 600 MHz version is even better. Get one!
philprice's Full Review: Apple iBook 12.1 in. (M8485LL/A) Mac Notebook
I bought a "dual USB" (white) iBook soon after they came out. I also added 256MB of memory to the standard 128 MB, bringing the total to 384, a very worthwhile investment especially if you are planning on running OS X, which you should. (The iBook has one memory expansion slot, which can accept a 512MB low-profile RAM chip, so you can have up to 640 MB. Six months ago that was prohibitively expensive, but now you should seriously consider it).
Although my wife is a long-time member of the Apple faithful, I've always used Windows and unix, and I pretty much ignored the Mac platform until Mac OS X came out last year. But the combination of a modern OS and some excellent hardware caught my attention and I decided to give Apple a try: I bought an iBook. The iBook ships (as of early 2002) with both OS 9 and OS X; I use OS X exclusively, and I think I've only booted into OS 9 twice, so I can't really comment on software issues (if any) related to OS 9.
One thing that is hard to convey is how stylish the iBook is. I pulled it out last night to look up something on the web (wirelessly), and my dinner guests all exclaimed "ooh" and "wow"...just because of how the machine looks. The slim profile, bright high-resolution screen, and glossy/matte white color scheme make a striking impression.
As I mentioned, I never owned a Mac before, but set-up was a breeze. In OS X, almost everything that can be adjusted is accessed through "System Preferences", which can be launched from the menu bar no matter what application you're running. All I set initially was the date and time, and a few options for mouse speed and such, and I was good to go. Even connecting to the internet was a breeze---I unplugged my ethernet cable from my computer at work and plugged it into the iBook, expecting to then have to set I.P. addresses, various options, etc., etc. Nope, it just worked.
The iBook comes with a large trackpad and a single big button. It took a week or so to get used to the trackpad---at first I would occasionally let a thumb rest on it or near it, which would make the cursor jump around. I don't even think about it now, it just doesn't happen anymore.
Before I got used to the trackpad, I bought a small USB mouse. The mouse that I bought has two buttons and a scroll wheel, but somewhat to my surprise it worked with no problem as soon as I plugged it in, with no need to install a driver or anything. Kudos to Apple for making this easy. (I no longer bother with the mouse, haven't used it in a few months).
The mouse does raise one of the two issues that I listed in the "cons" for this computer---and it's really a quibble. The somewhat unusual hinge on the iBook, which lets the screen pivot an extra inch away from the user than a conventional hinge, prevents the back of the computer from being used for ports and plugs. Instead, Apple put all of the ports (two USB, one firewire, one video output, modem, and ethernet) on the left side of the computer, and the CD (or DVD) drive and power plug on the right side. That means that if you want to use the mouse with your right hand, you have to loop the mouse cord around behind the computer, which is inconvenient if you have a short-ish mouse cord and can occasionally make the cord interfere with the CD tray, although the level of "inconvenience" this causes is so minor that it's barely worth mentioning.
The keyboard took a little getting used to: it's perfectly flat and the keys are very slim. At first I used to plug in a friend's spare USB keyboard, which had a normal slight angle to it, and conventional keys. Now, though, I'm so used to the iBook's keyboard that I actually prefer it, or maybe I just don't care...at any rate it doesn't bother me.
When I bought my iBook, I also got an "airport" card for about $100. "Airport" is Apple's word for a wireless standard that can also be used by Windows machines. Having the card doesn't do you any good, of course, unless you also have a wireless network of some kind (either another computer with an Airport card, or, much better, a base station). Rather than buy Apple's base station, my wife and I spent about the same amount for a wireless web router. That did take a bit of configuring---keying in some addresses and such, following the directions from our internet service provider---but it only took about 20 minutes.
I highly recommend setting up a wireless network in your home, whatever kind of laptop you buy: it has changed my usage habits in ways I would not have expected, and I love it. Combined with the fact that the iBook wakes from sleep instantly (or within three seconds, anyway), it makes the computer useful much more often than you'd think. For example, if my wife and I are eating dinner and are thinking about seeing a movie, I just grab the iBook, open it up, and I can search for movies and times. I often check email (in about 20 seconds) just before leaving the house so I know what to expect when I get in to work. I can lie in bed and send email at night. And so on.
Now, we finally get to the only thing that I _don't_ like about the iBook...the only thing that seems like a design oversight. And that issue is...the cool-looking mushroom-shaped AC adapter has a nicely designed storage slot where you can wind up the DC part of the cord (the part from the adapter to the computer), but there's nothing much you can do with the five-foot-long AC cord (from the wall socket to the adapter). I always try to kind of wind it around the base of the "mushroom", but the cord ends up just flopping around loose.
A few things I have appreciated about the iBook:
1) Wireless home network is great to use;
2) Good battery life (about 3.5 hours in my experience) is enough to keep my occupied on most of my plane flights;
3) On a recent cross-country flight I rented a DVD movie in the airport terminal, then mailed it back when I got to my destination...is this a great country, or what;
4) iBook is very durable, I toss it in my knapsack or stick it in a barely-padded carry bag without a worry;
5) I've loaded about four hours of music onto my iBook, using iTunes, which is great during plane flights.
And finally, a few words about OS X. I know that some long-time Mac users don't like the new operating system...I don't understand all of the issues, not having been a Mac user before, but I do know that OS X is the reason that I decided to give Apple a try. I'm a long-time unix user, and I use some unix tools on my iBook, and some unix-derived software. I have also come to like some of Apple's software (like iTunes and their Mail application), and I bought a couple of Mac games too. It's a great operating system. Sure, there are a few user interface kinks to work out (for instance, although the famous "dock" has its heart in the right place, it just doesn't work, and I have replaced it with a shareware replacement called Dragthing, which isn't perfect either), but overall it's the best OS out there.
I have been very, very happy with my iBook.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1300 Operating System: Macintosh Processor: PowerPC G3 Processor speed: 401-500 Screen Size: 12 RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: DVD
When Apple set out to create the iBook, one of key design goals was to create a lightweight notebook computer tough enough to stand up to the occasion...More at eBay
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