A beautiful laptop at a great price
Written: Jun 11 '01 (Updated Jun 11 '01)
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Pros: Beautiful industrial design, perfect size, good performance, well-made, great value
Cons: limited expansion options, somewhat smallish display, won't run PC software but that's a separate issue...
The Bottom Line: Well-designed, well-made, and a terrific bargain! Be sure to check it out before buying a comparably-priced PC...
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| dorkus's Full Review: Apple iBook Key Lime Special Edition 12.1 in. (M82... |
My brother was looking for an inexpensive laptop for law school in the fall. I originally suggested to him the G4 Titanium Powerbook, but it was out of his budget so I began looking for a decent PC laptop under $1500. I looked at some of the cheaper IBM ThinkPads, Sony VAIOs, Toshibas, etc., but he seemed set on getting a Mac. I'm actually a big Mac fan too, though over the years I've transitioned to using a PC primarily. I still love Macs for any sort of design work (I use a G4 at work) but for everyday web browsing etc. a PC seems better suited. My brother also has grown accustommed to PCs, but for doing any sort of real work (word processing, etc.) he too still prefers Macs. So I decided to give the new iBook a try - at $1299, it actually undercut most comparably-equipped PC laptops, and Apple's industrial design is still to be bested by any of the generic PCs. I got a good deal from ClubMac ($1280 w/o the extra RAM), and purchased 256MB extra RAM separately for $72, for a total of 320MB RAM.
First impressions out of the box - wow that new all-white case is pretty slick, and far more attractive than the old Barbie-esque iBook clamshell. Some say the case smudges easily, but it seems simple enough to clean with a damp cloth. The case is also slim and easy to hold; the iBook is what i would call a compact laptop, but not subcompact like the smallest Sony VAIOs. Its overall size and proportions seem just right, being big enough to house a full-size keyboard without the extra bulk of larger models. Typing feel on the keyboard is also very good. The unit feels heavier than I expected; advertised weight is 4.9lbs, which I'm sure is accurate but it feels a bit hefty when you lift it, possibly due to the way the unit is balanced. Still, the unit feels extremely sturdy and well-made, not at all flimsy or cheap like many inexpensive laptops. The 12.1" TFT active-matrix display is bright, clear, and sharp, but at the default resolution (1024 x 768) everything is a bit on the small size, so those who have a hard time reading small fonts may want to check it out before buying. A full array of ports (FireWire, USB, Ethernet, modem, VGA, audio/video) flanks the left side; i would have preferred some ports on the back or on the right side but they are nicely spaced and easy to access. Everything seems so well-engineered, so precisely-made, so sturdily built, you'd have a hard time believing that this is a "budget" model; its build quality is confidence-inspiring and refreshing to see in an affordable product. "Affordable" it is, "cheap" it is not!
New iBooks come with both MacOS 9.1 and OS X preinstalled, with 9.1 being the default. I found OS X performance a bit sluggish though and preferred to use 9.1 for everyday work. OS X also seems slow on my G4/500 at work, but it's still being tweaked by Apple so I expect the performance to improve in the future. Regardless, if you are planning to use OS X on an iBook, I strongly suggest opting for an extra 256MB RAM rather than the 128MB that most retailers are bundling with it. The iBook only has one RAM slot, and with the base 64MB an extra 128MB will only get you up to 192MB; to get the best out of OS X I think you really should have at least 256MB. Besides, those so-called "free" RAM upgrades are not really free, as everyone has a mandatory $30 installation charge. Incidentally, $30 is about what 128MB of SDRAM for the iBook costs right now. Something to keep in mind...
If you do decide to expand the RAM yourself, doing so is simple, though you will need a small (jeweler's size) phillips-head screwdriver. Just pop the keyboard out, unscrew the RAM shield, and stick the RAM into the open slot. Took me about 5 minutes, though I did need to re-seat the chip once because the machine didn't boot initially. Ejecting and reinserting the chip solved that problem quickly, and "About This Computer" in Mac OS 9.1 showed a full 320MB after the installation. Sweet!
As with all Apple products, setup was a breeze, and I was up and running and on the Internet in 5 minutes. Performance in MacOS 9.1 is quite snappy and very stable - I had only one crash, which was due to IE 5.0 doing something stupid. Web browsing using cable modem over ethernet is responsive and application launching is reasonably quick. The on-board video is not blazing fast - Quake 3 gamers look elsewhere - but is more than adequate for business and multimedia apps. The 24x CD-ROM drive works fine, though i found the combination F12/eject key not always responsive and somewhat annoying. I also wish Apple bundled larger hard drives in the base iBook configuration, but 10GB should be adequate for most people. If you need more storage, you can easily add on an external hard drive using the FireWire port - a huge advantage over comparably-priced PC laptops, most of which don't have FireWire. On the downside, there is no PCMCIA expansion slot or modular drive bay for swapping drives, but given the bundled functionality and the target audience of this product this shouldn't be a huge negative. The FireWire port greatly alleviates this problem, and the built-in ethernet and modem take care of the two major expansion options the average user would need most.
In summary, this is a great product that looks good, feels good, and performs well. It's a tremendous improvement over the previous model in every respect, and at the base price of $1299 it's a steal. Its only shortcoming may be that it's a Mac and thus won't run PC software, but outside of games (which laptops aren't suited too anyway) most software average users will run is available on both platforms anyway. (Microsoft Office 2001, by the way, is great on the Mac!) When comparing it to PC laptops, keep in mind that most everything you need - Ethernet, modem, FireWire - is already built in, saving you money on expansion cards and the sometimes considerable headache of configuring such devices. Forget "plug-and-play" on Windows, Apple is still the leader in ease of use and I can't imagine anyone not finding operating this computer a breeze. I give it my highest recommendation to anyone looking for a nice laptop at a great price; under $1500, it has no peer in build quality, feature content, or ease of use. Even die-hard Windows users are in for an eye-opener, as this is a truly wonderful product, regardless of platform. Great job, Apple; keep up the good work!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1280
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC
Processor speed: 401-500
Screen Size: 12
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
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Epinions.com ID:
dorkus
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Member: tasty donuts
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 4 members
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