This has been the first piece of hardware from Apple I have ever owned. I have used Apples before in school when the Apple IIe were out. Most of my life revolved around the Windows based PCs and laptops and most recently Solaris/UNIX and Linux environment PCs.

I always wanted to try an Apple computer but since I had no money and PCs were mainstream I always owned Windows based PCs and never Apples. So after I got a job and wanted to "think different" I decided to try out Apple. I didn't know how much has changed in the computing world of Apple since the last time I used them was in grade school. Because of this I decided to try the "cheapest" of the new Apple laptops (since I gave my Windows laptop to my dad) which was the 12" powerbook. Apple was also in competition to this Dell laptop I had my eye on. When I went to the local retailer I immediately fell in love with the design and the interface. I debated between the 12" and the 15" for days and days until I decided to go with the 12" since as I said before I wasn't sure about Apple computers so I went with the cheapest one.

When I got home after my purchase and opened the box (which I was amazed on how the presented the contents inside the box) I immediately hooked up everything I needed to get started which makes the tagline for Apple correct (the "Apple is so simple to use" tagline). When OSX Jaguar came up I just started salivating... I never saw such an awesome interface before... Sure I saw stuff on Linux but not as crisp and beautiful as Aqua. After setup I played around with the laptop until I got a handle on it and this is what I have to say about this powerbook.

Cons:
1) Out of the things that are "bad" about this laptop the most frustrating to me is the touchpad. Granted I sometimes have sloppy fingers but the touchpad on this laptop is probably has the poorest design out of the whole computer. I played around with the sensitivity, but still the touchpad annoys me. The problem with the touchpad is that it is not as responsive as I would like AND for the most annoying thing: the cursor on the screen moves on you even when you do not have your fingers on the touchpad. Also if your finger is on the touchpad and another finger is on the action button there is a potential that your finger may slide to the touchpad making the cursor move in sporadic fashion.
2) The other con I have about this laptop is the keyboard layout. Most of the layout is OKAY but there are some keys that should have been placed somewhere else or readjusted so that two keystroke combinations are needed for the required action. For example, the CD/DVD eject button is located on top of the backspace key. When I am typing and listening to CDs I attempt to hit the backspace to delete something when I accidently hit the eject button.
3) The other "bad" thing about this computer, and it's not really bad but it is annoying is the heat that this computer gives off. The reason why this computer is warmer than other laptops is because of its design. This laptop is encased in aluminum alloy and the closeness of the components of the laptop makes it ineffectively dissepate heat. As you may know aluminum is less effective than plastic (on Windows laptops) and titanium (on the higher end Apple powerbooks) to absorb heat. Remember chemistry?
4) The last peeve I have about this computer is the lack of games. I play video games a lot. There are some games for the Apple but not as much as PCs.
5) Pricey. Although this term is somewhat irrelevant because of the features and you get bundled software along with this computer so you may feel it balance out.

Pros:
1) One of the reasons that I wanted to get this computer was because it has UNIX on it. As a Linux/UNIX warrior I knew what this machine could offer. I like *nix because of the flexibility you have to control what you want the machine to do and because of the stability of the system. The only problem I had with Apple's Darwin BSD version of UNIX is that not all the commands are available that I use when I run Linux/UNIX.
2) Ah yes the other reason why I bought this computer... It looks awesome. From out of the box to the actual use of the machine the designers of this machine took a lot of time and care to design the "perfect" machine. Everytime I turn on the laptop I am amazed at the design and interface. This easily blows out the Windows operating system in terms of interface and design.
3) However the other reason why I bought this machine was because of its CD-RW/DVD combo drive. For a computer that is so small this feature was a big factor for me in my decision between getting an Apple or getting a Dell. A Dell laptop with almost the same features and weight and dimensions had the combo drive separate from the laptop (external) while the Apple laptop had it internal. Because laptops are used a lot in travel I did not feel it in my best interest to buy a computer that had an external drive to lug around. All the other Windows based laptops were either to big and bulky or too ugly. So my final decision was to purchase an Apple PowerBook.
4) The other awesome thing about this computer is it's features. 40 GB, 256 MB RAM, and 867Mhz processor on a laptop that weighs less than 4 lbs. Also the free software that comes along with the laptop is pretty cool. It comes with a picture editor, DV editor (iMovie), audio player (iTunes), and much more.

I would highly recommend this computer to anyone who wants to migrate away from Windows based computers but does not want to spend too much money.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1800
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: 801-900
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40