A Unix shell. Plain and simple, that's what got me back on track for a Mac. My friend Darrell showed me how I could open up a Unix shell with a iBook 500 a few months ago and I was astounded. He also showed me that Perl was installed by default -- that was all that it took. I was sold, I knew I needed a new iBook for MacOS X!

So, what does the iBook have? This is the iBook 600. It has a PowerPC G3 processor inside running at 600MHz on a 100MHz bus. The 100MHz bus is something important here because that's the speed at which the processor moves data between the different components of the machine (most importantly the RAM). In previous iBook incarnations the bus speed was 66MHz, but Apple increased this with the iBook 600.

The iBook comes with a default of 128MB of RAM. This is a great amount of RAM to have if you're working with MacOS 9. But, if you're going to use MacOS X (which is the future of Macintosh) then you'll definitely want to boost the RAM in the machine. 128MB of RAM is the minimum amount of RAM that will run MacOS X. 256MB is a decent number to be at if you won't be running more than two or three applications at once. I put in an extra 256MB of RAM to bring the system up to 384MB of RAM and the system runs fast and smooth. The only other upgrade choice is to put in a 512MB SO-DIMM of RAM, but that's a bit of overkill. Looking at the utility "top" in the command-line I still have a lot of free RAM left after opening many applications (MS Word, Internet Explorer, LimeWire, Fire, and Mail). The key word here when you are thinking about MacOS X is "RAM." The more the better with MacOS X.

The iBook 600 comes in all different combinations. These combinations are of the optical device that is installed into the system and also one for the screen size. First the optical devices. You have the choice of having this system with: CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, CD-RW drive, and DVD-CD/RW drive. I went with the combo DVD-CD/RW drive so that I can watch DVD movies in bed and also burn CDs to move data around to different machines. The CD/RW drive is a 4x4x6x24 drive, meaning that it burns CD-R media at 4X, CD-RW media at 4X, reads DVDs at 6x, and reads CDs at 24x. This is plenty fast for burning audio CDs of MP3s and burning data for backups. If you're doing a lot of burning, this maybe a bit slow and you can opt to get one of the other choices (CD or DVD) and then add a FireWire CD-RW drive (which burns at a lot faster speed). The combo DVD-CD/RW drive, as you may have guessed, is the most expensive of the choices. The list is in order of cost from least expensive to most expensive.

The other choice that you have with the iBook 600 is the screen size. Apple just released a 14" version of the iBook 600. The innards are all the same -- though you'll get a faster DVD-CD/RW drive inside (it's a 8x8x8x24 drive) -- the only difference is the screen. Why didn't I choose the 14" screen over the 12.1" screen? Easy, they both run at 1024x768. If the 14" screen could run at a higher resolution it would have been a no-brainer. But because the 14" screen runs at the same resolution as the 12.1" screen, there really is no benefit of paying $300 more for a mere 1.9" of diagonal screen display.

Talking about the display, it is one clear and bright display. My work notebook is a Sony VAIO and it has a nice display. The iBook display is on par with the Sony display, though I might have to say that the iBook display is a bit brighter at the highest brightness setting. My only gripe about the display is that though there are special function keys to adjust the brightness, they don't seem to work that well. I wish also that MacOS X would be able to detect the difference between the iBook being plugged-in and running off batteries in respect to the display brightness. On the Sony VAIO it automatically adjust the screen brightness down when the notebook is unplugged from the power, this is not the case witht he iBook.

The "new" Macintosh is being sold as a digital hub for all things digital -- movies, music, pictures, etc. And I must say that this is true! The DVD player that is included with MacOS X works wonderfully. It includes a fullscreen mode that lets one watch movies as if the iBook were a nice 12.1" portable DVD player. iTunes is a wonderful jukebox that lets you rip your CDs (don't steal music!) and catalog them. iTunes is really good when you think about the offerings on the Windows side -- in that there is nothing this well done on the Windows side that is free! iPhoto is a wonder in itself. The program has an interface that is unique -- it lets you zoom in and out of a page full of thumbnails. If you want an overview of all your pictures you can zoom out. If you want to look at a few, you can zoom in -- all the way up to a single picture. This is an ingenius interface. I have not had the chance to try iMovie yet because I don't have a FireWire capable DV camera.

On the iBook I don't run MacOS 9.x at all. I'm strictly using it for MacOS X because it will be the future of the Macintosh line of computers. The OS is stable and solid. Yes, there is a learning curve when one comes from a previous MacOS system, but it's not too bad. And the trade-off for that learning time is a rock-solid operating system. When I was looking at the iBook I was worried that the G3 600MHz chip inside would be too slow for MacOS X. I'll have to report that the chip is just fine -- it's really not the chip speed that makes the difference, but the amount of RAM that you have installed.

The one other thing that I added to the system is an AirPort card so that I can take advantage of the 802.11b wireless network that I already have installed in my house. If you have an 802.11b access point already installed in your house, then the AirPort card is a must. The best thing about the AirPort card is that it is all internal. The antenna is built-in to the iBook itself. So, unlike my Sony VAIO with an 802.11b card in the PC Card slot and a big antenna hanging out of the notebook, the AirPort is clean.

To upgrade the machine is a snap. All you have to do is loosen up one screw and take off the keyboard. To install RAM you loosen two more screws on the RAM shield and then pop in the RAM. Put the shield back on and that's it. For the AirPort, just slide it into the AirPort slot (which is above that shield). I did the RAM and AirPort upgrade in less than 30 minutes.

If you're a heavy Unix user -- like me -- then MacOS X has its benefits for you. The Aqua interface for "regular" home users is nice, but if you like the command line then it is there too! All the goodness of BSD Unix lives under that beautiful Aqua interface. Along with this you'll be able to let people SSH into the machine. There is also an FTP server for file transfers. And the iBook has the Apache webserver installed for webhosting. The networking on the iBook (and any MacOS X system) is the most comprehensive around. You'll be able to connect to just about any network -- even those Windows networks.

The iBook comes installed with a slew of software to get you going. This includes the very useful AppleWorks which includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, drawing, painting, and presentation applications all in one. Very useful to start off with. The iBook also comes with some games (like Cro-Mag racing and Bugdom) to play. On the MacOS 9.x side you'll also get a fax program. This machine is ready out of the box to be a productive machine.

Thinking about an iBook? Don't think, just get one. It's a light machine that you can carry around with you to do all the stuff you need. This is by no means a high powered machine though. If you are going to do serious movie editting or Photoshop work then I would suggest one of the PowerBook G4 machines. The iBook is a medium speed machine that is great for word processing, web surfing, and emailing. If you want to do gaming, go get a Playstation 2. Get an iBook 600, you won't regret it, especially since Apple just dropped the price on the 12.1" DVD-CD/RW combo system by $200!

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1499.00
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G3
Processor speed: 501-600
Screen Size: 12
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20