*This review was originally submitted under the IBook G3 reviews on April 14, 2004 as there had not yet opened a review section for the newly introduced G4. The similarities were quite close. The review has since been deleted not wanting to be misleading in any way to the reader.

At the time, this same exact verbatim review (cut and paste) consistently received "Very Helpful" from all ratings given. Now, for some inexplicable reason - it is receiving on an average - "Helpful".

Whether a "Very Helpful" or "Helpful" rating is given, is up to the individual commentor reading the review and their discretion.

To you newbie writer, I dare say, just write! I enjoy writing at Epinions to help others decide for themselves as to the value of a product. Lord knows it has helped me over the years to do the same.

Please don't be discouraged when given a rating below what you would have normally would have hoped for. Or an unkind comment. JUST WRITE, LEARN, AND MATURE IN YOUR REVIEWS.

Epinions has also matured over the years in the way ratings are given. There was a time when a comment and rating given to a reviewer was akin to "tearing at the last chicken on the plate". There were groups which were cliquish, snobbish, and many times vicious. I haven't noticed too much of that lately, thank God.

Thank you for reading this review in advance, no matter what the rating is or isn't.

WHY I SWITCHED
Some background info first...after a 4 year old nightmare with my very first pc, Emachines I500 series operating on Windows 98 (please read my review for a laugh), and my latest Windows XP Home Edition experience (except now with a really good custom built desktop computer by Brite), I started to seriously think about getting an APPLE! (Oh perish the thought!)

Not being very tech savvy (and never will be), I didn't know that the reason there were so many holes in Windows was that it was an unfinished product and full of flaws!

Virtually anything and anyone can get in through it! Has more holes than Swiss cheese. Anti-vi and firewalls offer a false sense of security and not a very effective one either, yet the public seems to be content to buy software which is expected to fail some time and an OS platform format which they know is full of holes.

In short, Bill Gates is a genius in convincing the public that they can't possibly live without his "stuff" holes, flaws, blue screens of death, viruses, hackers, daily updates which in turn, have hole themselves, "send reports" prompts, freezing crashes and everything else!

Well, after too many sleepless nights reformatting my hard drive and way too much money spent on tech support - live and phones calls, (I found on more than one occasion that some techies couldn't even tell me where " My Favorites" folder was on Windows XP) - I got fed up!

When I got to the point that I literally cried out to the Lord one night and told Him I really didn’t want to be a techi but just wanted to do my basic web designing, make online payments and surf the net, I knew something had to give. I SWITCHED !

(A side note , since that night I found out that Windows Me was a flop. In addition to the Me fiasco, office environments had decided to keep their Windows 98 OS ( with the infamous fatal blue screen of death) rather than convert to Windows XP. There is also growing a trend of international and state governments canceling their contracts with Microsoft and going on another system such as Apple or Sun Microsystems. (The Israeli Ministry of Commerce and the City of Austin, Texas has just joined the trend and canceled most of their standing contracts with MS.)

Now it's your turn Bill Gates to be very, very afraid - your kingdom is beginning to unravel ! Bit by bit, here a few hundred million, there a few hundred million more! Lawsuit settlement after another, contract cancelations after another.

AND NOW - ABOUT MY MAC AND THANK YOU DEAR READER FOR STICKING WITH THIS WRITER....
The Lord really blessed me two-fold with a really sweet computer guy named Rob. It was his enthusiasm about pc’s and especially Apples that finally got me online checking into Epinions for product reviews on Apples.

All reviews consistently came up 4 or mostly 5 star. Having carefully researched everything, it was off to the Apple store with my buddy Carol Ann.

Already having a good desktop, I decided on a brand new lap top, (I had contemplated a refurbished G3 Ibook but for the difference in price, I settled on the G4 Ibook). Lately, I'm spending a lot of time at the doctors and health care facilities with my elderly Mom and it helps cut down those waiting room waits to just pull out my Mac and go to work!

DISPLAY:
I thought I'd have to get at least a 14" display screen, but having seen the 12" at the store first, with it's bright illumination and simplicity in changing the screen resolution without having to first shut down the Mac, I decided on the smaller screen. All I needed to do was decrease the resolution and increase the size of the icons and I saved about a couple of hundred dollars! Awesome display imagery!

I also really appreciate the display icon on the task bar telling me which resolution I currently am using; how much battery life is left and what percentage has already been consumed. Speaking about batteries, I can leave the Mac on for about almost 5 hours without coming to a complete depletion of battery supply. Quite a blessing.

OVERALL APPEARANCE:
If looks is really important to you, then "Snow" Ibook is the one for you. There is no competition in this department as far as I'm concerned. Unlike the original candy-colored clam shell Ibooks, the G4's are a dream to behold. You'll be getting double takes every time you pull yours out.

While I really wouldn't recommend it for a speed demon, the keyboard is more than comfortable and extremely sturdy. Keys are flat and square with just the right angle of curvature. They are firm, yet flexible to the finger's touch and once you get used to it's design, it's a piece of cake!.

Not quite weighing 4.5 lbs., made of polycarbonate plastic ( the same material used for bullet-proof glass "they say"), the Ibook can easily be carried in one hand. An especially cool effect is the "glowing apple" logo design on the top cover of the Ibook. Another cool effect is another glowing light which tells the user the Apple is in "sleep" mode. Awesome!

The Ibook top closes with a firm secured feel and that's all you need to put the Mac in "sleep mode". (A side about "sleep mode"). Somewhat like MS "hybernating" except I believe the Mac's sleep mode is much superior, all you have to do is close the lap top's cover and it's in sleep mode.

Conversely, all you have to do is lift the cover open and the Mac's awake - wide awake! And instantaneously ready for work, taking up right from where you left off, not having any battery life depletion while asleep.

IT'S FEATURES:
I've never had a Mac before but I have the feeling once my desktop goes, so will Microsoft. In other words, I LOVE MAC! While I'm not sure whether I'm ready to compare the Windows- friendly pc platforms to Apples just yet, (I've only had this for 3 months you know!), I don't think Bill Gates will ever get another penny from me again.

One concern I had was about not being able to use the Mac with the pc, but there was no need for any worry. I can always open, edit, create and save in text, doc or rft files, copy them to my pc on a cd, or just send email files to myself from the pc and open them on my Mac.

Besides, with programs such as Virtual PC, I can run most any program on my Mac laptop which I run on my Windows platform desktop. New Microsoft Office programs for Mac will eliminate your inability to write in doc's or not. But, if I don't want to give any more money to M$, all I have to do is write it all out through the Appleworks program.


My fear of being "limited" in any fashion by my Mac is totally gone as I now know that it is the Windows pc environment which is actually the restricting agent in attempts to limit the user to the Microsoft monopoly. Shame Mr. Bill Gates! Your kingdom is disintegrating - slowly, very slowly.

Another feature which I love are all the applications which come on the Ibook. The calendar features of ICAL, leaves nothing to desire from M$. I leave it on all the time in the living room. Complete, efficient and user-friendly as is the Ical calendar, the Address Book is even more complete and robust! So complete in fact, that I'll spare you the details. Although the M$ calendar and system address book are also quite good, I believe the Apple interface is more pleasant and less foreboding than the M$.

I'm still going through Appleworks and probably won't ever finish it, (it's that total in every aspect). Imagine M$ in the good old days when they didn't charge extra for every nook and cranny. All in all, I would say Apple gives you quite a bit more for the same price you'd get from a M$ pc environment.

About Safari and Mail...I personally thought I.E. was the best thing in browsers until I tried Safari and FireFox from Mozilla...they don't have all the I.E. features, this is true. But it has anything and everything that is necessary - a lot faster too and by far much more secure.

My Ibook Generation 4 is a wireless and it's connected to my MS Windows PC at the other end of my house by an Airport Base Station Extreme. After a barage of viruses and other goodies coming in through I.E. in-spite of the updates, I switched from Outlook Express and I.E. to Eudora (the best) and Mozilla's Foxfire browser.

On my Ibook, I use the Apple Safari browser - just as good as Foxfire, user-friendly, and fast.

MY FAVORITE SAFARI FEATURES: Once I open the Safari Preference tab and I can change the font size I can view web pages in from size 9-24.

Gone are the "send a report to Windows" event, almost daily. With Safari, managing the Bookmarks are a quite a bit less complicated than I.E. and in four months of ownership, I've only had the "send the report to Apple" event occur once. And yes, as of yet, no "dreaded blue screen of death!"

Another side, Windows updates are almost daily, in a good week, at least 3 days. That's not counting the updates from the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall and ez-Trust antivi from CA. Much less complicated and lengthy are the updates for Apple, about one every 3-4 weeks.

How fast is Safari? I'd say quite a bit faster. I have broadband cable but so help me, with I.E., it doesn't seem that fast some times. With Safari, a user could immediately tell he has a "fast access connection.

As for the inherent Mail program, I understand it's not really for a large, expanded use but it does just as well as Eudora or Microsoft Express as far as my needs are. To the point that I do not really miss any of the aforementioned email clients - and I believe it's the best all around working email client made exclusively for the Mac....

I ordered online from PCMall - got a beautiful carrying case; Epson printer; Disney Pirates of the Caribbean DVD; OS Total Training CD - all for $1,099.00

IT'S ONE FLAW:

Unlike the original "clam shell" Ibooks, (some called them "candy colored toilet seats), there's no handle and the mouse connection (if you use one), is on the left not on the right hand....(you win on this one you "lefties"!)

ENJOY YOURSELF AND BECOME A SWITCHER!

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1,099.00
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: Don't Know
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30