A great notebook for work and play
Written: Jul 22 '02 (Updated Jul 22 '02)
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Pros: Lightweight, long battery life, full-featured
Cons: Crippled video output, region-specific DVD player
The Bottom Line: The iBook is a winner - whether for business, for home or for school. It's a computer that lets you do work, and lets you enjoy working on it.
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| morituri's Full Review: Apple iBook (M8485LL/A) Mac Notebook |
This article is written completely in Appleworks 6.2.4 on Mac OS X 10.1.5, on my iBook.
Making The Switch
There are very few items that inspire unbridled technolust in me. These are generally items that marry good technology with beautiful design. The first one was Psion Series 3a (1994), the second one Palm V (1999), and now the iBook.
I had my eye on the iBook since it first came out in May 2001. However, back then I could not justify the purchase to myself. In time, the iBook kept looking better and better with the gradual upgrades. I finally caved in and made my decision to buy my own iBook in March.
This is my first personal notebook, and my first personal Mac.
What’s in the box?
Inside the well-designed box of goodies, Apple has thrown in :
- The iBook (of course!)
- Power adaptor
- VGA adaptor cable
- Modem cable
- 10 CDs (software restore and applications)
- A very thin & skimpy manual. It contains just a couple of pages on the iBook itself, the rest is on OS X and bundled applications
- warranty etc.
- A pair of white apple stickers
- 1 blank CDR
Look, touch and feel
The iBook is definitely an attention getter. I have used it in public places and every time, people will look at it and ask about it. A white notebook is still considered a novelty where I am. Something about the iBook just begs you to hold it! It’s very easy to get fingerprints on the white polycarbonate casing, however it’s equally easy to wipe off.
I really encourage potential buyers to hold it in their hands, look at the screen and type on the keyboard. While it was perfect for me, some people might feel the screen is too small .
The compact form factor is a definite plus for me. Unlike other traditional budget laptops, this one actually feels right on your lap. It’s also great for people travelling in coach (economy) class on airlines.
All of the expansion ports (ethernet, modem, USB, firewire, VGA, audio out) are lined up on the left side of the iBook. While this looks neat, it has caused problems for people using USB mice, since the cable’s not long enough.
The keyboard has a good feel and travel. The keys are full size, and are white with black text. Only time will tell whether the keys will rub off.
The screen is beautiful, very bright and crisp. It’s very sharp at 1024 x 786. While it’s capable of supporting lower resolutions (640 x 480 and 800 x 600), the result is disappointingly blurry.
Under the hood
OS X’s Aqua user interface is the best-looking, most elegant desktop I’ve seen on a personal computer since NEXTStep all those years ago. I booted into OS 9.2 just for kicks. The familiar desktop now looks clunky and ugly to me. Windows XP, and all of its previous iterations pale in comparison. After a week using of Mac OS X, my PC desktop’s Windows 98 felt very difficult to use.
Even with the standard 128MB RAM, Mac OS X is surprisingly snappy. However, when I added an extra 256MB RAM, there was a definite boost in performance.
Mac OS X is built upon Darwin, an open source Unix (BSD) clone. It’s refreshing to have a stable, powerful Unix OS pre-installed on a notebook computer. No more fiddling around trying to get Linux up on my PC!
Apple bundles a lot of applications and utilities familiar to Unix users, including the Apache web server, perl and the venerable vi editor. Apple Developer tools is also included on the hard disk, but not on a separate CD. It includes AppleScript Studio, Project Builder, Interface Builder and gcc compiler.
My advice is to look carefully at the applications available on your iBook when you first get it, before playing around or repartitioning it. Some of the bundled applications are not available on the restore CDs.
It’s all in the i’s
Apple bundles a good mix of home-grown and third party applications with the iBook, allowing you to get productive from the start. The triumvirate of iTunes, iMovies, iPhoto are all you need to get started with multimedia. These are powerful, easy to use applications in their own right.
Rip. Mix. Burn.
The first application I tried was iTunes. On startup, it offered to search hard disk for MP3s. I got a pleasant surprise, Apple has thoughtfully bundled a good selection of songs on the iBook. The sound from dual built-in speakers are a bit tinny, but just on par on the notebooks I am used to.
To test CD ripping, I put in an old Miles Davis CD. iTunes connected to the Internet to access the CDDB service. Moments later the CD was recognised and the song titles appeared. I clicked on import. It took roughly 20 minutes to rip the 55 minute CD. At the same time I was browsing the web, with no noticeable loss in performance.
Next tried I the CD burning function. Since Apple conveniently included a free blank CDR with the iBook, I decided to put it to good use. I selected about 11 songs, and clicked Burn. 10 minutes later, I tried the new CD out on my home stereo. It worked flawlessly first the time.
Movies and Images
This is my first DVD player ever. When i inserted my DVD, an icon appeared on my desktop and the DVD player automatically loaded on the Dock. It offered to change my region settings, and reminded me that I can only change a total of 5 times. I personally think that region-specific DVD players are a nuisance. Why does it matter where you buy your DVDs? In this day and age, I am as likely to buy a DVD from Los Angeles as Bangkok, Thailand.
iPhoto came on a separate CD, so I had to install it. Not having a USB scanner, I loaded up a CD with my baby pictures. iPhoto has a simple user interface, which allows you to organise photos and do minor editing.
Office Productivity
As mentioned above, this article is written in Appleworks. An all-in-one program, you can create word processing, spreadsheet, database, drawing, painting and presentation. While a lot of people swear by Microsoft Office, Appleworks has 70-80% of the features that everyone uses. It’s also file-compatible with MS Office formats (able to read and write Word and Excel natively), HTML, text, and even PDF!
In fact, any application that can print on OS X, can save files as PDF. This means you no longer have to buy a very expensive copy of Adobe Acrobat if you just want to share a file or two.
The Internet
The iBook can connect to the Internet via modem, LAN or Airport (WiFi / 802.11b). With an Airport card installed, the iBook allows truly portable computing. My local Starbucks has a wireless hotspot which I frequently visit when I need a fast Internet connection.
The little things
It’s clear that Apple puts a lot of attention to detail. There are features on the iBook that you can’t quantify in terms of dollar value or productivity increase, but will make you smile every time.
For example:
- The white Apple logo on the lid lights up whenever the iBook is on. I didn’t notice this until someone in a cafe pointed this out to me.
- When you put the iBook to sleep, a glowing light appears near the cover latch. This is not an LED, but a soft, pulsing light that makes me think my iBook is “purring” in its sleep.
- The iBook also wakes up instantly from sleep. A second after opening the lid, you’re ready to work. This feels like i’m working on a PDA.
- There are LED charge indicators on the battery. This enables you to see at a glance how much battery life you have left, without having to switch on the iBook.
- The VGA adaptor and power cable come with little plastic covers to protect the connections. This is a nice touch, but I don’t know how long it will be until I lose them!
It’s truly amazing how many things “just work” with the iBook. All in all, this makes a truly enjoyable computing experience - something I’ve never thought I’d say!
While Apple’s hardware offerings tend to be pricey, the iBook range represents tremendous value for the cost-conscious buyer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1499
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G3
Processor speed: 501-600
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
morituri
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Reviews written: 9
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